Using the Internet to Increase Brand Awareness

The average person doesn't think of brand awareness, though they use it every day. Brand awareness is when a product is so well-known you think of it by its brand name. When you think of a product, you often think of the brand. For example, when you think of mayonnaise, you might immediately think of Hellmann's if you prefer that brand, or you may think of Duke's. You might even say, "We're out of Duke's; we need to go to the store," instead of calling it mayonnaise. Your thoughts about a brand may include positive and negative qualities about the brand that make it different from other brands.

When you want to promote a new product or revive an older brand, you need to create brand awareness to attract more people to the product. Thus, brand awareness is very important – you definitely do not want to create negative impressions. As soon as people hear a product, you want them to think of your brand as being the best brand. You want your brand to be a household name.

When you introduce a new product, and you have excellent brand awareness, people are more likely to choose that product because they trust your brand. Thus, though a marketing logo and tagline are important to brand awareness, as they allow potential customers to have a visual image, they are just one small part of brand awareness. 

​As much as all business owners would like brand awareness to be instant, it's never like that. A customer's perception of your brand is based on how that customer's interactions with your brand have been over time. Thus, it's important to deliver your brand message consistently to make your brand memorable. You want every unit of every product or service to be top-notch all the time.

Creating brand awareness never ends. Once your product or service becomes popular, it can become unpopular quite quickly, especially if the competition delivers a product or service that is similar to yours but has better quality or a better price.

A product or a service that maintains a high level of brand awareness is more than likely to continue generating more sales. In most cases, when a consumer is confronted with a choice, they are more likely to go with a brand name rather than take a chance on an unfamiliar one, especially for services.

Successful brands have used marketing and advertising strategies that increase brand awareness, and they don't let up. This strategy has resulted in higher sales. Creating brand awareness isn't easy, especially if your product or service is in an arena with one or more dominant brands that can prevent competitors from gaining market share. 

​You've heard the old adage, "You can't make all the people happy all the time." That goes for your brand. You will have some people who think negatively about your brand. Whether it's because they had a bad experience, a perceived bad experience, or they are just stuck on a competitor's product or service, negative brand awareness is impossible to avoid. In the age of social media, people talk about brands. You will have someone maligning your brand, even if those maligning your brand have never had first-hand experience with it.

Part of your brand awareness is how quickly you respond to poor reviews and negative comments. It also involves how you respond to negativity about your brand. It is imperative that you respond to negative interactions with tact and solve the complainer's issues as quickly as possible – preferably in real-time.

If the complaint is on social media, you don't have to solve it on the platform, but you should definitely ask the complainant to contact you so that others see that you are responding quickly and want to make the complainant's issues right.

As you interact with your customers and potential customers on social media, you also increase brand awareness. Because of this, any social media accounts should seamlessly connect to your website. 

To create brand awareness, you have several options, including social media, print media, television and radio, websites and blogs, advertising in physical locations and sponsoring events. You can use one or all of those mediums.

Social media is one of the best ways to create brand awareness. You can create a business page on Facebook, use Meta's business apps, and post on Instagram, Twitter and other social media platforms.

Create a Google Business Page for your brand. Make sure you complete the whole profile, as it is key when you start ranking higher, especially for organic searches. Creating brand awareness on social media also gives you the chance to interact with current and potential customers. If you do receive a mediocre or bad review or comment, remember to address it promptly. 

​While print media is no longer the most common way to create brand awareness, you can still reach consumers who read magazines and newspapers. Skipping over increasing brand awareness in print media could be a big mistake.

When placing advertisements in newspapers or magazines, be sure they are placed in a strategic location or in specialized publications where they will attract the readers' attention. For example, if you opened a new milk delivery subsidiary for your dairy farm, you might want to print your ad in a magazine that caters to dairy farmers.

If the company has a digital version in addition to the print version, you may also want to publish an advertisement in the site's digital magazine. 

​Some of the best places to advertise are physical locations, especially if you offer a local service. For example, a landscaping company could benefit from advertising in local co-op stores, big box stores that sell lawn equipment, or even grocery stores in the neighborhoods where the landscaper does business.

Look for advertising boards or ask the store owner or manager if you can leave a stack of business cards or pamphlets for your business near the checkout. If you have a product to sell, you could ask to stock your product at a point-of-sale location to help create brand awareness. 

Create brand awareness by sponsoring events. You can choose from local events or national events – or do both! Choose from charitable events, fundraisers, sporting events, and more. For example, a company that sells personal protective equipment might distribute complimentary gloves branded with your business name and logo at a fundraiser for a volunteer fire department. A leather company might distribute complimentary horse shampoo samples attached to your business card or pamphlet at a horse show or facility that holds horse shows.

If you have the money to advertise on television and radio, that is a great way to increase brand awareness. However, the recordings for radio and videos for television must be professionally done. If they sound or look bad, you are not going to garner any trust from potential customers.  

​Using websites and blogs to garner brand awareness is right at the top of cultivating brand awareness. However, your website not only has to speak to potential customers, but it must also speak to the search engine gods. You can have the best-designed website, but if it doesn't meet Google's rules, it's not going to show up on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Hiring a professional content strategist and web designer who can help with organic results as opposed to paid searches can increase the chances of garnering a coveted spot near or at the top of SERPs.

Your website's physical design must draw the reader's eye down the page. At the same time, it must contain keywords that attract searches. For example, if you have a law firm that represents personal injury cases, you need strategically placed keywords for your practice areas, such as car accidents, premises liability, product liability, truck accidents, and so on. 

Brand awareness not only makes you a household name, but it can help get you in front of even more people on the Internet. Brand awareness builds trust in your products and services – and search engines thrive on trust. The more trustworthy your site, the higher it can rank on search engines.

You are also at the forefront of customers' minds. Not only will they call you for your services or purchase your products over a competitor's product, but those same people are more likely to refer you to their family and friends. Another reason brand awareness is important is it helps develop a strong identity, making it a great way to share your values and mission. As you can see from some of the mutterings on social media and from your friends and relatives, most consumers prefer to buy from brands whose values align with theirs. 

You can't just throw your product or service out to the public. You have to give the public a reason to look closer. You have to show that you are different from your competitors. If you're no different, people don't have a reason to switch.

When you work with marketing funnels, you'll find that awareness is always at the top of the funnel. This is where you might find potential customers who may be interested in learning more. Top-of-the-funnel attention is important because your advertising campaign must grab those customers and pull them into the funnel instead of allowing them to move onto the next person's funnel.

Once a customer eyes the hook and grabs it, you pull them into the next phase: The consideration phase. The customer's intent to purchase has increased, and they are looking to make a purchase. You still need to convince the customer that you are better than your competitors. Keep that information bombarding them!

If a customer already has brand awareness, you have won half the battle. Your potential customer is most likely going to buy from you if they decide to make that purchase. If not, they most likely won't buy it from anyone else, either. Your next job is to convince them they need the product or service.

Finally, everyone is busy. They are also bombarded with ads everywhere. Instead of taking time to find out which brand's product is better, they may go with the company they already know – and that is just one of the reasons why brand awareness is so important. For example, if you need new sheets, you have a choice of going with MyPillow or a brand that claims to be great at the local big box store. You are most likely going to go with what you know – you already have some sheets from Mike, so you're going to go with the MyPillow sheets because you already know you like them. And that's brand awareness at work. 

​Whether you need a full-blown website, a landing page, or blog posts written every month, EpochWriter can help you with brand awareness. We can provide content strategy, SEO for organic marketing, blogs, web design, keyword research and more. Contact EpochWriter to discuss your project and get a free quote.