What Can a Brand Awareness Campaign Do For You?
What is Brand Awareness & Why is it Important?
Brand awareness is pretty self-explanatory at the surface: Do people know about your brand? We’ve all heard of the “marketing funnel,” sometimes called the sales funnel, right? For those readers who haven’t, the funnel is a representation of the consumer journey to purchase (or whatever your brand’s goal is). There are tons of versions of the funnel, there are also variations based on industry. However, there is one thing in common across all industries and funnel versions: The start to any consumer journey is brand awareness!
Brand awareness is when a person hears your brand name and can easily identify things such as what you sell and your brand’s values. On the other hand, brand awareness is also when a person desires a certain product or service and associates your brand with those needs. For example, if you want to purchase from natural food brands, Whole Foods Market is likely to cross your mind. This is brand awareness. Another example is when you hear a brand name such as Organic Valley, you probably can recall that they sell milk. Sensing a pattern here? Choosing to become a natural food brand’s customer starts with knowing what the brands are and what they have to offer.
Brand awareness campaigns are designed and implemented in a huge variety of ways ranging from out-of-home billboards to blimps. You may have noticed a particular brand sponsor an athlete or an event you’ve attended. You’ve guessed it, that’s likely a brand awareness campaign! Here at ChuckJoe we focus on the digital aspects of brand awareness ranging from paid social media advertising to display banners to influencer marketing campaigns and more.
Benefits of a Brand Awareness Campaign
It’s important to remember that brand awareness is only the first step in the consumer journey. Therefore, the initial goal of a brand awareness campaign isn’t to drive sales, but to be top-of-mind when consumers do reach a point in their lives when they want what you sell. In fact, studies show that consumers have a huge preference for brands that have high awareness despite quality and price factors. So, how exactly can an awareness campaign help your brand? Let us count the ways:
- Increase credibility and trust: One of the top advantages of having a well-known brand name is that it builds trust with consumers, and with trust brings preference. In fact, over half of shoppers would rather try new products when they come from a brand name they are familiar with.
- Competitive advantage: Knowing what your brand is all about is a big part of brand awareness and articulating this should always include the thing you do better than all of the other brands in your space. Once everyone knows what that is, they’ll know you’re the brand for the job! 😉
- Be more easily recognized: It’s no coincidence that when we see a certain color blue we think of Tiffany & Co. That’s brand recognition at its finest and is brought about by brand awareness. No matter what brand uses that color blue, many people are likely to still think of Tiffany. Other examples are well-known logos. You don’t need to hear the name “Nike” to think of it when you see the “swoosh.” These types of connections help keep brands top-of-mind with minimal effort.
- Increase word-of-mouth: Often times we hear about word-of-mouth increasing brand awareness and not the other way around. However, if you think of it, brand awareness is what facilitates word-of-mouth. The person who shares information about a brand that can bring value to others looking for that brand’s goods or services is a result of that person being aware of the brand. Therefore, brand awareness can increase your brand’s chances of being the topic of word-of-mouth, and Nielsen reports that 92% of consumers believe word-of-mouth from friends and family more than they do advertising campaigns.
- Build bonds with consumers: Remember that part of brand awareness is understanding a brand’s values. If the values of your brand and the values of consumers align, this can be the start of a bond that can lead to not only sales, but brand loyalty.
With all of the emphasis on generating engagement and conversions, awareness often doesn’t get the love it deserves. Understanding the benefits of brand awareness is the foundation for building customer preferences, customer loyalty and brand recognition. Ready to start your brand awareness campaign? Don’t hesitate to reach out to discover the opportunities of building brand awareness online.
