Every business wants their name to be recognizable. But how do you become a McDonalds, Starbucks, Amazon, or any other big name? Of course, having millions of dollars at your disposal is effective. But we happen to live in the greatest era of all time for businesses of any size looking to enhance their name recognition.
For just a fraction of what it cost in the past, you can get your business in front of thousands of eyeballs both locally and around the world.
Everything boils down to brand awareness. So, what is brand awareness? And how exactly do you quantify it? Here's what you know.
What is Brand Awareness?
Brand awareness is the extent to which consumers are familiar with a particular business brand's unique qualities. It is one of those terms that are tricky to define.
You know it when you see it. Marketing theorists describe brand awareness as the ability to recall a product and have it associated with a logo, tagline, and key values.
We often saw this in the past with celebrity endorsements and mass marketing campaigns via TV and print ads.
But it still is a little tricky. Nobody expected Atlanta Falcons fans to immediately buy a Mercedes because that's the name of their home field. But the car manufacturer shelled out $324 million for a 28-year long deal.
The advantage for Mercedes is that when potential Atlanta customers (and also US nationals) consider purchasing a vehicle, this deal will increase the likelihood of Mercedes coming to mind. It's truly the largest stage possible, including tons of "free" advertising for 16+ weeks every year.
Increasing brand awareness is vital. To do so means measuring it to see what's working for your company and what isn't. However, measuring it can be a little tricky. Check out these ways to monitor brand awareness.
How to Measure Brand Awareness
1. Surveys
Surveys are a little bit old school, but they are as effective as they ever were. Nowadays, most companies use email or web surveys, typically asking their customers and site visitors how they found the business.
In some cases, they may ask a random selection of people about the brand. The first gives you an understanding of where traffic is coming from, while the second gives you a better sense of popularity.
2. Web Traffic
Of course, your website traffic is the quickest snapshot of your brand awareness. But you can just look at this number alone. Pop into Google Analytics and look at important metrics like the number of people who directly searched you, who clicked a link, who came via an ad, and so on.
By watching this over time, you'll see how brand awareness is shifting. Do not this only really useful though for web-based firms. For example, Dawn sells some of the most popular dish soap in the world. But their traffic comes directly via supermarkets, so their web traffic may be a little disappointing but also not quite as relevant.
3. Search Volume Data
This is a little more advanced. You want to see if people are searching your brand across tools like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Check out Google Keyword Planner and Google Trends to see the volume of searches and patterns over time.
4. Use Social Listening Tools
Nowadays, hard work can really be done almost automatically for you, thanks to social listening tools. These are great because they'll choose where people already have conversations—social media.
Here you can check in on organic conversations to see how your brand is tracking across the web. You'll also get an unfiltered look into your customer's experiences to overcome some issues you may have with survey response bias.
With social listening tools, you can get a look into your brand and see how your competitors are doing.
Quick Tips for Improving and Maintaining Brand Awareness
There are a few easy things you can do now to boost your brand awareness. While, of course, a massive Facebook and Google ad campaign is helpful, that can also get expensive quickly.
Here are some quick and easy, cost-effective brand awareness strategies.
- Get listed in directories
There are directory and data aggregate sites for every niche. Getting listed in all these not only boosts your visibility but also improves your domain authority, which is important for search results.
- Maintain your digital security
Nothing destroys a reputation faster than a cyber-attacker vandalizing your page or hacking your customers. Use tools like password managers, VPNs, and firewalls to keep the bad guys out and your site safe. More on that can be found on https://nordpass.com/password-manager/.
- Consistently blog
Your blog is like a tree. Growing it consistently over time, even if it's just one post per week, will bear fruit in so many different ways.
Your brand is your foundation for success. Start tracking awareness now to see where you stand.
