brand awareness

The simple truth is that you can’t expect people to buy your products or pay for your services if they don’t know you exist. Whether you’re in a partnership, own a company, or are a sole proprietor, you need to get your brand out there so potential buyers can find you. Maybe you need to let the local community know about you, perhaps you want to inform a certain target market that you’re now in business. There are so many ways to do this and various options available to push your brand out there and increase brand awareness.

But simple brand awareness isn’t enough. Potential buyers must also develop positive attitudes towards your brand if you ever hope to have them as customers. Here are some tips to get you started as you build brand awareness and positive attitudes towards your brand, commonly referred to as brand image.

brand personality

Image courtesy of Endeavor Creative

How to improve brand awareness

Observe the basics: Start a website

It doesn’t really matter what you do, building a user-friendly, fast-loading website is one of the top things you can do to build brand awareness. A great website gives anyone with internet access, anywhere on the planet, the ability to find out who you are, what you do, and determine whether you’re a brand that matches their values.

The beauty of an online presence is that you can start one for free on WordPress Or for very little more, you can build a much better performing website using the WordPress CMS and self-hosting your website on any one of a number of fast hosting platforms.

I’ve even written a great ebook to help get you started and building the perfect website. The book contains tons of images that step you through the process of creating a website. Simply follow the images from beginning to end and you’ll have a great, well-performing website. Unfortunately, free hosting, such as that available on Wix and WordPress, doesn’t offer great SEO, making it harder for potential customers to find your brand. We’ll talk about SEO in the next section.

Getting found online

Now that you have a great website, it’s time to help prospective customers find you online. That means using search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is a search algorithm developed by search engines, such as Google, to rank links related to the user’s search query. The higher your link ranks and search results, the more traffic you drive to your website. Most traffic goes to links on the first page of search results, especially those in the top three or four spots. If your link shows up buried behind pages of other results, no one will ever know you exist.

The biggest factor in SEO is creating valuable content on a consistent basis. That likely means adding a blog to your website and setting yourself up as an industry expert. Not only does this valuable content help you get found, but it also helps to convince visitors that you have what it takes to provide the products and services they need. Visitors also trust websites that show up higher and search results.

Think outside the box

Increasing brand awareness can be pretty tough. That’s why businesses constantly look for more innovative ways to increase brand awareness. If you’re struggling to get sufficient brand awareness, try partnering with others, the same way that Carvel ice cream and Cinnabon built a brand together. We call this cobranding.

You might be able to get your product included in a subscription box containing a variety of related items, such as makeup or personal hygiene products. This strategy increases brand awareness while at the same time building a better perception of your brand by association with popular brands in the market niche.

And, if subscribers like your brand, they’ll come to you directly the next time they need something in your category. You increase the likelihood that subscribers will use you the next time by including a coupon or bonus offer they can use the next time they purchase.

Or, maybe you offer a discounted product or a giveaway promoted through social media platforms such as Instagram. Not only are these offers attractive to your network on Instagram but, through sharing the link, you reach an entirely new audience.

There are so many ways you can push your brand awareness, you just have to think outside the box a little to ensure you’re doing it in the right way for your particular business.

Use others to help build brand awareness

Sometimes, becoming a known brand is easy because your initial product is such a hit. Although, examples of this happening are few and far between So don’t count on lightning striking. Instead, plan to do the hard work necessary to build brand awareness.

However, that doesn’t mean you have to go it alone. If you sell on a third-party site, like Amazon, customers can help you build brand awareness by offering positive reviews, which increases your visibility on the platform.

If you have your own online store or use your website to promote your physical location, there are many SEO agencies to choose from that can help you improve your visibility. To find the best agency for you, try to find one that specializes in your market niche. For instance, if you’re in a healthcare business, see if there’s an agency focusing purely on healthcare businesses. They’ll know what works for your business in particular.

Online advertising

In the early stages of your online presence, you may need advertising to build brand awareness. Online advertising benefits your brand by being inexpensive, highly targeted, and effective as metrics allow you to optimize your performance. Social media advertising and Google display advertising are the most effective online advertising options when your goal is to create brand awareness.

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