Brand awareness is simply a marketing concept that describes how well prospective customers recognize a product or service.
Brand awareness is the extent to which a brand is recognized by potential customers and correctly associated with its particular product or service. In the case of a small business, their level of brand awareness may not reach eponym status.
Few Strategies for building brand awareness.
Earned and paid media.
With the continued popularity of social media and the decline of traditional news outlets, small business owners often overlook earned and paid media—two avenues that can be highly effective at increasing brand awareness. Don’t just limit the scope to newspapers, pitch the small business to relevant blogs, industry publications, and influencers that will help reach the target audience.
Infographics
Infographics are a bright and colorful way to display interesting marketing data and statistics. These content powerhouses often get shared far and wide, making them a great tool for brand building and thought leadership.
Referral Schemes
Referral schemes are often overlooked as a key marketing strategy, especially for brand awareness. But the best advocates of the brand are the customers who already know and trust the brand. Offering currently engaged customers an incentive to invite their friends and family is the perfect way to not only increase awareness of the brand but also increase sales.
Social Media Advertising
Social media advertising, similar to SEO, is not a new strategy for brand awareness. However, it has seen continual improvement in making it a cost-effective strategy. The biggest improvements in social media advertising have come from the detailed targeting methods that are now available, meaning anyone can drill down to the exact target audience they would like to show the ads to. LinkedIn has led the granular targeting race for some time with its B2B abilities, but Facebook has started to catch the leader with its very own detailed methods.
Try co-marketing.
Co-marketing is an excellent way to build brand awareness not only because anyone can take advantage of another brand’s audience but because it can highlight who they are and what they offer in the marketplace.
Offer freemium.
Freemium is a business model that offers a basic product or product line for free, only charging for any products deemed premium or enterprise-level. It’s a popular pricing strategy for software companies, like HubSpot and Trello.
LOCAL PARTICIPATION
Be everywhere in your community. If your town or city is having a festival, sign up to have a booth! Partnering with local charities or sports teams is another great way to get the brand name out there in places that people will see and remember.
EVERYONE LOVES FREE STUFF
What better way to get their brand out there than literally putting it into people’s hands? Invest in some koozies or pens to hand out with their logo or information on them! This gives the opportunity to have their brand in the homes of everyone they interact with.