Increasing brand awareness is crucial for businesses to attract and retain customers, especially due to the level of competition in any industry. There are multiple effective ways of doing this, but for the purpose of this article we will be focusing on digital marketing. Digital marketing has opened up a number of possibilities for businesses to reach their target audiences in a cost-effective and measurable way.
In this article we will be covering the following channels, and how to get the most out of them to increase your brand awareness:
- Content Strategy
- Paid Media Advertising (including paid social, paid search, and display)
- Email Marketing
- Digital PR
Content Strategy
By consistently producing high-quality content, businesses can increase their brand awareness and drive traffic to their website. However, content production without a clear content strategy will see businesses failing to reach their target audience.
A content strategy is based on data such as:
Existing customer data: who is currently buying from you, and how do they interact with your content before buying? What is the sales and conversion data?
Audience data: who is it that you’re actually targeting with your product/service?
Search data: what are customers searching for on search engines such as Google, and how can you create content to address this search demand?
Social media data: how are your customers engaging with your content on social media currently?
User behaviours based on your product/service: how do users shop for your product/service, what things do they consider when making a purchasing decision
Existing content for your broader topics: does it answer user questions satisfactorily?
Existing content performance: how much time are users spending interacting with your content, and
Competitive performance: what type of content are your competitors putting out and how is this performing in terms of reach and engagement?
Industry trends: seasonality plays a big part in a content strategy, and producing timely content to hit trends can play a big part in increasing brand awareness.
Another key consideration for your content strategy is to ensure that your content hits all stages of the marketing funnel. You will need to create content for the awareness stage, however, you will also need to create consideration and purchase stage content to ensure users are being driven down the conversion funnel as they interact with your content.
Paid Media Advertising
Paid media advertising is a popular way to increase brand awareness, and a great way to get infront of your target audience, based on the channels they interact with. There are three broad areas of paid media advertising in the digital space:
Paid Social Media:
Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and LinkedIn have millions of active users each month, and reaching them can be really effective based on the level of available budget, the ad copy messaging and the creatives used. Targeting on such platforms is really useful as well, as a business can choose to reach audiences based on their demographics, interests, and even their behaviours.
Key watchouts for paid social media advertising include:
- Ensuring ad copy includes a call to action
- Ensure the landing page users are being driven to has a clear user journey and a simple path to conversion
- Ensure ad creatives fit the specs for each platform used (these do change), and that they are optimised for mobile devices.
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Paid Search:
Paid search advertising, also known as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, is a digital marketing channel that allows businesses to display their ads at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). By bidding on keywords related to their products or services, businesses can ensure that their ads are shown to people who are actively searching for them. This makes paid search advertising a highly targeted and effective way to increase brand awareness.
One more specific and effective way to increase brand awareness through paid search advertising is by creating ad copy that is relevant and compelling. Ads with attention-grabbing headlines, clear and concise descriptions, and a strong call-to-action can encourage people to click through to your business’s website. Additionally, businesses can use ad extensions, such as sitelinks, callouts, and structured snippets, to provide additional information and increase the visibility of their ads.
Display
Display advertising is a popular digital marketing channel that involves placing ads on websites and mobile apps. It is an effective way to reach a large audience and increase brand awareness. Here are some ways to increase brand awareness through display advertising:
Targeting: Much like in paid social advertising, display advertising allows you to target specific audiences based on their demographics, interests, and behaviors. This means that you can ensure your ads are seen by the right people.
Ad Creatives: The creative of your ad plays a crucial role in catching the audience’s attention. It’s important to ensure that your ad is visually appealing, with clear messaging that conveys your brand’s personality and values.
Retargeting: Retargeting involves showing ads to people who have previously visited your website or interacted with your brand. This can help keep your brand top of mind, even after your target audience has left your website.
Frequency Capping: Frequency capping limits the number of times an individual sees your ad. This is important to avoid bombarding people with too many ads, which can result in ad fatigue and decrease brand perception.
Email marketing
Email marketing is an effective way of connecting with customers and prospects, building relationships, and increasing brand awareness. Here are some specific ways to increase brand awareness through email marketing:
Personalisation: Personalisation is key in email marketing, as it helps create a sense of connection with the audience. Personalised emails have higher open rates and engagement, which can increase brand awareness.
Consistency: Consistency in your email marketing is important to ensure your audience recognises your brand. This includes consistent branding, messaging, and sending emails at a consistent frequency.
Quality Content: Email marketing is all about delivering value to your audience. Ensure that the content you send is informative, engaging, and relevant to your audience. This can help increase brand awareness and establish your brand as a thought leader and industry expert.
Segmentation: Segmentation involves dividing your email list into smaller groups based on their interests, behaviours, and preferences. This can help you send targeted emails that are more relevant to your audience, increasing engagement and brand awareness.
Digital PR
Digital PR involves building relationships with journalists, bloggers, and influencers to get online media coverage for your brand. Here are some ways to increase brand awareness through digital PR:
Content Marketing: Content marketing involves creating and distributing valuable content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. This can include blog posts, infographics, videos, and more. By creating high-quality content, you can increase brand awareness and establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry.
Social Media: Social media is a powerful tool for digital PR, as it allows you to connect with influencers, engage with your audience, and share your content. By building relationships with influencers and sharing your content on social media, you can increase brand awareness and drive traffic to your website.
Brand Partnerships: Brand partnerships involve collaborating with other businesses or influencers to reach a larger audience. This can help increase brand awareness and establish your brand as a reputable and trusted source.
Online Reviews: Online reviews can have a significant impact on brand awareness and perception. Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews on websites like Google, Yelp, and TrustPilot.
In summary…
Building brand awareness for your brand will take time and a strategic approach which spans multiple different marketing channels. Choosing a range of channels will help you target a wider audience pool, however, you will require a larger amount of budget to ensure the activity is worth-while.
When done correctly, this brand awareness activity will aid in making your target audience aware of the existence of your brand. An ongoing approach to digital marketing will then aid in warming up your newly aware audience to drive users down the conversion funnel and start creating sales.
Want to know more about building brand awareness through digital marketing? Get in touch with us today or book a free strategy call today!