Increase Your Brand Awareness: 9 Tips for Getting Noticed

What if your business could explode in popularity within a month?

For any business, popularity is intimately tied to brand awareness. By increasing awareness, a business inevitably increases its base of customers while boosting its bottom line.

While that all sounds good in theory, many business owners are stuck asking how to increase brand awareness. Without the right brand awareness tips, this marketing strategy is dead on arrival.

Want to know more about how to increase brand awareness for your own business? Keep reading to discover our hottest tips to help put you on the map!

1. A Referral Program

In some cases, the best brand awareness tips rely on some pretty classic business wisdom. In this case, "you've got to give a little to get a little!"

That particular pearl of wisdom is why referral programs remain so popular. Most customers are happy to refer people to their favorite businesses in exchange for simple perks or extras.

The exact nature of the perk will change from business to business. A restaurant may offer a free appetizer, while an automotive service might offer a free oil change.

Ultimately, the goal is to balance an inexpensive (yet enticing) perk with the value of new customer referrals. Keep in mind that every happy customer is a chance for word-of-mouth advertising, and that remains one of the best ways to build brand awareness.

2. Kill It On Social Media

In the old days, brand awareness was often about taking out advertisements in billboards and newspapers. To reach modern customers, however, your digital marketing efforts must include a robust social media campaign.

This approach is attractive to most businesses because it is budget-friendly. Popular platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram let you create and manage a business account at no cost.

Social media also provides a unique way to cross-promote your content. You can link customers out to your best blog posts or simply direct them to relevant areas of your website.

Best of all, social media was designed with engagement and brand awareness in mind. When someone likes or shares your content, they expose all of their friends and family to your brand, dramatically increasing awareness.

Furthermore, social media allows customers to send you direct messages — a popular option for groups like Millennials who hate phone calls. And creating posts that encourage consumer response helps you easily create an online community of loyal brand ambassadors.

3. Video Marketing

You don't need us to tell you that video is the future of marketing. After all, streaming media (from Youtube to Netflix and beyond) has become one of the most popular forms of entertainment around, with 78% of people streaming something each week.

Because of that popularity, video marketing is a powerful brand awareness tool. The only trick is creating video content that is highly relevant to your customer base.

A business that sells hardware and handyman gear should consider a video series on making repairs around the house. An HVAC repair business, meanwhile, should make videos focused on maintenance and at-home repairs of appliances.

This relevant content build trust and loyalty among customers. And you can promote these videos on your webpage, your social media, and Youtube.

4. Guest Posting

Another bit of brand-building wisdom still works in the digital age — If you want your business to rise, then you should hitch your wagon to someone else's star!

One solid way to do this is through guest-posting on various high-profile websites. That's because online consumers have a voracious need for content, and blogs are a perfect way to scratch that particular itch.

Now, the keyword here is "high-profile." You should focus on working with brands that are at least as popular as your own. Ideally, they will be more popular.

When their customers see what you have to offer, your brand grows that much stronger. But since those customers are likely to have discriminating tastes, you should only guest post your very best work!

5. Local Events

One inevitable side effect of digital marketing is the growing emphasis on global popularity. And it's true that many businesses, regardless of size, would kill to effectively reach an international audience.

However, it's important that your own business still focuses on local customers. In terms of SEO, this means taking advantage of services like Google My Business. In terms of brand awareness, that means hosting special events.

What kind of events? Take your pick. Locals may enjoy anything from a charity run to a local rock concert.

If you don't want to run everything yourself, you can also sponsor local events. These include events such as school dances and downtown holiday celebrations.

However you go about it, the idea is nice and simple. Show locals a good time and they are likelier to tell others about your business. 

6. Infographics and Other Visuals

Pop quiz: how does your company set itself apart from the competition?

By now, you're probably sitting on a small pile of analytics data. Information about sales, benchmarks, and KPI performance helps you see how your company measures up.

The only problem with all that data? To the average customer, this is just a collection of confusing numbers. As soon as your marketing effort looks like a word problem from their old math textbook, such a customer starts to tune you out.

Fortunately, the solution to this problem is simple. Turn this data into infographics, pie charts, bar graphs, and other visual information. You can then use these visualizations as part of your marketing via your website, your social media, and your paid advertisements.

It all boils down to how customers like to receive information. Take a marketing narrative tip straight out of Hollywood to heart: "show, don't tell."

7. Podcast Power

Speaking of customers and the road, it's time for you to consider creating a podcast to raise brand awareness.

Podcasts have grown in popularity because they are the commuter's best friend. Whether someone is driving to work or catching the bus, they like to have some entertainment to keep them busy.

With a podcast, you also have a unique opportunity to establish credibility in your niche. A furniture store might provide a design-oriented podcast, for example, and a boutique clothing store might offer a style-related podcast.

It's easy for customers all over the world to find and download your podcast. And it's an excellent technique for brand awareness because you have a captive audience for the entirety of their commute.

Companies interested in a podcast but not sure where to start should consult with marketing veterans who are in tune with what modern audiences want.

8. Organized Competition

It's no wonder why so many companies participate in customer giveaways. Customers love to win prizes, and they will feel fiercely loyal towards any company that helps hook them up.

While you can achieve that effect with any kind of giveaway, you can take things to the next level with a new twist on the giveaway format. Instead of a giveaway, try organizing a competition instead!

Competitions work nicely because you can define very specific terms for both entry and victory. And you can build brand awareness strategies into these requirements (such as having contests share entry details via social media).

This competitive setup helps make the prize seem that much sweeter to the eventual winner. In the meantime, you've made everyone who entered the competition into a valuable part of your marketing campaign.

9. Promotional Items

Broadly speaking, brand awareness is a two-part strategy. The first part is making new people aware of what your business has to offer. The second part is creating opportunities for existing customers to help convert new ones.

That's why promotional items are such a powerful part of any brand awareness campaign. Most of these items are budget-friendly (think pens, cups, and drink koozies), but they pack an immense ROI in terms of brand awareness.

First, handing out these items creates an instant bond with customers. Imagine someone who suddenly realizes they need a pen. If you can provide a pen at that exact moment, you'' definitely have a new fan.

Second, these items make for natural conversation-starters. When other people ask about the name or logo on that cup or pen, the grateful customer is happy to tell them all about it.

Third, people hold onto promotional items for a long time (typically around 8 months). That means for the tiny cost of a promotional item, you get to expand your brand awareness to everyone who sees the item for the better part of a year!

How to Increase Brand Awareness: The Future Of Your Company

Now you know a bit about how to increase brand awareness. But do you know who can help you redefine your brand?

Our growth-minded professionals are ready to help your company take the next big step. If you're ready to discover your company's future, contact us today.