The importance of brand awareness and ways to increase it with advice from Eric J Dalius

Branding of a business is critical because it upholds the business’s image and makes consumers aware of that brand’s distinctive qualities that extend to the products and services covered by it. Creating brand awareness is intrinsic to the process of starting up a business. The activities related to taking the business off the ground and creating brand awareness go hand in hand.

Even after the company becomes steady after all your efforts, the process of building brand awareness continues as the business progresses. It is a challenge for business owners that never seem to end. Since all businesses are customer-centric, the focus remains on building brands and creating brand awareness through a business’s life. It often entails re-branding to renew the brand’s relationship from a different perspective, explains Eric Dalius.

Building teams is a part of any business building process, and the onus of creating brand awareness rests on the teams. Brand awareness precedes brand recognition, which is a cognitive process that can unfold only after consumers are aware of brands.  At every stage of business progress, the focus remains on familiarizing the brand with consumers, which contributes to business success, believes Eric J Dalius, who has long experience about it during his more than two decades of a successful marketing career. Brand awareness paves the way for business growth as it helps consumers differentiate between brands, thereby leading to increased market share and enhanced sales.   Today, the importance of brand awareness is even greater due to the high exposure that brands receive across social media platforms.

Stay proactive in creating brand awareness

The hard times that we are passing through due to the Covid19 pandemic that has hit businesses very hard provides ample opportunities to pursue brand awareness campaigns by using the virtual channels to stay in touch with consumers. It is the time to talk about the brands without meaning business while helping customers take care of their emotional health, which is essential during troubled times. Staying proactive in your brand-building efforts will help consumers keep faith in your business, which might be going through unprecedented lows due to the pandemic situation. The exercise helps existing customers reaffirm their faith in the brand and attract new customers, a huge gain during the pandemic, says EJ Dalius.

Encourage repeat purchases

In the majority of cases, purchasing decisions emanate from the subconscious mind. Consumers cut the lengthy process by taking mental shortcuts to avoid feeling overwhelmed by too many choices. In such cases, awareness about brands directly impacts their decisions because they are more inclined to consider brands they are familiar with. When consumers narrow down their choices, they think about brands that surface at the top of their minds. By undertaking an aggressive brand awareness campaign, you can make your brand an instant choice for consumers. With proper nurturing, you can develop a strong base of loyal customers who keep repeating purchases by cutting through all the noise around them.

To improve the awareness of your brand, you can take the following steps.

Invite influencers to promote your brand

Influencers are the high priests of social media who have considerable sway on their followers that can make or break brands, and you can use their power to advance your goals of improving brand awareness. You can leverage the influence and trust that the influencers enjoy and make them endorse your products or even mention it that will increase awareness of your brand and expand your reach. Even if influencers post photos by posing with your product, it goes a long way in proving brand awareness.

Use branded packaging

Make your brand visible at every available opportunity, even if it means displaying a picture of your product or mentioning the name, or imprinting the company logo. A classic example is the use of branded packaging that carries the brand insignia, which expands the brand visibility and enhances awareness among everyone who sees it while handling the package as it travels to the customer. Moreover, the special packaging makes the package appear like a gift and enhances the customer experience.  Companies present their brands through custom packaging creates an emotional connection with the brand even before opening the packaging that creates a long-lasting effect on customers, which can stay longer than the product itself.

Strengthen your SEO

Projecting your brand through your website is the best way to gain high visibility, but a lot depends on how well you do your SEO so that your brand appears on the first page of the search results, preferably on the higher rungs.  Since most people do not look beyond the first page of search results and even a bigger number of consumers, do not look beyond the first few lines of the SERP, sticking to the upper ranks is critical for brands.

Refine your SEO strategies related to your business and brand and the industry to which it belongs as it increases brand awareness.  Try to position yourself as a leader and authority of the industry that speaks volumes about the trust it generates in the brand and brings it closer to the consumers.

Be active on social media

Exploit the power of pictures to raise brand awareness by taking your business to Instagram. This all-visual social media platform encourages businesses in a big way, as no other social medial channels do. Take advantage of Instagram Stories to create impressive stories about your brand that makes the brand a household name by capitalizing the popularity of the platform among families and friends that connects the brand closely to people from all walks of life. You can even post short videos that have a high impact on the audience.  Using the sharing opportunities on Instagram, you can post photos of consumers posing with the brand, which generates trust for the brand, and viewers start thinking about using the brand.

Spread your brand across different social media platforms that give you an edge in increasing brand awareness.