If someone asked you to “think about a brand,” you’d probably be able to recollect one quite easily. Coca-Cola, Tesla, Apple – the sort of brands practically everyone knows. Not only can you visualize the logo and its products, perhaps you even feel an emotional attachment.
This is brand awareness. It’s what marketers seek to achieve in order to boost sales. After all, it’s a lot easier to sell a product or service to someone who is already familiar with, and trusts, your brand. Brand awareness examples like Coca-Cola's 'Share a Coke' campaign or Apple's product launch events illustrate how effective campaigns can create strong emotional connections with consumers.
There are many ways to boost brand awareness, which we will explore later in this guide. These days, marketers have to use all the levers at their disposal to raise brand awareness – whether it’s through social media use, sponsoring events, ads, content marketing, or influencer partnerships.
The goal is to get your name out there. Some brands will do it steadily over time and build a strong reputation. Others go fast with big brand awareness campaigns, in the hope of attracting attention straight away.
No matter your style, your aim is to ensure people remember your brand often. This takes time, but it’s worth it to grow your business.
In This Guide:
Defining Brand Awareness
Types of Brand Awareness
The Importance of Brand Awareness
Strategies to Increase Brand Awareness
Measuring Brand Awareness
Challenges in Building Brand Awareness
Frequently Asked Questions
Defining Brand Awareness
Before we jump into the world of brand awareness campaigns, it's worth taking a step back to look at the concept. Marketers need to have a good grasp of what it takes to raise awareness of the brands they're responsible for. Fail to appreciate the challenge ahead and you risk ruining your brand's reputation, or seeing it spiral out of control.
Understanding Brand Recognition and Recall
Brand awareness can be split into two categories: recognition and recall. Brand recognition is when people know your logo or name when they see it. It's like seeing a familiar face in a crowd.
Brand recall, meanwhile, is when people remember your brand without any hints. Obviously, this is harder to achieve but, combined with recognition, it's what makes up brand awareness.
We'll look at these two subsets of brand awareness later in this guide.
The Role of Brand Awareness in Consumer Behavior
Now, it's fair to say brand awareness shapes customer behavior more than any other aspect of your company. Your products and services might be great, but if people aren't aware of you, then you'll struggle to sell anything.
Customers lean toward brands they know and trust. So, if you like Adidas shoes, then you'll probably like Adidas clothes as well. It's so much easier to sell products when the customer already knows what you're about.
High brand awareness takes this one step further. Not only do customers know about you, but they're willing to pay more for your products or services. They see value in the brand name itself, which is why Adidas and other sportswear manufacturers pay so much money to advertise their brand with sports teams. It pays to raise brand awareness.
Differentiating Between Brand Awareness and Brand Equity
Before we move on to the rest of this guide, we should quickly look at the difference between brand awareness and equity. Brand awareness is, in fact, part of the bigger picture that is brand equity.
Equity is about the good and bad feeling people have about your brand. It's not enough to be known – people need to have an emotional attachment. Your brand equity is the total value of your brand in customers' eyes.
So, if we factor in recognition and recall too, the pathway looks something like this:
Brand Recognition: "I've seen this brand before"
Brand Recall: "I remember this brand"
Brand Awareness: "I know this brand"
Brand Equity: "I like this brand and choose it over others"
Achieving strong brand awareness often leads to positive brand equity, which is the end game for marketers who are trying to boost the perception of their business. However, it's not automatic. You need to give people good reasons to like and trust your brand, not just know it exists.
Types of Brand Awareness
Now let's look at brand recognition and recall in a little more detail. After all, if you're building a brand awareness strategy, then these are what you'll need to focus on first. We'll also explore something called top-of-mind awareness, which is when particular brands stand out over others.
Brand Recognition
Brand recognition is being able to identify a brand from its visual elements, like its logo, packaging, or color palette. The Nike Swoosh is a good example of this, as almost everyone recognizes it when they see it.
Achieving strong brand recognition means your products stand out on store shelves. Your logo is easier to spot. Even a musician's name might have strong enough brand recognition that it jumps out at readers on a festival line-up poster.
Marketers seeking to boost brand recognition can start by creating a branding deck that includes:
A memorable and identifiable logo, such as the Nike Swoosh
A clear color scheme, such as Starbucks' accent, light, and house green
Noteworthy jingles or slogans, such as "I'm Lovin' It"
Identifiable product markets, such as Tesla's door handles and sleek design
Brand Recall
While brand recognition is achieved when people see or hear your products, brand recall is about remembering them. One radio ad might not infiltrate a potential customer's memory, but play that same jingle 50 times in a week and they might start to recall your brand when they're not listening to the radio.
Good brand recall is when people remember you positively when they think about a product.
To improve brand recall, companies often:
Run frequent ad campaigns
Create unique brand voices
Tell memorable brand stories
It's hard to master brand recall because everyone is competing for the same thing: the audience's attention. A brand's product might not even be what people remember, but instead is the jingle or visual element that you placed in an ad.
Top-of-Mind Awareness
Another type of brand awareness that factors into an overall strategy is achieving what's known as "top-of-mind awareness". This is when your brand becomes the product. We're talking brands like Kleenex, Band-Aid, and Xerox.
When you need a product, you're likely to choose or ask for the brand that pops into your head first.
"Hey, can I have a Kleenex?"
Strategies to become top-of-mind include:
Dominating market share
Providing outstanding customer experiences
Creating strong emotional connections with customers
Top-of-mind awareness is difficult to achieve and can take decades to master. So, we'll leave it here and instead focus the rest of this guide on the path from recognition to awareness, and eventually equity.
The Importance of Brand Awareness
Brand awareness plays a crucial role in business success because it's often the core factor that shapes how customers perceive and interact with brands. Customers' choices are influenced before they even see the product. When done right, brand awareness leads to equity and loyalty.
Building Consumer Trust and Credibility
People want to trust the brands they buy, so they can buy the same items again and again without needing to think too hard. It would be exhausting to have to weigh every purchase decision we ever made based on zero knowledge of the products offered. That's why we all tend to lean toward a brand we've bought before, or are at least aware of.
Familiarity breeds comfort. We can't be curious all the time. As your brand becomes a household name, it gains credibility in the market.
To build trust, it's important to be consistent in your messaging and deliver on your promises. If you have a top-of-market product that costs more than similar products, then it needs to meet or exceed expectations.
Influencing Purchasing Decisions
Building trust is one thing, but the point of brand awareness is to make it easier to convert potential customers into real customers.
When faced with choices, customers often pick familiar brands over unknown ones. It's why new candy bar makers struggle to enter the market. Why risk a new taste or flavor when you can buy a reliable Snickers every time?
Recognition creates a shortcut in decision-making. Not only does it generate subconscious loyalty, but consumers are more likely to buy your products more often.
Brand visibility is therefore crucial. Eye-catching packaging and consistent branding across all touchpoints means you're more likely to succeed here.
Enhancing Brand Loyalty and Customer Retention
Speaking of loyalty, brand awareness goes way beyond the single loyal customer. When done right, a campaign can influence how loyal customers advocate for your products and services. They recommend your brand to friends and family, providing valuable word-of-mouth marketing.
If you're looking to boost loyalty, then you need to give customers something in return. Discounts, engagement, promotions, new releases… anything that suggests the customer is getting something for their loyalty.
Do it regularly and your core customers will begin to share the love.
Supporting Marketing and Advertising Efforts
It's far easier to deliver more innovative marketing and advertising campaigns once people are aware of your brand. You've elevated yourself above the "awareness" stage and can now be more creative.
For example, a new car brand entering the U.S. market would need to do a lot of work to drive brand awareness. Polestar encountered this issue when launching in America back in 2020. Much of its marketing and ad campaign ideas focused on brand awareness, rather than specific car models. Customers have now become more familiar with Polestar, which is why you're more likely to see product-specific ads these days.
Strategies to Increase Brand Awareness
Building brand awareness requires a multi-faceted approach, which means you’re unlikely to use a single strategy to build brand awareness and achieve your goals. Below are five components of a strong brand awareness strategy. You might not need to use them all, but it’s worth knowing about each one.
Creating brand awareness is a foundational step in shaping customer perception and influencing how potential customers feel about your brand.
1. Using Social Media Platforms to Your Advantage
Social media is the first place people are likely to encounter your brand these days. It’s a cheap and easy place to spread your message, and focus on brand recognition and brand recall. Even something as simple as good visual branding can work wonders here.
Of course, it’s worth creating engaging content that reflects your brand’s personality and values.
Whatever you do, make sure you get your target audience’s attention. Consistency is key - post regularly and maintain a cohesive brand voice across platforms.
User-generated content (UGC) can significantly enhance brand awareness by showcasing unique stories from your customers and fostering community engagement.
Try these tactics:
See what competitors do and replicate their successful strategies
Run contests or giveaways to increase engagement
Use relevant hashtags to expand your reach and branded hashtags to convey your message
Share user-generated content to build community
Respond promptly to comments and messages
Remember to tailor your content to each platform’s unique audience and features. What works on Instagram may not be as effective on LinkedIn.
2. Implementing Content Marketing
Content marketing is about creating forms of owned media that you control. We're talking blog posts, website design, podcasts, videos on your own YouTube channel. This is usually the content people see once they've spotted your brand on social media or somewhere else.
The aim of content marketing is to make people aware of what you're about. It's more detailed than basic advertising and more influential when you have someone hooked.
Content can:
Educate your audience
Showcase your expertise, service, or product
Align with your brand values
Encourage sharing and engagement
3. Investing in Paid Advertising
Paid advertising works. It might be costly, but there's a reason the advertising industry exists. It usually delivers ROI and is crucial for brand awareness.
No matter your size, it's worth creating a brand advertising plan that weaves into your overall awareness strategy. Think about what you want to say and who you want to target. You're paying to reach specific people, so make sure the investment is worth it.
Effective paid advertising options include:
Social media ads
Ads on Google and other search engines
Display advertising
Sponsored content
Out-of-home advertising (billboards, transit ads, etc.)
Use a tool like CisionOne to track the effectiveness of your ad campaigns and measure the ROI of each post.
4. Engaging in Community Involvement and Sponsorships
Building brand awareness takes time, but if you’re looking to speed up the process then you need to be proactive. Brands that partner with and support community involvement often get a quick awareness boost. For example, partnering with a values-based soccer club is about building brand awareness based on your actions.
Innovative marketing campaigns and effective social media strategies are crucial for raising brand awareness and ensuring your brand remains prominent in consumers' minds.
Likewise, sponsoring an event that aligns with your brand values means audiences are more likely to associate you with those values. That’s why brands sponsor awards ceremonies and festivals.
If you’re looking to develop a community involvement campaign or want to raise awareness through sponsorships, then consider these strategic options:
Volunteer at local nonprofits and food banks
Host workshops or educational events at your premises
Participate in community clean-up efforts
Offer pro bono services to worthy causes
Sponsor events or sports teams that share your values
Be proactive and join campaigns that align with your values
Of course, you also need to call out your campaign involvement and sponsorship deals. Your logo might be on show, but brand awareness works best when you’re talking up your involvement.
5. Utilizing Influencer Partnerships
An influencer campaign can often be more effective than any other strategy when it comes to building awareness of a brand. Influencers have already gained the trust of their audience, so if they advocate for your brand then you're more likely to earn a positive perception.
However, these partnerships need to feel organic. A dairy farm, for example, wouldn't want to strike an influencer agreement with a vegan TikTok star. It could be disastrous for both parties.
You can use a tool like CisionOne to find the right influencer for your brand and build marketing campaigns based on an agreement with them.
Types of influencer collaborations include:
Sponsored posts
Product reviews
Brand ambassador programs
Takeovers of your social media accounts
Make sure you comply with disclosure guidelines when working with influencers. The aim here is to make your brand memorable and align it with someone who has a trusted social media presence.
Measuring Brand Awareness
Building brand awareness takes time and resources – and a lot of the work is about measuring your campaigns so they deliver those goals you established right at the beginning. In order to measure brand awareness effectively, you need to:
Oversee your KPIs
Use a tool to help
Analyze data to fine-tune your strategy
Here's a little more about each of these points.
Key Performance Indicators to Track
To gauge brand awareness, it's important to focus on a number of KPIs. Here are the main ones that you're likely to be looking at:
Unaided brand awareness: Ask people to name brands in your industry without prompts and see what they say.
Aided brand awareness: Show your logo or name and see if people recognize it.
Share of voice: Compare how often your brand is mentioned versus your competitors.
Web traffic: Monitor direct visits to your website and your social media accounts, as this shows brand familiarity.
Social media followers: Monitor your followers closely, as a growing fan base can mean rising awareness.
Brand searches: Track how many people look up your brand name online using an SEO tool like SEMrush to help.
Tools and Methods for Assessment
Measuring awareness is a lot easier to do when you have software to help. There are plenty of tools out there that specialize in helping you create awareness and track the results.
Some to consider are:
Surveys, focus groups, and interviews: This is a type of primary research that you don't necessarily need a tool for. Ask customers about your brand through phone calls, focus groups, email, or social media polls.
Google Analytics: See how people find and interact with your website via Google's analytics platform, or use a tool like SEMrush to help.
Social listening tools: Track mentions and sentiment about your brand online with a tool like CisionOne and understand your share of voice.
Brand tracking software: Use specialized tools to monitor your brand's presence across your industry.
Want to know more? Speak to an expert and start increasing awareness of your brand today.
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
The above tools and any proactive primary research you do will start generating data in no time. You can then use this data to better understand your progress, and whether you're delivering a successful brand awareness campaign or need to make changes.
Areas to focus on here include:
Looking for patterns: Are more people recognizing your brand over time?
Comparing it to your goals: How do the numbers stack up against your targets?
Segmenting results: Break down awareness by age, location, or customer type.
Linking to other metrics: See how awareness relates to sales or customer loyalty.
Acting on your insights: Use what you learn to tweak your marketing strategies.
Remember, brand awareness can take time to build. Be patient and consistent in your work and measurements. Trust the data you collect and adjust your brand awareness efforts accordingly.
Challenges in Building Brand Awareness
We've mentioned a few times the fact that building brand awareness isn't easy. Businesses operate in a highly competitive environment and even delivering basic brand recognition and recall is tough.
Indeed, below are three big challenges that all companies face when creating brand awareness campaigns from scratch.
1. Overcoming Market Saturation
The number of brands competing across practically all industries has rapidly increased since online retail and social media went global. Now, a shoe brand selling to customers across the American North West isn't just competing with others located there, but brands all over the world.
To break through, you need a unique brand message. What is your USP and why would a customer choose you over someone else? You don't necessarily need to showcase your products here – you simply need to position your brand within the industry, so people are aware of it.
2. Ensuring Message Consistency Across Channels
A lack of consistency can be really damaging to brands that are trying to build awareness. If you're sending out a certain message on two social media platforms but have a totally different message in your TV and newspaper ads, then don't be surprised if your target audience is confused about who you are and what you do.
Mixed messaging ruins brand awareness because audiences want a simple, quick understanding of what you're all about.
Make a clear brand guide that includes your brand's values, tone of voice, and visual style. This needs to be shared with everyone who is working on your brand's marketing efforts.
3. Adapting to Changing Consumer Behaviors
You can control your brand message and your team, but you can't control your customers. If there's something that alters their preferences or behaviors then you need to know about it.
Keep an eye on trends and do research into your customers often. Talk to them, survey them, and use social media listening tools to understand them.
Failure to predict where audiences might go means your brand becomes reactive, not proactive. That makes it really hard for building awareness because you're constantly chasing a moving target.
Frequently Asked Questions
Now that you know more about brand awareness, it's time to set some goals and build a strategy that can deliver on your ambitions. Whether you work for a large corporation, an agency, or a small organization, working on your brand image is the first step to success.
Marketing campaigns struggle to be effective unless you've done the hard work of developing a positive brand perception beforehand.
If you want to know more, below are some common questions about brand awareness that might help. You can also explore our guide to Brand Recognition Vs. Brand Awareness.
How can companies measure the impact of brand awareness campaigns?
You can track the success of brand awareness campaigns through tools like CisionOne, which house all your data in one place. Run surveys, assess social media, and understand your industry's landscape all in one place. Look at metrics like brand recall, recognition rates, and search volume for your brand name to gauge brand perception and awareness.
What strategies can businesses use to increase brand awareness on social media?
Most recognizable brands on social media started with a simple awareness strategy that involved getting attention. Creating engaging content that reflects your brand personality works really well – so long as it looks natural. You can also run contests or giveaways to boost engagement, and work with influencers.
Why is brand awareness a crucial factor in marketing strategy?
Brand awareness is really important because it helps you stand out in a busy market. People like to know and trust a brand before they buy it. Strong brand awareness can also lead to word-of-mouth marketing, which can snowball and create positive consumer awareness. This level of brand advocacy is a powerful way to grow your business.
In what ways does brand awareness influence consumer behavior?
Customers that are familiar with your brand are way more likely to consider your products when making purchasing decisions. You become the reliable, easy option. High brand awareness can then lead to brand preference and loyalty, which means it's easier to launch new products and services.
How does enhancing brand awareness contribute to a company's bottom line?
Increased brand awareness is often the first step to yielding higher sales and increased market share. Customers are more likely to buy your products and services if they know about you. In the long term, you don't have to spend money on brand name awareness because people know who you are. It can also help you command premium prices for your products or services. Strong brand awareness can reduce marketing costs over time, as customers become brand advocates and spread the word for you.
