The #1 objective that almost all clients come to me with is to build brand awareness over X amount of time. What are the building blocks to ensuring that your brand building initiatives are effective?
A recent project I was involved in used the build it and they will come approach. This particular client I worked with is not small or unknown. In fact, they are a market leader in their segment. The project involved launching a new offering to their customers, relying mainly on face-to-face interactions and foot traffic. Very little was done in terms of communicating the offering through digital channels.
We are creatures of habit. We don’t normally seek out a product or service in a place that never used to offer it. The result of this project was that hardly anyone came. Not because the offering wasn’t desired or that the company wasn’t a trusted brand, but purely because the awareness wasn’t there. Not enough time was dedicated to communicating the existence of this new offering, nor was there any reinforcement.
Building awareness takes time. Perhaps time is not a luxury that anyone has anymore, but certainly there are steps one can take to maximise opportunities.
The other thing about brand building is that doing it properly means that you can’t take short cuts. Buying followers and email lists is almost always a bad move, as is forcing unwanted advertising on the wrong audience. Because you did not build these lists yourself its integrity is unknown.
I like going back to basics when diagnosing the root of any marketing problem, because that’s where the answers always lie.
Targeting. Do you know who you’re targeting? I mean, do you really know? This is where it all begins, and if not done properly, where it ends. Knowing your audience down to the detail is not nice to know, it’s imperative. You’re competing against the internet so this stage shouldn’t be taken lightly. Aside from demographic factors like age, geography, income, education levels, do you know what causes they care about? What parts of the news they tune into, and tune out out of? Ultimately, is your offering meeting an unmet need for this particular group? Is this even the right group, or are you assuming it is?
Channel-appropriate. The upside of digital marketing is that the audience you seek almost definitely has some presence or is active online. Everyone has a preference for which medium they engage with. Everyone has their own digital consumption habits. Inbound marketing focuses on attracting your audience because you have what they seek. You have identified their problems and pain points and are ready to offer a solution. But are you informing them in ways they can and will receive the information? Are you using Twitter when you should be on LinkedIn?
Meaning. We have access to unlimited information, quite literally, in the palm of our hand. This limitless pool of information can also be conflicting. With the lack of control over what your competitors are doing and what other information your target audience is exposed to, your message needs to be able to cut through the noise. Does your information resonate with your audience? Are you communicating your value propositions clearly? Are you hitting the right notes? Are you presenting a meaningful case? Why should they choose you?
Regardless of what new technologies emerge in the future, whether it be new social media platforms, automation systems or ad models, the foundations of brand awareness doesn’t change. If anything these factors always need to be top of mind when engaging new tools in order to use them effectively.