If we asked you to name brands under a particular category, would you be able to? In all probability, you’d name the brand you follow or use as well as its competitors. You’ll also name the brands that you aspire to own one day. Now, we’re not saying product. We’re saying brand. You want to own a car, but you’ve already decided which car – Honda, Ford, or Audi. The brand awareness marketing strategy of global brands enables consumer choice. Imagine at the showroom, the salesperson asks you to choose a Luxgen. Who? What? Confused? That is the power of branding. Popular brands have a robust marketing strategy to increase brand awareness. They do this with digital marketing. Brand awareness through digital marketing and social media is everything in 2022.
Brand awareness for small business
Every day the world economy sees new companies, products and brands emerging. According to the World Bank, 90% of businesses today are SMEs contributing up to 40% of national income (GDP) in emerging economies. Small businesses create some of the most innovative products. But, not too many consumers are aware of their products or brands. Brand awareness for small businesses is the first step to succeeding in a digital economy. Consumers cannot purchase or engage with a brand; they’ve never heard of.
As per McKinsey’s US Consumer sentiment and behaviors study, more than 75% of consumers have changed their buying habits post-pandemic. Almost 39% have either changed brands or retailers, and 79% of those intend to continue exploring their options in the next normal. This shift in brand loyalty is seen worldwide, not just in the USA. This puts new brands in the consideration set for many consumers. However, businesses must employ a marketing strategy to increase brand awareness. Limited budgets mean marketers opt for brand awareness through digital marketing. They choose to increase brand awareness on social media and generate a digital buzz. The target audience is scrolling on social media, searching for product reviews, talking to new brands – enquiring, and purchasing.
At Mindstorm – a digital marketing consultant in Mumbai – we help small brands build brand awareness through digital marketing. Our social media marketing experts create strategies and campaigns to increase brand awareness on social media. Today, we’re sharing what brand awareness through digital marketing in 2022 means and what brands should know.
1. Brand Awareness through Content Marketing and PR
The fastest way to build brand awareness in 2022 is to deliver meaningful, value-added content to your audience. This value could be entertainment, information, visual beauty, amazing audio, or stunning videos. Content on digital platforms should encourage the consumer to interact with the brand, search for your business and find it through various pieces of content. What do we mean?
Hubspot’s state of content marketing report shows that 47% of buyers view three to five pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep. This is content marketing in play.
Let’s give you an example of these 3 to 5 pieces of content, considering a health food company:
– Social media post talking about good health and good food
– Quick-read blog on how good food helps keep long term illnesses such as diabetes in check
– Webinar or podcast with a fitness expert on good food and health
– Reviews or testimonials about your product and brand from customers on the website and other platforms
– An email that talks about your products and their benefits and how they can purchase it
Marketers’ primary goals for running marketing campaigns are brand awareness, increasing sales, and increasing engagement. Thus, in 2022, businesses cannot treat digital content in isolation. PR is driven through content. So, it makes sense to team up content with PR and create synergy.
- PR collaborations on digital media,
- Guest blog writing,
- Hosting LIVE sessions with experts on your Instagram Live, or
- YouTube videos by influencers.
- Podcasts are gaining traction. Can your business talk about issues surrounding the product and brand? Can your brand become part of another’s podcast?
See that synergy? These tactics build a fantastic marketing strategy to increase brand awareness for small businesses.
2. Increase Brand Awareness on Social Media
Unless your business is critical, comes with a monopoly and zero competition in the economy – your business needs social media. Practically, every business irrespective of size has social media presence today. We’re not going to tell you why your business needs to be there – you already know!
What you should know in 2022 is how to increase brand awareness on social media. A detailed, well-thought-out, and practical social media marketing strategy is vital to increase brand awareness for small businesses. Limited budgets and resources mean crafting a social media strategy that is tactical, budget-friendly, and efficient.
– You can’t have a social media presence on all platforms unless you have the budgets, content, and resources to do so. Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are great platforms, to begin with. Start there.
– Building a great profile on a social network is not enough. You need to create great content too. (Read point #1) The most common types of content your brand can look at creating are images (80%), videos (63%), blogs (60%), and live video (35%).
– Distributing your content is equally important. Don’t rely on organic growth alone. The sustained year-long activity of paid campaigns can do wonders for brand awareness.
– Social media is all about community, collaborations, and connections. Collaborate with influencers to increase brand awareness. Build a community with UGC and ask followers to share your content – it works like a digital word of mouth. Connect by interacting with followers, responding to them, and driving brand awareness through better digital customer experiences.
3. Brand Awareness Through Digital Customer Experiences
The statistics of a study in 2017 hold even in 2022. Around 68% of consumers shared that a single bad customer experience is enough for them to swear off a brand. Around 60% consider it a bad customer experience if they don’t get a response after reaching out to a brand on a social network.
Small businesses need to step up their Online Reputation Management (ORM) game. Not only is ORM key to customer conversation, but it is also one of the ways for brands to measure customer satisfaction.
Hubspot shows that 39% of social media users expect a response within 60 minutes. The average response time for businesses is about five hours. The average response time for companies on Twitter is 33 minutes and 44 seconds. If your average response time is less than five minutes for the past seven days, Facebook will put a badge on your page that reads “Very responsive to messages.
The social media response isn’t restricted to complaints. Customers message brands all the time to know about pricing, store timings, deals of the day, and more. This message is as good as a proper business inquiry. It is a reflection of all the efforts involved to increase brand awareness on social media. Business owners may not be able to attend to all inquiries. It is best to hire an agency such as Mindstorm – ORM Agency in Mumbai or a dedicated person in-house to respond on digital platforms.
4. Advertising to Drive Brand Awareness for Small Business
Deloitte Digital Media Trends report shows that, two channels on digital media persuade and influence the buying decision of younger generations. Social media influencers and ads on social media.
“55% of Generation Z and 66% of Millennials said that ads on social media are influential. They also typically liked ads on social media more than ads in streaming video content and other channels”
Your business’s brand awareness marketing strategy must have a healthy mix of social media paid campaigns, native advertising, and Google Ad campaigns. Brand awareness ads on social media channels take your brand to a new set of audiences targeted on specific demographics and preferences. It encourages these new audiences to start following you and shop from you. Brand awareness ads also facilitate improved reach and recall online and offline.
Native advertising is a seamless promotion of your brand within a website like an ad, blog, or article. The ads look consistent with the feel of the website that consumers think is part of it. Notice the ‘sponsored ad’ or ‘Promoted’ that comes in the fine print. With more consumers becoming resistant to advertising, native ads help in driving brand awareness.
5. Brand Awareness through SEO and Website
The power of a brand website is grossly underestimated. Several small businesses find the cost and time involved in building a website intimidating. Nothing builds brand awareness better than having your brand website and optimizing it with SEO.
A brand website is a key tool in building consumer trust in the brand. While a customer might google your brand, or find your brand via an ad, a brand website seals the purchase deal. A website that resembles an offline brochure will not cut it.
The website must be designed in a way to offer consumers maximum shareable content from your brand. Blogging is one of the best ways to drive brand awareness. What do you talk about in your blogs? Don’t outright push and promote products and shopping in the website blogs. Let’s take the example of healthy food. Topics can range from physical and mental fitness to learning about the benefits of certain key ingredients from your products.
More importantly, drive an active effort on your blog and your website through SEO. Search Engine Optimization done right, can break through the clutter and attract consumers from across the globe. Rich user-related keywords, industry-related keywords, product-related keywords, or information-related keywords – all help create an SEO -friendly website.
“According to Hubspot, 61% of B2B marketers stated that SEO and organic traffic generate more leads than any other marketing initiative.”
Creating a brand awareness marketing strategy in 2022
The digital world and global economy are evolving and getting cluttered day by day. Brands need to break through this clutter so that consumers become aware of them. Consumers are willing to try new brands and products, provided businesses invest in a long-term brand awareness strategy. Mindstorm helps companies across industries, such as health, tourism, consumer durables, FMCG, and more with a marketing strategy to increase brand awareness. Drop us a mail at aniketh@mindstorm.in to find out how your business can drive brand awareness through digital marketing.
