1. Partner with companies that emit trust

Some brands have worked really hard to get to where they are. Think of any big name like Toyota, Microsoft, or Nivea. Everyone knows these brands and most find them trustworthy. Why not leverage their strong presence to push your brand out there as well?

Yoghurt, LLC is a (fictional) food company selling Greek-style frozen yoghurt lollies. A small business on a budget, they decided to delve into brand collaborations on various social media channels. One of their most successful means of collaboration has been Facebook competitions as they find them “an inexpensive way to reach lots of people, build great relationships with other brands and they are also very targeted.”

Yoghurt, LLC have increased their brand awareness using this tactic and this can be seen clearly in their campaigns. For instance, the brand teamed up with another food company to give away a package of food from both brands. Just 9 hours after the competition was launched, the post had a reach of 3,630. This post performed 95% better than other posts on their page.

If your brand has the opportunity to work with a well-known and trusted brand, take it. People will start to associate your brand with a known one, and if they find this brand trustworthy, then most likely they will also think the same about yours. For instance, if someone sees your brand in partnership with Microsoft, that person will feel more at ease buying from you because you are now somehow “validated”. The end goal is that when they think of Microsoft, something in their brain will trigger and think of your brand too. This association will help increase your brand awareness.

Also, big companies have thousands of employees. Those are people who are now aware of your brand, and perhaps potential clients of yours.

But don’t restrict yourself to just doing partnerships with big companies (which can be hard to get). Smaller brands will also have access to people who don’t already know who you are. The main thing is to ensure you chose the right counterpart: a brand offering a product or service complementary to yours or one that offers something that you don’t.

2. Make the most of influencer marketing

Love it or hate it, influencer marketing is going nowhere in 2021. Especially if your brand is targeting a younger age range. A 2020 study by Econsultancy on influencer marketing reported that “61% of consumers, aged 18 to 34, have at some point been swayed in their decision-making by digital influencers.”

Now, there is a catch-22 in influencer marketing. Naturally, if you are using it to increase brand awareness, you want to partner with the influencers who have the biggest following. However, that is not necessarily going to bring you the most value. In an age where authenticity is valued most in retail, micro-influencers are the way to go. They may have a lower reach but, according to that same Econsultancy post, “Micro-influencers overtake top-tier talent, and 61% of consumers say they produce the most relatable content”. If you are going to increase brand awareness, increase positive brand awareness.

Mini Case Study: Zara

In 2019, Zara experienced the benefits of using micro-influencers for their campaigns. The fashion brand launched the #DearSouthAfrica campaign to coincide with the official opening of their online store in South Africa. The day before the big launch, Zara was the only top trending name globally, thanks to the highly-engaged audiences that micro-influencers usually have. The hashtag, which was trending at number 6, reached 6.25 million people worldwide, climbing to 7.88 million by the time of the store launch.

3. Harness the power of content marketing

Content marketing is not just about keyword rankings and backlinks. It is also an amazing way to tell a story. And telling the right story, one that will resonate with your target audience, will result in increased brand awareness.

Another way of achieving recall with your audience is to release consistent campaign imagery. Whenever you post something on social media, you can repeatedly use visual elements like a certain color palette, a border style or pattern, or even a particular font to increase familiarization with potential customers. This is one way of strengthening brand awareness through content marketing.”

Other marketing tactics like paid ads can tell people who your brand is and what you are selling, but content marketing can show what your brand represents and the qualities that make it unique. One way to do this is by telling your story online. Provide people with information on how you started, what you believe in, what your company values are, and how you have succeeded to date. People love to connect with brands on a more personal level so, by telling them your story, you have increased your chances of being remembered.

4. SEO and brand awareness

The inclusion of SEO in this article will come as no surprise. There are many ways in which to use SEO to increase brand awareness but in this instance, we will focus specifically on targeting long-tail keywords.

It’s as simple as this: high search engine rankings will do wonders for your brand awareness. Not only will your brand be easier to find, the higher you rank, the more credible your brand will be in the eyes of your audience. Bear in mind, however, that this really is a long-term strategy, especially for those coveted first-page spots. But again, it is worth it.

Using the right keywords in your campaigns is key here.

And if you really want to get the most out of search engines, choosing long-tail keywords that are relevant for your industry, are good for local search, and fit with your brand is vital. This is what will happen over time: your target audience will search for a product or service in your business category and will be exposed to your website and brand if they are well-positioned.

Amazon is a company that makes the most out of long-tail keywords. In fact, they generate 57% of book sales due to long-tail product descriptions. They are catching those consumers who are highly motivated to purchase a certain product.

You don’t have to use SEO just to appear in search results for keywords. It is also possible to use SEO to appear in search results and increase brand awareness by focusing on increasing review.

5. Be aware of what is going on around you

All the tips we have provided up to this point all need one additional ingredient to succeed: awareness. Not the brand awareness we have been discussing but your marketing team’s awareness of what is happening in their industry: what does your target audience want? How can you help them?

Being aware of what’s going on around you should not only adhere to your target audience (although they are most important) but also marketing trends. Take video content, for instance. Online video consumption has been rising globally over the last years, with an expectation of 100 minutes watchtime per day by 2021. Considering 83% of marketers already believe that video is becoming increasingly important, it’s not a trend you want to be left behind on.

6. Go offline

There is value in conferences to increase brand awareness. Events like conferences or podcasts are great ways to promote your brand. As well as getting some remuneration for appearing on these podcasts, it’s a great way to boost your brand recognition and authority.