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These are terrifying statistics for anyone wondering how to get their brand noticed online. How can you get your brand out there when there’s so much other content crowding the online space?
The answer is to increase your brand awareness. Brand awareness will bring your brand to the top of your ideal customers’ minds – even with all the other brands fighting for their attention.
There are several ways to increase brand awareness, but there’s one way that beats them all: working with creators. Ready to learn how to drive more brand awareness with creators? Let’s dive in.
What is brand awareness?
Brand awareness is the knowledge and perception your ideal customers have of your company. It’s more than just knowing the company’s name. According to Qualtrics, there are three parts to brand awareness: brand name or logo awareness, product awareness, and awareness of core brand values.
Qualtrics also explains that there are two types of brand awareness: aided and unaided. Aided brand awareness is someone’s ability to correctly identify your brand name among other brands that sell similar products. But unaided brand awareness goes a step further.
If someone has unaided awareness of your brand, that means they can recall your brand without any clues given to them except your brand category. For example, if the category is pizza and someone mentions Domino’s, that means Domino’s has achieved unaided brand awareness with that person.
Unaided brand awareness is the magic thing every brand wants. But it’s hard to make that happen. Quick tip: Keep in mind that a brand is more than a logo and some colors. A brand has emotions, meaning, values, and a story.
How does your brand make people feel? Energized? Calm? Nostalgic? Safe?
Getting clear on that is the first step to increasing brand awareness. It’s not enough for people to know your brand name and products. They have to associate your brand with positive feelings. People want to buy things that make them feel good.
Brand awareness success metrics to consider
Okay, you know why it’s important to increase your brand awareness. But what does “increased brand awareness” actually look like for your brand?
Different brands are different. Your company’s brand awareness goals should be based on your industry, the size of your company, how long you’ve been in business, and your big-picture vision. Here are some things to think about when planning your brand awareness strategy.
Signs you need more brand awareness
Low sales: This is the most obvious sign, since it’s easy to see if your sales numbers are lagging. The good news is that brand awareness can turn those sales numbers around.
Social media and email stats plateauing: If your social media numbers have barely increased over the last few months, and not many people are signing up to your email list, it probably means your brand isn’t visible enough. Not enough people are aware your brand exists.
Paid ads not working: This means you’re spending money on paid ads that aren’t converting well. It could be that the ads need better copy or graphics, or maybe the ads are being shown to people who aren’t your ideal customers. Focusing on brand awareness strategies can help you create better ads.
Losing business to competitors with lower prices: If you notice that a competitor seems to be doing well and they charge lower prices, a lack of brand awareness is the reason. Your ideal customers may be aware that your brand exists, but they aren’t aware of what makes you different. So they buy the cheaper alternative.
Getting a lot of “obvious” questions: What questions are people asking in your social media comments and emails? If you’re getting lots of questions about your company/products that seem obvious to you, it’s a sign that something’s off in your brand’s communication and messaging. People don’t understand the basics of your brand. (Time to write/update your FAQ page.)
Signs of strong brand awareness
More sales: Yep, it’s the biggest reason to increase your brand awareness. More brand awareness = more people knowing, liking, and trusting your brand = more people clicking “Place Order.”
More social media followers and email list signups: When it comes to brand awareness, these two metrics are better than views and likes. When people follow or sign up, it means there’s something about your brand that resonated with them and they expect to see more great things from you.
Non-promotional content gets good engagement: Whether it’s an email newsletter, podcast episode, TikTok video, or other content, if you’re creating content that’s more than just a sales pitch (meaning it’s informative, inspirational, or entertaining) and it’s getting good engagement, that’s a sign of strong brand awareness. If people are engaging with content that does more than promote your products, that means they see more to your brand than just your products. They associate your brand with positive feelings.
Customers show off your products on social media: If people are using your products and posting about them on social media without being asked to, that’s an awesome sign. Your brand means so much to these customers that they’re excited to show off your products to their friends, because they want to be associated with your brand. Now that’s brand awareness!
Cheaper businesses aren’t your competitors: One of the best things about brand awareness is that it protects you from getting undercut by companies that sell similar things but cheaper. When you have a distinct brand, those other businesses are no longer your competitors. Your customers know that your brand is different and they want to stay loyal to your brand.
Numbers to keep in mind
When you’re setting brand awareness goals, you need numeric goals to measure success. But these numbers can be hard to decide on because they depend on your company’s unique circumstances. Here are a few numbers to get you started:
Instagram engagement rate is a measure of multiple things such as comments, likes, and shares. The average Instagram engagement rate ranges from 1.44% (real estate, tech, and travel) to 2.26% (government). You can see that the average is different in different industries.
Email open rate measures how many of your subscribers are opening your emails, and clickthrough rate measures how many people click a link in the email.
The average email open rate ranges all the way from 26.48% (finance) to 43.75% (government, again!).
The average email CTR ranges from 1.60% (restaurants and food) to 4.61% (telecommunications), with one outlier, educational institutions, which has an amazing 12.55%.
With Facebook ads there are several numbers to keep track of, one of which is clickthrough rate. The numbers differ between traffic and lead campaigns.
Traffic campaigns get people to click to your website or landing page. The average traffic campaign clickthrough rate is 1.57%, though as always, it depends on industry.
Lead campaigns get people to fill out a form with their contact info, and they’re not necessarily going to your website. The average lead campaign CTR is 8.78%.
There’s also website conversion rate, which measures the number of people who take actions on your website like making a purchase or signing up for emails.
The average website conversion rate ranges from 2% to 5% depending on the industry, but the finance industry is an outlier with 11.19%!
When it comes to ecommerce specifically, arts and crafts leads the way with 3.06%, while baby and child ecommerce websites have the lowest conversion rate at 0.39%.
Again, these numbers are just to get you started. It’s okay if your company’s goals are different from what you see here. Numbers can be tricky… but the tips below will help you raise your numbers by raising your brand awareness.
6 ways to increase brand awareness using creator content
Ready to take your name recognition to the next level? Here are six of our favorite brand awareness tactics to implement with creator content.
Appeal to people’s hobbies and personality traits.
What kind of person is the ideal customer for your brand? What are their hobbies and personality traits? There can be more than one answer to this question. It’s important to create content that appeals to these hobbies and personality traits.
The watch company Citizen collaborated with Bradley Hasemeyer, a creator who posts about cars, outdoor adventures, and dad life. Bradley makes it clear that Citizen watches are great for outdoorsy people who love exploring, because the watches are made of resilient materials. You can see that part of Citizen’s brand is about appealing to people who like to be active outdoors. There are also other aspects of their brand that are shown in their other content.
Touch people’s emotions.
If you’re wondering how to get people to associate your brand with positive feelings, you can do that with content that evokes emotion. When your content makes people feel something, you’ll make them want to learn more about your brand.
Take a look at Yitahome’s collab with Toy Testing Sisters, for example. The company was promoting a swivel egg chair, and the video shows a mom and daughter using the chair for reading. What makes this video special is the mom’s story about how her first grade teacher made her feel discouraged about reading. Today she encourages her children to love reading. This video shows that Yitahome cares about the meaning and happy memories created when people use their products.
Show what your brand believes in.
People are more likely to be loyal to brands that represent their values and beliefs. What does your brand believe in? No, this doesn’t mean you have to talk politics and religion. There are other kinds of beliefs your brand can express.
Something Coach believes in is that no one is perfect and everyone should be confident and embrace their imperfections. In this video with Storm Reid and this one with Youngji Lee, Coach isn’t explicitly promoting their products. Instead, the content expresses the brand’s belief about imperfections. This gives more depth and meaning to the brand.
Associate your brand with something your ideal customer desires.
Customers aren’t buying your products just for practical reasons. They have desires that go beyond the functions of the products. You can raise your brand awareness by making content that appeals to your ideal customers’ desires.
One thing that Emtek Products sells is doorknobs. The company made a video with Amanda Warren in which Amanda shows off the Emtek door knobs in her house. Working with Amanda was a smart choice because her content always displays her beautiful home and the beautiful foods she makes in it. That’s what her audience likes to see. This collaboration boosted Emtek’s brand awareness by making people aware that Emtek is where to go if you desire to upgrade your home and make your living space luxurious.
Support worthy causes.
Increasing brand awareness and supporting a worthy cause at the same time? It’s a win-win. You can collaborate with creators and with charities so your brand name will reach a wider audience, and the charity will get a much-needed donation boost.
In the video above, Milk-Bone collabed with Tori Nishino and the Kauai Humane Society. This feel-good video features a shelter dog who’s clearly full of energy and fun! The content not only promotes the Kauai Humane Society; it also shows viewers that dogs are happy to eat Milk-Bone treats. People who see this may want to get Milk-Bone treats for their own dog. They’ll also be motivated to support KHS or their own local animal shelter.
Give behind-the-scenes peeks.
You’ve seen in these examples how valuable it is to work with creators to get exposure for your brand. But don’t just think of the value of the finished content. There’s value in the whole process. Giving viewers sneak peeks of the content creation process builds excitement and makes your brand memorable.
In case you had any doubt that content creators are the future, the above video from Gillette should clear that up. Gillette teamed up with creator Kevin Fitzgibbons to shoot promo content featuring football star Christian McCaffrey. You can see behind-the-scenes clips of how the videos were made. Gillette is sending a message that they support creators and they believe creators are a major influence in today’s culture. We can’t help but agree.
Key takeaway: Creators help people remember your brand.
Working with creators is a way for your brand to get noticed among all the other content your ideal customer is seeing. When you collab with creators, your brand gets put into the spotlight in front of a new audience. Here’s your chance to show why you’re different!
Once more people are aware of what makes your brand special, you can forget about “competitors” since your brand will be top of mind. So if you’re thinking about working with creators, now is the time – because it’s time for your brand to get the attention it deserves.
