All companies aim to strengthen their brands and be remembered in a positive way by consumers and users alike. Doing so lets businesses increase their relevance in the market and, as a result, their sales. So working on brand awareness is imperative. And inbound marketing for brand awareness is a very effective potential strategy here.
But before we go any further, we need to fully understand what brand awareness is. The good news is that, while it may seem complicated, “brand awareness” is in fact nothing more than the awareness which the public has in relation to your company. This is considered to be an important metric among managers and communication professionals, for measuring to what extent the brand is being recognized by consumers, and what still needs to be worked on to achieve more significant results.
One way to boost your company’s brand awareness is through Inbound Marketing. In fact, increased brand awareness is typically one of the most immediate results of this strategy. Inbound Marketing allows us to create a lasting relationship with potential customers without scaring them away with direct advertising, which is the domain of Content Marketing.
The key word here is ‘relevance’. To increase your company’s brand awareness, you need to make it as relevant as possible, to the point where it’s among the first names — or even the very first name — that spring to consumers’ minds in any given segment.
By implementing inbound marketing for brand awareness, we can reach target audiences with truly relevant content, presenting your company as a benchmark in their field.
These terms may seem complex, so let’s look at an example in which they are easy to understand.
Suppose a pet products company is looking to strengthen its brand using inbound marketing. Rather than simply trying to convince the public to buy its products, it will use several content strategies to appeal to consumers and guide them through the necessary steps from initial knowledge of the brand to conversion.
The first step is to focus on themes and formats which are of interest to the target audience. Some options include:
- creating a blog whose articles discuss acclimatizing pets to a new home;
- posting tips on social media exploring how to travel with your pet;
- launching a podcast discussing animal health care.
Potential customers who are interested in the pet world will seek out these tips online by themselves, and will end up getting to know the company with the answers to their questions. All-important brand awareness is generated during this first contact.
Of course, this example is a simplified version of an inbound marketing strategy. In practice, all content – whether from the top, middle or bottom of the funnel – is created following extensive research into target audiences and their interests.
The internet has completely transformed the way we do business, and represents a great opportunity when planning an all-important strategy for inbound marketing.
In this case the first step is to clearly define your company’s objectives and the target audience with whom you wish to communicate. Having done so, get to know the needs of these people, and their go-to sources of information, so you can create and disseminate content assertively and accurately.
While securing leads, or prospective customer contacts, using e-books may work well for a brand in another industry, it may not work for yours. The support of a specialized agency or, at the very least, extensive research into your target audience, is recommended if you want to make the best choices.
Having thoroughly analysed the content consumption habits of the people you are hoping to reach when building brand awareness, you’ll have a few options at your disposal. They include:
- Blog: setting up a blog which regularly published relevant content;
- Social Media: managing pages on social media which are appropriate for your target audience, and boost your online presence;
- Quality content: creating high-quality content such as guides, e-books, or podcasts that can be downloaded by the public, containing relevant information, tips and primers;
- Media: creating relevant articles on a number of different topics, which can be shared with the press;
- Email Marketing: setting up a newsletter covering the subjects which matter in the daily lives of your target audience.
These are some of the resources which can be used by companies seeking not only to increase sales of their products or services, but also to solidify brand awareness among their target audience.
Now that you know the basic building blocks of Inbound Marketing for Brand Awareness, it’s time to get started. alternatively, your company can call upon a communications professional or experienced Marketing agency to help expand your results even further. This extra support can help you get the most out of your strategy, and go far beyond the audience awareness stage.
