If You Build It...
How much does brand recognition actually matter? A lot, if you believe the statistics. In a 1990 study by Wayne D. Hoyer and Steven P. Brown, 74.5 percent of participants chose the known brand when "awareness was present but no quality difference existed between brands." And while the study may be a bit dated, the findings are not—it remains one of the most oft-cited and influential examinations of the power of brand awareness.
Small businesses can't afford to ignore those numbers—but that doesn't mean they have to break the bank to build brand recognition. For every Apple or Coca-Cola, there's a thousand businesses that do just fine without multimillion-dollar Super Bowl commercials or logos on every billboard. Thanks to social media, e-commerce, and word-of-mouth made easier by the Internet, there are more avenues for brand-building than ever before, allowing businesses to focus more on target markets and less on big ad spend.
Not sure where to start? Here are six ways businesses of any size can boost brand recognition.
1. Know Your Identity
If you don't know what your brand is about, there's a good chance consumers won't either. That makes it necessary for businesses to first have a clear mission statement and a cohesive identity before attempting to build brand recognition.
"The biggest mistake I have witnessed is when a brand strays from its core competency and creates a campaign that doesn't resonate with the consumer," said Jay Deutsch, co-founder and CEO of BDA Inc., Woodinville, Wash. "Consumers build emotional attachments to brands not because of what the company does, but because of why the company exists. The 'why' allows the consumer to identify with a brand. Figure out why your brand exists and the brand-building decisions become easy."
2. Encourage Word-of-mouth
Jason Black, CEO of Austin, Texas-based Boundless Network, pointed to word-of-mouth as one of the best ways for brands to establish themselves. "The single most important brand recognition strategy would be to have your customers telling your 'brand story' for you," he explained. "This will give you significantly more brand leverage than you telling the story."
So, how do you get people talking? Black recommended weighing "external focus versus internal focus," requiring businesses to have not just a clear understanding of their brand, but also consistent messaging that connects with the consumer. "The No. 1 key is being patient and being consistent," said Black. "Be passionate about your brand and express it in a manner that best relates to the customers [you] are marketing to. The key is consistency and packaging the content in an interesting manner."
3. Learn from Big Corporations (But Don't Try to Be Them)
For a smaller company, the temptation might be to look at big corporations and try to emulate their brand-building strategies. This isn't a bad idea—so long as smaller businesses keep expectations realistic. "Major corporations have the opportunity to create some really great, large-scale brand-building campaigns and companies of all sizes can take marketing cues from the likes of Coca-Cola, AT&T, Geico and Ford [...]," Deutsch explained. "But usually with major brand-power comes marketing budgets to match. What small businesses can learn from those types of companies is their ability to build strong brand affinity," he continued. "Any business can mirror campaigns in a smaller-scale, boot-strapped way—making sure the emotion your campaigns instill are consistent across all avenues."
4. Leverage Social Media
Social media can be used to drive traffic, engage customers and, to some extent, boost sales. But its real value lies elsewhere: A Social Media Marketing University survey found that 79.4 percent of businesses use Twitter to increase brand awareness. If you're not already using social media in this way, now's the time to start. "Today, social media is the most popular and efficient way for consumers to share their brand experiences, and we want to make sure we take advantage of that opportunity as much as possible," Deutsch explained.
Want to take it a step further? Try combining social media brand-building tactics with traditional methods. "Social campaigns have the power of immediate gratification, but alone the value is limited to a moment in time," added Deutsch. "By combining social campaigns with branded merchandise, it's possible to drive impression value long after the campaign is over."
5. Leave Your Comfort Zone
As of Jan. 1, 2014, the all-time most-shared Super Bowl ad was Volkswagens' "The Force," a 30-second spot involving a kid dressed as Darth Vader. Car companies aren't exactly known for imagination, but Volkswagen got creative, and the results—nearly 60 million views on YouTube—show what can happen when a business is willing to try something different. The same holds true for all forms of brand-building. "The most effective brand strategies involve taking risk," Black explained. "Be willing to step outside the box. Push the envelope and do things that may be perceived as 'wacky' by folks. Until you are willing to step outside your comfort zone, branding efforts will tend to be boring and dry."
6. Use Multiple Channels
There's no single method that guarantees brand-building success. The most effective approach combines multiple channels, including everything from blogs, email newsletters and video to social media and print ads. "It must be a multifaceted approach," said Deutsch. "Businesses typically have a collection of goals to achieve, and there is no one strategy to accomplish them all. We do our best work when all creative agencies are brought to the table for an open discussion—that's when the real strategy and magic happens."