Your ultimate goal as a business owner is to earn the attention of your customers—that’s obvious. But what’s not so obvious is how you connect with your adoring fans and how you can reach new ones. In this post, we’re reviewing 5 tips for growing brand awareness to help you improve your business and maximize your profits.
1) Get to know your target audience
According to a study from the International Council of Shopping Centers, 82% of adults say they are loyal to certain brands of products and don’t tend to buy from competing brands. But how do these brands keep the attention of their audience? It’s really as simple as knowing their customers. Whether that means building products that fulfill their needs, marketing on the channels they use most, or anticipating and answering customer questions. Here are a few tips to help you establish a stronger connection to your target audience.
Establish buyer personas
Having a specific idea of who your customers are will help you learn how they prefer to communicate, what their pain points are, and most importantly what will turn them into lifelong supporters of your brand. Try creating a buyer persona for each type of customer you have. You can have more than one, but make sure that your target personas are unique and very specific—this will foster a better understanding of each.
Here are some ideas of what to include in your buyer personas:
- Name
- Age
- Hobbies
- Decision-making process: do they research a product for a long time or not at all?
- Pain points: what problem are they trying to solve?
- Preferred marketing channels: do they prefer social media, email, print, or text marketing?
- Why they need your product
Ask for feedback
Rather than guessing what your customers need, why not just ask them point blank? Send out a survey to recent customers and ask them how their experience has been, what they think could be improved, etc. This information can help you better train sales representatives and refine your operations all around.
2) Build personal and digital connections
One of the first things they teach you in business school (and the school of life for that matter), is that it’s all about who you know. Establishing a network of connections can help you:
- Generate new customer leads
- Recruit talent
- Create brand awareness
Networking has evolved over the years. Trade shows and branded custom socks are still major players in many industries, but if you want to really make an impact on your market, you’ll have to connect online too.
Depending on your industry affiliate marketing may be a great way to reach audiences on social media. Basically, you hire an influencer and pay them to promote your product to followers that fall within your target audience categories. This can be an effective strategy for B2C companies—especially those that are in health and beauty, nutrition, and fashion.
3) Stand out from the crowd
In order to make an impression on your potential customers, you need to stand out from your competition. Highlight what makes you different—maybe it’s design, renowned customer service, or great deals. Whatever it is that you have to show off, be sure to incorporate it into your brand messaging throughout all of your marketing efforts and interactions with customers.
Here are some creative ways to stand out amongst your fiercest competition:
- Offer giveaway specials
- Be creative about your display advertising
- Build a brand style guide
4) Establish a great reputation
66% of consumers say customer service is very important to their brand loyalty. Not only can bad customer impact your sales but a handful of negative reviews can totally tarnish your reputation. Word travels fast (especially on the internet), so it’s incredibly important to make sure your sales, customer service, and brand representatives are all on the same page when it comes to customer relations.
5) Be consistent
Consistency is the key to successful businesses. From customer service to brand voice and style, your business should have a refined appearance through and through. This makes your brand feel more familiar to customers and ensures that your high-quality standards are being reflected throughout everything you do.
Takeaways
Building awareness for your brand can be a challenging task but by following these 5 tips, you’ll become a leader in your market in no time!