Brand awareness is a measure of what consumers think and know about your business. It is also what differentiates your business from your competitors. For instance, you probably remember the Chick-fil-A ad where cows are putting up a sign that says, “Eat more chicken,” or know that Google puts up a fun doodle as part of their logo on holidays.
Getting people to know and remember your business is the goal of brand awareness. Take a look at these four ways you can increase yours in 2013.
1. Use the Same Logo and Brand Colors on Everything
You should spend time and money creating a logo and image for your company that you can use consistently across platforms. It would confuse customers if you have a black and yellow logo on Facebook, but then your website doesn’t incorporate those colors at all. Your brand awareness will increase if people can easily recognize your logo and image.
2. Be Consistent with Your Company Message
In addition to a consistent brand logo and image, your messaging needs to be consistent to increase your brand awareness. For instance, everyone recognizes Mercedes-Benz as a luxury car company. Customers know that they can buy an awesome car packed with technology features and things that other car manufacturers do not offer.
People would be confused if Mercedes-Benz started selling pickup trucks and minivans, especially if they didn’t have that luxury image. So, decide what you want customers to think about your company and then be consistent with that message.
3. Fix Any Damage Caused to Your Reputation
It’s impossible to control everything your employees and customers say about your company. Therefore, you need to seek out any damage caused to your reputation and try to reverse it. This means looking in chat rooms and resolving questions and misconceptions, as well as holding press conferences to clear up confusion for your customers.
Take a look at the overview of Reputation.com to see how to do this. Yes, you want to take preventive measures, but you also have to be ready for when something happens that damages your reputation. If you don’t watch your reputation carefully, it could easily get to a point that is irreversible.
4. Offer the Best Customer Service Possible
Have you ever waited on the phone to talk to a representative that ended up being less than helpful? Most people have. When your customer service department is slow, lazy, and lacking in training, your customers can tell. And, they’re likely to tell their friends about it. Of course, the same is true if you offer the best customer service possible. Word-of-mouth advertising is still a very important form of marketing.
Brand awareness is about creating an image, message, and reputation that customers will remember and stand behind. If you listen to your customers and are willing to change, your business will be a lot better off in 2013. One thing that all successful businesses have in common is that they work on their brand awareness and consistently deliver quality products and services that customers want to use over and over.
