Brand Awareness: nearly everything you need to know

Why do you get along with the people around you? Think of your friends, family, and colleagues. Why are you close? Why do they contact you? Why do you meet up?

Something you did, something you said, or something you responded to genuinely connected with them. You touched on an important value, and that laid the foundation for trust—the basis of any solid relationship.

I’m also sure of what you didn’t do. Which was rambling off a list of traits about yourself, or why you’re such a great person. Yet some people do that. Ever notice how you tend to avoid them?

Brands are exactly the same. Take milk for example.

In the ‘90s, the dairy industry had a sales problem. To market their main product, they focused on why their product was good for people. You know, calcium for bones, helps us grow, being the big boss of the dairy food group, etc. But nothing happened. Sales stayed stagnant for years.

Then they launched the famous “Got Milk” campaign and sales exploded. Why? Because suddenly, milk had a brand identity.

Notice how the campaign didn’t even talk about the product. No listing of lactose superpowers, no photos of tall Dutch people, no children dipping Oreos into little white baths.

Instead, “Got Milk” talked about what milk means to us—its function as the universal staple in everybody’s fridge. And the campaign speaks to that point by highlighting the letdown that we feel whenever we run out.

Everyone can relate to that, and it creates a connection between the brand and the customer. Actually, a major connection since the campaign outperformed the efforts of big beer companies and every soft drink manufacturer at the time.

So let’s break it down.

“Got Milk” encapsulated milk’s values, traits, and personality into a concept that people could identify with. Sure, it was clever advertising and PR, but the tidal wave happened because the brand found a genuine connection with its customers.

By going with “staple status” as its brand identity, it made it easy for people to respond. From there, brand awareness expanded organically.

And that’s exactly what you should do.

Make it easy for people to respond to your brand, and let awareness spread like a fresh pack of Velveeta.

People can’t trust you if they don’t know you. So where do you start? Or maybe more importantly: why do you start? Because these things are happening:

• Your social media followers are all people who have been in your kitchen.

• After presentations, your audience pulls out their smelling salts.

• Your Twitter name is “Mute Hermit.”

• Someone said “Index on Google!” so you pressed your index finger on the screen.

• People try your product, like it, but still leap out from your funnel.

• You need to ramble-off competitors so people know what you do. “We’re like Uber, but for unicycles!”

 Why are these things happening? One major reason, get your pencil out. Actually, tattoo it on your face: Brand equity.

Here’s how you achieve it.

Unique yet similar: how to earn brand equity

Ever been to an industry tradeshow? No? Imagine it anyway. Picture a large windowless hangar buzzing with thousands of me-too products, doing similar things, to solve similar problems.

Believe it or not, most of these products—although competitors—are built in the exact same factories.

Now as you stroll through the tradeshow floor, you’ll notice that some brands can afford booths that look like Hollywood film sets, while other companies have people sitting in prison-like cells playing Parcheesi.

Why does this happen?

Short answer: they built more dominant brand equity. In other words, customers are willing to line up for their products despite the premium price.

How did they do it? Why do brands pop into people’s heads whenever a need goes unfulfilled? Who becomes so famous that they become a verb?

“Let’s Google that.”

“Can you Xerox this?”

“Hey, my kneecaps need a good scrape, let’s go Rollerblading this weekend.”

First of all, top-of-mind brands with strong brand equity don’t have an identity crisis. Customers know what experience to expect from their products, and they get why the company is “different” from others—or remember the reasons why the company says they are.

Here’s how you start earning brand equity.

1. Research and get to know your people

You have no idea who someone is, or what they think, until you actually talk to them. So find out who your customers are.

How do you do that?

Create and send a survey to gain insights into customer behavior. What are they after? Where do they live? How old are they?

Then adjust who you are to accommodate their preferences.

Here’s Debbie Chew, head of operations and marketing at Codementor, with more first steps for assessing brand awareness:

• Monitor communications channels: what questions are people asking and how well do they understand your company?

• Send out a customer feedback survey: what feedback are you getting from your users and do they have any misconceptions of your product or values?

• Round up articles in your industry: how often are you mentioned compared to your competitors?

>> “Remember, companies are like chameleons.”

Chameleons made of plasticine. Plasticine chameleons with sponge-like absorption powers. Kind of like Madonna.

They can be shaped to fit any customer or market need you like.

2. Define a mission and rally around a calling

Your mission statement doesn’t need to be engraved onto a bronze plaque in the cafeteria. It just needs to be relatable, authentic, and pervade from the inside out—which is pretty much the basis of charisma.

Here’s how to make sure your mission has maximal impact:

• Create it with your stakeholders so that everyone buys in.

• Keep it simple, your mission will be more memorable.

• Do it early so that everyone grows in the same direction.

• Make it relatable to staff and customers to energize your fanbase.

Need inspiration? Here’s a few mission statements we like:

TED: Spreading ideas

Toms: Using business to improve lives

Casper: We are how we sleep

Once you’ve got your mission, you can move on to setting your strategy, creating a framework for your messaging, and honing the voice for your content.

Which brings us to our next step.

3. Create a visual identity, then spread it like glitter

Brands that build consistent visual identities save money down the road. Why? Because:

>> “Stunning visuals are future-proof, highly shareable, and package a brand’s personality.”

So choose your visual identity wisely and your brand’s lifetime will be fruitful. The three main things you need to think about are: logo, colors, and typeface.

Need a few ideas to get started? Use Findguidelin.es to check out the brand guidelines behind big names like Spotify, Facebook, and Uber.

When things moved online they got a tad more intricate. Social media metrics. Search traffic. Content creation.

Where do you start?

Keep your eyes on social media

>> “Social media is layered over the internet. It doesn’t cost you money. It costs talent and time, but not money.” Gary Vaynerchuk CEO of VaynerMedia

According to a report by WeberShandwick, 65% of a brand’s reputation comes from its online sociability. Eek, heavy number. So let’s get straight to the point.

What are we after in social media? Brand mentions.

Basically, any time someone names your brand in an online conversation, chalk up a point for your brand awareness. This includes @ mentions on social channels, links to your content, or references to your product or company. Those are the golden eggs you should be sharing with your followers.

Sharing. Easier said than done. Here are some social media communication tips on what to say and when to say it from Olga Adrienko, head of social media at Semrush.

1. Respond as quickly as you can

Don't have an immediate answer? No problem. Use phrases like “Thanks for reaching out,” or “We’ll look into that and get back to you ASAP.”

Let customers know that you read their comment. It makes them feel heard and buys you extra time.

2. Keep things professional

Feel a certain way about an edgy comment? Ignore your personal feelings. Remember, the customer has their reasons and those reasons are always right.

3. Don’t make mistakes

Everything you publish from your official account has to be 100% grammatically correct.

4. Never delete a comment from a client

One exception: vulgarity. And even then, best practice is to send the user a private message that you’ll be reposting the message minus the offensive language.

5. Be honest

Always acknowledge your brand’s mistakes. No one is right all the time, and accepting errors shows the human side of your brand, which helps you win people’s loyalty.

6. Create templates

You’ll see lots of repeated questions—which indicates areas of improvement for your brand. To accelerate replies, prepare an answer doc to frequently asked questions that your social media team can use.

7. Look for positive mentions

We’re so focused on tackling negativity that we often neglect positive feedback. Today, the biggest sign of gratitude from a happy customer is a “like.”

Comment, re-share, post a GIF with a smiley face—make your clients smile over and over.

8. Be proactive

Mentions aren’t always directly connected to your brand, so stay on the lookout. Are you mentioned in a post? Track the article and ask for feedback via social media. But don’t be salesy. Be genuine, show interest in others’ thoughts.

>> “Mentions are the easy part. Companies need to be responsive on social media. And that’s where everybody fails.” - Olga Adrienko head of social media at Semrus

Treat your followers like family

Followers. Also known as the most important people in your network.

How regularly are your followers sharing your content? Who are these generous people? And what makes them want to share?

Here’s a huge tip from Serial Entrepreneur Adam Howell on engaging with your followers:

>> “Create a consistent, positive, emotional feeling with your social media presence by cutting out the fat. This drastically improves your corporate branding by eliminating posts that don’t create the positive response you’re looking for.”

The first place to start?

>> “Stop posting viral videos, irrelevant updates, or re-posting jokes and memes. Leave those to the masses, unless you’re trying to become a comedian. And stay out of religion and politics.”

Look at this way: The internet is like an endless galaxy of information without any surefire map. The only way for information-seekers to find what they’re looking for is by asking for directions.

Yes, of course there’s uncle Google. But even online, a personal touch goes a very long way.

Whenever users share your content, they’re acting like credible virtual guides. Guides that are shepherding their contacts to “information-destinations” and spreading the good word about your brand.

And when that happens, we know that 71% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase.

Plus, the closer the contact, the higher the rate of confidence. That’s right, 92% of people trust the recommendations of family and friends over ads.

So make sure you have quality guides—or relationships—scattered across different verticals. They are the mercenaries of your brand awareness efforts.

Three quick tips to get you started:

1. Get to know your followers, just as you would your customers.

2. Use built-in analytics tools from Twitter and Facebook to analyze their behavior.

3. Communicate with them regularly and select content based on their interests.

Remember that in social media, you’re trying to engage your online community in genuine conversations, not force-feed them accolades.

Author and blogger Seth Godin puts followers into perspective:

>> “Turn strangers into friends. Turn friends into donors. And then do the most important job: turn your donors into fundraisers."

The bigger challenge for your brand will be remaining vigilant, consistent, and treating your brand’s online reputation as a critical business process.

So try to see social media as an exercise in relationship-building rather than a series of one-off events.

Sure, that sounds nice, but how do you put it into practice? Two things you can do right away:

1. Integrate the curation and monitoring of social media directly into your workflow.

2. Engage with your followers on a daily basis.

And remember that it’s not the size of your network that counts, it’s the quality of your relationships. Five hundred quality contacts in your field will perform much better than thousands of fluffy followers.

And one last thing before we move on. Use tech to track your conversations. Missing one slippery tweet can quickly become a big blazing fireball of fear.

Tools we like:

Buffer: scheduled content distribution made super easy

Hootsuite: social media’s mega dashboard mama

Feedly: quickly find and tweet relevant content

Got it? Good.

Now let’s look at the next cornerstone of building your brand awareness empire: traffic. You know, all the other ways people are reaching you and your content.

Trace your search traffic

When not getting recommendations from shares, people are likely finding your brand through searches. Probably through Google. And that’s when SEO ninja skills become immensely useful.

In case you’re a time traveler, or just got out of prison, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. But all too often, it also stands for “I don’t understand a friggin’ thing.”

So let’s break it down.

People are searching for your brand in two different ways: through branded search or through non-branded search.

A branded search is fairly simple. It happens whenever someone searches for your specific brand name or some close variant of it.

Example:

Say my brand is “Typeform.” Branded searches such as “Typeform”, “Typeform templates”, or “Typeform examples” will all lead people to my site.

On the other hand, non-branded searches occur whenever your brand name isn’t included in the little search box. This is the back door you need to start thinking about.

Measure branded vs. non-branded search traffic

Let’s bring on Typeform’s Organic & Paid Channel Manager Jake Stainer for this one. Or as we like to call him, “Genius Jake.” He’ll go through the steps on how to measure branded vs. non-branded search traffic.

1. Verify your site with Google Webmaster Tools

This lets you measure how much branded vs. non-branded search traffic your website is receiving from Google.

2. Add a filter

Now that your site’s been verified, head to “Search Traffic,” then “Search Analytics” inside Webmaster Tools to add a filter under “Queries.”

3. Enter your brand search terms

Enter the term your audience would use to find your brand.

For example:

If your website is called “Typeform,” type this in. Make sure your filter is set to “containing” so that it captures any brand-modified keywords such as “Typeform examples” or “Typeform quizzes.”

Hit enter.

4. Choose a date

Say you want to look at the previous week’s data. Click on the dropdown under “Dates,” select “Set a date range,” then “Custom,” and input the dates from last week.

Basically, you’re looking at the amount of clicks from your brand’s search queries that occurred last week.

Write down this number down in a spreadsheet, you’ll need it later.

5. Search for non-branded clicks

Modify the filter you just created by changing “Queries containing” to “Queries not containing” and you’ll see the number of non-branded clicks you’ve received from Google.

Write this down next to the number you wrote previously. And boom! You’ve just broken down the weekly branded vs. non-branded clicks for your website.

A few more tips:

• Track these numbers each week to see how your brand awareness is growing.

• Look for spikes in branded clicks as a proxy for the results of your PR efforts, or perhaps the new YouTube ad you’ve just launched.

Okay, so we’ve got our juicy organic data. Now what?

Vincent Magaline, senior marketing manager at Glimpzit, gives us three more things to think about:

1. Use search data to clue-in on visitor intent, or what people expect to find once they arrive on your site.

2. Investigate what people are doing once they land on your site.

3. Respond to what people are looking for, and make changes to your site to meet their needs.

Study social traffic

The whole write-tweet-forget process may have been fine for a while, but once your stable of star followers starts filling up, you’ll need to start thinking about who’s doing what, why they’re doing it, and which corner of the Internet they’re coming from.

Yup, that’s right. You’ll need to study your social traffic. Marketing expert Doug Karr shares his insights:

• Use social shares to learn about the popularity of your content. If content is shared socially, don’t be surprised when it starts to rise in ranks of organic search.

• Remember that social referrals often lack attribution in your analytics package. People read about something socially, then they use an app that doesn’t provide referral details or come to your site directly through a web browser. Keep in mind that this can be a substantial portion of your “direct” traffic in analytics.

He continues with a couple of comments on social content:

• Promote educational and research content via social channels, but be wary of hard-selling. Why? Because social referrals usually come around to research your brand products, not necessarily to buy. Instead, build trust with your social audience. Eventually they’ll convert.

• Social is essentially “online word-of-mouth.” The testimonial of a friend encourages trust and will grow your business. Treat your followers like humans, as if they were right there in the room with you.

Which brings us to our next section: content.

That's right. No pigeons flying out of a hat. No horse feathers. No fluff. Just practical tips to get your brand chuffing along with stellar content.

Create killer, branded content

“Content is where the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting.” - Bill Gates (1996)

When Billy G. wrote his fabled “Content is King” article, much of the media was still being consumed through a static broadcast model.

You wanted to watch something? You bought a paper-based guide, popped the lid off your highlighter, and planned your TV programming for the week—praying that your roommate wouldn’t be dozing on the couch when your show came on.

But what if you wanted to watch something spontaneously? Well, you spun that great, random wheel of TV destiny and maybe, just maybe, you landed on something you liked.

Today, content consumption is a lot easier, but also a lot noisier. People quickly thumb through different media, on different channels, on a ton of different devices.

Finding something you like is easy. But making people like and share what you send them is difficult. There’s simply too much going on.

That’s because every time you come out with a new piece of content, you’re basically throwing your hat into an attention-economy cage match.

You’re up against millions of different data interactions, every single minute. Online content is now a huge, loud, cacophonous mess.

So how do you make sure your brand isn’t silenced? Where’s the first place to start?

Create content that sticks

With scheduled content, things like season premieres or special events got big boosts before falling into programming abyss. Digital content isn’t like that.

People are now the masters of their own reading/viewing/listening destinies so they can access content whenever they want to.

Sure, if promoted properly, you might get a big boost from your content launch. But nothing ever fades away anymore, just ask Peter Guske.

Your content may be around forever. Make sure you treat it that way.

Forever-like material is called “evergreen content.” Like tall and proud coniferous pines, your material should stand the test of time and keep climbing the ranks on search engines.

Paired with SEO, evergreen content is the workhorse that raises awareness for your brand—drawing steady streams of people into the vortex of your marketing funnel. Think lots of organic traffic over an extended period of time.

Here are some tips on creating “brand-aid” content.

1. Put on your kimono

The Japanese basically copied American culture and made it better. Keep that in mind when creating your content, because there are lots of great ideas that have been turned into crappy content. Go out there and make things better.

How do you pinpoint popular ideas to write about?

• Use Buzzsumo to gauge high-performing content.

• Check Nuzzel to see what’s popular within your network.

• Peek at the magic suggestion box at the bottom of your Google search page.

• And your finishing move to popular content? The mighty Google Trends.

Remember that in the past, TV execs were only able to find out—post facto— what people were watching. Using Google Trends, now you can see what people are searching.

So what? Now you can see what people are actually thinking. Call it pre-emptive content creation.

Ahem. Let me repeat that just in case: You can now see what people are thinking.

Match that with your content and crown yourself a content tsar.

2. Think like a fisherman

You’re sitting in a boat. A beautiful pike is swimming right beneath you. What’s the first thing the fish is going to see?

Your rod? Your net? No. It sees the lure at the end of your hook. That’s the bait, that’s what’s going to make it bite.

Same with content. The single most important thing you’re going to write is your headline. That’s what’s going to hook your viewers, make them read your stuff, and share it with their network.

Plus, our own blog’s data shows that “scanners who share” don’t usually go down past the first third of an article. So consider those big bold words very carefully.

Want to write a good headline? Three really simple tips to get you started:

1. Use action words: they have more impact.

2. Switch to the “you voice”: the reader will feel more engaged.

3. Add quantifiable results: numbers sound more impressive.

Want to know whether your headline is any good? Use a headline analyzer. The one at CoSchedule is fast and easy and lets you see real-time results whenever you tweak your wording.

One last thing: don’t treat your content like static material. What does that mean?

It means that whenever you see your legacy content performing poorly, go back and fiddle with the headline. It’s all binary now, anything can be changed at any time. Experiment, see what brings people in.

3. Shamelessly promote your stuff

>> “You might have a big set up planned for a right hook, but be flexible. Always. Things change fast.” - Gary Vaynerchuk CEO of VaynerMedia

No analogies here, just brute force. Set up a broadcast schedule on social media to promote your content. Post images, quotes, reactions, and links to your material. Choose fitting hashtags to track your posts’ progress. Be flexible, be nimble. Post often.

Remember, the average lifespan of a tweet is only 24 minutes.

How do you capitalize on such a short runtime? Six quick tips:

1. Schedule your content in advance.

2. Send out a continuous stream of tweets.

3. Keep things varied and interesting to offset follower fatigue.

4. Ping influencers within your verticals for feedback.

5. Put some small change into social ads.

6. Set up and broadcast your backlinks on your channels.

And one more thing:

Are other departments in your outfit producing content? Yes? Then start co-creating. This will help you cover different promotion angles and release more interesting material.

4. Pretend your reader has a full bladder

When creating your content, you should always remember that your reader will have several things on the go. Or, maybe they just “need to go.”

How do you glue someone to your work? By making it irresistible. Don’t give them a fighting chance to flush. Make them forget about their life for a second.

Use this simple formula: make your next line better than your last. And then?

Edit and test for quality

And you edit and test some more. Whether it’s a blog post, a paragraph, a photograph, or a video clip, set your standards Eiffel-Tower high.

Quality needs to be the cornerstone of your creative process. Make sure to get other people to look at your stuff. Critiquing is part of the writing process, not an afterthought or something you do if you have extra time left.

What about testing? Can you test content? Of course you can. Try using CrazyEgg to see how far people are getting in your articles, and whether your writing is provoking the click reflex or not.

Don’t be afraid to go through things again and again until they’re perfect. Remember, there’s loads of junk out there, so people will appreciate something good. And quality adds luster to your brand’s image.

But quality costs time and money. So not everyone will be on board with this philosophy. Here’s a trick to win any argument over quality.

Take note:

Google is starting to analyze and evaluate the quality, value, and rank-worthiness of content when measuring SEO. That’ll be huge in how things get ranked. Cheap-out on quality, miss the content boat.

Visualize your buyer persona

Who? Your ideal customer. For writers, it’s a fancy term for “reader.” Whether you’re writing, filming, or producing a podcast, operating with your buyer persona in mind will yield a better creative product.

Here’s how you do it:

Make your persona super specific. For instance, if you’re writing for HR, think of the person who recruited you for your job. Or if you’re filming a clip for a finance article, picture the guy who used to help you with your accounting homework at university.

Why? Because that visualization process will create a mental canvas that reveals your persona’s preferences, problems-to-solve, and jobs-to-be-done. And those are the flavors that make your work really come alive.

Here’s what Lauren Moon, content marketing manager at Trello has to say about her process:

>> “Whenever I’m writing or editing a piece of content, I picture my audience sitting there asking, ‘What have you done for me lately?’ So I always make sure that my content is solution-oriented. Remember that the user wants to read something that will benefit their life.”

5. Use storytelling

Here’s the thing: the only way to guarantee that an audience will absorb your messaging is to tell it as a story. And that means setting a narrative for your company—or as it’s de rigueur to say these days—use storytelling.

What? As in Little Red Riding Hood runs into the Three Little Pigs chasing Humpty Dumpty storytelling?

Kind of. When done properly, this powerful device can put your brand Jack-and-the-Beanstalk above your competition. Here’s how:

Show, don’t tell

>> “Good content can either inform or entertain, but the best content does both.” - Brittany Berger head of content & PR at Mention

Say you put a pie in the oven, then you quickly hop into the shower. While you’re soaping yourself up, something goes wrong and your house catches fire.

So you run out in your bathrobe and call the fire department. Seconds later, you hear the sirens, see the big red truck, and spot a fireman stepping out.

>> “Quick! My house is on fire!”

“I know,” says the fireman.

“I’m a firefighter. See, here’s my fire-resistant jacket, my helmet, and my big rubber boots. And here’s my badge. Actually, I’m a really good fireman. See this hose? I’m going to use it. I’m also gonna use that huge ladder over there.”

Fireman pauses to think.

“Actually, I can also run the 100-meter dash in just under 10 seconds. And see these biceps? I call this one Angry Python, and this one Meat Masher. Strong, I tell you. Really strong.”

>> “Hurry! The flames are spreading!”

“I was also voted municipal fireman of the month back in 2003. Or was it 2004? Hard to tell, I’m just that good. The mayor gave me the award. It was a wonderful banquet, everyone was there. Didn’t care much for the duck though, but they had a great jazz band. Mandy and I did the foxtrot for the very first time. I’m a terrific dancer too.”

Fireman does a few dance moves and spins his axe like a baton.

>> “WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? MY ROOF JUST COLLAPSED!”

“Agile too. I slide through broken windows, crawl across busted glass, and can do a backflip off a van. I also ace the guys at bridge, run through headwinds of 100 miles per hour, and slide down the station’s pole like a seasoned stripper.”

>> “OH MY GOD MY CAR JUST EXPLODED!”

“That’s why I’m here, I’m a great fireman. Just the guy for the job. Simply amazing I tell you.”

And there you go.

>> “Show your customers how your brand can put out their fires. Don’t tell them why you should be the one to it.”

You make rocket ships? Great.

Designed a better toothpick? Wonderful.

Nobody cares until you actually show your customers what problem your product can solve.

Be a person, not a company

We all know there’s no more business-to-business or business-to-consumer communication anymore. It’s all human-to-human now. Well, until the singularity kicks in and it all becomes robot-to-robot.

But for the time being, do your brand a favor: ditch the corporate bullshit.

Nobody wants to “improve their effectiveness” or “feel empowered” anymore. People want experiences, they want to feel things, they want to know how your product will enhance their life—they want a human experience.

To be part of their day-to-day conversations, be transparent, be conversational. Be conscious that in order to really connect, you’ll need to get personal. That’s what engaging storytelling is all about.

Build a narrative

Your customers want to get to know your brand. Because your company is the protagonist of a great success story. You saw something in the market that needed to be changed. It wasn’t easy, there were obstacles. But here you are, you exist.

Tell that narrative. Tell it over and over. Keep adding to it. Keep talking about the barricades, the challenges, the failures. In scriptwriting, these are called “beats.” Points that mark main events in the hero’s journey. Then highlight how your brand rises like a phoenix from the ashes to meet every one of those challenges.

Show how you’ve become the hero of the marketplace. Blogs can be great vehicles for telling your story.

And when you do this, stay true to your brand’s voice. Because Stephen King doesn’t write romantic comedies and John Grisham doesn’t do poetry (thank goodness).

Are you a fresh startup? An established family business? A specialized law firm? Match your tone, language, and content-type to your culture. Because people know a bona fide story when they see one, and can easily sniff out a fraud.

Here’s Amity Kapadia, content marketing director at Ambassador on building your brand through a blog.

1. Go beyond words

Use a video to introduce a blog post, or change things up by embedding a SlideShare presentation into the middle of a post.

2. Write for SEO

Write at least 500 words, include external and internal links, and use keywords to go along with each piece. And focus on content length as well as optimizing images, H1 tags, URLs, and permalinks to kick things up a notch.

3. Diversify your content promotion

Creatively promote your content. Use a GIF in the header of your newsletter, or share a short video testimonial from a happy customer via Facebook to promote a case study.

4. Create a central hub

Think of your blog as “a central hub” where you share stories. By creatively repurposing content, promoting posts, and diversifying your assets, readers will feel compelled to share your story across their networks.

>> “Your blog doesn’t have to be just words—and quite frankly—it shouldn’t be.” - Amity Kapadia content marketing director at Ambassado

Use media

The New York Times is embracing digital storytelling for a reason. People want to feel absorbed, immersed, and they want to interact with what they read. Words spark certain parts of the brain, but photos, infographics, and videos bring a whole new dimension to a tale.

Of course, we don’t all have a New York Times budget, but we do have access to tools like photo filters and video enhancement apps to shine up our visuals.

By giving your media a professional look, you’re also giving your brand a boost in terms of look and feel. And SEO appreciates that.

Here’s a few tools we love:

• Infographics: Piktochart

• Images: Pixlr

• Video: WeVideo

• Design: Canva

Don’t have the resources to create video in-house? No problem, embed a YouTube clip—there’s a video for everything now. Get shaky when you hold a camera? Use free stock photos from pro sites like Unsplash, StockSnap, or Pexels.

And as Lauren Moon reminds us:

>> “You need to always remember the medium. Make different content for your blog, for Twitter, and for other distribution channels.”

For example:

>> “You need to know things like in Twitter, graphics are best at a 2:1 ratio. That’s especially important when using GIFs and videos.”

By increasing your visual content, you’ll connect with your audience on a higher emotional level. And that grows your chances of standing out in follower newsfeeds.

And don’t forget:

Eyes lead to clicks, clicks lead to shares, and shares lead to brand awareness. And that’s when your story really begins to spread beyond your network.

Use public relations

“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about. And that is not being talked about.” - Oscar Wilde

Public relations rocket-boosts customer interest for your brand.

Say your product is a grapefruit. Effective PR is the difference between holding up your grapefruit before a crowd and launching that grapefruit from a catapult into the next town.

More visibility. Greater impact. Higher brand awareness. Catapult PR.

Today’s PR strategies go way beyond the world of press releases, media kits, and other outreach activities. Although these tools can still be applied in later stages—creative content, social engagement, and basically ensuring that you have something unique and interesting to say are the new keys to the kingdom of awareness.

And who guards that kingdom? A very specific audience.

With PR, remember that you’re aiming your material at journalists, bloggers, influencers, and anybody who might pick up your stuff to consider redistribution. And that means sticking out with amazing story-based content that seizes attention spans.

Why? Because according to Sarah Gavin, head of global marketing at Outbrain, good coverage gets you:

• Increased traffic from strategic keyword placement

• Improved page rankings from implied links

• Strong distribution and referral traffic across news outlets

• Frequent indexing and authority potential

• Widespread exposure from social sharing activities

• Sourceable content for journalists and interested parties

Here’s how to really get noticed.

Look and sound like a winner

In addition to your original content, leverage parallel material like remarkable hires, speaking opportunities, key product announcements, company milestones, and outstanding customer stories.

>“Your content ecosystem should create the undisputed opinion that you’re the expert in your market.”

Remember, your roster of followers, journalists, bloggers, and their respective “publication channels” are the external agents for your brand. It’s always better to pick a few that dig your voice and objectives than risk disjoining your brand strategy for the sake of a one-off publicity fling. Pick your partners wisely.

Write a good pitch

Forget blitzing every major publication editor and blogger this side of the Serengeti. People want a combination of personal touch and relevant material, or you’ll get junk tagged in a nanosecond.

A pitch can be as short as an eye-catching tweet or be explained in a well-crafted email. Depending on the outlet, the phone can still work too.

Remember that every communication coming from your company is a reflection of your brand. Try to echo your story, stick to your narrative. Someone writing about you will connect with your marketplace adventure, and it will make their job easier.

Set up your pitch so that the recipient knows that you understand:

A) their expertise

B) the reasons why their outlet will benefit from your particular piece of content

Because the perfect pitch can be the difference between nurturing a lifelong PR collaboration for your brand and spending your time building an actual catapult to gain attention. Fun? Yes. But impractical and really tough to get spare parts.

Journalists, bloggers, and other stakeholders need good stories to stay afloat. Be yourself, give them your best, and you’ll get across the castle’s moat.

Create loyalty

Here’s a recap from Deirdre Breakenridge, CEO of Pure Performance Communications on how to go beyond traditional PR strategies to connect, engage, and build relationships with brand champions.

1. Aggregate conversations across different communities

Use social media monitoring software to filter down to important discussions, then act to provide the solutions people need. This gets your brand noticed as a valuable go-to resource.

2. Use a mix of media

Deliver relevant content via paid, earned, shared, and owned media. This increases the chances that you’ll be seen and recognized where your consumers congregate.

And remember: You don’t have to be sharing content everywhere on social media. Share in communities where your customers want to participate with you, especially when they’re asking for help.

3. Build relationships

Influencers in social communities carry a lot of clout. Nurture relationships with them that grow over time. Get to know how they like to engage with your brand and they will amplify your messages to larger groups, and even create a desired action among their network members. For more tips on this, check out our article on relationship marketing.

4. Understand the people you want to reach

Younger generations acknowledge and invest in brands they trust. These brands have “credibility status” based on their own interactions or the recommendations of their peers.

Brands like Toms, Starbucks, and Chipotle attract and retain loyal attention by sharing beyond what they think is exciting or interesting. Instead, they tap into what millennials care about. They’re cause-oriented. They work toward sustainability and involve their audience in unique experiences to help people feel that they can make a difference.

5. Eliminate meaningless messages

Stop one-way communications like stories that are self-serving. Instead, speak with your community as a trusted peer.

Here’s an idea:

Engage your audience in crowdsourcing by asking them to brainstorm new product ideas, enhancements, or by involving loyal advocates in brand problem solving.

The more you can make your consumers a part of the brand building process, the more they become invested in your brand.

"Buyers decide what information they like, where to receive it, and with whom they share their favorite stories.” - Deirdre Breakenridge CEO of Pure Performance Communications

Apply paid advertising

And now for the dessert: paid advertising.

You finally feel your brand awareness is ready for a rocket boost. Your list of followers is growing, your share ratio is good, you’re placing well in Google searches, and your creative content is getting noticed on different channels.

Time to crack open the piggy bank.

First, a freebie. Make sure the information on your Google knowledge graph card is up to date. This is the small data sheet that appears on the right side of a Google page whenever someone runs a branded search on your company. Now open for users to customize, the feature lets you alter the information that’s available to searchers.

So make sure your messaging is aligned with your content strategy, and that your social media is pointing to all the right places.

Speaking of social media, next year’s social media spending is estimated to reach a colossal $35.98 billion. That’s almost 16% of the global digital ad market. If you don’t want to get buried by your competition, you’re going to need to throw some chips on the table.

Actually, on three tables: Facebook, Twitter, and surprise-surprise…Google.

Here are some tips for each channel.

Advertise on Facebook

If you don’t have a Facebook business page, just fold things up and go home.

Seriously, because you’re practically invisible to over 1 billion users. Facebook offers an enormous audience and a quasi-infinite silo of data for you to tinker with—making sure your ad reaches the exact audience that you’re after.

You can define customers by asking demographic survey questions, then pinpoint precise audiences according to age, hobbies, location, political beliefs, music tastes, and more.

Your main goal? Use the platform’s dart-like user precision to gain awareness by collecting hard-earned “likes” for your brand and clicks to your external website where your funnel can take over.

Advertise on Twitter

Twitter’s answer to Facebook Ads is Twitter for Business. Similar to that little Zuckerberg experiment, Twitter lets you tweak your ads to match your target audience, leverage analytics tools, and measure your campaign’s performance.

But because of its limited character count, Twitter ads are less forgiving for crappy content. By sounding natural and adding an appealing visual, your campaign’s Twitter card can reach a much broader appeal.

The trick is to think of these cards as mini billboards. Like a driver going down a long highway, you only have a few seconds to make an impact before your card goes out of view.

Use Google ads

Considered the big daddy of online advertising, Google ads has a slight advantage over its social media cousins. Because on social media, people are usually browsing their friend’s posts or engaged in some sort of content.

By inserting ads on their social media screen, your brand’s presence could be seen as disruptive to their experience.

But with Google ads, you’re targeting people who have an intent to purchase. Why? Because they’re already searching for you or some variant of the product or service that you offer. Google ads work on an auction model.

The higher you bid, the higher on the search page you’ll appear—meaning more views, more clicks, more sales.

If you’re just starting out, a useful tool is Google Display Network. By creating what was once known as a “banner ad” you can cheaply raise awareness for your brand. How? By posting your Facebook info, Twitter info, phone number, or any other external info directly onto the banner.

You only pay when people actually click, so this “contact info trick” provides a way to get around that expense while getting people to see you, visit you, and hopefully remember you. You’re welcome. 😉

Brand awareness points to how many people within your target market know you exist, or if you’re even aiming at the right types of customers.

And this matters because—cue thunderous bolt of lightning—awareness drives sales.

But how do you know whether you’re on the right track? How do you measure your progress? Your success? Your world brand domination?

Simple. You create a survey. Then you send it via email and wait for your stakeholders’ replies to come rolling in like a stampede of wild buffaloes.

Actually wait, not so fast. Did you know that the response rate for online surveys can be lower than the good ol’ in-person interview? Why?

Because human interaction—or an experience that mimics the language, cadences, and cues of face-to-face conversations—leads to higher survey completions.

So you’ll need to create an online experience that feels like an actual human connection—to make sure people complete your brand awareness survey. Huh? How do you do that?

Read on.

Nail down your respondents

>> “The better you understand your buyers, their lifestyles, and purchase path to your brand, the more intelligent your branding decisions will become.” - Cassandra Rosen founding partner of FK Interactive

First things first: sample people that you’re already targeting with your advertising. It makes no sense to launch your survey to absolutely everyone—because sorry to break it to you—you’re probably not Apple. (In case you are, please ping me and I’ll send over my portfolio.)

Best tip for starting off? Make sure you’re aiming at the right people. Start your survey with a super personal or disqualifying question to weed out any respondents that aren’t in your target group.

Example:

Say you’re surveying for bikinis. You could begin with:

>> “Do you buy bikinis online?”

If the respondent answers yes, follow up with:

>> “Which brands do you know?”

Then:

>> “Do you know these brands?”

List your brand next to all its competitors.

And then congratulations, you just nailed down your demographic. In this case, online bikini shoppers. Look at you, you fancy pollster.

David Slatter, president of ExperiPro, goes even further into the process:

>> “Segment your customers into four groups: unaware, aware, knowledgeable, and actual users. Polling further tells you if your messaging is working and whether consumers view you the way you’ve been positioning your brand.”

He continues with next steps:

>> “Look carefully for differences in brand perception between segments—particularly knowledgeable and user segments. They’re indications that you may not be delivering on your promise. Then compare with competitors and you may uncover a weakness that you can turn into a competitive advantage.”

Keep things personal

It’s almost impossible to make anyone do one thing at a time anymore. So your survey needs to take this into account. Just because you’ve identified your ideal customer, doesn’t mean they’re going to drop everything and dive into your survey like some delicious dessert.

>> “Could you pause the season finale of Narcos for a sec? I need to get through this brand awareness survey,” said no one ever.

Have you ever noticed how most surveys just present information as a long, endless screen of information? Not very motivating.

So what you need to do is break your questions into separate screens. Ask just one question at a time. One page, one question—that makes your survey short-attention-span-proof.

Also, use visuals instead of plain text whenever you can. Make people feel comfortable, and pose questions in a friendly, conversational tone. And just like any other form of verbal or written communication, variety and economy of words will always win the day.

Treat your respondent’s time like a precious commodity.

Marketer Matthew Mercuri offers the following advice:

1. Humor kills. If you open your survey with an industry-related joke that gets a few chuckles, certain individuals will immediately be better engaged.

2. GIFs are a good way to attract attention. Tie them to your survey, and you’ll clear some individuals from thinking of a hard reset on questions.

3. Being succinct will net you winners. Say and ask quickly, but provide people with the opportunity to read more if they want additional info.

Design to go the distance

Before smartphones became an extension of well, practically everything, we used these bulky black boxes called “cameras.” Remember those? Good.

Now think of what makes a great picture. The right focus? The right ambient conditions? The right subject? The biggest factor?

Probably the camera. (Or the app on a phone, for every biped living in 2016.)

Is the camera/app easy to use? Is the shutter button in an awkward place? Does it capture content inside the frame or shoot off like a wild goat?

You get the point. Make your survey process as intuitive as possible. Because your goal is to create a seamless user experience. Why? It keeps people clicking through questions.

>> You're trying to make answering as easy as possible for your respondents. The less clicking and typing that’s needed, the faster and easier people will move forward.

And the better your information will be for measuring your brand’s performance.

Put mobile first

Sure, your brand awareness survey may look good on desktop but here’s a question: how big is your thumb? There’s no way mine could check off tiny boxes on a mobile form.

Make sure your survey looks good on small screens, and can both detect and adapt to the device the respondent is using. Or you can kiss your beautiful results goodbye.

Top two tips for mobile:

1. Use minimal visuals

Mobile devices have a limited screen size. Your job is to keep the user focused on a single question, so don’t junk up the screen with too much going on.

2. Stay consistent

Don’t make your mobile surveys shorter. That’ll cause data integrity problems. You can cut back on text and make things prettier, but keep fields identical between mobile and desktop to keep data collection consistent.

The key for mobile is a clutter-free combination of text and visuals. Done right, people will even participate when they’re on the go. Take that, Netflix binge.

Make it impossible to make mistakes

So you’ve got a rating question. Like asking users to use that famous formula of “On a scale of 1 to 10 …” Reduce chances of error by letting people click in the general vicinity of texts and images—give them “click access” to large portions of the screen.

And don’t take any chances, make sure people understand what you’re asking. Be brief, pretend you’re talking to your best friend. Because mistakes can make your data irrelevant, which wastes your time, your money, and—if you’re like me—your patience.

A. Ask clearly and concretely

B. Avoid open interpretations

C. Apply graphical tools like stars, hearts, or a red to green scale to give the respondent some hints

Here’s an example:

Instead of saying,

>> How would you rate the taste of Chez Jean-Guy’s chocolate croissants? 1 being dry and 10 being delicious.

Try:

>> Tell us how we’re doing in the delicious department. 1, It tasted like a sausage roll, to 10, a thick French accent came to mind.

Brandi Olsen, owner at Brandi Olsen Consulting, offers her advice on eliminating mistakes:

>> “Don’t get greedy in your survey, only ask the most important questions. And don’t force questions. Give people the option to skip any of them. It will be the difference between quitting a survey because of a question, or skipping it and moving on to the finish.”

Build in your brand

What about branding your brand awareness survey? Will it increase response rates?

If done right, it can. Branding affects the perceived level of credibility of your survey and can have consequences on a survey’s results.

Because respondents will often check for corporate visual clues to make sure your survey is the real thing and not a scam to help a Nigerian prince find a bank account for his fortune.

Screen space permitting, use familiar artwork to build trust in your respondent. Tools like your company logo, corporate colors, and branding typeface.

Just remember to keep things clutter-free and ensure there’s enough white space to glue the reader’s eye where you want it. And use templates to speed up the process.

Bribe people

We all know that big brands often pay their focus groups to take part in surveys. Well guess what? The online experience should be no different.

By offering a benefit for answering and completing a survey, your collected data will become way more accurate. Because providing some reward or payment makes users feel more responsible for answering and they’ll deliver more accurate responses as a result.

Here’s how to put this strategy into place:

Offer rewards upfront and make sure they’re relevant to your study. Things like meal coupons for fast food questionnaires or a free upgrade to extinct wildlife seat covers if polling for high-end luxury cars.

But there are exceptions. When surveying for issues of widespread concern such as politics or social causes, people feel more intrinsically motivated to respond. In those cases, rewards aren’t always necessary.

For the rest, get creative and start thinking of ways to reward your respondents.

A don’t forget to send out brand awareness surveys often—not just to coincide with big campaigns. Try to get a realistic snapshot during different market conditions.

Do it at the end of every quarter. Or at the very least, twice a year.

Here’s what you need to remember.

>> "Your brand has a unique story, a unique voice, and a unique solution to a problem. Tell that story honestly.”

Use the tools, technology, and contacts at your disposal to spread it. And then track your progress to tweak your strategy.

Because it’s not a race to Nike-like brand awareness. Their first running shoes looked like laced-up rags compared to the Jordans we have today. It’s steady and constant improvement that will make your solution stand out.

Your job is to narrate that journey with the right community of customers, and you’ll automatically create value for your brand.

And ever notice how the good brands are always watching, listening, and learning about their customers? Do that consistently and your brand awareness will begin to spread. When?

When it’s your customers that begin to watch, listen, and learn about you.

START MEASURING MY BRAND AWARENESS