The most digitally savvy and coolest Midwest Marketing Agency Offers Tips to Grow Your Business

“How do I increase brand awareness?”

This is one of the main marketing challenges we hear when talking to businesses. Not limited to B2C (Business to Consumer) or B2B (Business to Business) companies, they all want to be seen and known in their markets. Of course, this is a means to an end because what they really want is to Grow Their Business. The more people know about them, the more opportunities to sell.

Easy, right?

Before messages are crafted and communication vehicles are launched, the process of increasing brand awareness needs to start somewhere. This is where strategic marketing development starts: 3 key building blocks that should be in place before a dime is spent on online or traditional marketing and advertising begins.

1. Know Thyself

Who are you (brand-wise)?
How is your brand better/different than the competition and why should your target audience care about you? A positioning strategy for your brand is a key building block because it should provide the foundation for all communications. For instance, this 2015 SuperBowl ad for mass-market beer brand Budweiser proudly grabs its rightful “King of Beers” position as a macro beer for the masses by positioning it against tiny micro-brew brands. What’s your brand’s rightful position—are you a macro or a micro…or somewhere in between?

Why does this matter? Understanding your brand position becomes the touchpoint and foundation for all your brand awareness communications.

2. Know Thy Enemy

One thing that helps a brand succeed is defining what it is not. For instance, when this famous ad series started, Apple knew all the right cliche and perception buttons to push to make the PC look like a stodgy, slow, out-of-touch product. Apple comes off the approachable, very easy to use and fun-to-own computer brand. How are you better / different from your enemy?

Why does this matter? Your brand is different and customers love you for it. Fully understanding your competitive difference is the catalyst to understanding what to say to appeal to new customers.

3. Know Thy Audience

A brand can’t be everything to everybody. The tighter the focus on the target audience, the higher the success rate. For instance, A brand that speaks to common ground and sympathy even in the most comically divergent cliche philosophies when it comes to feeding a baby by knowing the market of first-time moms and what they care about. Who is your brand focusing on?

Why does this matter? It’s a big, loud, busy mess out there. A highly focused message that is speaking to the target audience in their language has a better chance of cutting through the clutter to get heard.

Start with these top 3 commandments are met, your brand should be set to increase brand awareness. Knowing your brand, your competitive advantage, and your audience means you should know who you need to reach, how you are different from the competition, and what the message is to get grab their attention.

Do you need help in creating a campaign to grow your brand awareness? From working within your budget to driving the plan and reporting ROI, we are always interested in helping you grow!

Launched in 1972, idc-marketing is the most versatile, prominent, and coolest advertising agency in Lafayette, Indiana. We are a full-service firm that helps companies grow business-to-business (B2B) and consumer-to-business (B2C) market share.