Knowing how to allocate your marketing resources ultimately depends on your goals. When it comes to increasing brand awareness in particular, certain types of digital media fare better than others.
Brand awareness has a different dynamic than specifically trying to attract, let alone retain, customers. It is one of the first steps in getting people to notice your brand and serves as the stepping stone for getting them interested in learning more about it. In building brand awareness, getting the message out to as many targeted leads as possible is more important than demonstrating brand voice or specifically showing products and services. Here are the best types of digital media to consider for your brand awareness objectives.
Social Media Marketing (SMM)
7 in 10 Americans use a social networking site, with 75% of Facebook users and 50% of Instagram users checking them every day. As of June 2017, Facebook has over 2 billion monthly active users which makes it the largest social network in the world. LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and niche social media sites also have sizeable user bases that frequently visit these sites.
SMM has an incredibly broad reach that can also be highly targeted based on keywords, users’ internal and external search histories, and demographics. Because they will see ads in their feeds on a regular basis, SMM comprises a strong component of brand awareness even if the user doesn’t click on the ad. Swiping past it on a phone several times a week ingrains that awareness.
Content Marketing
A website alone is not enough. Content not only answers burning questions for people who come to your website, which is great for SEO, but the additional time and money that goes into quality content is an excellent long-term investment since it will keep driving traffic long after it’s been created. When it comes to brand awareness, content marketing can help establish a more cohesive brand voice while raising awareness of your brand via search traffic and social shares. People don’t share ads and promoted tweets, but they do share entertaining videos, helpful blog posts, and insightful infographics.
Video marketing in particular is becoming crucial for both brand awareness and retaining a following. Professional shoots are helpful, but not required: all you need is a smartphone. Videos show the people behind the brand and can be used to tell stories, and being searchable in video search engines like YouTube and shared on social media only further helps develop brand awareness.
Targeted Display Advertising
When people visit websites, forums, blogs, and other places that are of interest to them, they often expect to see ads so that the site owners can keep making money and providing them the content that they want to see. This is known as contextual targeting and is an effective method of online advertising that builds brand awareness with a very targeted group of leads. Compared to pay-per-click ads that get search engine placement, this type of display ad doesn’t depend on keyword efficacy or trending searches but takes advantage of a specific following that is already there.
Making people aware of your brand is the first piece of the puzzle when it comes to getting more leads than sales and these methods will lay the foundation for solid brand awareness. Check out this page to learn more about making highly-targeted leads more likely to convert!
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