What is brand awareness?

Brand awareness is the initial stage where consumers start showing interest in a product or service. It marks the beginning of their connection with a brand and refers to their ability to recognize a product or service by its name.

Building brand awareness involves much more than just a logo or tagline; it encompasses a brand's products, storytelling, aesthetics, customer experience, values, and more. Brands establish themselves by delivering consistent messages and experiences across different touchpoints, making them memorable to consumers.

The significance of brand awareness lies in becoming top-of-mind for potential customers when they consider making a purchase. It fosters trust, allows brands to convey their story, and builds a strong connection with consumers.

Successful brand awareness campaigns differentiate a brand or product from others and influence consumers' consideration towards making a purchase. It aligns with the traditional marketing funnel, where awareness serves as the first step in introducing customers to a brand. As awareness increases, potential buyers seek more information, leading to consideration and eventual conversion.

To enhance brand awareness, companies employ diverse strategies, such as promotions, social media engagement, influencer marketing, and brand advertising. They explore creative avenues like content marketing, streaming, immersive storytelling, interactive advertising, and experiential marketing. These efforts aim to establish brand credibility and visibility in a crowded market, making the brand the first choice in consumers' minds when they think about a specific product or service.

Why is building brand awareness important? 

Brand awareness plays a crucial role in making your brand stand out in the minds of potential customers when they contemplate making purchase decisions. While having a strong brand is essential, it is equally important for your business to gain visibility among consumers. Building brand awareness is significant as it fosters trust, enables brands to convey their narrative, and establishes a sense of trust with consumers.

As per a global survey conducted by Statista in 2022, half of the consumers surveyed expressed their willingness to pay extra for a brand that resonated with them. The aggregate value of the world's top 100 most valuable brands rose by more than 22% in 2022, reaching an all-time high of $8.7 trillion, compared to approximately $5 trillion just two years earlier.

Another key aspect of brand awareness is its role in crafting a strong identity for a company, allowing it to share its values and mission with the target audience. This connection is of great significance to consumers. According to a 2022 report by Amazon Ads and Environics Research, 79% of global consumers stated that they are more likely to make purchases from brands whose values align with their own.

How to Build Brand Awareness?

Brand awareness is achieved by acquainting customers with a brand or product through various marketing efforts such as promotions, advertising, and social media. A successful brand awareness campaign sets a brand apart from its competitors. Many brands link brand awareness to consideration, as the more consumers are aware of a brand or product, the more likely they are to consider making a purchase.

Although the purchase journey is not linear, the traditional marketing funnel offers a valuable way to visualize it and highlight the significance of awareness. At the top of the funnel is awareness, where potential customers show interest in learning more about the products. Here, a brand that can capture customers' attention positively contributes to raising awareness and encouraging them to seek additional information.

As customers seek information, they enter the consideration phase, where they contemplate making a purchase. The intent to buy increases based on the inspiration gained during the awareness phase. Those who are further motivated by additional information proceed to the conversion phase, where they make a purchase decision.

Throughout this process, potential customers narrow down their options. Brands with existing awareness have an advantage since they don't need to explain who they are or what makes them unique. They have already introduced themselves, allowing them to focus on providing specific information relevant to a buyer's decision.

Imagine you've just learned about a cutting-edge television that caught your interest. Two companies are selling it at similar prices: one you know nothing about, and the other has strong brand awareness. Despite never purchasing from the second company, its brand awareness lends credibility to its product. This exemplifies why building brand awareness is crucial.

In a world where countless brands compete for consumer attention, being the first brand that comes to mind when customers think about a product in your category is essential. Established brands understand this, which is why they have prominent associations with their offerings. Their long-term investment in increasing awareness has not been by chance but a strategic approach to stay ahead in the market.

How to Increase Brand Awareness?

Companies employ various strategies to increase brand awareness, such as promotions, social media, influencer programs, and brand advertising. They also explore innovative approaches like streaming, content marketing, immersive storytelling, interactive advertising, and experiential advertising. According to a 2022 Statista survey, content marketing is widely utilized to "create brand awareness."

One effective method is utilizing Sponsored Display video, which enhances product and brand stories while customers shop or consume content. Advertisers who opt for video creative and select the "optimize for conversion" bid optimization witnessed an average of 86% of sales from new-to-brand shoppers, compared to 78% for those using image creative. 

Sponsored Brands, on the other hand, enable brands to capture attention with creative ads that showcase their products in shopping results. Brands that employ all Sponsored Brands ad formats recorded an average of 79% of their sales from new-to-brand customers. These advertising tactics aid in reaching a broader audience and leaving a lasting impression on potential customers.

How to Measure Brand Awareness?

Brand awareness metrics are crucial for marketers to assess consumers' familiarity with a brand or product and gauge the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. Here are some key brand awareness metrics and KPIs used by marketers:

• Impressions: This metric indicates the number of times an advertisement is shown or how many consumers have seen it.

• Traffic or Page Views: Brands track the number of customers who visit their product pages or other resources on their website to measure increased traffic.

• New-to-Brand: This metric helps identify whether an ad-attributed purchase was made by a new customer or an existing one within a year, providing insights into the acquisition of new customers.

• Brand Lift Studies: These studies allow advertisers to quantify the impact of their Amazon Ads campaigns on marketing objectives like awareness, purchase intent, and ad recall.

• Marketing Reach: Marketing reach measures the size of the audience that has seen your ads or campaign content, helping to assess the potential reach of a campaign in reaching potential customers.

By analyzing these brand awareness metrics, marketers can gain valuable insights into their campaigns' performance, consumer engagement, and the overall impact of their brand messaging and marketing efforts.