Many companies in the marketplace today sell or provide the same types of services. How does one company set itself apart from its competitors? One way is through brand awareness. Brand awareness can be applied to almost any industry, but the car dealership example can be applied here. If there are three different Chevrolet dealerships in a general area, and they all sell the same model of the Volt at the same price, how does a customer decide which dealership to go to? All other things being equal, the customer will probably go to the one they have heard the most about. This is brand awareness.
Increasing brand awareness is important for any company and as Investopedia explains, “the product that maintains the highest brand awareness compared to its competitors will usually get the most sales” Investopedia, n.d.. A lot of companies want to know how to build brand awareness. Building brand awareness takes time and effort, but the first thing a company must have in place is a strategy. There are many brand awareness strategies, but I believe that one of the best is that by creating compelling content. By creating content that meets the needs of your customers, your company can increase its brand awareness. Of course, the goal is to increase positive brand awareness, so everything a company does should be focused on creating a positive experience for the customer. It is important that everything that is created works together to form a cohesive brand. There are times when a company will spend a great deal of money on a new website design or logo design but will neglect small things such as proof-reading emails. While this might not seem to be a big deal, it shows the customer that a company might not pay attention to detail. Everything produced by a company reinforces the perception of the brand in the minds of customers. By creating quality content that is centered on customers, the positive brand awareness will grow.
Once the awareness of a company has grown, the profits will grow as well. Companies don’t spend tens of thousands of dollars on logo design just because the logo is a nice shade of red. They realize that the brand is the company and that in order to be profitable, that brand must stand out in a midst of competitors. Companies spend millions of dollars in celebrity endorsements to have their brand associated with a star or athlete. Is there really so much difference in a pair of shoes that one costs $100 while another costs $50? There might be a difference for an elite athlete, but most customers of shoes are not an elite athlete. Compelling content should not only be relegated to a company’s website, but also to the various social media outlets. Social Media Marketing has become a great way to boost brand awareness and profits and many companies are turning to social media sites like Facebook to promote their business.
The internet is filled with success stories about companies who achieved more sales by using the power of social media. Tough Mudder is an obstacle course race challenge that is held in different venues throughout the world. According to Facebook, “Facebook has helped Tough Mudder produce a 24x increase in sales in two years” Facebook, n.d.. The increased sales were not only due to purchasing advertising space on Facebook, but also in the creation of high quality content that would excite their potential customers. Through the use of videos, photography, and written content, Tough Mudder was able to capitalize on the different advertisements running on Facebook. If a customer had clicked on an ad and not seen anything compelling, Tough Mudder would not have gained the increase in sales.
Everything on the internet boils down to content. This content must engage the intended audience to be effective, especially for businesses to succeed. In order to create compelling content a company must first know who it is trying to reach. By researching their potential customers, the company will know who they are targeting and can create a content strategy to deliver compelling content to their customers. This strategy will be the key in creating brand awareness for the company. As the company’s brand awareness grows, so will the sales and the profits. The success of the company’s marketing efforts and brand strategy is based on the quality of the content it produces. If a company hopes to utilize the internet as a viable marketing tool, they must create compelling content that has meaning to their customers and that reinforces the company’s brand and image.
This is Part 2 in a Multi-Part series on Quality Content. Read The Importance of Quality Content - Part 1.
