Brand Awareness and how to achieve it

Posted by inetseo on January 18, 2010 · Leave a Comment

INET SEO Brand

It is important to be found, but just as important to be recognised

What is a brand?
Often overlooked by new start-ups, is how am I going to continue my success past the first 6 months. How am I going to gain more revenue and how is my company going to sustain myself and any other employees I bring on board?

A brand is a way of recognition of your company, service, name, product… whatever it many be, often referred to as a trade name, but most importantly, recognition.

With recognition comes trust
If you have done your work correctly, that is… and in turn, with trust comes business. If you recognise a brand, you are more likely to understand that the brand means something to you. You have used it before and you will continue to use it in the future.

As an example, if you are in the recruitment market and are looking to fill a senior appointment, you might recognise the brand of Executive Headhunters – If you are in the market for a new pair of trainers, do you go with a recognised brand such as Adidas or the promises laid down by a £1.99 pair found in a supermarket?

Brand is a huge key to success and one that is overlooked time and time again, but ignore this at your own peril. With the internet essentially being one huge shopping mall, can you really afford to let your company slide into the ever growing pile of “I tried it but it didn’t work”?

How can I increase my brand awareness?
If you have decided that your brand needs some work, you are half way there. You understand that if you hand out leaflets on a street corner, chances of most people will never have heard of you.

But don’t be under any illusion that this is a quick job – building a brand is something that comes with time. You can’t throw big money at a branding exercise and expect instant recognition.

Participate in discussions – find groups and forums and build up some reputation by helping those that need it.

Contact the local paper and offer to write a news article on your subject matter, or even perhaps a monthly column?

Attend shows and hand out your cards to those companies who need to hear about you. Better still, have a stand and give out pens and goodies that most people go to these shows for!

The possibilities are endless but just remember, building a brand takes time, but it will be time well spent – in a few years, whilst you are succeeding, you can cast a glance over your shoulder at all of those other companies that never paid the attention to what might have seemed like a very small detail!

iNET SEO specialise in SEO, Social Marketing and Brand Awareness