10 Tips on How to Build Brand Awareness

Consumers are exposed to hundreds of brands daily and are often overwhelmed by the volume of marketing messages. This makes it a hyper-competitive landscape for brands to stand out in.

People who don’t recognise or remember your brand will simply overlook it. Successful, well-known companies have mastered the art of brand awareness – some have even become the default choice when customers need their products or services.

But how does a business go from being unknown to a well-recognised brand? In this article, the experts at the UK’s leading company formation agent, 1st Formations, provide 10 tips for startups looking to gain traction and new businesses wanting to strengthen their market position by increasing brand awareness.

What is Brand Awareness?

Brand awareness is not the same as brand recognition. The latter refers to customers’ ability to identify a brand name, logo, or other design elements. On the other hand, brand awareness refers to a connection between the customer and the brand, and the association with its product or service.

The goal is for customers to recall the brand and consider it at the point of purchase or decision-making.

Top 10 Tips on How to Build Brand Awareness

1. Identify your Category Entry Points (CEPs)

Businesses must first establish their presence and strengthen their credibility, for example, after having registered as a limited company and built a solid customer base. It then becomes easier to dominate the market in which your business operates.

Many well-known brands have dominated their market space thanks to a connection between their offering and moments or situations when consumers think about a category.

This is where the concept of Category Entry Points (CEPs) comes into play. It refers to specific triggers that cause people to think of a brand, affecting their purchasing decisions.

For example, when someone craves a coffee, Starbucks or Costa might come to mind, whereas Nike or Hoka might be names customers associate with when thinking about running. When people think about online shopping, they’ll probably think of Amazon. All these brands have successfully associated themselves with key situations.

To build brand awareness, you need to identify your CEPs. What scenarios prompt people to need your product or service? This is where customer research, competitor analysis, and brand visibility, content, advertising, or strategic partnerships – are crucial.

2. Create Distinctive Brand Assets

Brand awareness is about being remembered. The most recognisable brands have distinctive brand assets to help with this. McDonald’s golden arches and Nike’s Swoosh are both examples of highly memorable brand assets. Aside from visuals, brands can use sound to trigger recall, such as McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” jingle.

Invest time in creating consistent and original brand assets, including logos, colours, typography, taglines, and even sounds to build brand awareness. By incorporating customized sticker labels on your packaging or
products you can leave a lasting impression and reinforce your branding in
the physical world.

Consider hiring a creative professional to support this and help develop a professional image. You’ll then want to use these assets consistently across all marketing channels so they constantly remind your audience of your brand.

3. Leverage Strategic Partnerships

One of the quickest ways to build brand awareness is to partner with another business or individual with an established audience.

To move out of the unawareness phase, your business needs to be in the right conversations. You might want to consider influencer collaborations. For example, if you’re running a startup specialising in sustainable fashion, seek collaborations with micro-influencers that have fashion blogs or social channels focused on ethical clothing choices.

Similarly, brands collaborating with respected industry partners can quickly gain credibility and reach. Remember to opt for authentic partnerships where both parties benefit for these strategies to succeed.

4. Implement the “Rule of 7”

The mere-exposure effect is a phenomenon whereby people develop a preference for things due to encountering them repeatedly, therefore becoming familiar with them.

When it comes to marketing, this links to the Rule of 7; potential customers need to see or hear a brand’s message at least 7 times before they remember and trust it.

The lesson here isn’t to overwhelm your audience with the same messaging or ad but to leverage multiple touchpoints. Think social media, website content, email marketing, influencer collaborations, and offline interactions. If applied consistently, this exposure can help strengthen your brand awareness.

5. Amplify Your Business’ Reach

Often, a product or service becomes more valuable as it gains more customers and users. This is also known as the network effect. Brands that harness this effect tend to experience growth and increased brand awareness as their customers and users spread the word and act as brand advocates.

Social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok have become household names because their value improves as more people sign up. And it’s not just huge tech companies that can take advantage of this.

Glossier, the beauty brand, strengthened its brand awareness by encouraging early users to share their experiences online. The more people talked about the brand, the more valuable and recognisable it became. This demonstrates how powerful social proof is. Testimonials, user-generated content (UGC), and influencer endorsements can all help validate a brand’s credibility.

6. Analyse Competitors

Rather than starting from scratch, consider analysing and adapting the brand awareness strategies that work for your competitors.

Start by using tools like Semrush and Ahrefs to discover which content formats prevail and perform best for engagement, and what keywords drive organic brand visibility.

Replicating and improving upon your competitors’ approaches can be a helpful starting point. However, this tactic only works when you find genuine gaps and improve upon existing strategies instead of mimicking what your competitors are doing.

7. Integrate Storytelling

Facts are one thing, but stories foster a deeper connection with your audience. If your business incorporates engaging narratives and storytelling elements into its marketing efforts, it will likely help you to develop stronger brand recall and loyalty among existing customers.

For example, Nike doesn’t just sell trainers; it sells a narrative of determination, staying competitive, and self-belief. Meanwhile, Apple doesn’t just market its tech; it tells stories about creativity and innovation. Emotional connections like this make these brands more memorable.

To create a compelling brand story, your business should:

• Identify a mission and values
• Narrate its backstory or heritage
• Showcase real customer stories
• Use video content and storytelling to humanise the brand

8. Focus on a Niche Before Expanding

Your business will struggle with brand awareness if it tries to appeal to everyone. A top tip for new business owners is not to get ahead of yourself and expand too early on. A focused approach, with specific target audience segments in mind, will make it easier to dominate your category before you diversify or grow.

9. Adopt Emerging Platforms and Trends

To gain a competitive advantage, establish your brand on emerging platforms early. Being an early adopter of new channels, trends, or technology will give your business a head start while competitors lag behind.

For example, Duolingo became a viral sensation by leveraging TikTok’s algorithm before other educational brands caught on. Similarly, Gymshark capitalised on Instagram’s rise by working with fitness influencers before influencer marketing became a well-worn marketing strategy.

10. Encourage Word-of-mouth Marketing

Although a traditional technique, people talking about your product or service is still important for building brand awareness. You can encourage word-of-mouth marketing by offering referral programmes with attractive incentives and creating memorable customer experiences that turn customers into advocates.

The more customers talk about a brand, the stronger its awareness becomes. Better still, this is a low-cost marketing tactic.

Start Building Your Brand Awareness

Let’s be honest; brand awareness isn’t built overnight. However, implementing these 10 tips can accelerate your business’ visibility and connection with your audience.

Always remember to be consistent, original, and strategic when applying new marketing strategies. By understanding and identifying Category Entry Points, using distinctive branding, leveraging partnerships, and staying ahead of trends, your brand can become a familiar and trusted name in its industry.

If you’re eager to learn more about growing your business, contact the friendly team at 1st Formations, who will gladly offer expert guidance.