Marketers Must Focus On Brand Awareness – Here’s Why

Before the birth of social media marketing, brand awareness was a top priority. If a brand could advertise on TV or in print, it could easily dominate the industry. In the early days of advertising, brands didn’t need to focus on emotional benefits or unique selling propositions to obtain guaranteed reach. In today’s advertising landscape, awareness is still significant, but it’s not quite the same as before. It’s important that advertisers realize the role awareness can play in a growing world of interpersonal media. In this day and age, consumers use social media from the time they wake up in the morning to the time they go to bed – think about it: we even sleep with our cell phones beside us or within arm’s length.

Awareness Has Changed, But it’s Still Key

Before, awareness was a priority mostly because of insufficient content — there was no clutter in advertising. Only a few brands could advertise on TV, in print, or on the radio. Today, however, brand awareness matters most because advertising and content are everywhere. Consumers experience advertising throughout the day, and the ways brands present their products and services has changed dramatically. Still, some marketers continue using the same rules because their clients consider brand awareness paramount if they wish to strategize their marketing campaign. But advertising is no longer a way to persuade a person — rather, it’s about people recognizing or noticing your brand.

Disruption and Innovation are the New Rules

Today, disruption and innovation drive marketers to improve their campaigns, and focus has been re-centered on brand awareness. Advertisers need to tell their consumers what’s new with their products and persuade them that their brand is more innovative than their competitors. Take for example T-Mobile –because of their efforts in providing a stream of small innovations to their customers, they’re one of the most challenging brands to compete with in the telecom industry. Google, too, doesn’t exactly need paid advertising to generate tremendous brand awareness.

A New Landscape

Young innovators build brand awareness by knowing what people value most, as well as what they share. With this new relationship between media and innovation, advertising now focuses on influencing others, instead of persuading consumers. Brands can win if they can motivate people to notice their name and share what they’re doing. Because of our fragmented world, consumers become filtering machines, and it can help your brand if people remember you because of the innovation you offer.