Every business needs customers to not only survive but thrive. In today’s competitive environment, connecting with potential customers and retaining them is more important than ever. Building a relationship begins with promoting your company, products, and/ or services. Brand awareness helps drive customer behavior and may be able to convert potential consumers more quickly than in the past.
If a consumer does not know who you are, they cannot choose to buy anything from you. Pushing particular products is also important, but if a consumer has not connected with your brand, they may overlook your organization when deciding to purchase. Or even worse, they may decide instead to purchase from a direct or indirect alternative. Consider the stages a potential shopper goes through before purchasing. This is sometimes called the marketing or sales funnel.
- Stage 1: Awareness. Make sure the potential customer knows your brand. This stage includes attracting viewers and starting to build trust within your brand.
- Stage 2: Consideration. Customers learn more about your brand and may develop familiarity with it. They may consider your company as they think about purchasing a product or service.
- Stage 3: Conversion. The customer decides to purchase your product or service.
- Stage 4: Loyalty. Once a customer has purchased from you, the goal is to retain the customer for future sales. Having satisfied customers that are loyal to a business can increase repeat purchasing.
- Stage 5: Advocacy. This is the stage when a customer has become loyal to your organization. They are likely to talk about your brand with friends and family and may even write online reviews. Word of mouth advertising is the most effective way to increase customers. 92% of consumers around the world say they trust recommendations above all other forms of advertising.
A customer can’t convert without first moving through the earlier stages of the sales funnel. This means companies should consider making brand visibility a top priority. There are several ways to achieve this, including using social media platforms to heighten awareness. Other methods include publishing articles, blogs and other material, or running traditional promotions.
Businesses should always consider investing in brand awareness as it’s critical to overall success. The return may not be strong in terms of conversions but by publicizing your business, more customers should be attracted to your business. For more information and tips on how to create better effective brand messaging and attracting more customers, check out the accompanying infographic down below.
Infographic Created By Beantown Media Ventures
