When we think about marketing, it’s easy to think about it as a process that is entirely self-directed. Perhaps this is the case at first, but you’d be surprised how quickly the narrative can fall out of your hands if you let it. Think of large firms like Nestle, whose scandals in history still taint their image to this day.
Think of how reports of mistreatment and intolerable working conditions for low recompense are starting to mar the rosy-clean, heavily curated and highly litigious image of one of the most popular children’s and theme park brands in the world.
While it’s unlikely that such controversies are here to poison your own business legacy, it’s important to recognize that sometimes, brand awareness isn’t something you can define on your own terms. However, what you can do is allow this image to be as carefully curated and strengthened by your approach as possible, allowing for any misconceptions to be cleared us, as well as incentivizing potential customers to look to you for that guidance, rather than even positive word of mouth. Just like the excellent methods used by the best brand activation agency.
With that in mind, let’s consider how that can be achieved:
Define Your Own Slogan
Some businesses may see a slogan as a slick tagline to add to their marketing strategy, but you’d be surprised at how effective they can be at encapsulating the whole ethos of your brand if you get it right. Think of how ‘Just Do It’ allowed Nike to align itself with the mindset of achievement, success, athleticism, and being at the top of a game. Disneyland’s ‘the happiest place on Earth’ captures that childhood wonder many of us have associated with the brand. Thoroughly thinking through your own slogan in this way could help your business reputation precede itself.
Marketing Material & Formatting
How the marketing material you cultivate is delivered can make a major difference to your brand. Think of how a service curating instructional videos related to its services, uploaded for free on YouTube, can be seen as a brand carefully educating and doing its best to spread good, helpful information. Imagine just how this can improve brand awareness by being seen as a welcome, accessible authority on such a topic. You can see how the benefits accrue with such a careful approach.
Keep Brand Image Unique
It’s important to make sure that your brand image is unapologetically ‘you,’ and can reflect your firm with pride. This way, you’re much more likely to have something unique to say rather than form-fitting into the horde of other businesses providing much of the same thing. For instance, perhaps a graphic design company named ‘Juice Graphics’ could use a segmented orange as its logo, as well as use fruits as the cut-shape of its business cards, as well as ensuring all the services on the website use fruit as natural image headers for navigation. If you stick to a notable theme, make sure it’s cohesive, and allow that to work at every level for your brand. This way, you stand out, and continue to do so.
With this advice, you’re sure to positively increase brand awareness on your own terms going forward.