When your business isn’t growing as fast as you want it to, your first instinct might be to run a sales campaign. But this won’t work for every shopper.
Say you run a campaign to drive more purchases and increase order size. For customers who already know about your brand, it works and you see a small spike in sales.
But the campaign isn’t effective for consumers who haven’t heard of you before. You never introduced these customers to your brand, so they haven’t even considered purchasing from you yet.
Sales campaigns work great for customers who are at the end of their buyer journey. But to make new customers aware of your brand, encourage them to learn more about your products, and get them to buy, you have to address every stage of their journey. And the first step is awareness.
Here, you’ll learn three simple ways to get more new customers. (You don’t need a giant budget to do any of them.)
How to build an awareness strategy
The biggest brands in the world use awareness campaigns to get the attention of new and lapsed customers. These are the TV commercials, billboards, videos, and digital ads that show beautiful images, lifestyle content, and celebrity ambassadors.
But it’s not just these big brands that need an awareness strategy. Companies of all sizes need to prioritize brand awareness to get new customers and stay top of mind with existing customers.
The rule of thumb is: sell people your brand before you sell them your products.
To improve your awareness strategy—or start from scratch—download Criteo’s Quick Guide to Brand Awareness: 3 Ways to Make Your Brand Irresistible to New Customers. Here’s a preview of what’s inside:
1. Establish your brand values
In Criteo’s Why We Buy study, we surveyed 1,000 US shoppers and more than half said they bought (or decided not to buy) products based on a brand’s values. A sixth of our respondents went as far as to say they’ve stopped buying from a brand they were loyal to because the brand’s values didn’t align with theirs.
Every brand needs a mission. It might seem like a good idea to do a little bit of everything, but the best value statements are specific. Don’t make everything your mission. Instead, do one thing very well.
2. Go where your best customers are
Our research found that brand discovery happens on many different channels. So how do you keep your awareness strategy focused?
Look at your high-value customers who spend the most, make repeat purchases, and who you consider the most loyal in your database. Use these attributes to build the ideal customer you want to discover your brand. And then go to the channels where you can target this customer.
This is the difference between targeting everyone and focusing on the customers that will grow your business.
3. Find your brand advocates
Nielsen’s Global Trust in Advertising Survey found that 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and loved ones more than advertising.
When word of mouth is happening alongside a paid media strategy for brand awareness, it creates the perfect scenario for consumers to find and remember your brand.
Thanks to social media, it’s easy to find the people who are recommending your brand to their followers. Engage with them and use their voice as a testimonial to your brand (with permission, of course).
Download our Quick Guide to Brand Awareness for expanded content and step-by-step instructions for the tips above.
