You’re probably familiar with the famous quote, “If you build it, they will come.” The problem – these days – is that it’s not exactly true. Audiences today are more inundated than ever with new brands, businesses and information. Building “it” doesn’t mean anything if no one knows “it” exists in the first place.
Enter the brand awareness campaign: your quest to put your brand name in front of as many relevant users as possible. So, how do you maximize the success of your brand awareness campaign? Here are four steps to help make your campaign successful:
Step 1: Know Your Audience.
It may sound counterintuitive but gaining widespread awareness might begin with narrowing down your audience. Targeting specific groups allows users to feel personally connected to the message so that they’ll advocate for it. After you define who you want to target, you have to figure out how to make sure they actually see your campaign. Don’t advertise everywhere – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. – if your audience isn’t actually there. Determine which platforms they actually use and put your message and efforts into those options.
Step 2: Tailor the Message.
Now that you know your audience, you need to uniquely speak to each group. You wouldn’t speak to your 13-year-old nephew the same way you’d speak to your 60-year-old aunt, right? Make sure your language matches the language of your audience and that the action you want your audience to take is something that group would actually want to do.
Step 3: Remember Your Budget.
You’ll want to determine how much money you have to spend before you start spending media dollars. If you don’t have much money to spend then get creative with how you spend it. Maybe you can utilize Public Relations to push out your message rather than buying ads. There are several organic options to help get your brand in front of your audience. If you have a huge budget, don’t make it rain just yet: figure out where your audience spends most of their time and allocate a bulk of your budget there.
Step 4: Know What Success Means.
What are you trying to accomplish through this brand awareness? How will you know if your campaign is successful? What numbers do you want to see in order to know if you’ve done a good job? Figure that out now. Don’t wait until you have the data in front of you to determine key takeaways; determine your takeaways and then seek out the data that supports it. Most importantly: don’t be afraid of failing. Retargeting midway through a campaign is normal. No one gets it right on the first go.
We utilized these four steps and more to launch the Be Local. Be Heard. awareness campaign for the Arkansas Municipal League. To learn more about the campaign and Local Control, visit BeLocalBeHeard.com.
