Exploring the Basic Contours of Brand Awareness and Steps to Increase yours.

There are those among us who typically make purchasing decisions based mainly on the types of brands in each product category. #brandidentity #brandawareness

There are those among us who typically make purchasing decisions based mostly on the types of brands in each product category.

Even when embarking on a mission to try something new, these folks tend to favor brands they are already familiar with. Some folks will tell you that they are "Starbucks drinkers", while others are in the "Dunkin or bust" camp.

Although, both brands are purveyors of coffee. A company, whether a coffee house or hospital network, stands to gain a lot when it makes the necessary investments to create brand awareness among those types of audiences it feels are the best fit for its products and/or services.

The simplest way to look at it

Brand awareness is the marketing word of consumers' awareness of a product or brand by its name, colors, icons, mascot, or other brand assets. Creating brand awareness plays a significant role in introducing a new product to the market.

Why is Brand awareness Important?

When introducing a new product or service to the market, Brand awareness is very important as it helps consumers make decisions when differentiating between brands. Having a strong, well-known brand presents the very real prospect of dominance not just in your product category, but in other new ones as well. Being in this advantageous position opens up many revenue-generating possibilities outside of your core competencies.

There are mainly three types of Brand Awareness:

#brandrecall

This is the ability of consumers to draw a brand name from their memory as a result of a prompt by a product category. For example, if a customer hears the word “designer” (as in product category) a specific brand name should come to mind.

#brandrecognition

This is when a consumer is able to differentiate a brand name when they come in contact with it. The customer might not remember the exact brand names. But when the brand name is given, the customer is able to pinpoint the purchase or its category.

#branddominance

The holy grail of brand awareness, brand dominance occurs when consumers can - for the most part - only name a company's brand when thinking about a specific product category. This is known as "top-of-the-mind awareness". The brand is the category. The brand takes on the identity of a verb in this instance.

Brands like Xerox and Google are among the few that have reached this coveted level of brand awareness. Most folks want to "Google" things, or "Xerox" a document.