To what extent does brand awareness truly influence the final purchase decision?
We all want to sell more products and services, and for decades, brand awareness has been the subject of extensive research and study into the mind of the consumer.
Smaller business owners and startups tell us; that brand awareness is so difficult to quantify any return on investment and an even more difficult question is; when will you see any result?
So how important is familiarity when it comes to purchasing?
As it turns out, quite a lot.
Here are the results from one fascinating study:
- In a blind study by the University of Newcastle and the University of South Australia, 85.5% of subjects chose the familiar brand in the first trial, even if they preferred a less familiar brand.
- Even when testing brands during an initial trial, consumers were more likely to purchase the product from a familiar brand name, even if they preferred the taste (or, by extension, the look, smell, or function) of an unfamiliar brand.
- Consumers were not only likely to choose the more familiar brand but were more likely to make the decision more quickly — 9.8 seconds faster.
What does this mean for your business?
Get to the consumer early. Stay in front of them and don’t quit! Repetition is critical. One statistic we regularly run across is that the average person remembers three to five brands per category.
This is where consistent brand messaging can pay off in a big way. Send a direct mailer and follow up with a call. Invest in back links from brands similar to yourself and on business directories to drive visitors to your website.
Create constant reminders of who you are and what your brand offers and why you are different and not better than them, never a good idea to mention another brand, as you are challenging the consumer and everyone loves a challenge.
Creating brand awareness is not always about getting someone to buy right now. It’s about staying top of mind—and keeping your competitors out in the cold—so that when your target audience is ready to buy, they think of you.
You won’t get market share without “mind share”
For new businesses, especially those that are primarily e-commerce, or otherwise don’t have highly visible distribution channels, brand awareness is more about developing “mind share” than “market share.”
Branding is often broken down into two categories:
Identity and media spend.
One reason you know about Target and Walmart is because they spend a lot of money on media buys to stay top-of-mind.
But before Target was able to spend millions on media, they needed to establish their identity, such as their iconic logo. And any new business that fails to develop its own personal identity will find it difficult to gain traction in the marketplace.
A great brain storming idea for boardrooms is if my brand was a human what would he or she look like? Draw your brand persona as a person, you will be surprised how effective this can be!
What is the voice and style of your company? Think hard about your business name, domain name, website design, logo and colors, and engaging web-content.
Doing so will help you begin to take up space in consumers’ minds, which will lead to greater recognition when it comes time to buy.
