Content marketing is one of the most effective techniques for increasing targeted traffic and gaining new consumers – and it shows no signs of slowing down in 2022. Indeed, new solutions appear to develop every year, permitting more content producers to generate more intriguing and engaging material.
However, traffic generation is only one of many benefits of content marketing. Content can be a means for new and emerging brands to get their name out there. We’re talking about brand recognition.
Here’s how you can utilize content marketing to increase brand visibility and potentially attract new customers.
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What Exactly Is Brand Awareness?
The level of familiarity that consumers have with your brand, goods, or services is referred to as brand awareness. There are several levels of brand awareness, ranging from just encountering a business’s goods to knowing and recalling a brand by name.
Simply having a “foot in the door” for a new business is a good beginning point for obtaining additional clients and boosting their awareness over time.
Search is Influenced by Brand Awareness
I’ve worked with a lot of clients who have just launched new businesses and aren’t sure where to begin with their brand awareness plan. I often emphasize that brand awareness influences search (namely, Google search) and vice versa.
In this approach, brand recognition is inextricably linked to SEO.
Consider how social media trends affect users’ awareness of specific brands. We witnessed this with fidget spinners, which made their social debut. Then, in quest of these toys, customers went to Google.
As a result, we found a surge in searches for “fidget spinners”… and then rapidly declined when fidget spinners dropped out of favor.
Keeping this in mind, implementing a comprehensive content marketing plan can boost Search exposure and bring organic traffic to your website. The more people who are aware of your brand, the more likely they are to search for you on Google.
Brand Visibility is Influenced by Search
Similarly, using SEO to your advantage is one method of increasing brand awareness. You may not yet have brand recognition, but you can bring users to your website by using a non-branded search phrase
Assume you’ve just developed a new invoicing SaaS for business owners. Even if your brand name does not yet appear in Google searches, you can draw customers to your website by targeting terms such as “small business invoicing software” or “how to produce a business invoice.”
They will then have their first interaction with your new brand.
The following are some ways that content marketing can benefit your brand:
- Increase your social media followers.
- Drive social traffic/referrals to your website from strategic brand alliances.
- Improve your website’s organic ranking
- Obtain high-authority backlinks for your website.
- Over time, increase customer retention.
These are only a few of the numerous advantages of content marketing for brand visibility.
Now, let’s look at how to make your content work for you – and make your business a household name.
12 Content Marketing Strategies for Brand Awareness
As an SEO content strategist, I’m a big supporter of developing material that serves several functions. With this in mind, the following techniques can not only aid your brand recognition efforts but may also enhance your visibility and traffic on other platforms.
Investigate Your Target Market And Audience
Before you write a single piece of content, you should identify your target market and the perfect audience for your company. Without this phase, you run the danger of developing the incorrect type of content for the wrong audience on the wrong platforms — and squandering your time in the process.
Fortunately, with so many instruments at our disposal, market research has gotten much easier.
Google Forms is my personal favorite for surveying potential audiences and gauging their interest
in brands like yours. You can also use a Google Forms alternative if you are looking for more
advanced features.
Here’s how to do quick and simple market research about content marketing:
Make a Google Form with the questions listed below:
- What is your biggest challenge when it comes to [primary brand topic]?
- What solutions have you attempted to fix this problem so far?
- What were your difficulties with those solutions?
- What would your ideal solution be, if you had to define it?
- What do you hope to achieve with [solution]?
Then, utilize your social channels, existing email list, network, and any other communities to which you have access.
People in your target audience should be polled. Aim for at least ten responses.
Compile a list of the most common replies from your survey.
Finally, use the data to inform your brand’s message and who your ideal customers are.
Over time, I advocate using tools such as Google Analytics to measure real-time performance and better understand who is engaged with your material.
In the meantime, a first survey can help ensure that you are making decisions based on audience input rather than your assumptions.
Identify Your Brand’s Differentiating Selling Proposition
To differentiate yourself in your market, you must define something distinctive that your brand delivers to the table. This could be a more efficient approach to address a client problem, a more inexpensive solution, better customer service, or a variety of what we term differentiating features.
Your unique selling proposition (USP) is a statement that highlights and outlines your brand’s major selling characteristics in a way that communicates value to your target audience.
For example, stating that you are a marketer who provides marketing services is too broad. “X Agency offers bespoke digital marketing services to help brands expand with size, precision, and confidence,” for example. This is where the actual gold can be found.
Your unique selling proposition (USP) will serve as the cornerstone for all of your marketing activities. It is what distinguishes you in the marketplace, attracts your target customers, and specifies why they should buy from you.
Create Searchable, Non-Branded Web Content
At this point, relatively few people may be aware of your brand, particularly if it is a brand name. This is where you may take advantage of non-branded searches to generate traffic to your website.
Perhaps you have a small clothing business in Seattle that has recently launched. While consumers may be unaware of your storefront unless they happen to walk by, you can still utilize SEO to generate traffic both online and offline. In this scenario, some keywords to consider are:
- [downtown Seattle clothing store] receives approximately 320 searches each month.
- [vintage clothing store Seattle] receives approximately 260 searches per month.
- [women’s clothes Seattle] receives approximately 20 searches per month.
You may then optimize your website content – primarily web pages – based on these search terms. You can bring new users to your website and even your local listings if you do it correctly (like Google Business Profiles).
Form Strategic Industry Alliances
Getting your foot in the door as a new company or firm frequently necessitates close collaboration with other business owners. Never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth marketing and referrals.
While in-person networking will undoubtedly serve these purposes, content marketing can as well. Here are a few examples of how to use content to foster industry partnerships:
- Create thought leadership content on LinkedIn and connect with new people.
- Join Facebook groups to share your knowledge with other industry professionals.
- To increase your following, host a Facebook Live or other live conversation.
- Post educational video content and interact with other company owners in the comments section.
- Conduct email outreach to identify third-party publication opportunities.
- Invite company owners to participate in your blog or be interviewed for it.
There are numerous advantages to forming these alliances. For one thing, you can build a large network of referrals for your company. Second, you may rely on other firms’ authority and reach to share your content.
This is an ongoing practice that should be continued as long as you wish to increase brand recognition.
Publication on Third-Party Websites
If you have a new business, your website most likely lacks the authority to drive your content to the top of Google search results. This is heavily influenced by the age of your domain, your backlink history, and the amount of optimized content on your site.
Fortunately, you may leverage the authority and influence of other websites to promote your own. This is how it works:
- Make a list of industry-related websites that could be interested in publishing your work (think: small businesses, not Forbes).
- Send an email to the publisher or business owner and ask if you may provide blog articles regularly. Make it clear that this is not for linking purposes, but rather to share your industry knowledge.
- Once accepted, create material on themes that your target audience will find useful (again, keep your USP in mind). Avoid being self-promotional, however.
- Distribute this content to your increasing audience. Examine the outcomes of your content’s publication on larger platforms.
“Guest posting,” as it is known, is especially useful if you have a small audience. Guest posting allows you to increase the number of people who see your experience, material, and, eventually, brand.
Make the Most of Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing, like the one mentioned above, can help you reach a larger audience. This is especially typical for e-commerce companies that work with influencers to share and promote their items.
Find industry influencers who might be interested in promoting your brand. This might be in exchange for free products or other perks. If they agree, this can be an excellent method to increase your fan base.
Allow Data to Drive Your Content
The use of statistics and AI content tools to drive your content is critical to the success of any content marketing. As a true strategy, the “publish and pray” tactic rarely succeeds. As a result, we begin your content strategy with audience research.
There are numerous tools available to assist you in interpreting user data and using it to inform your content strategy. Among these tools are the following:
- Google Analytics – for insights into performance, user demographics, and user activity.
- Google Search Console is useful for tracking keyword performance, click-through rate, and positioning.
- SEMRush is a tool for keyword research, competitor analysis, content analysis, and backlink reports.
- Hootsuite is a tool for tracking social media engagement, impressions, and brand awareness.
I recommend checking in with these tools every week to evaluate how your platforms are currently performing, what material is providing the greatest brand recognition, and how consumers are engaging with information on your website
Diversify Your Content Strategy
When you initially start, it’s practically hard to determine which channels and types of content will resonate the most with your target audience.
To determine which techniques have the greatest influence on your specific brand, you will need to diversify your content approach.
In reality, your material should serve the objective of communicating your company’s beliefs. This pertains to your USP, which you defined in Step 2.
Then, to engage your audience, you can employ a variety of content types:
- Videos.
- Articles for blogs.
- Podcasts.
- Infographics.
- Posts on social media.
- Videos are streamed live.
- Guest posts are welcome.
- Interviews.
- Tutorials.
- Email marketing campaigns
- Paid advertisements.
- Events that are hosted
Your analytics will show which types of content users engage with the most over time. This can help you decide what sorts of material to publish most frequently and which to eliminate from your content strategy.
Make Use of Social Listening Tools
Sentiment analysis employs machine learning to “listen” to Internet conversations and discover how people are talking about your business. This can be beneficial because it allows you to determine whether your brand is being perceived favorably (or not).
More than that, it allows you to take control of the story. While tools like Brandwatch can help you see what’s getting people talking, it’s your content that will shape the conversation over time.
The new era of consumer information has enabled many firms to move ahead of the curve, shift perspectives, and raise internet visibility.
Create a Content Publishing Strategy
You may now know what to publish based on your audience research, data analytics, and social listening insights – but getting the material out there is a different issue. Building brand awareness is frequently a delicate process in which messaging and consistency make all the difference.
If you are not consistent with your publishing schedule, you may miss out on opportunities to increase brand awareness. If your messaging is inconsistent, your audience may become confused about what your brand stands for.
Establishing a publishing calendar, complete with themes and dates, will help you stay accountable for providing material regularly. You’ll also have a record of what you’ve already published, which will help you avoid duplicating your efforts in the future.
Own Both Branded And Unbranded Conversations
It’s tempting to strive to be the only voice for your brand, but you should also be present in non-branded interactions.
Are you willing to share your expertise on specific industrial topics?
Are you asking users what they’re interested in or what they’re having trouble with?
Do you have an opinion on recent trends?
The idea here is to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s going on in your industry as a whole, not just in your company. The more you can “talk shop” with your audience, the more possibilities they will have to interact with your brand.
Own Both Branded And Unbranded Conversations
It’s tempting to strive to be the only voice for your brand, but you should also be present in non-branded interactions.
- Are you willing to share your expertise on specific industrial topics?
- Are you asking users what they’re interested in or what they’re having trouble with?
- Do you have an opinion on recent trends?
The idea here is to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s going on in your industry as a whole, not just in your company. The more you can “talk shop” with your audience, the more possibilities they will have to interact with your brand.
Don’t Forget About Follow-Up
Once your content is out there, you provide your audience with numerous possibilities to come into contact with your brand. You can, however, simply fall off their radar. The follow-up is crucial here.
This could include:
- Email follow-up with email subscribers
- Retargeting adverts are displayed to website visitors.
- Start interactions with your fans on social media.
- Keeping in touch with current consumers.
- Responding to messages and comments
- Checking up with professional connections and business partners.
Don’t let users come into contact with your brand once and then never see it again. A well-thought-out content marketing strategy engages users at various touchpoints and nurtures that engagement into a relationship that can lead to a paying customer.
Content marketing insights to help you grow your business
Many business owners associate “brand awareness” with posting material on social media and hoping that users notice. When you leverage insights to your advantage, though, your content strategy may become much more, well, strategic.
Audience research, keyword analysis, and competitive analysis can all be used as part of your content strategy. That way, you can be certain to reach the appropriate consumers with the right information at the right time – and keep your brand at the forefront of their minds until they are ready to buy.
