Good brand awareness is vital for the health of any business. With a well-known name and reputation, customers will know they should seek your services and think of you first in your industry.

However, cultivating brand awareness isn’t always as easy as we might hope. How should we go about building that kind of recognition and familiarity in the minds of our customers?

There is an old marketing concept known as the ‘rule of seven’ which says that a customer needs to hear your message at least seven times before they remember it. To that end, it’s important in a branding strategy to get your messaging out as often and across as many channels as possible.

4 Brand Awareness Examples to Help You Grow Market Share

Let’s look at some great ways of promoting your business and making sure customers know who you are...

1. Get to grips with social media

It’s the obvious answer, but it works. Depending on the nature of your business, one or more of the many social media channels could be a powerful marketing tool for you.

Identifying the right platforms on which to focus is the first step towards social media success. If your business sells visually interesting products such as clothing or flowers, Instagram might be the way to go. Alternatively, a B2B accountancy enterprise might do better on LinkedIn, where you could target business people directly.

Of course, you can maintain a presence across many different platforms at once. However, this can be a lot of work, so it’s worth identifying which outlets have the most potential for you.

Next, it’s important to establish and stick to a regular update schedule. It’s unlikely that you’ll make an impression posting once a month, so try to keep up a frequent flow of content. Services such as Hootsuite and Tweetdeck can help with this as they allow you to queue up content in advance, ready to be posted at a later date.

The ‘social’ part of ‘social media’ is crucial. Don’t forget to engage with other users, reply to comments, and share material from other sources. It’s not just a matter of putting up a post every so often and then forgetting about it.

It’s also important that your social media presence doesn’t seem 100% promotional. Remember that users should have a reason to follow you. Endless Tweets about discounts on plumbing supplies are hard to care about. Occasional updates that show a more personable side can go a long way to helping users care about you.

2. Make the most of your signage

With your digital marketing under control, it’s time to turn your attention to the real world. Simply put, the signage displayed at your place of business speaks volumes about you. The design of your logo, the colors and fonts used, and even the quality of the manufacturing reflect strongly on your brand.

For many businesses, their signage is a primary tool for communicating brand imagery and messaging. It can embody the company’s character and set expectations for your quality and professionalism.

Whether you need big and colorful signage for a toy shop or a tastefully back-lit brushed-steel sign for an upmarket hotel, it’s important to get it right. An excellent sign will cause customers to notice you and stand you out from your competitors.

We’re not only talking about the sign over the door; signage comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. With additional A-boards, window signs, and even signage on the back of your building, your branding can reach more passers-by.

Nor does it have to be on the outside of your premises. High-quality internal signage is great for reinforcing your brand image, for customers and clients alike. Whether you use small wall signs or large-format printed decals, great signage always has the potential to impress visitors.

3. Participate in networking and other events

Public appearances are another great way to increase your brand awareness. Having a presence at a well-attended event can put your name and products in front of many new customers.

Trade shows, exhibitions and conventions are all great venues for networking and client acquisition. However, it’s important to make a good first impression. The quality of your visual presentation, the demeanor of your staff, and more can all impact a visitor’s opinion of your brand.

By taking the time to put together a great stand or booth with excellent graphics, you can quickly communicate your branding to numerous passers-by. Planting memories of your name and logo in the attendees’ heads may cause them to think of you when it’s time to order.

Giveaways are also a good tactic. By handing visitors useful items bearing your branding, you can put them in possession of a constant reminder of your existence. These can be fairly trivial things such as key rings or pens, or a more creative and unique freebie might make a bigger impression.

4. Get involved in the community

Becoming more of an active presence in your local area can be a great branding strategy. By attending meetings and celebrations, making charitable donations, sponsoring events, and more, you can strongly reinforce your branding in the community.

Your efforts don’t have to be limited to taking part in preexisting events. It may also be a good idea to create and host events from time to time. Whether a get-together for local business people or a fundraising event for a local charity, a new event can work wonders for your branding.

Sponsorships and donations to good causes and social issues can be great for attracting media coverage for your business. The positive vibes can also influence the happiness of your staff, turning them into proud evangelists for the company.

Today’s consumers are more concerned with ethical and environmentally sound products and services than ever before. Therefore, presenting your enterprise as an unambiguous force for good is a sound strategy for developing brand awareness.

Ultimately, there are many strategies for improving your company’s brand awareness. Whether by leveraging the power of social media, installing great signage, or appearing at public shows, your business can position itself powerfully in the public consciousness.

With great brand awareness, your business can seem to be the obvious ‘go-to’ choice in your industry and outperform your competitors with ease.

Zarna Feltham is the Production Manager at Medash Signs, which for over forty years has produced commercial signage in Kent and throughout the UK, offering a wide variety of sign types for a broad mix of businesses and public services across the country. You can find her on Twitter @medashsigns.