Right now, your business is waging a multi-front battle: Against your competitors. Against your marketing budget. And most importantly, for a share of your target market’s mind.

Odds are you don’t have an infinite war chest to draw from, which means — just like in any battle — you need to strategize how you allocate resources. Fortunately, the right media buying strategy can maximize your budget by building brand awareness through a multi-dimensional approach.

As discussed in our previous blog, some media are better suited for certain things. But no matter which medium you use, you’ll get an added boost of branding as a result.

Let’s explain why.

 

The Difference Between Brand Recognition and Brand Awareness

Before we dive into the facts and figures, let’s define two terms that are sometimes used interchangeably — but shouldn’t be: Brand recognition and brand awareness.

Brand recognition is when a prospect knows your company on a surface level. Items in brand recognition include those shallow, surface-level identifiers of your company:

  • Name
  • Industry
  • Logo
  • Jingle

If you could identify golden arches and “I’m lovin’ it” as McDonald’s, but (for some reason) thought they were in the car detailing business, you’d be lacking brand awareness.

Brand awareness means you have a deeper level of familiarity that might border on loyalty. If you are brand aware, you are more likely to buy from that company. Making prospects brand aware requires playing the long game.

But — and this is important — no matter what, media buying will help with both.

 

Paid Search Media Buying + Your Brand

Let’s pretend you work in a saturated market with hundreds — if not thousands — of competitors.

We feel your pain.

internet search of "advertising agency"

Building brand equity could seem a Herculean task.

But what if your brand could be associated with the first listing for any search engine query?

What if the first thing that pops up when someone wants an answer to a question, a general want or a specific need was your company?

It can happen with paid search… if you’re willing to spend the money. And generally speaking, paid search can be worth every penny.

Paid search increases brand awareness by 80%
PPC generates 2X ROAS
65% of searchers click on a PPC ad when they’re ready to buy

These are almost supernatural statistics. Your brand can be associated with literally anything you want it to be, which makes this one of the most effective and instantaneous ways to increase your brand recognition, awareness and yes — even sales.

 

Social Media

Everybody (well, just about everybody) has at least one social media account.

Here in America:

  • 52% use social media to discover new brands and products 4
  • 78% use social media to learn about new brands 5
  • 7 is the average number of social media accounts per person 6
  • 2 hours per day is the average time spent on social media 7

So, depending on your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), budget (social media is generally very cost effective) and target demographics (some apps skew towards younger users), paid social media might be the logical place to start. Just be sure to put your efforts into a platform that aligns seamlessly with your audience.

And if you really want to know how to engage with your followers, consider using streams on Hootsuite. Do that and you’ll understand how your followers perceive your company, which will allow you to fine-tune your content strategy and messaging.

 

Radio

Get ready to have your mind blown.

Out of all media, one reigns supreme in weekly frequency among practically all age ranges.

It’s not social media. And it’s not TV either.

Radio — yes, AM/FM radio — takes the prize.

Here are some other head-turning stats showing how radio media buying helps brand awareness:

77% of listeners would try a brand or product endorsed by their favorite radio personality
15% of daily time is spent listening to radio
51% of brand conversations with heavy radio listeners end with an intent to purchase

Perhaps the most interesting thing is that, even in today’s non-stop-content-streaming environment, terrestrial radio blows the doors off ad-supported Spotify and Pandora! Just look at the findings of this “share of ear” report.

AM/FM radio leads ad-supported audio shares chart

However, we would be remiss to completely ignore streaming radio, where you can target with almost surgical-like precision. This is especially important if your audience is niche or you want to target a very specific geography.

In short: if you want a cost-effective method of building brand awareness, radio probably deserves consideration.

  

TV

Nobody can deny TV’s immense branding appeal. Where else can you reach millions of people simultaneously?

At the same time, the overall cost of delivering a broadcast spot is often an obstacle; the message, while reaching countless eyeballs, only appeals to a portion — but that’s changing in an important way thanks to the explosion of addressable TV.

This new technology delivers in ways beyond zoned cable and OTT by giving brands the ability to target not just neighborhoods, but specific households based on select geography, demographics and behaviors.

It’s amazingly exact targeting, amplified because just about anything with a screen can show a commercial nowadays.

There are also other benefits of traditional TV media buying for branding awareness:

TV ads influence brand search by up to 80%
56% of consumers say TV ads were the most important driver of product or service awareness

Here’s one more important note: TV doesn’t just mean commercials. TV also means branded content within a news program. For example, severe weather break-ins sponsored by a roofing company. And given that the average viewer spends three hours per day glued to their TV, opportunity abounds to build your brand.

 

Print

So far, we’ve been focusing primarily on interacting with screens.

But we can’t forget about interacting with good ol’ fashioned print, because this medium still packs a branding punch.

For example, did you know that 82% of consumers trust print ads the most when making a purchase decision?

It makes sense. You are consciously deciding which publication to buy and hold instead of being presented a piece of content.

But there are also other numbers that show print media buying enhances brand awareness.

Print outperforms digital by 31% when it comes to brand recall
Visits to a website happen 27% of the time after seeing a print ad
Print readers engage with content 4X longer than digital content

But that’s not all.

Print ads can appear anywhere in a publication: The cover, the centerfold (not that kind) and wraps.

 

Out Of Home (OOH)

Does it ever seem like you can’t escape brand messaging, even when you’re running errands?

You’ll probably see it on:

  • Billboards
  • Transit stations
  • Public transportation
  • Gas station pumps

Businesses advertise on these examples — and many, many more —because OOH is proven to increase brand awareness.

85% of Adults Look at OOH Ads Chart

And the potential impact is even greater for retailers.

  • 68% of adults notice OOH ads on their way to shopping in-person at a store
  • 68% of adults notice OOH ads very close to or right outside a store
  • 75% of adults notice OOH ads inside a store
  • OOH ads have a moderate or significant impact on 42% of in-person purchase decisions

So, while other mediums might have a little more cache, a well-placed and eye-catching outdoor advertisement has the potential to pay off in a big way.

Ready to Win Your Branding Battle?

Hopefully you now have an idea of how media buying can bolster your brand’s awareness, no matter the medium.

But since the options are seemingly endless and your budget… probably isn’t… you should explore a customized strategy.

Stealth Creative’s media department can help you create one. Drop us a line and we’ll get to boosting your brand’s revenue (and awareness).

Reach Out
Brian Reinhardt

Brian Reinhardt

Brian Reinhardt is a Senior Copywriter at Stealth Creative whose first unpublished story was penned at the age of eight. Yes, it involved hoverboards, lasers and robots. His days are filled with researching, content creation and SEO strategy. His nights are spent with family, reading and managing too many fantasy sports teams. Nine is his favorite number.

  1. https://www.foundsm.com
  2. https://www.webfx.com
  3. https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com
  4. https://www.statista.com
  5. https://sproutsocial.com
  6. https://www.forbes.com
  7. https://www.statista.com
  8. https://musicalpursuits.com
  9. https://www.rab.com
  10. https://www.nyinterconnect.com
  11. https://www.brandzooka.com
  12. https://www.newsworks.org.uk
  13. https://financesonline.com
  14. https://financesonline.com

While there are plenty of tools necessary to build a strong brand presence, there’s one that everyone needs: A brand voice. You might not think about it, but every single brand has one. Even yours.

What is a Brand Voice?

You might be thinking: “I’ve got a solid business plan and a great product. Do people really care if I have a well-crafted brand voice?” In response to this question, we couldn’t answer loudly enough: “YES!”

Benefits of Owning Your Brand’s Voice

Personality:

Your audience wants to learn about you. Consumers want to know that they are engaging with real people, not robots. By cultivating a personable brand voice, you are more likely to create an emotional connection with your consumer’s subconscious mind. How does this help you? According to Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman, 95% of decisions related to purchases occur subconsciously.*

Circle2

Consistency:

If your audience is hearing different voices in email messaging versus social media messaging, they’re going to notice the disconnect. This inconsistency can lead them to look in the wrong place for your product or service. 

Another benefit of maintaining consistency is conditioning. Let’s go on a field trip, shall we?

Picture it now: You’re back in high school in General Psychology. Today’s lesson is on Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning theory. When it comes to exposing your test subjects–err, audience–to stimuli, it is most effective when it is consistent and recurring. If you don’t have consistency in each consumer touch point, you’re essentially starting the process of conditioning over… and over… and over again.

Circle3

Retention:

Having a consistent brand voice doesn’t just benefit you externally. When your employees see that you’re not just talking the talk, but walking the walk, they’re more likely to believe in the company’s mission, thus improving loyalty. As we know, internal communication and trust are vital when it comes to building — and strengthening — a brand.

How to Create—AND Maintain—a Brand Voice

The best way to craft a strong brand voice is to go back to square one. What is your company’s mission? What do you hope to achieve—for yourself, your brand and your community?

Once you’ve answered these questions, consider who you want to reach. Who is your target audience? (A bonus to fine-tuning your target audience? Knowing where to find them to ensure that all the hard work that you’re putting into your brand voice is heard!) 

After learning who your target audience is, you can then begin to consider their personas. What does your customer want? What are their personality types? Their dreams? Their goals? Even go as far as knowing their favorite sports teams? (Kidding. Kind of.)

When you’ve identified the mission, the audience and the personas, you can then test different voice variations. What resonates with this group? How would they characterize your brand voice? Here are some adjectives that can help get you started: Ambitious. Charismatic. Extroverted. Intuitive. Passionate. Trustworthy. Understanding. Witty. 

Let’s Get Vocal

Whether you’ve got a start on some ideas for your brand voice or don’t have the first clue where to start, Stealth Creative’s savvy content strategy team is here to lend a hand. 

We can help you define tone, feel and personality and start bringing out the key attributes that will help your audience connect directly to the soul of your brand. 

But it all starts with a conversation! Get in touch with us today.

Source: Medium, 2015

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There are many new and innovative ideas for business that advertising agencies will take advantage of in the new year.

But with technology dissemination and knowledge sharing occurring at ever-increasing speeds, like the examples above, it’s easy for agencies to forget they (hopefully) already possess a proven, timeless technology at their disposal: genuine interest in their clients’ success.

The warm, caring approach is the antithesis of dealing with a grumpy client who barely makes eye contact with you, while acting like they would rather be anywhere else at that moment. While it may seem old-fashioned, cheerfully greeting your clients with a big smile on your face and showing a sincere desire to help them achieve their marketing goals is the easiest way to overcome these kinds of interactions.

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This installment continues with an overview of the content strategy and the content promotion strategy.

Ready to continue your pursuit of content excellence? Good. Let’s get started.

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In the past, great content was an often-desired element in a marketing campaign, but it was not always required to gain results in search. The value that Google placed on inbound links somewhat minimized the value of what was on the page people eventually landed on.

Until recently, most people’s concept of great content was effective sales copy on a landing page. And since great content is expensive to produce, it wasn’t pursued as diligently as it should have been.

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All this World Series hype has me asking: Why am I such a fan?

I realized one of the major reasons is the Cardinals’ approach to teamwork. If you look up the definition of teamwork it’s this:

The combined action of a group of people, esp. when effective and efficient.

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While I’m using the telecommunications industry as the example, the same principles apply by and large to any service or industry. Let’s start with the strategic analysis of the brand.

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This blog will offer that same thought pattern:

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