A brand is at the core of a company's success. A solid, trusted brand is necessary in order for your company to prosper. Your company’s brand is not only what makes a lasting impression on consumers, but also allows your customers and clients to have a firm grasp on what to expect from your company. It is a way of distinguishing yourself from the competition and a way of demonstrating what you offer and why that makes you the better choice. Your brand is built to be a true representation of who you are as a business, and how you wish to be perceived.

Below are five innovative ways to increase your brand awareness:

Influencers

Using influencers with your campaign and inviting them to be part of your niche is a great way to increase brand awareness and hopefully drive sales. When influencers have an established audience that knows and trusts them, once they mention your product and discuss your brand in their content, those mentions will expand your reach and increase people’s awareness of your product.

Companies can also offer to sponsor influencers at an event or use them as spokespersons for their brand and product(s). For example, in the Nike campaign that was recently released, they used Serena Williams as their spokesperson. She is such an icon for athletes around that world, and has since become a walking billboard for the company. Using an influencer creates a bond with your target audience that is harder to capture if only through company efforts.

Branded Packaging

Have you ever received a product that came in branded packaging? Rather than seeing it just as another shipment, you may have felt that the special branding made the package seem more like a gift. Branded packaging offers an additional touchpoint to the value your brand gives to each customer’s experience, and helps distinguish you from marketplace competitors.

Branded packaging personalizes the experience of getting a package and makes your company more memorable. For example, Packlane is a company that allows other companies to design custom packaging, using their own logo and branding to enhance the customer experience. The team has created unique boxes for L'Oreal, HP, Shopify and RedBull, to name a few. These packages are sent to the media in order to launch a new product and gain publicity, as well as create a fun experience for the people receiving the packages.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Majority of consumers don’t look past the first page of Google search results, and the majority of people in that group don’t look past the first few results on the page. SEO is very powerful for companies who are looking to increase brand awareness. Implementing SEO strategies targeting your niche, products or services can help you increase awareness surrounding your company and ensure you are seen and found when people are searching.

Social Media

Social media is constantly growing, changing and adapting. It is important for your company to stay on top of the latest trends in social media in order to gain awareness for your brand. Developing a coherent brand on social media is important, and it is a great way to engage with customers and promote new products.

Instagram is a social media platform with power. It’s said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and Instagram lets you promote that story via the images you post and the text you curate. It’s a great tool for friends and family to keep up with one other, and it's just as good for brands reaching out to their consumers.

Facebook, another common social media platform, has the power to increase brand awareness and create a community. Facebook helps companies speak directly to the community and share their products, reviews and photos. Facebook is more detailed and informative than Instagram, and can be used in a completely different way to reach and engage with your audience.

Twitter is another big social media platform that’s great for brand awareness because it helps you publish news and interact with customers already talking about your business. Twitter is meant to be witty and businesses often use humor to promote themselves. Take Wendys for instance. Their clever use of Twitter has increased their brand awareness tremendously and almost reinvented their image entirely.

Local Partnerships

Forming partnerships enables smaller companies to take advantage of an existing consumer base, as well as valuable resources and marketing channels that have already been put in place. For a larger company, it can position them as an early adopter, provide value-add for their customers and even prove to be a testing ground for a potential acquisition down the line. If you want to increase brand awareness you can use local, creative partnerships to to give you the edge you need when competing with other businesses.

You could sponsor a local sports team, team up with a local related but non-competitive business to hold a seminar, partner with a local school or church or even partner with an event being held in your town. If there’s an opportunity for a partnership that will be beneficial to your brand awareness, don’t pass it up!

Brand awareness is a powerful concept that can have a major impact on your marketing efforts, consumer perception, and revenue. By acting smart and strategically with marketing tactics, your business has the chance to cement its presence in market by showing a strong and easily recognizable brand identity.

If you follow these techniques for establishing and building awareness for your brand, you’ll be on the right track to ensure you establish a loyal audience who not only recognizes your brand but chooses your products time and time again.