Brand awareness and how to build it

 I recently had a conversation with my wife about the concept of brand awareness.  While attending a conference on behalf of an organization, she quickly came to realize that many of the people in attendance weren’t familiar with the organization she represented and she asked me if I had any suggestions on how that could be improved.

Brand awareness is something I think about frequently.  As someone who leads multiple online platforms while training others to do the same, I have learned that it’s definitely a concept worth investing time and intentional effort.

Several years ago when I started Platform Launchers, I knew it was important for me to make this platform a recognizable brand online.  A year and a half ago when I launched Bible Study Headquarters, I knew the same was true.  Let me offer an overview of how I’ve been making each platform a recognizable brand in its respective space.

In general, it always comes back to serving an audience.  The primary reason anyone is going to search for, access, or utilize my content is if it effectively meets a need.  My platforms are only relevant if they remain helpful.  I’m always asking the question, “What needs am I best equipped to meet?”  I also ask, “Is there a way I can help that others aren’t adequately helping?”  I use these questions to help me develop various forms of content and services.

I also want people to become familiar with my brands, so I intentionally attempt to show up in various places.  I create a series of daily and weekly podcasts.  I show up on YouTube.  I partner with some of the largest websites on the internet and allow them to use my content for free (with attribution and backlinks to my sites).  I speak at conferences.  I write books and frequently give them away for free.  I show up as a guest on other people’s platforms.  I create courses that I allow others to access freely and share with large and small groups without making them jump through a bunch of red tape.

In addition to all of that, I make sure to keep my websites updated.  That helps immensely with SEO, and if you’re curious about how that works, just do a search for my name or the names of my online platforms.  You will see that my sites are indexed, they appear at the top of the search results, and many of the subpages are listed as well.  My choice to be helpful, prolific, consistent, and show up wherever the doors open has resulted in ongoing brand awareness that continues to expand.

Brand awareness can contribute to momentum as well.  Once you build awareness for your brand, that awareness has the potential to grow exponentially, far beyond your initial efforts.  In some ways, it feels like awareness takes on a life of its own as the content you created months and years ago continues to drive people to your platform.

So let’s get practical.  I’ve given you a general overview of how I build brand awareness, but please allow me to offer some additional suggestions that you might also find helpful.  Consider this a “brand awareness checklist” of sorts because the suggestions I’m about to share are a great place to start.

1. Develop a Strong Brand Identity

Start with your logo.  Keep it simple, readable, and memorable.  Select colors and fonts you like and use them repeatedly on your website and other marketing materials.

Emphasize your tagline.  I have a tagline that operates like a subtitle for each of my platforms.  It’s a simple one-sentence phrase that tells you what it’s all about.  

Tell your story over and over.  People love stories.  Your platform has a story.  Tell your story when you do interviews, write content, and record audio and video.

2. Leverage Social Media

Show up consistently.  I am not overly dependent on social media when it comes to building brand awareness, but I use it some.  Like all things, I find it helpful to show up consistently.  Don’t be haphazard and “occasional.”  If you’re going to use social media, show up several times each week, without fail.

Keep it light and helpful.  One of the worst things people do with social media is complain and highlight negative news.  If your brand remains inspiring and helpful, I’m much more likely to seek it out.

Partner with others.  There are people with bigger platforms than you.  Look for ways to partner with them.  Partner with those who have smaller platforms as well.  They will introduce your platform to people it hasn’t reached yet.

3. Go Overboard with Content Marketing

People love videos.  Whether it’s social media, YouTube, or free online courses, people gravitate toward video content.  If you’re shy about making it, get un-shy.

People love audio.  Podcasts continue to grow in popularity, and studies show that podcasters are some of the most trusted voices in almost every subject area.  Recording video of your podcast being recorded, even if the video is nothing more than you sitting behind your microphone, has also become extremely popular.

Blogging earns you free real estate in search results.  I recommend writing at least one blog post every week.  I do that for both of my platforms, and it helps me in multiple ways.  My websites are indexed higher in search results, and people find my sites based on the specific questions I’m answering with my blog posts.

Give your content away for free.  Even though I earn income from books, courses, and other content I create, the majority of my content is given away for free.  I have been consistently doing that for about a decade, and that has contributed to developing a large and loyal online audience.

4. Optimize your Website for Search Engines (SEO)  

Two quick things I’ll say about this.  

First of all, optimize your website with relevant keywords, meta tags, headers, and alt text for images.

Secondly, use good SEO in the titles of your blog posts, videos, and podcast episodes.  Title your content based on the questions you think people are actually typing into a search bar.

5. Participate in Community and Industry Events

Conferences are great.  When I’m trying to build a brand, I apply to speak at conferences that are relevant to my subject.  It’s an effective way to get the word out and reach a large group of people in a short period of time.

Online summits are also helpful.  They are becoming somewhat trendy, so jump on the trend and make yourself available to speak at them.  Often the sessions are pre-recorded almost like a podcast episode.  So if you can record a podcast, you can also submit content for an online summit.

Maybe you should host an event of your own.  You don’t have to wait for someone to invite you to their event if you’re trying to become an authority in your subject area.  Just declare yourself an authority by hosting your own event.  Invite some recognizable names and your brand will benefit from co-branding with them.

6. Collaborate with Other Brands

Brand partnerships can be win/win.  Partnering with a more recognizable brand might be one of the fastest ways to spread the word about your brand.  It might also help the other brand, particularly if they’re interested in serving your tribe.

Create free content for other platforms to use.  Don’t be selfish with your content.  Let other people use it.  One of my most effective collaborations is with a very recognizable brand that republishes my weekly blog posts on their website.  They change the titles of my posts to meet their audience's needs but leave the main content unchanged.  At the end of the post, they always state that the content came from my platform and is being used with permission.  They also include a backlink to my website.

7. Leverage Email Marketing

Build your list with free content.  Every time you give something away, make sure people give you their email list.  Message this list weekly with a preview of your most recent blog post or an announcement of a new product or service that you’re offering.  

Don’t spam your list.  I email my list once or twice each week.  I’m convinced that emailing more than that will mute your voice and result in your messages being treated as less valuable.

8. Encourage User-Generated Content

Welcome guest blog posts and other forms of user-generated content.  When you allow others to create helpful content for your platform, you both benefit.  Not only do you have more content to share, but you also gain a new advocate who will share it for you.  People are highly likely to share content on your platform when it’s content they created or contributed to.

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I hope you found some of these ideas helpful.  Building awareness for your brand is critical for your success, but it isn’t as difficult as some people assume it might be.  Give some of these suggestions a try, and watch as they help you build traction and develop brand awareness.

As always, if I can help any further, please feel free to reach out to me via email at [email protected].

© John Stange, 2024