It’s why a Rolex costs a fortune but a watch that’s just as good (or even better) without the brand reputation costs a lot less.

So, what even is branding and how can you increase your brand recognition?

What is brand recognition?

Brand recognition is about how familiar consumers are with your brand and how they view it.

Branding is your logo, colours, visual assets but also your values, your culture, how you speak to consumers, and your personality. All of this creates an impression of your business on consumers and determines whether they will buy from you or not.

The importance of brand recognition

There are a host of reasons why you should incorporate branding into your business plan, including:

Premium pricing

Consumers are willing to pay more for brands they trust; a massive 87% of them.

For example, Coca Cola sells a 330 ml can of cola for around £1.20 whereas a competitor Barr sells their 330ml can of cola for around £0.50.

Coca Cola can sell their drink for over double the price of competitors because it comes with a reputation for being the go-to cola drink. Even when compared with Pepsi, which is again cheaper (and does better in taste tests), consumers still buy Coca Cola. 

Higher stock price

With brand awareness, a business has a better reputation, strengthens customer loyalty and so gives investors’ confidence that it is a safe bet.

Increase market share

When you have a competitive advantage, it is likely you will benefit from a greater market share. This in turn helps to position the company as a leader and is difficult for competitors to take this position. When consumers see a leader in the market, they assume this is the best brand and will choose it over others.

Lower customer acquisition costs

When you build a brand personality, you build a loyal following, not just happy customers. Look at Apple. They’re not the best at computers or phones but despite that, a lot of people will only buy Apple products because of the loyalty to the brand.

Returning customers have lower acquisition costs than new customers which will help with improving profitability.

How to increase brand recognition

Every touchpoint for your customer (or staff) should reflect who you are as a business. Every social media comment, every call with a salesperson, every delivery of a product or service should all be consistent with your brand.

Consistency is key. And to ensure consistency, having brand guidelines is crucial.

Create brand guidelines

Brand guidelines should include your mission, vision, values, and a framework for creating consistent content. It can also include your visual assets such as your logo, colour palette, typography, and how to consistently use these.

Before creating brand guidelines, a lot of research needs to be done such as customer research, competitor analysis, and analysing your current branding.

Once you have this research, it will inform your guidelines and how you market your business.

Brand guidelines aren’t just for the marketing department. As we’ve seen, branding impacts every aspect of your business, and the guidelines should be provided to everyone in the organisation.

How to measure brand recognition

Brand recognition should be measurable. While it can be difficult to do this. there are metrics that should be monitored including:

Direct traffic

When consumers are more familiar with your brand, you will get more direct traffic to your website. Instead of typing into a search engine ‘coffee shop’ they will type in ‘Starbucks’.

Social listening

Social listening is the process of being notified when someone talks about your brand on social media. No one talking about you? Then not enough people know about you.

Profit

When a company has good branding, this will impact the bottom line. More people know about the company, more people buy from you over competitors’ and so more profit.

Customer loyalty and retention

Customers will stick with brands are familiar with. When faced with a range of choices, consumers won’t weigh up the pros and cons of each. Instead, they’ll take a shortcut and choose the one they’re more familiar with.

Increasing brand recognition impacts every aspect of your business, which is why it should be an intentional part of your business plan. Consistency is key.

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