Boosting Brand Visibility: Be Seen, Be Remembered
A brilliant brand means nothing if no one sees it. In fact, poor brand visibility is the silent killer of great brands. Don’t let it ruin yours.
Making noise and being seen in a crowded marketplace does not have to be as intimidating as it appears. All it takes is a strategic blend of brand storytelling, authenticity, consistency, and great design, too!
So today we’re discussing brand visibility – why it matters, the factors affecting it, and some strategies to be seen and remembered.
Brand Visibility Explained: How it Impacts Growth & Awareness
Consider a competitive market. This could be the tussle between two brands in the online space or how two stores selling the same products in your neighborhood stack up against each other. While one might be the talk of the town, the other might not be attracting as much of a crowd as the other. Of course, there are diverse factors that come into play, but brand visibility can be a crucial one.
At its core, brand visibility is the extent to which your brand is recognizable. It is about how easily the right customers find you, identify, and recall your brand. So, why is this a crucial metric for brands big and small?
- Your brand needs to be visible to be credible. Be honest – will you confidently buy from a random brand you have never heard of before? Probably not. And the truth is, poor brand visibility creates skepticism around a brand.
- The digital noise is real. Your target customers are exposed to plenty of brands when they are online. Without strong visibility strategies, it gets tough to stand out and get noticed.
- You can’t convert what isn’t seen – well, that’s obvious, isn’t it? When people do not come across your brand, you cannot expect your marketing efforts and campaigns to convert.
- Out of sight means out of mind. When the right people do not see your brand at the right time and in the right places, it leads to missed opportunities.
- There’s no question of brand loyalty when your brand isn’t visible.
So, how do you boost this essential branding metric and reach the right audience, and thus improve your ROI? Let’s explore some actionable strategies that work.
6 Practical Tips to Boost Brand Visibility
1. Craft a hard-to-resist brand identity
It all starts with a strong brand identity. When you try to remember someone you met at a party, what are some cues that guide you? Visual cues are surely on the list, right? Encountering a new brand is no different. Without strong visual cues, your brand cannot be noticed and remembered.
A strong visual identity is one that immediately grabs attention and communicates your message without words. But remember, it is more than just a logo – it is a holistic design system that includes a variety of brand elements like your logo, brand colors, fonts, tone of voice, and everything else that summarizes who you are.
Take the Target logo, for instance. While the symbol itself is balanced and symmetrical and appealing, it does not make much of an impact. But when combined with the brand colors and the rest of its branding, it is one of the most well-recognized symbols in the world of branding.
Therefore, the key is to create a wholesome package that introduces your brand and emotionally resonates with your target audience.
KIMP Tips:
To create a strong brand identity that increases your brand visibility:
- Design with personality, not just something that looks good.
- Define the essential elements that sum up your brand – will you have a tagline to support the logo or even a mascot? While these are not mandatory, they help accentuate the impact of any brand identity.
2. Make social media your mini brand ecosystem
Social media is no longer just for socializing with friends and family. Brands around the world have started using social media as an ice-breaker – a strong bridge between themselves and their audience. Hence, creating a strong social media presence is crucial to increase your brand visibility.
To make this happen, your social media pages should become a clear, self-contained version of your brand. Every post, video, or Story you share should introduce your brand to your customer and help them understand you a little better. That’s when your brand does not just get discovered by a new audience but also gets judged, followed, and shared.
Focusing on your social media presence leads to amplified storytelling, better brand recognition, and a unified experience for your customers as well.
Take Notion, for instance. The brand has reached a massive audience through social media. Their fun and relatable social media posts, like the one here, are the kind brands need to get noticed and be spoken about.
A strong social media game warrants recognition through repetition – you constantly appear in front of people who are interested in your brand. Therefore, there is a better chance of conversion.
Besides, if you have stunning social media visuals that grab attention, you make the casual scrollers stop and explore further. If they like what they see on your page and think that your brand is relevant to them or will create value for them, they might even hit that Follow button and share your profile with their network.
3. Consistency is non-negotiable
In simple words, brand consistency is all about showing up the same way everywhere and every time. Verbally in your ad copy, visual styles, your website’s mood and aesthetics, your social media aesthetics, and your offline campaigns should all be seamlessly tied together to deliver a unified message. This consistency is what boosts your brand visibility in a cluttered space.
Besides, consistent encounters are what simplify your brand to your audience and make it easier for them to remember the best parts about you.
For example, notice Mailchimp’s striking visual consistency across their website and social media. Taking cues from big brands like these, ensure the consistent presentation of your brand across diverse touchpoints.
It’s not just about the benefits of consistency – remember that inconsistent branding feels chaotic and breaks trust. Moreover, you also need to be consistent to be memorable.
Taking all these into account, how do you ensure consistency in brand representation?
- Create a clear brand style guide. It should capture all the nuances that identify your brand, from tone to colors and messaging style, in addition to visual elements like logo and more.
- Invest in high-quality reusable brand templates. These make your visuals look organized and refined.
- Perform regular visual audits to ensure that you are on the right track and that your visual identity is resonating with your audience.
4. Invest in strategic brand partnerships
Sometimes, trying to grow alone can limit your reach. That’s where finding the right allies can make a big difference. Identify complementary brands that do not compete directly but have similar target audiences. Partner with them to piggyback on their reach and popularity and get more eyeballs for your brand as well.
These brand partnerships can be one-off projects or long-term tie-ups depending on your ultimate goal. But the key is to come up with creative campaign ideas to make the partnership work. This could be co-creating products, launching joint marketing campaigns, hosting shared events, or cross-promoting content.
What does this do to your brand? It helps reach new and relevant audiences. But that’s not all – the partnering brand’s reputation and credibility help build trust in your brand as well. Mutually beneficial partnerships planned at the right time are the best kind to boost brand visibility.
For instance, the Lululemon x Fanatics partnership resulted in unique product drops during the NHL season. While Lululemon can reach specific niche audiences through this partnership, the massive social media reach of Lululemon can be beneficial to Fanatics. And partnering close to the NFL season just adds to the relevance of this collaboration and hence boosts its impact.
Taking cues from this:
- Plan joint local events for a boost to your visibility in the local market.
- Host social media giveaways and contests to increase engagement, along with exposure.
- Bundle offers so that both brands benefit from a boost in sales.
5. Collaborate with the right influencers
Like brand partnerships, if there is one other strategy that can increase your brand visibility not just with any audience but the relevant ones, it’s influencer partnerships. To begin with, understand the different types of influencers. This will be a good starting point to realize that influencer collaborations are not always expensive.
These are very much like celebrity endorsements, but at a smaller scale, and you are collaborating with social media celebrities who might have a big fan following but are also authentically connected with their audience. Therefore, their recommendation puts your brand in front of the right people.
Influencer collaboration gives you access to a highly targeted audience. Audiences who trust and are more likely to try a brand that their favorite influencer recommends. This helps you start off on the right foot.
For example, Airbnb is known to partner with local influencers and artists for various local experiences for travelers.
How can you tap into influencer collaborations for maximized reach?
- The simplest idea is co-created content. But plug your brand into the influencer’s content subtly and relevantly without sounding too promotional.
- Start small and test with 2 or 3 micro influencers who share your brand’s values and personality.
- Build long-term relationships with the right influencers for consistent expansion of reach.
6. Don’t shy away from trends
Blink and you miss a brilliant opportunity to attract attention. That’s how volatile the social media space can be. Amidst this, if you want to boost your brand visibility, it takes staying sharp and jumping on trends at the right time. Full disclosure – you do not need every single trend, like a dance battle or an ice bucket challenge. You only need trends that sit well with your audience and feel relevant to your brand in some way.
To make this happen, pick dependable social listening tools that mention your brand in discussions and trends relevant to keywords pertinent to your brand or industry. Once you know the trend, scour through social media to understand how the trend is executed and what type of content you need to tap into the trend. Finally, draw inspiration from other brands that have adopted the trend and add your unique flavor to the campaign. Your mascot, your brand tone, and your personality infused into the concept can create a huge difference.
Remember Pharrell Williams’ iconic oversized hat at the 2014 Grammy Awards? Arby’s saw a golden opportunity. Their simple, witty Tweet immediately went viral.
Along with the fun idea of the Tweet itself, Pharrell Williams’ response and the brand interactions that followed together boosted the post’s organic reach. This is a strong example of how identifying trends and crucial cultural moments and hopping on the right ones can benefit your brand’s visibility.
Remember to stick to the relevant format, visual style, and hashtags to ensure that your content reaches more people. Of course, cross-promotion like sharing your post in an ad or referencing it in your email can help.
Visibility Isn’t Luck – It Takes Consistent Efforts
While you deploy these strategies to boost your brand visibility in this visually crowded world, you need the right visuals to support your efforts. That’s where an unlimited design team like KIMP comes in. Remember? We spoke about consistency – with the dedicated design team, an unlimited design service can give your business a competitive edge, helping you to slowly and steadily work on your reach. Whether you choose online channels or offline or both, with unlimited designs covered in your plan, you can get all your designs in one place, hassle-free!
Ready to experience the unlimited design difference? Register now for a free 7-day trial!
