Quick quiz – name that brand!
- A fizzy brown drink with a red label
- Bright yellow M
- Green mermaid with two tails
I bet it didn’t take long – these are recognisable brands that have mastered the art of being at the top of your mind. It’s not just that you can pick them out from a short description alone, but they will be among the first through when you need a cold drink, a quick bite to eat, or a caffeine fix.
Did they get lucky? No – they managed such impressive mental association through careful strategy, building their top-of-mind presence.
The brands who do this best even become synonymous with their industry, always being the first thing a customer thinks of when in need. Want some sticky tape to wrap a present? You’ll think ‘Sellotape’. Need to clean the floor? A ‘Hoover’. And what’s that big bath thing with bubbles… A ‘Jacuzzi’. Masterful branding!
How do you do it? How do you create that clear connection with your clients so you’re the one on the top of their minds?
What is the 'You Moment'?
The ‘you moment’ is when at the precise moment a potential customer faces a problem or need, they think of YOU. Your brand is the one that instantly comes to mind as the solution.
How to Become the ‘You’ in the ‘You Moment’
The driving force for the ‘you moment’ is the strength of the association between your brand and the need the customer faces. When they understand that the value you offer is precisely what they’re looking for.
- Brand Recognition - Making your brand easily recognisable and memorable is key.
- Positive Brand Association - There’s no point in being recognised if that connection is not a good one! Foster impressions of quality, reliability, and expertise.
- Encouraging Experiences - Ensure that customer interactions with your brand are positive, with excellent customer service and high-quality products. Promote testimonials and strong reviews to share those good experiences.
- Targeted Marketing - It’s key that the right message reaches the right audiences at the right time. Maintain brand consistency across all marketing channels.
The Pillars of Memorable Marketing
Good marketing is memorable – it’s one key way to build brand awareness and ongoing recognition. Follow the following pillars of memorable marketing:
- Be visible - Being unknown gets you nowhere!
- Be valuable - Marketing and promotion can only go so far; if the end product or service is weak, then ultimately, it will fail.
- Be remarkable - Generating conversation and encouraging comments helps make you and your products or services memorable.
- Consistency is key for managing brand loyalty, both in your product or service and in the way you present yourself.
- Be relevant - Keep your eye on the pulse and make sure your product doesn’t fall behind. Complacency is the enemy.
- Be personal - The closer you can engage with your audience, the more likely they are to remember you.
Strategies for Staying Top of Mind
When it comes to brand marketing, there are a few strategies you can rely on to ensure you’re top of mind.
Content Marketing
Create valuable and relevant content that really speaks to your audience. Consider their pain points and solve their problems, speak to their interests, and have their goals at the forefront of any content.
Spread your content across multiple formats. Use blog posts, videos, and social media posts, and ensure that the content is never dull. Break up text with relevant imagery and infographics, and consider animations to give videos extra visual engagement.
Finally, it’s essential you maintain a consistent publishing schedule. Brand awareness demands that you are regular, always visible, and always relevant.
Email Marketing
Build a quality email list and segment it based on interests in demographics. Don’t just send the same blanket email to everyone you can – that becomes unwanted spam very quickly.
Personalise your emails with compelling subject lines and content that’s actually relevant to the target reader.
Make good use of email automation and AI tools to send targeted messages based on triggers, such as abandoned shopping carts or known anniversaries.
Social Media
Be active in your interactions with your audience, responding to comments and messages promptly. Plus, share any engaging content you think matches common interests.
Utilise paid social media advertising to cast your net wider as well as to target specific demographics.
Partnerships and Collaborations
Through partnerships with other businesses and influencers, you can expand your reach and be seen by new audiences.
Cross-promote each other’s brands for benefits on both sides of the collaboration.
Public Relations
Get your brand featured in relevant media. It will elevate your visibility and, with it, perceived credibility.
Particulate in industry events and conferences to network and establish yourself as a thought leader.
Becoming a Household Name with Nathan Littleton
The idea that one day your brand will be as much of an instantly-recognised name as the likes of Coca-Cola, McDonalds, or Starbucks* may seem like a crazy pipe dream that’ll never happen, but there’s no reason it shouldn’t. All those companies have on you is a much longer-running brand awareness marketing campaign! If you start yours today, then in a short space of time, you too will be seeing the rewards, and who knows, maybe in a year or two, it’ll be your brand that top-notch marketing leaders like myself are using as examples in their blogs!
To continue this conversation and look deeper at your specific business and what you can do to grab those ‘you moments’, contact Nathan Littleton today. Together, we can develop a marketing strategy to propel you top of mind.
* Yup – those are the answers to the quick quiz! No prizes for getting all three, though.
