Brand Awareness Is – In running a business, be it a food or cosmetics business, does Sinaumeds realize that the company’s brand name and symbol greatly affect consumers’ purchasing power? Yep, many companies are competing to create a brand name as well as a symbol that is easy for people to remember. This is so that consumers realize and recognize that products with such names and symbols belong to the company concerned.
So, that’s a simple description of Brand Awareness . Especially for companies that have built their business ventures for a long time, it will certainly make it easy for them to build brand awareness while attracting consumer interest. Then actually, what is Brand Awareness ? Why is it so important for business companies? What efforts can be made to increase Brand Awareness ?
Come on, look at the following reviews so that Sinaumeds won’t be confused and can help you build Brand Awareness for your business industry!
Definition of Brand Awareness
Before discussing Brand Awareness, Sinaumeds needs to know in advance what is the nature of a Brand or Marks. Basically, this Brand is a name, term, sign, design, or even a combination of all of these things which are expected to be able to identify the goods or services produced by the seller, then it is hoped that through these things it can differentiate them from competitors’ products. .
In short, the use of this brand is so that consumers can differentiate one product from a company with the same product from another company. It should be noted, through the existence of Brand Awareness, it actually makes most people mention certain objects not by the name of the object, but instead by the name of the brand.
According to Durianto, et al (2017), Brand Awareness is the ability of potential consumers to recognize and recall the existence of a brand as part of a certain product category. Then, according to Rangkuti (2014), argues that Brand Awareness is the ability of a customer to remember a certain brand or advertisement spontaneously after being stimulated with several keywords.
Meanwhile, according to Kotler and Keller (2011), brand awareness is the ability of the brand to appear in the minds of consumers, especially when they are thinking about a particular product and how easy it is for the brand to appear.
Based on several definitions of Brand Awareness that have been stated by some of these experts, it can be concluded that Brand Awareness is the ability or ability of a brand or brands to remain in the minds of consumers so that their products are easily recognized.
Why is Brand Awareness Important?
The existence of Brand Awareness is of course important because it is part of a marketing method, especially for the business world. It is called important because in this business world, one company with another company will still compete, especially if they produce the same product or service. Through this Brand Awareness later, consumers will find it easy to recognize the product and then be willing to buy it.
Most people tend to buy products or services from brands that have been around for years and are easy to recognize, especially in the logo and business tagline. Especially if the company has survived for years and continues to produce good quality products or services, when producing a new product, consumers will immediately believe in the performance of the new product, because of this Brand Awareness .
An example is the drink brand Aqua . Most people when they want to buy mineral water, will always mention that brand. When in fact, there are many brands of mineral water sold in the market, not only the Aqua brand . However, the presence of Brand Awareness makes these people always remember the Aqua brand for mineral water products.
Even though Brand Awareness is proven to be able to increase the profit of the company concerned, it still needs to be monitored to minimize the occurrence of a decrease in profit. If there is a decrease, both in the level of consumer “awareness” of the brand in question and in the company’s revenue profit, it is necessary to carry out carefully planned advertising and marketing strategies so that the level of brand awareness can return to normal .
The existence of Brand Awareness also provides added value for a product, service, to the company concerned, especially in the eyes of customers and potential consumers.
According to Saputri (2017), in an effort to build Brand Awareness for a consumer it takes quite a long time, starting from brand recognition to making the brand memorable to consumers.
Benchmarks in Brand Awareness
The existence of Brand Awareness, of course, has its own benchmark or standard to measure whether Brand Awareness can be called successfully remembered by many consumers. According to Tandarto and Darmayanti (2017), in a Brand Awareness it must have the following benchmarks:
1. Top of Mind Awareness
The first benchmark is Peak Thoughts, in the form of what brand consumers will first remember for the existence of certain brands. In this case, consumers will be asked which brand they will remember in a particular product category.
For example, consumers will be asked a question in the form of “ What chocolate wafer brand do you remember right now? ”, most consumers will answer “ Tango, Nissin and Wafello ”. Based on these answers, it can be concluded that the top thought or brand that is first remembered in the minds of consumers is Tango in the chocolate wafer food product category.
2. Brand Recall
In the second benchmark, namely Brand Recall, consumers will later be given several lists containing several brands in a particular product category, then they will be asked to choose which brands are known without any clues.
For example, in the list of product brands in the chocolate wafer category, there are brands such as Tango, Nissin, Astor, Wafello , and Gary . After analyzing the answers from consumers, it turns out that most of them remember the Tango brand more as chocolate wafer cookies compared to other chocolate wafer brands.
3. Brand Recognition
In the third benchmark, namely Brand Recognition, this is when there is a brand that is already known by consumers, but cannot be remembered spontaneously even though they have actually used products with that brand. Usually, in this case, another stimulus will be needed to help consumers remember the brand of the product.
For example, a consumer is given a choice of several brands in the chocolate wafer category, then they are asked another question in the form of “how many times have you consumed chocolate wafers with the Wafello brand” . Well, from that question it can be called a stimulus to recall the related product.
Levels of Brand Awareness
Actually, the level in Brand Awareness is almost the same as the benchmark, there are only a few differences. The level of Brand Awareness is described as a pyramid, namely from the lowest level to the highest level. So, here are the levels:
1. Not Aware of the Brand ( Unware of Brand )
Unware of Brand is the lowest level in a pyramid of Brand Awareness, namely when consumers are not aware of the existence of a brand mentioned.
2. Brand Recognition
The second level, Brand Recognition , is when consumers are able to recognize a brand mentioned after being given a stimulus to recall, even though they have actually used products for that brand.
3. Brand Recall
The third level is Brand Recall , which is when consumers are able to recognize a brand mentioned again without the help of a stimulus. Most likely because these consumers often use or consume products for that brand.
4. Top of Mind ( Top of Mind )
The highest level in the Brand Awareness pyramid is Top of Mind , which is when the brand is mentioned for the first time by consumers when asked questions about the product in question. For example, a consumer is asked “What detergent products do you know? ”, then the consumer answered spontaneously “ Dia ”. So that means the Daia brand is at the Top of Mind level in terms of Brand Awareness.
What are the Roles of Brand Awareness for a Business?
The existence of Brand Awareness certainly plays an important role in the marketing of products or services produced by a company. The more familiar the product is in the eyes of consumers, it is proven that the company’s profit will also increase. Brand Awareness or brand awareness can be another source of associations that provide a sense of familiarity to commitment among consumers in considering what brand they will use for various product categories. So, here are some roles of Brand Awareness for a business.
1. As a Source of Other Associations
In this role, the higher Brand Awareness or consumer awareness of a brand, it will help the existence of associations attached to the brand in the minds of consumers. For example, the Lifebuoy brand (by the Unilever company) has a tagline for its body wash product which is “ Healthy Ways to Take a Bath ”.
Through this tagline, it turns out that Brand Awareness has arisen in the minds of consumers, so that when the Unilever company produces shampoo products, it will also be as well-behaved as body wash products because consumers already believe in the quality of Unilever products.
2. Generates Like or Familiar
In this case, if the existence of Brand Awareness is high or the presence of the brand is known by many people, then consumers will feel familiar and familiar with the brand in question. For example, most consumers are accustomed to using soy sauce with the Bango brand from Unilever.
So, when these consumers are going home or traveling to different areas, they will still consume the Bango brand soy sauce because they already feel comfortable with and like the brand, which also drives their decision to buy Bango brand soy sauce in any situation.
3. As Commitment or Substance
From this Brand Awareness , it can later indicate a commitment which is very important for a company. Therefore, if we as consumers have high brand awareness, then we can feel the presence of the brand .
There are several factors that cause the commitment or substance to the Brand Awareness .
- Advertising efforts are carried out widely, both in mass media and electronic media, so that it can be widely known by the general public.
- The existence of the brand has been tested by time (long lasting).
- Wide distribution reach, so that it can make it easier for consumers even in remote areas to get products for that brand.
- Brands are well managed.
4. As Top of Mind
As previously explained, if a brand is at the Top of Mind level , then the existence of the brand will always be included in the consumer’s considerations when making a purchase decision. Usually, brands that are at the Top of Mind level will later have a high consideration value for buying.
If a brand is not at the Top of Mind level or is not stored in the minds of consumers, then the brand will not be considered in purchasing decisions.
What are the Efforts to Increase Brand Awareness?
Currently, many companies are competing to increase Brand Awareness , especially through attractive advertisements, so that consumers keep the brand name in their minds. So, when they need a product that belongs to that brand, consumers will immediately be aware of the existence of the brand and buy products from that brand.
According to Durianto (2017), there are several efforts or steps that can be taken by companies to increase Brand Awareness in the eyes of consumers, namely as follows:
1. Convey a Memorable Message
A brand must be able to convey messages or information related to its products in an interesting and easy to remember by consumers. The message must be conveyed in a different way, especially compared to competing brands. Usually, conveying this message has to do with copywriting skills .
2. Using Song Jingles and Slogans
The use of song jingles and slogans that have a rhythm will usually be easy for consumers to remember. An example is the Shopee e-Commerce advertisement that uses song jingles with interesting rhythms. This will always be remembered by consumers of all ages.
3. Using a Unique Symbol or Logo
Especially for companies that are just starting out, it would be better if they use a unique symbol or logo and must have a relationship with the brand. The use of this unique logo will be easy to remember and consumers will not feel biased when they see symbols from competing brands.
An example is the McDonald’s brand logo in the shape of the letter M. Even though it looks simple, the brand has in fact been remembered by many people. When the logo appears somewhere, people will immediately remember and know that there are McDonald’s products in that place.
4. Perform Product Expansion
A trademark will be better at producing a variety of products, not just limited to one or two products. For example, cosmetic and skincare brand Emina. Emina’s company does not only produce cosmetics limited to liptint and powder, but also produces skincare products in the form of toners and facial serums. The expansion of these products is done so that they will be increasingly remembered by broad consumers.
5. Do Brand Repetition
Companies must always repeat brands so that related brands will continue to be remembered by consumers. It should be noted that forming memories in the minds of consumers will actually be more difficult than introducing a new product. Therefore, commercial advertisements that introduce a certain brand on television are carried out repeatedly, with the aim of increasing brand awareness in the eyes of the public.
So, those are some reviews of what Brand Awareness is in the business world. The existence of Brand Awareness greatly affects the profit level of the company’s income. The more the brand name is remembered in the minds of consumers, the higher the profit earned by the company.