How to grow brand awareness in 2021
One way to grow brand awareness in 2021 will be to produce quality content and put your business, or a person within the business out there as thought leaders in your industry. Producing thought leadership content garners trust, recognition, and secures your reputation – all important elements of brand awareness.
You won’t be recognised for your views overnight, but you can make a start today.
Grow brand awareness with thought leadership
Having a good content strategy and producing high-quality content is essential for any business wanting to make an impact, especially in the B2B sector where purchases are rarely impulsive or ‘a one-off’. In this sector, buyers will form most of their buying decision based on the content you send out into the world.
This can be on your website or via social media channels, relevant industry websites, or industry publications. Even back in 2016, more than 50% of B2B buyers relied on content when making buying decisions. This has continued to grow and will still be important in 2021.
But, with so many businesses now producing content, and lots of different voices in your industry, how do you set yourself apart from the competition whilst increasing awareness of your brand?
Thought leadership is one way to achieve this.
In the same Demand Gen study quoted above, 96% of their survey respondents wanted to see more content from industry thought leaders.
That is your prospective customers wanting your expertise, thoughts, and opinions. So, what are you waiting for?
The acid test of any thought leadership campaign is that it needs to be relevant to the target audience; distinctive from what the competition are saying, and demonstrably true. Relevance comes from demonstrating you understand your audience – their business context and their challenges.
– Simon Hayhurst, Coleman Parkes Research
By positioning either yourself or someone within your business as a thought leader you can meet the objectives of both your content marketing and brand awareness strategies.
With a reputation secured as the ‘go-to’ people for knowledge in your industry, more prospective customers will become aware of your brand, what you stand for, and why your knowledge is the most credible.
Positioning yourself as an industry thought leader
Before you position yourself, or someone in your business as a thought leader, some consideration should be put into choosing the best person for the job.
Who has a burning passion for what your company does? Remember, this might not necessarily be the most experienced person. Can you find somebody that has a good balance between loving what you do, and the knowledge and goods to back it up? Oh, and the ability to articulate their thoughts on what you do?
For many businesses, this should be the MD or CEO, but could also be the head of sales, the marketing director, or a salesperson.
Whoever it is, this person must be able to offer fresh insight and perspectives on what you do and your industry.
An important reminder though; thought leadership cannot be accompanied by a hard sell. The aim is to raise awareness, educate and provoke a response.
The Ultimate Guide to Increasing Brand Awareness
Thought leadership will be particularly important in 2021 as it’s a strong way of demonstrating you understand your customers, your industry and how you’re different from competitors.
Today, every business can easily produce content and get it in front of their target audience – the difference is to make what you’re saying, count.
Inside the ultimate guide to increasing brand awareness, thought leadership is one of the core elements we recommend you add to your brand awareness strategy. Download the guide now for further insights and tips on increasing your brand awareness in 2021.
Join our #B2BPR tribe:
If you’ve found this article valuable, you can get more useful insight here:
Download our ultimate guide to B2B PR campaign planning
READ this blog: can brand awareness generate measurable ROI?
watch our video: “how to identify your target audience”
If you are new to hiring PR agencies, you can get in touch with us for advice, or download our Selector Lucky 13 guide, which gives you 13 questions to ask a PR agency. Lastly you can also strengthen your knowledge of the ways of PR right here in our Industry Insights blog.
Integrated PR Guide
Three steps to supercharge your business in 2022 with integrated PR and marketing.
Subscribe to our updates
Stay up to date with the latest insights, case studies, and PR guides.
THE HACK B2B PR: Write Press Releases That Get Published
Our expert B2B PR guide to creating a press release that editors want to publish.