Brand awareness
[2] Brand awareness plays an important role in the consumer's purchasing decision-making process that tends to sustainable business growth and loyalty.
As the capitalism and global transport contribute to consumer behavior, many marketers regularly monitor brand awareness levels.
It requires organizations to dig deep into its reason for existence; explore and define the features and benefits of its products and services, identify its values and mission, and create a persona that makes the brand appealing and relatable to its target audience.
[9] These types of awareness operate in entirely different ways with important implications for marketing strategy and advertising.
[13] Consequently, one of the goals for most marketing communications is to increase the probability that consumers will include the brand in their consideration sets.
[citation needed] By definition, top-of-mind awareness is "the first brand that comes to mind when a customer is asked an unprompted question about a category.
[16] Top-of-mind awareness is relevant when consumers make a quick choice between competing brands in low-involvement categories or for impulse type purchases.
Accordingly, the advertising message might attempt to drive consumers to direct sales call centers as part of an integrated communications strategy.
For routine purchases such as fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), few shoppers carry shopping lists.
Typically, researchers use surveys, carried out on a sample of consumers asking about their knowledge of the focus brand or category.
This type of research can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of packaging design and brand logos.
[36] In spite of that, some authors have argued that hierarchical models continue to dominate theory, especially in the area of marketing communications and advertising.
Selected alternative hierarchical models follow: It should be evident that brand awareness constitutes just one of six stages that outline the typical consumer's progress towards a purchase decision.
As consumers move through the hierarchy of effects (awareness→ knowledge→ liking→ preference→ conviction→ purchase), they rely on different sources of information to learn about brands.
In order to acquire more detailed knowledge about a brand, consumers rely on different sources such as product reviews, expert opinion, word-of-mouth referrals and brand/ corporate websites.
As consumers move closer to the actual purchase, they begin to rely on more personal sources of information such as recommendations from friends and relatives or the advice of sales representatives.
Hierarchical models provide marketers and advertisers with basic insights about the nature of the target audience, the optimal message and media strategy indicated at different junctures throughout a product's life cycle.
The number of potential purchasers decreases as the product moves through the natural sales cycle in an effect likened to a funnel.
To achieve top-of-mind awareness, marketers have traditionally, relied on intensive advertising campaigns, especially at the time of a product launch.
Marketers often rely on rough and ready 'rules-of-thumb' to estimate the amount of advertising expenditure required to achieve a given level of awareness.
[55] A reminder campaign typically maintains broad reach, but with reduced frequency and as a consequence is a less expensive advertising option.
An increasing amount of consumer time and attention is devoted to digital communications devices—from computers and tablets through to cellphones.
It is now possible to engage with consumers in a more cost efficient manner using platforms such as social media networks that command massive audiences.
[citation needed] The rise of social media networks has increased the opportunities for opinion leaders to play a role in brand awareness.
[57] In theory, anyone can be an opinion leader e.g. celebrities, journalists or public figures, but the rise of the digital environment has changed our understanding of who is a potentially useful influencer.
Indeed, the digital environment has created more opportunities for bloggers to become important influencers because they are seen as accessible, authentic and tend to have loyal followings.
Findings showed that only 3% of participants said they would consider buying a celebrity-endorsed item, in comparison to 60% who said they had been influenced by a blog review or social media post when shopping.
The campaign organisers seeded social media by targeting "opinion leaders and influencers to get them to […] lead the conversation and encourage others to seek out 'Share a Coke' for themselves".
This campaign helped Coke extend its awareness across a broader age profile as they interacted with each customer on a personal level.
[62] "In an increasingly competitive marketplace, [some] companies rely on brand characters to create awareness, convey key product/service attributes or benefits, and attract consumers" (Keller, 2003).
