Don't forget, they will remember
It’s hard to go anywhere and avoid being exposed to brands. In today’s warp-speed society where everything is on demand, it’s important to build your brand for the long term. Before you can do that, however, people must recognize your business. If they don’t, they’ll never consider using you for their next project.
Unaided Brand Awareness Studies have shown that unaided brand recognition is very unlikely. In the Winter 2000 Brand Awareness Study, the Information Technology Services Marketing Association (ITSMA) surveyed 300 executives from Fortune 1000 companies, government entities and health care institutions to determine the brand strength and positioning of the industry’s leading e-business professional service providers.
The results showed that the people who are most involved in buying business services are extremely unlikely to recall a brand without an aided reminder like a logo. The only brand that scored double-digit percentage recall was IBM, at 31 percent, and that can be attributed to their large advertising campaign. Some other companies weren’t recalled even when referred to by name, proving the importance of brand awareness. If consumers don’t recognize the company, how likely are they to use it?
- Aided Brand Awareness
Many businesses scored much higher on recognition when prompted with a brand name or logo. Most of the executives were able to identify larger companies by recalling advertisements or strategic statements. Awareness itself does not do much for market positioning. Many dot-com companies that dump all of their marketing into one big event often get lost in the clutter of a competitive field. Someone might recognize your business, but you have to be able to perform to get people to use it.
- Life After Awareness
The ITSMA study also included questions about what is most important to business executives when making purchasing decisions. The two most important attributes to consulting a business were being able to deliver on promises, and market knowledge. The best advertisements in the world can’t overcome being reliable and smart. Also, most of the executives recorded that they obtain most of their advising from third-party resources. About 76 percent say it is the most reliable for recommendations, or references. Behind third-party sources is the Internet at 50 percent.
Using these statistics, the top things to consider when building your brand should be to ensure customer satisfaction and promote positive third-party endorsement. Clients will always be looking for commitment and reliability in their service; it’s your job to give it to them. With as many as 76 percent of executives relying on third-party sources, it’s imperative to have as sparkling a reputation as possible. All it takes is one good experience to spread the word about your company or service.
Once again we see the importance of third-party endorsement. Across many industries it is seen as the most important factor in decision making. This is what’s beautiful about our world today. Even with the billions of dollars that are spent each year on advertising, the most important aspect is what consumers say about a business. It’s not what they read or see, it’s what they hear. It’s been proven over time that in advertising, people trust what they hear from others. Give them something to remember you by, and they will reward you with the ever-important free endorsement.
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