Running a business today has become a Herculean task. Modern-day customers are highly knowledgeable and have a sea of options to choose from. Competition is at an all-time high, and the market is saturated, so you’ll have to go the extra mile to stay in your customers’ minds. This means it’s challenging for brands to stand out and entice them. This is where brand recall comes into play.
Your customers will only buy from you when they recall you when your services are required. If you want to enhance brand recall, you are in the right place. Let’s get started.
What Is A Brand Recall?
Brand recall refers to the probability of a customer instantly remembering your brand’s name when your services/products are required. Basically, it is your customers’ ability to remember you. A sub-category of brand awareness, brand recall is about leaving an imprint on your target audience’s mind via your logo, brand message, and other branding materials.
Brand recall determines if your customers will stick with your brand for the long run, become one-time purchasers, or be lost prospects. Therefore, it is crucial to measure it and work towards boosting it. Companies often measure brand recall with the help of surveys. They introduce a specific problem that they solve and ask the target audience which brand they’d fall back on to solve the said problem. You can use the following formula to measure brand recall:
Brand recall in percentage = (Survey respondents who recalled your brand/ Total number of respondents) X 100.
When calculating brand recall using the above formula, measure other key performance indicators and industry benchmarks for accurate results.
Critical Benefits Of Brand Recall
Here are three ways brand recall benefits your business and why you should enhance it.
Boosts sales and market share
When your customers recollect your name, they are more likely to buy from you. This makes brand recall directly proportional to the likelihood of an actual purchase. A positive brand recall also indicates a customer’s loyalty toward your products. Enhancing this means boosting sales, especially repeat purchases.
Gives a competitive edge
Brand recall lies at the top of a marketing funnel as it comes under awareness. You win half the battle when your target audience recalls you. If customers remember your brand despite multiple other options, it signifies their comfort, trust, and familiarity with you. This positions you as their first preference, making it crucial when trying to get an edge over competitors.
Builds brand equity
Brand equity refers to your worth as a brand name. And brand recall enhances brand equity — your name’s instant recollection signifies how valuable you are to your target audience. This ensures that the superior quality of your products, your trustworthiness, and top-notch services are etched in your customers’ memories.
Difference Between Brand Perception, Awareness, Recall?
Many brands confuse brand recall with brand awareness and perception. However, all these terms have diverse meanings. While we’ve already explained brand recall, in contrast, brand awareness is when customers are familiar with you but need a cue to identify what you offer.
Brand perception, on the other hand, is how customers see you. Remember, whenever customers think of you, they have positive or negative connotations related to your brand. They can either have good memories of you or bad. So once you are on top of your customers’ minds, brand perception determines if they will buy your product or not.
Here’s an example to help you fully understand:
- Brand awareness: Customers come across your brand while searching for food joints selling chicken burgers loaded with cheese. Your logo and brand name seem familiar, but they do not know if you serve what they want.
- Brand recall: When craving a cheeseburger, the customer immediately thinks of you.
- Brand perception: When customers think of you, they remember how tasty and fresh the burgers you sell are and how you have equally delicious fries.
10 Strategies To Rejuvenate Brand Recall
Now that you understand what brand recall is and why it plays an indispensable role, you must be eagerly waiting for the techniques to improve it. Here are ten strategies to become your customers’ first preference.
1. Develop a brand profile, proposition and purpose
Start by creating a robust brand profile or identity. Your profile encompasses your online presence, branding decisions, brand values, graphic design, mode of communication, and customer services. It even includes your take on socio-political issues. This forms a set of promising reasons your customers should choose you over a zillion other brands offering similar services. Apple is the epitome of a strong brand profile.
Additionally, focus on your brand’s proposition. This refers to the audience’s pain points you are addressing. For example, Canva’s proposition is “Empowering the world to design.” And this is what they do with their customizable design templates.
So, clearly state the problems you solve and show that you have the ideal solution. This will allow your customers to think of your brand only whenever they face the problems you solve.
Figure 1: Canva’s brand proposition. Source: We Localize
Thirdly, identify your brand’s purpose, which is the reason for your existence — other than generating revenue! For example, Facebook’s goal is to connect people worldwide and offer abundant opportunities to business owners. Whenever customers resonate with your purpose, they will stick with you in the long run.
2. Create a strong brand story
Stories connect people. A compelling brand story will help you create a lasting emotional connection with your target audience. As a result, they will convert into recurring customers and come to you whenever they’re looking for the products you sell. But to entice customers through creative storytelling, you need a deeper understanding of your audience, beliefs, and ideals. And your brand story should include your company’s history, values, mission, and philosophies.
Ensure your brand story is relatable. It should boost your audience’s trust in your brand. Add an emotional punch since emotions drive all humans. Most importantly, tell the truth.
3. Proper competition research, including brand audit and strategy
Figure 2: Example of competitive analysis. Source: Shopify
Auditing your brand is similar to pausing to think. It helps you look back at the mistakes you have committed and evaluate your brand’s awareness, perception, and strategy. Brand audits identify all problem areas – including why your brand isn’t scaling, potential threats, and new opportunities you are not yet leveraging. Reviewing your brand strategy will help you have a clear vision of where you’ve been, where you’re headed, and how you’ll reach where you want to.
Along with inspecting your brand, take an inventory of your competitors and examine their actions. Monitoring your rivals will help you steer clear of their mistakes and reveal new opportunities. Keeping an eye on your competitors will also help you hone your point of difference, which becomes why your customers remember you for a longer time.
4. Invest in great brand logo design
Figure 3: Logos of popular brands. Source: Turbo Logo
Customers recall brands with their logos — they remember McDonald’s huge yellow-colored “M” and Nike’s tick sign. Therefore, you cannot be complacent about your brand’s logo, which is essentially your company’s “face.” And NEVER undervalue your logo as just a small design on your promotional material and products. It should reflect your brand’s message and its core values.
Your logo should be appropriate to your primary audience and be highly memorable. As it is the first thing that will pop up in your customers’ minds, it should be easy to remember.
5. Humanize your brand for your audience to engage
Figure 4: Humanizing the brand by responding to comments. Source: Web FX
Customers barely trust faceless companies — let alone buy from one. Instead, they are more confident about buying from businesses with a humanistic presence. Therefore, you must humanize your brand by connecting the company’s ideas with the people involved with the brand.
Convert your employees into brand ambassadors and allow them to share their stories of growth. This will arouse a positive sentiment about your brand, rejuvenating brand recall. Other ways to humanize your brand are responding to the comments and implementing feedback. These humanistic actions will boost your customers’ confidence in you, who will be willing to purchase more from you.
6. Protect your brand reputation
Figure 5: Brand reputation management model by Harris-Fombrun. Source: Truested
If you have a tainted reputation in the marketplace, society will recall you as a negative memory. In other words, a negative reputation results in a negative perception. However, a positive reputation will not only lead to instant recollection, but customers will even make a purchase. Therefore, eliminate all the potential reputation risks that may undermine your brand prestige.
Always take a preventive approach when it comes to reputation management. Never wait for the damage to happen, but discover all potential risks and eradicate them beforehand. This will ensure your customers always have a positive impression of your brand.
7. Build connections and reach out via social media
Figure 7: Running giveaways to build stronger bonds. Source: Sprout Social
It will be harder for your customers to forget you if you keep popping up on their social media feeds every day. Social media engagement is an incredible way to boost brand recognition and recall. Therefore, stay connected with your target audience. This will also help you get constructive feedback from them, which you can utilize to create lasting relationships with the customers.
Social engagement will also turn your loyal customers into brand ambassadors. They will spread the word about your brand without being prompted. However, the key lies in choosing the right platform. Only spend time on social media platforms your audience hangs out on. Also, make sure this platform is appropriate for the products or services.
8. Be consistent with your brand strategy
Figure 7: Seven steps to build a brand strategy. Source: Six Degrees
Always maintain consistency in your brand values, mission, promise, logo, and tagline. Though many brands undergo a makeover, most reputable brands believe in consistency. Therefore, their ad campaigns and brand strategy adhere to the brand’s foundation, despite the fleeting marketing trends.
A consistent brand strategy makes your brand reliable, enabling customers to identify you at a mere glance. Consistency will also help your customers remember you for a longer period.
9. Search engine optimization
Figure 8: First search engine result page. Source: CXL
Search engine optimization refers to optimizing your website to make it easier for search engine crawlers to find you. Sadly, customers do not have time to go through all the search engine result pages meticulously. They only visit websites on the first result page. Therefore, SEO is the way to go if you want to increase traffic.
Appearing on the first result page all the time is a sure-shot way to improve brand recall. Therefore, whenever the need arises, your customers will visit your website.
10. Get influencers on board
Figure 9: Influencer Shay Mitchell promoting Biore’s cleanser. Source: YR Charisma
Investing in influencer marketing is one of the best ways to help your customers be mindful of you. It even helps boost sales rates. Influencers have a wider fan following, and followers trust them and easily track their recommendations. Influencers will help you broaden your reach and connect with your target audience personally, which is difficult when you market yourself. This will, in turn, make you your customers’ all-time favorite, who won’t forget you easily.
However, the key to successful influencer marketing lies in the correct selection of influencers. Today, there are thousands of content creators on diverse social platforms. You have to choose the one with a similar target audience and niche. Only then will your efforts be fruitful.
Leverage Influencer Marketing To Improve Brand Recall
Do you want to leverage influencer marketing to improve brand recall and boost sales? We have you covered! Our AI-based platform, Atisfyreach, connects brands with suitable influencers having a similar target audience and broader reach. You can register your interest today at Atisfyreach.
