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Here’s a truth bomb that every business owner should know: today’s brands are failing at grabbing their audience’s attention and holding it, especially in highly competitive industries. 

Although there’s no doubt that every business owner has good intentions when attempting to establish brand awareness, certain conditions may be keeping them from success. It is vital to understand that businesses are failing in grabbing the attention of their target market because digital users are getting better at cutting advertisements off after a mere glance. 

A digital media epidemic

Ignoring popups, scrolling past advertisements, and clicking “skip ad” in the blink of an eye are some of the skills that modern consumers have picked up to close the door on advertisements. Most brands are failing to grab the attention of their target consumers because their efforts are immediately being ignored. As consumers grow pickier about what they see, the closing rates are only getting higher.

There are two common ways that brands can solve this anti-advertisement epidemic: throw money at the problem and spend thousands of dollars on marketing, or approach the problem with a refined perspective on brand recognition and brand awareness.

Simply understanding what brand recognition and brand awareness are is a great way to start propelling your digital marketing efforts to success. Knowing the difference between the two, however, lays out the foundation necessary for delivering advertisements that aren’t ignored. 

The difference between brand awareness and brand recognition

Before we go over how your digital marketing strategy and online advertisements can benefit from brand recognition and brand awareness, let’s answer an important question: what’s the difference between the two?

At first glance, it may seem as if brand recognition and brand awareness refer to the same thing when, in fact, they are two completely different concepts. Let’s go over the technical definitions of each term and their respective applications:

Brand awareness

From a technical standpoint, brand awareness refers to whether or not your target market knows of your brand. The degree of brand awareness that your business possesses is determined by how well you get over the “anti-advertisement” wall that your target market puts up. A guaranteed way to build brand awareness is to create content that goes beyond being “salesy.” Rather, it should resonate well enough with your target market to catch their attention. Businesses that actively build their brand awareness rely on effective marketing and advertising practices and strategies, which typically manifest in the form of: 

  • Catchy commercial jingles
  • Eye-catching print advertisements
  • Engaging social media posts
  • Online videos with a greater reach performance
  • Games in the form of GIFs
  • Informative posts

Brand recognition

Brand recognition is exactly what you think it is: a measure of whether your target audience recognizes your brand and whether they can differentiate it from that of your competitors. Generally, brand recognition can be referred to as the “evolved version of brand awareness”—provided that a few extra steps are put into play. The simplest manifestation of brand recognition is a memorable business name or logo, but the process of developing it is far more complex. Crafting and refining brand recognition involves the development of colour schemes, logos, visual elements, and a unique tonality. The overall voice you form will be what customers associate with your brand. 

Properly executed brand recognition strategies can help a company climb over the barrier of a customer’s advertisement resistance with ease. In fact, if you plan it well enough, you won’t need to run any more ads when letting your customers recognize your brand! Brand recognition allows your company name and brand identity become synonymous with a particular product you have, essentially granting it a “household name” status. 

“What’s the point of knowing the difference?”

By knowing the exact difference between brand awareness and brand recognition, it becomes far easier to understand that they both work hand-in-hand to achieve a common goal: to boost a business’s overall performance. The relationship between brand awareness and brand recognition can be best described as a “domino effect”: 

If you generate brand awareness well enough, it leads to the fostering of brand recognition, which can be further enhanced by more brand awareness activities. 

Understanding the relationship between brand awareness and brand recognition can lead to greater results which, in turn, allows you to overcome the “anti-advertisement” barrier. Differentiating the two brand-related concepts can help tremendously with the creation of a strong marketing strategy that will only grow in effectiveness over time. If you’re struggling to reach your target market via advertisements, keep the concepts of brand awareness and brand recognition in mind—more importantly, use them to your advantage. 

If you’re looking for a marketing agency in Cambridge to help you create a successful branding strategy, Orange Squash Agency is your best option. Get in touch with us today to see how we can help.

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