In today’s buying world, whether it be business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C), customer expectations are changing.

Especially in a competitive market, today’s customers are placing more and more importance on how they experience a brand. They desire personalized interactions, dedicated service and connected experiences across all channels of communication. They now want to know what companies are doing for them beyond just providing great products.

An estimated 37% of marketers say that brand awareness is their main priority this year, but many don’t know where to start. Brand awareness isn’t like your traditional measurable metrics. In fact, it may seem like a vague concept that can be complicated to track—and you aren’t wrong. Luckily, you have free technology at your fingertips that’s sole purpose is to share information and engage with others that offers many trackable metrics—social media. The benefits of creating brand awareness among your audience are endless, especially when you factor in the impact of social media.

Whether you are buying services or products, you have hundreds of choices with whom you can do business with—and all of them are a click away on Google. 

As sellers struggle to pocket the dollars in their bank account, they will invest in gobs of money in sales and marketing, yet completely abstain from investing in the one thing that will drive more sales revenue than anything else: a defined and differentiated value proposition.

Your online brand is as important to your business success as your website itself. In fact, a website that looks good but doesn’t have a strong brand may prove to be a detriment to your business, both online and offline.

Building brand awareness is one of the most important aspects of digital marketing—helping with recognition and lead generation. Today, digital marketing makes it easier than ever to stay true to your brand by creating cohesiveness across your website and social media channels. Increasing brand awareness can be difficult when you don’t know where to start. You might even find yourself asking, “How can I use the resources that I have around me to make my brand the best it can be?” In fact, a lot of the tools and knowledge you can use are right at your fingertips, and most of them are free to access. Brand awareness starts with the idea that your target market trusts your brand and relates to your messaging. Audiences often respond better to brand messaging when they feel they are consuming informative content and not trying to be sold something.

Interested in finding out how to distance yourself from your competitors? Studies show that companies who prioritize customer experience are outperforming the competition.

A recent study by Gartner reveals that over 80% of organizations expect to compete mainly based on customer experience. 

So why is customer experience so important? 

Building brand awareness needs a strong visual identity. How do you identify your brand from your competitors? People are visual creatures and thus more likely to remember visuals better than text. When done right, these four visual elements will help to strengthen your brand awareness strategy.