Increasing Brand Awareness

By on June 7, 2011

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines Advertising  as “any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor”. (Romeo .S. Mascarenhas ;  Introduction to Advertising). Advertising is basically used to draw the attention of the target audience based on the specific product. It is essentially a persuasive technique which attempts to convince the prospective customers about the merits and the utility of a particular product or brand and thus induces them to buy the article or product.

Advertising involves strategies which aim at introducing new products, improve sales, build brand image and brand loyalty, inform customers about the firm and the products etc. Product is the subject and the core element of advertising whereas a brand is a term which includes name, sign, symbol, design given to a product for easy identification i.e. a brand is the “identity” of the product.

Brand awareness means the extent to which a brand associated with a particular product is documented by potential and existing customers either positively or negatively. Creation of brand awareness is the primary goal of advertising at the beginning of any product’s life cycle in target markets.(www.oppapers.com,2011). For creating appropriate brand awareness, it is important to consider the following elements of advertising strategy: product concept, target audience, communication media and advertising message. Strategies create brand awareness in such a way that people love the brand name and they forget the actual product name. For eg: people tend to associate the word “surf” with any detergent, may that be the expensive detergent surf itself or the less expensive ones like Tide, Nirma, Wheel, etc. Another example is that of the word “Xerox” becoming synonymous with the word “photocopy”. Xerox is the name of the machine whereas photocopy is what we use the machine for.

Selection of the target audience and communication media holds equal importance, as the target audience are the ones at whom the advertising is aimed, and the communication medium is through which the message is conveyed. eg: Johnsons and Johnsons manufactures baby products, their target audiences being the mothers. Products or brands specifically targeting teenagers and adolescents make use of social networking sites like facebook and twitter to reach its audience. Thus, advertising strategies only enhance brand awareness by reaching the right audience through the right medium, generating a plethora of consumers.

 

REFERENCES:

  • Romeo S .Mascarenhas . Introduction To Advertising . Mumbai : Vipul Prakashan
  • www.enotes.com/brand

 

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