What you’ll learn
You’ve just launched your biz, but no one is fawning over your baby. Hell, they’re not even looking your way! Rude. You’re struggling to see the brand growth you crave, and wondering how to build an audience that actually converts.
Or maybe you’ve been in the game for a while and can’t crack the code of building effective brand awareness campaigns. You’re not alone, as 93% of small businesses struggle to see quality audience engagement.
What gives?
The key for how to build an audience is to zero in on your target audience’s needs and speak directly to them.
Strap in as we lay the framework for audience development that’ll launch your biz to echo through the cosmos.
Why is it Important to Build Brand Awareness?
Building a brand goes beyond the surface of logos, brand messaging, and data: it represents the core values of why a business does what it does. To lasso all these moving parts together, businesses create a content strategy. This is what helps you build brand awareness.
The goal? To know precisely how to build an audience fortified by segmentation, consumer buying patterns, beliefs, and passions.
Beyond this, a brand can truly shake sh*t up in someone’s life.
Just look at the queen of the music business, Taylor Swift. The artist has built a ride-or-die following and generated a pop culture phenomenon in the process. Few stars have broken the internet by announcing a world tour.
Did she just write a few relatable lyrics and build this following? Over a decades-long career, T-Swift has consistently evolved her brand by dropping lyrical easter eggs that engage her audience. Prime example? At the height of the 2020 pandemic, she posted on Instagram that there was “not a lot going on at the moment.”
In reality, she was about to drop her eighth album, Folklore.
When she says jump, her fans say “how high?”
And it’s because she includes them in every career move.
It’s that familiarity and investment into a brand that establishes the invaluable currency of brand awareness.
Without it, businesses will struggle to know how to build an audience that’s engaged and invested. Build your brand, build your audience.
But leverage your audience’s biggest desires and struggles? You’ll raise brand awareness that generates buzz, popularity, trust, and of course, brand growth.
We’ll teach you exactly how to build an audience with brand awareness today.
How to Build an Audience Using Content Marketing: 8 Steps
There’s really no reason to miss out on the amazing benefits of content creation in this visually demanding, content-driven digital world. Whether it’s social media, blogs, videos, podcasts, or e-books, content is the best way to show your existing and target customers that you’re an authority and therefore, trustworthy.
First order of business: create content brimming with value that makes your audience say, “Hell yes, I love this brand!”
Building a ride-or-die audience is the key to unlocking success for your biz. After all, it’s hard to gain traction without a following of customers and interested buyers.
Below, you’ll find out how to build an audience using content marketing strategies proven to work.
Step one?
1. Define your unique value proposition (UVP)
Your UVP is what makes your brand, well, unique. Think about it: What do you offer that’s different from other similar brands? Can you bring something to the table that everyone else can’t?
Think long and hard about what makes you an expert in your field and how your brand represents the cutting edge of your industry.
Use this to your advantage and then publish quality content that emphasizes your niche expertise and industry prowess. In time, you’ll gain recognition and see more branded searches as people specifically type your business name into Google.
Bottom line? They’ll know and trust you. This is a no-brainer for how to build an audience that’s loyal to your business.
And if you want them to love you?
2. Harness Social Media Marketing
Younger generations flock to social media to support their favorite brands and influencers. And social proof? It’s one of the most potent communication channels that inspires decision making and buying behaviors.
It’s no surprise that putting your brand front row center for scrolling eyes will help bolster your marketing and brand growth.
Social media is a global marketplace, which means your audience can be as diverse as New York City.
By having an eclectic group of people who see the value in your badass content, the world truly becomes your oyster.
As mentioned earlier, social proof helps influence decision-making. But more than that, social media marketing is a golden opportunity to personalize your brand message and forge genuine connections with your audience.
3. Collaborate to Make Gains
As an entrepreneur and digital agency founder, one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that if you want to scale and succeed, you’re not going to do it alone. You’re the big idea person, but bringing those ideas to life? It takes a tremendous amount of minutia, persistence, and help.
If I tried to go it alone, I wouldn’t be managing a team of nine talented marketers. I would be spread thin, burnt out, and limiting my business’s potential and brand growth. I would also do my amazing clients a disservice by not offering them the most comprehensive solutions to streamline their content marketing efforts.
Working with a team also opens the door to fresh perspectives and ideas. That big picture you have? It just gained new colors.
Working with a team of marketers, influencers, affiliates, and colleagues helps you tap into the needs of broader audiences as well.
Bottom line? It takes a village. And having support from a dynamic team of professional content writers and strategists? It’s the best way to raise your bottom line efficiently.
4. Build Awareness with an Email Marketing Strategy
What’s the difference between a like on your Instagram post and a new email subscriber to your newsletter? Person A is swiping right on your profile, but they’re a ghost in the chat. Person B is actually inviting you to start a convo and send them more information about your product and services.
Plus, email marketing has one of the highest ROI ($36 per every dollar spent) when it comes to content marketing investments.
But you’ll need to create an email marketing strategy that keeps their needs top-of-mind.
Do this by:
- Surveying your audience to see what type of content they crave
- Taking polls to learn more about their needs
- Engaging with them on social media to see what they’re saying
Funnel this intel into a newsletter that ticks all their digital boxes and bypasses the trash bin.
Massive gains with a low overhead? Win-win!
5. Create a Data-Driven SEO Blog Strategy
When you type a question or search query into Google or any search engine, the results are often blog posts and articles. Their goal? To concisely answer the question you asked, provide knowledge, and help you in some way.
So it only makes sense that you, as a business, should publish content that answers your audience’s biggest questions and concerns. Learning how to build an audience hinges on an intimate understanding of their needs and interests.
But how do you know what content best serves their needs? With a data-driven SEO blog strategy rooted in keyword research, competitor analysis, and audience insights.
Just keep in mind that SEO is a long game. Meaning? It’s essential to build a research-informed strategy. Use data to consistently publish high-value content that resonates with your target audience.
Best part about a long-term marketing strategy like SEO? Your content is the gift that keeps on giving. The more established and relevant your blog page, the more visitors will visit your site year after year.
And with regular content audits that revamp links, statistics, quotes, and industry insights, your top-performing articles will become evergreen, and you’ll breathe new life into low-performing articles.
6. Demonstrate Authority and Receive Earned Media
One of the most powerful marketing strategies for building an audience for your brand is to get earned media. Huh?
Earned media is press, publicity, and exposure you receive without paying for it. Most often, this shows up as media profiles, interviews, podcast features, or backlinks from high domain authority websites.
As a new brand, getting earned media isn’t easy; it takes time to build up the digital street cred. But you can accelerate results by consistently publishing thought-leadership content.
Prime example?
Check out our content marketing blog, Roar!, where we publish authoritative, helpful, informational blog posts about key industry trending topics and news. We’re not afraid to ruffle feathers with our opinions either, tackling complex topics surrounding the future of AI, beauty marketing comparisons, and provoking exposés that challenge the status quo. The result? Earned media like:
- Press features in entrepreneurial publications like Shoutout LA and Voyage LA
- Awards from digital marketing platforms like DesignRush
- Backlinks from aligned industry websites
This earned media translates to authority in a fiercely competitive marketing landscape, and this makes it easier for prospective beauty, lifestyle, and ecommerce brands to hire us for content writing, SEO, and strategy.
7. Focus on Video Marketing
Wyzowl shares that 91% of people crave video content from their fave brands. Why? Because in addition to building brand awareness for your biz through compelling videos, you’re also entertaining your audience.
Video has the power to reach people on a deeper level. Just look at the impact of TikTok virality or the cult-following YouTuber’s have.
Today, many people would rather watch a video to learn about a topic than read a book or article. This doesn’t undermine the unmistakable value of high-level written content, especially for organic website traffic and SEO.
But if you create video content in tandem with engaging written content like SEO blog articles, social media campaigns, and newsletters? You’ll have a dynamic omnichannel marketing strategy that captures high-quality leads and drives serious ROI for your brand.
Speaking of omnichannel marketing…
8. Repurpose Content
How do you blend all the facets of content marketing into a cohesive strategy?
By repurposing content. This is when you use one piece of content (like a video or blog post) and break it into smaller bits of content (like social media posts, infographics, and podcasts).
Here’s how we could repurpose this blog post (yes, the one you’re reading) for other content platforms:
- Break the blog post into an Instagram Live series where each section has its own video.
- Distill the most essential takeaways from this post into a bite-sized Reel or TikTok video.
- Pick out a compelling section and feature it as a great story for a newsletter.
- Create an Instagram carousel featuring each section’s key takeaways.
- Design an infographic or video to share with news outlets to garner some press buzz.
Unsure where to start?
You want to know that your content is relevant for your target audience. And that all starts with creating a bulletproof content strategy. And not to brag (ok, we’ll brag a lil), but we’re damn good at that. Just check out our case studies. 💁♀️
Pro Tips for Measuring Brand Awareness
Let’s say you create great content and start to see the needle move on your efforts–how do you know what’s working and what isn’t? What about the impact you’re creating? Are you seeing vanity metrics via likes and followers but not converting them into customers?
This is where the holy grail of data and measurable branding enters the chat.
To really make progress in learning how to build an audience for your brand, you need to harness data for measuring brand awareness.
Here’s how to do it:
- Customer Feedback and Testimonials — What do customers say about your business? Are reviews generally positive? What about bad reviews? Are you actively taking steps to mitigate them or tackle them with grace and helpful problem-solving? Take note, adjust, and repeat.
- Search Engine Results Page (SERP) Status — Landing at the top of Google’s SERPs is a surefire way to boost organic traffic. And having a close eye on your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is the best way to verify that the content you publish aligns with your audience’s needs, interests, and search queries (what they type into Google). You can view this data, along with key performance metrics like referral traffic and branded search volume in your Google Analytics dashboard.
- Social Media Metrics — Likes and follows are great, but is it the type of engagement you want or need? Social media metrics make analyzing your content much easier to adapt to trends and algorithms. But above all, prioritize offering value on social media instead of posting quick wins that don’t serve your long-term goals. In other words? Go beyond posting videos with Instagram and TikTok’s trending audio.
- Paid Ad Performance — Mastering the art of paid ads is no easy feat. In fact, you’ll want to conduct solid A/B testing, monitor performance (are people engaging, clicking, and converting?), and pivot accordingly. This is great intel you can apply to your organic content marketing campaigns.
Ready to Get Heard in this Digital Jungle?
Learning how to build an audience isn’t easy, but it’s necessary to succeed in today’s market.
Your audience is your people, not just dollar signs. Forging an authentic, transparent connection with them is the first step to converting them into loyal customers.
From there, you can roll out targeted campaigns designed specifically for them. By increasing brand awareness, you’ll foster relationships and build enough trust to bring in revenue.
But you can waste a lot of time and resources if you don’t appeal to your audience properly and give them the goods they actually give a damn about. That’s where the pros come in.
Lyon Content is your ally for creating a holistic, game-changing content strategy dead set on attracting the right people to your biz. The result? Flocks of eager followers ready to buy. Let’s make it happen!
11/07/2023
Christina Lyon is the founder and CEO of Lyon Content. She’s fired up for helping brands kickass online and grow their digital empires. Christina lives in So Cal with her husband and two dogs, and nerds out on reading, traveling, writing creative fiction, and getting lost in wild places. She’s obsessed with a good underdog story and eats more rice bowls than she’s willing to admit.
