Brand awareness has been an important part of any marketing plan for as long as marketing has existed, in any of its various forms. However, the digital age has opened new doors for brands to enter the collective consciousness of consumers – your mobile phones, social networks, e-mails, and any other ways you spend your time online.

The more you interact with the Web, the more it knows about you. You can often see ads and reviews targeted at your interests, based on what you’ve previously downloaded, liked, visited, and commented. You may not notice them consciously at first, but you glance over most of these advertisements, and some of the information they provide is bound to stay with you.

Old Ways vs New Ways

Raising brand awareness, as already mentioned, has always been one of the basic marketing tasks. In times past, you would cast your proverbial net wide and across the marketing spectrum and hope for the best possible catch. Thanks to SEO, you are able to narrow your space for casting nets and target specific groups of customers that are interested in your brand. In this way, you avoid spending money and time on campaigns that reach people who have no interest in what you’re selling.

Large companies have enough resources to throw money at the branding awareness problem. They can put their advertisements at billboards, bus stops and buildings wherever, even in areas where there are not that many people interested in their brand. But why would anyone spend more money than they should, when carefully planned SEO branding can take you directly into your customers’ homes.

Small companies that do not have that many resources to spend on advertising can also reap the benefits of raising brand awareness through SEO. Careful targeting of clients can help them develop a small but steady base from which they can continue growing.

How to Make SEO Work for Your Brand

Having in mind all the advantages of good SEO, we arrive to a point where you may ask what to do to utilize SEO. First and foremost, you must take your website seriously, since it is usually the first thing a potential customer will check when researching your brand. Just as you carefully furnish your office, you should pay close attention when creating your website. After all, it is your virtual office. Here is a list of some things you can do, which is by no means complete:

• Analyze data – Many SEO experts stress this as the most important step. Before anything else, you should analyze your industry. Knowing keywords your customers use for searching is crucial. Data analysis should not stop after this. People’s habits change and you should always stay one step ahead. Analyze traffic on your website after every change you introduce and after every campaign you start. In this way you will see what works and what not and adjust accordingly.
• Use the keywords – Once you know what your keywords are, be sure to use them. Page title is an excellent place for this, since search engines use them to extract information about the page. Other places may include meta descriptions and headlines. However, make sure your meta description and headline are informative. Don’t push keywords in them on the expense of creating a confusing text or one that is too general.
• Write good text for your site – It is very important that the text on your websites is well written and contains information that will interest your customers. Their main purpose is to provide information and entice people to get in touch with you.
• Have a professional design – Firstly, make your website easy to navigate. People online want information quickly. Therefore, don’t send them on a treasure hunt if they want to know more about a specific service. Secondly, create an original logo – visual representation of your company should reflect your business and the way you do business. Don’t be afraid to be creative.
• Be prepared to compromise – Many a business owner has a clear image of his company’s brand. However, it does not always correlate with the vision your customers have. Therefore, be ready to compromise if you want to utilise SEO. Sometimes this will mean using different keywords, sometimes adjusting or changing your tagline, and sometimes it could mean a redesign of your website. When you are faced with these compromises, keep in mind why you are making them – to be customer oriented and develop your brand.

Bottom Line

SEO branding is a powerful tool. If used right, it can save you both time and money while reaching your target customers more effectively. Keep in mind, that SEO branding is not a quick fix. It demands careful planning and execution, and constant tuning to your customers’ habits and needs.