How Do You Educate Your Team On the Importance of Brand Awareness?
To help you educate your team on the importance of brand awareness, we asked marketing and branding professionals to share their strategies. From workshops to internal training programs, here are six methods from the experts.
- Initiate Workshops for Social Media Integration
- Use Stories and Quizzes for Engagement
- Train Staff for Custom Campaigns
- Develop Internal Training Programs
- Share Personal Branding Stories
- Host Collaborative Strategy Workshops
Initiate Workshops for Social Media Integration
As the Social Media Marketing Director at QNY Creative, I was at the helm during a pivotal shift when social media became the leading channel for advertising. Recognizing the urgency, I initiated a series of workshops to unpack the unique advantages of platforms like TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat, especially their ability to engage audiences directly and in real-time—something traditional methods couldn't match.
A key turning point was our move to integrate shoppable content within these platforms, which drastically shortened the journey from product discovery to purchase. This initiative didn't just elevate our digital strategy; it revolutionized how we thought about connecting with our audience.
These changes emphasized the need for engaging, consistent branding across all platforms. This strategic shift not only bolstered our brand's digital presence but also transformed our team's marketing approach, turning traditional challenges into avenues for innovation and substantial growth.
Use Stories and Quizzes for Engagement
I remember when I had to drive home the importance of brand awareness to my team. We were launching a new product, and I noticed they were hyper-focused on immediate sales. I sat them down and explained that brand awareness isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the foundation for long-term success. I shared stories of brands that became household names not overnight, but by consistently staying in front of their audience. To make it fun, I even used quizzes and trivia about famous brands and their journeys. By the end, they got it—building brand awareness is like planting seeds for future growth.
Train Staff for Custom Campaigns
Our approach to brand awareness is unique, given the marketing-agency challenge of working with multiple brands across different industries. First, we train our staff to address each brand’s specific needs by analyzing its public perception, current messaging, and previous brand-awareness campaigns. Next, we hold team brainstorming sessions to generate custom campaigns that can elevate a brand from obscurity to top-of-mind status in its local market. For example, when people think of cocktails, they should think of the local restaurant we promote. Consistent, open communication is vital for us, ensuring everyone is aligned and informed. We also prioritize continuous skill development through tools like StoryBrand, competitor analysis, and relevant publications. This holistic approach enables us to create impactful, tailored brand-awareness strategies.
Develop Internal Training Programs
While working as an email marketing professional, I've noticed a need for a consistent brand voice, specifically in email marketing when onboarding new client accounts and performing email campaign audits. Many of these campaigns fail to effectively highlight a brand's unique value proposition, focusing on metrics like open rates and click-through rates rather than nurturing a deeper connection with their audience.
Over time, I've developed an internal training program for small-business owners to better understand brand awareness's long-term benefits. The goal is always the same: teach small-business owners that 'put the customer first' goes beyond a tagline, and email newsletters are not just used to pitch sales—these pieces of training are more extensive to our team, where I've created a brand-awareness checklist that is specific to each client account and their unique value proposition.
The results have been fantastic because we have created higher engagement rates and increased customer loyalty. The overarching goal has taught me the importance of aligning marketing strategies with broader brand goals because brand awareness is essential to long-term business success.
Share Personal Branding Stories
During the early days of Dreamstarters Publishing, I noticed that some of our team members weren’t fully on-board with the significance of brand awareness. To address this, I shared stories from my own journey—how my first book, despite its great content, struggled until we nailed down a strong branding strategy. I set up a session where we analyzed successful book launches and discussed how effective branding turned those books into bestsellers. I emphasized how brand visibility helped us establish credibility and attract new clients. By tying the lesson to our experiences and showing concrete examples, the team quickly understood that strong brand awareness was key to our success and became more enthusiastic about our marketing initiatives.
Host Collaborative Strategy Workshops
A perfect example is when I was starting Penpixel Creative. We're a new-ish content agency living in a post-AI-generated world. I knew we had to quickly introduce our brand before our ICPs made the mistake of thinking that AI could fix their content-production issues.
I worked with a mix of hardened digital marketing pros and some interns who could finally apply what they were learning to the real world. We participated in a weeklong content strategy planning workshop, during which we all contributed to our initial content strategy.
The workshop environment fostered collaboration, listening, and communication. It was also efficient because it created a sense of excitement and urgency. We all became hyper-aware that if we didn't get the word out to our audience, we'd get passed by.
