Amber Brooks. (2022). 8 Brand Awareness Campaign Ideas for Social Entrepreneurs. Retrieved from https://amberbrooks.co/8-brand-awareness-campaign-ideas/
Brand awareness is critical for the growth of a social impact business. Marketing campaigns can help grow a purpose-led brand’s awareness. The article shares some of the best ideas for creating a brand awareness campaign for your business.
Social impact businesses face skepticism from their audience. Consumers want to know that their business is truly driven by a purpose they’re actively working to align activities to, not just using social impact as a marketing message.
One of the best ways to help your target audience members believe in your brand is through the use of case studies. Case studies are created by narrating the story of transformation your product or service has helped your consumers go through.
Once you have created case studies, you can use them as lead generation and brand awareness tools. Typically, we’d advise you to use a landing page to gather the name and email of your audience members in exchange for the case study. You will then be able to send them email nurture sequences to discuss the story of transformation further and help your leads see how you can provide a solution as well.
Storytelling has the power to captivate and convert your new audience members to buyers and fans. By sharing details that help your audience relate to your brand, you give them an opportunity to get excited about the work you’re doing and impact you’re making.
There are so many ways to use storytelling and so many different types of stories to use for your brand. However, you want to have a focus and a timeline when creating a brand awareness campaign so that you can measure its effectiveness.
So, you may decide to launch a social media awareness campaign per quarter with a very specific focus – like the results around a specific social cause or initiative.
You can bring your brand awareness and content marketing goals together for this one by sharing a behind-the-scenes process that shares how your business uses profit for purpose.
Like a case study, you can create monthly blogs that share the story of your brand’s team working toward a common goal, with a challenge (social issue you focus on), a solution (how your brand works to address this challenge), and an outcome (the results your initiative has gotten or difference it’s making). But instead of a simple case study, you’d share the planning process you used to accomplish this transformation.
You can then repurpose these great blogs for social media and email marketing content.
Many brands create messaging around inspiration, hope, and social change. But, it’s one thing to talk about social issues. The real test is proving your brand cares enough about the social issues in your messaging to do something about it. Below, you’ll find examples of how popular brands have passed the test.
Directly on their website, IKEA says they want to create a better life for people. They share that “Teaming up with social entrepreneurs who use business as a way of reducing poverty, empowering women and tackling social and environmental challenges in their communities is one way of making this a reality.” The interesting fact about IKEA is that they have been a socially conscious brand for a long time—long before CSR (corporate social responsibility) became a trending topic.
They also have a social and environmental responsibility plan available to the public. This company’s commitment to helping build trust and working toward common goals of social impact is noteworthy.
Nike rocked the world in 2018 when it launched its ad campaign in support of Colin Kaepernick with the slogan “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.” They launched another ad this year featuring Kaepernick highlighting risks of standing for something in the newer ad, “Dream Crazy.”
They’re back at it again, rallying with us in solidarity with their 2020 TV ad, “For Once, Don’t Do It.” Their long-running commitment to being bold and standing for causes they feel strongly about, despite the potential to turn off part of their audience is what makes their truest fans ever more loyal to the brand.
The term “content is king” used to be trending in marketing circles, but lately, the term has taken a twist and become more specific—now, the accepted realization is that “video is king.”
Video adds context to your message, shows a level of emotion and storytelling not available through textual mediums, and allows your audience to be even further moved by your message.
To elucidate the value of video, here are some important 2020 statistics from markinblog:
Knowing the numbers helps you see the value video can add to your brand awareness campaign. For your social impact business, you’ll want to use a video series that not only reflects your product or service value, but also tells the story of the impact your business creates.
Does your company have an origin story or business journey that is fueled by a passion that evolved from the founder’s personal experience? You have a great opportunity to share that story and help your audience relate to this journey.
If you think about some of the biggest brands that are well-loved today, you’ll find many of them have shared campaigns that focused on their origin story or that of their founder. Entrepreneurial legends like Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, and Sara Blakely have all inspired us with their stories of ingenuity and commitment. These stories make us love these brands even more.
If your business has a story to tell about its creation and evolution, create a campaign around it and bring your audience along on the journey.
The popularity and potential of social influencers has grown over the past couple years and is at an all time high. The statement “we’re stronger together” has never been more meaningful or relevant as it is this year. And if you can collaborate with someone who already has an audience that includes your target market, it’s the perfect time to do so.
Collaborating with social influencers can get your important mission, products, and services in front of new audiences, increasing your brand awareness. Below you’ll find some examples of how brands have leaned on this focus to get attention for their social cause or movement.
A great marketing campaign of 2020 was the Share the Mic Now event on Instagram. In response to a critical point in the fight for racial equality, with the deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Elijah McCain, and others, organizer Bozoma St. John decided to do something about it.
For 11 hours, black women took over the accounts of white women so their voices could be amplified, black women could be centered, and awareness was raised with new audiences.
These women shared very personal experiences, stories, and knowledge that their new audiences may have otherwise not gotten the chance to hear. They brought their own audiences along to the new platforms and women joined forces to make a difference.
Remember the first time you saw an ad for the Humane Society featuring Sarah McLachlan and those poor sad animals? Remember the sting as her soft swaying words pulled at your heartstrings and made you want to go adopt the first dog or cat you saw?
For years, the Humane Society has leveraged celebrities to raise awareness about animal abuse. They combine the faces and voices of well-loved and well-known people with the emotional tug of mistreated animals for powerful messaging that encourages action and fundraising for their mission.
Earlier this year, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis were moved by the pandemic and decided to do something about it. So, they started a new initiative—“Quarantine Wine”—and are giving 100% of profits toward COVID-19 relief. While promoting their new product, Kutcher shared, “We’ve been finding charities that are focusing on getting PPE into the country, charities that are helping feed kids, businesses that are in distress.”
Arguably, the best method for increasing brand awareness is to use someone else’s already established audience, which includes your target market, to get your own brand noticed. One platform for doing that is podcasting.
Some work goes into getting featured on podcasts, but it’s well worth the effort. You’ll want to research and find podcasts that are relevant to your audience. They don’t necessarily have to be connected to your industry, though. For example, if you have a product-based business that sells children’s items, you may want to be interviewed on a podcast focused on parenting or on being a woman-owned business. Find a way to connect with the audience and offer value to them.
You’ll want a strategy and a repeatable process for pitching new podcasts consistently.
You now have 8 new ideas for increasing brand awareness for your purpose-led business. When it comes to branding and marketing, building in awareness-focused initiatives is just as important as sales promotions. The key is to be proactive and plan ahead so your marketing works effectively.
Amber Brooks. (2022). 8 Brand Awareness Campaign Ideas for Social Entrepreneurs. Retrieved from https://amberbrooks.co/8-brand-awareness-campaign-ideas/