Brand Strategy
11 mins read

How to make your brand memorable (Brand Recall)

Published on
August 6, 2020
Contributors
Scott Adam Lancaster
Brand Development Expert
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How you make sure people remember your brand?

Want customers to remember your brand? Well In this article I'll show you how!

Customers minds today are littered with thousands of marketing messages every single day. And while some marketers have different solutions to overcome this obstacle, many believe developing strategies to enhance brand recall to be the best option.

So what are the best strategies to help customers remember your brand and why do they work?


What Is Brand Recall?

First we should confirm what Brand Recall is, brand recall and brand recognition are both components of brand awareness, and are often confused with each other.

Brand recognition is the ability of consumers to identify or recognize the name of a particular brand among other brands. Whereas brand recall is the top-of-mind recollection of a certain brand when a consumer is asked about a product category.

The term brand recall means a customer can instantly recall the name of a brand when prompted with a product or service or any other associated word or phrase. In simple terms, brand recall is a qualitative measure of the consumer’s ability to remember the name of  your brand.

So if you suddenly have an urge to eat burger and fries, the first brand name that comes to your mind is mostly likely the brand you’ll end up buying from… which is why brand recall can be very important. 


Importance Of Brand Recall

Being at the top of the mind whenever the consumer thinks of a product category is the ultimate aim of every brand. This can naturally lead to increased sales. But it also has a range of other key benefits which are critical to know if you want to your brand to grow. 


Boost Sales & Market Share

Brand recall for a company is directly proportional to the likelihood of actual purchase of a product or service offered by the brand. It plays a significant role in facilitating repeat purchases.

A positive brand recall ensures behavioural, cognitive and emotional loyalty of consumers towards its existing and potential products and services.


Gives A Competitive Edge

Brand recall signifies comfort and familiarity with a certain brand. It provides an edge over the competitor’s brand while making an actual purchase decision.

Being front of mind for your customers within a certain category within the market means everytime a customer has a need in that particular area, you’re the first option that they consider first.


Building Brand Equity

Brand equity is built over time as the customer becomes more aware of your brand, what you do and how great your product or service is. 

By having a great level of brand recall, you will naturally have more opportunities to build brand equity and engage with your customers. 

This has a sort of compounding effect as long as you continue to deliver a positive experience to your customers at every available touchpoint.

How To Measure Brand Recall?

So there is a simple formula to measure brand recall, which goes a little like this:

Percentage Brand recall (%) = (Survey Respondents who correctly identified or recalled your brand / Total number of respondents) X 100.


Something to keep in mind though is the above formula can be used to measure two types of brand recall. These two types of brand recall are:

Aided Brand Recall

In terms of aided brand recall, people are given an external hint which acts as an aid for them to recall your brand in the discussion.

For example, A researcher might prompt a respondent with a question like “Are you familiar with Tesla (or any other car brand or a list of car brands)?” If the respondent professes familiarity with the brand, it is a result of aided brand recall. The name of the brand or any cue linked to the same is given to the respondent for enhancing or aiding the consumer’s memory.


Unaided Brand Recall

Unaided Brand recall implies when a consumer or respondent recalls the name of the brand without any aid or hint.

For example, the researcher may ask a respondent “What car brands are you familiar with?” A prompt answer from the consumer could be “Ford, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Tesla” Such kind of prompt recall without any hint, under a product category is called unaided brand recall.


Strategies To Enhance Brand Recall

So how can we enhance brand recall?

While there are a range of strategies to enhance brand recall, all of which differ from industry to industry, here are some of the most effective ones:

Develop A Brand Profile

Your brand profile is basically your brand’s identity.

This encompasses everything your brand does including how your brand communicates, web presence, brand values and preferences, packaging, visual expression, and even your brand’s take on relevant socio-economic issues and events. 

Developing a solid brand profile reinforces brand identity and allows consumers to readily remember the brand, along with everything your brand stands for, is and can provide to them.

There are three main components of Brand profile based on which all communication on behalf of the brand is focused around:

Define The Brand Purpose

Brand Purpose is the reason for the existence of a brand beyond just making money. It answers the question “How does a company improve the lives of its consumers”

A classic example of a powerful brand purpose is Dove.

Dove brand purpose is to improve the self-confidence and esteem of women around the world.

By having a strong brand purpose, it makes all of your communication and important decisions far easier, as whenever you’re struggling to make an important business decision, you can refer directly back to your purpose and ask yourself, does this align with the reason why we exist as a brand?


Define Your Brand Proposition

Brand Proposition is simply the problem you solve for your consumers. It is the promise that your brand delivers to your consumers through your product or service.

An example would be Apple, as the brand promises innovation and simplified user experience which forms Apple’s Brand proposition.


Develop A Brand Personality

Building a brand personality suggests making your brand almost human and to give it certain characteristics.

Your brand can embody a whole range of different character traits, including competence, toughness, sincerity, sophistication, for example. 

Nike has built its personality around being an Athlete. The brand clearly understands their customer base and they focus all of their brands efforts around inspiring others to become the best athlete they can be. 


Craft Your Brand Story

Creating a brand story involves making an emotional connection with your target audience, which in turn can become engrained in their memory. The narrative of the story could highlight any scenario which impacts your target audience emotionally.

For example, Nike’s equality campaign highlights the conflict in the form of inequality and the resolution by projecting Nike as a force for positive social change. This elevates the brand beyond just offering their customers workout gear.

Get A Great Logo Design

A brand logo lays the foundation of Brand Identity. It grabs attention, differentiates the company from its competitors and makes a strong first impression in the minds of consumers. It’s the face of your brand, and the first thing the vast majority of your customers see when first becoming aware of your brand. 

An aesthetically pleasing logo that makes sense to your customer can trigger positive recall more effectively. It serves as an icon or symbol, in case the name of the brand is forgotten. Humans are visual creatures by nature, which is why brands are so protective over their logo being used correctly at all times.


Maintain & Improve Brand Reputation

It is important to identify and eliminate all the potential reputation risks that may undermine the hard-earned reputation of a brand.

While a brand recall is the primary concern here, it may not matter if you are the first to come to your customers mind if you’re coming to mind for the wrong reasons. 

Create An Unforgettable Brand Tagline

One of the most effective ways to draw attention and enhance brand recall is developing an unforgettable tagline or slogan. 

The main difference between a slogan and a tagline is a slogan generally focuses on the product or the company, while the tagline focuses on the essence and what defines and makes the company

But that’s a topic for whole new video.

Some great and memorable brand tagline examples are:
  • Airbnb– Belong anywhere,
  • American Express – Don’t leave home without it,
  • L’Oreal –  Because you are worth it,
  • M&Ms – Melts in your mouth, not in your hands.

Much like your brand name and logo, this is just another symbol or memorable element which your customers can relate back to your brand and what you do.

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