When will my brand be famous?

How long does it take for name/brand recognition to filter through to the general public?

How can I speed up this process?

Repetition is to marketing as location is to real estate. It’s often the difference between a start-up that flounders in its formative years and one that becomes a household name.

Children get it, sometimes asking incessantly for what they want until they get it. By the time we grow up we don’t want to annoy or upset anyone and we’re afraid of putting our business out there.

There’s no set time for brand recognition. A well-marketed business could be strongly recognised in its industry within months while its poorly marketed competitor down the road might be facing an uphill battle for years.

The key to speeding up brand recognition is frequency and repetition. Thomas Smith’s legendary book Successful Marketing suggested that it takes being exposed to your brand four times until they build up recognition, upwards of eight times until they wonder if they’re missing out on something and around twenty times until they buy.

While this figure is a little overblown and mostly used today to justify giant advertising budgets, it demonstrates the psychological importance of repetition.

I wouldn’t be a marketer if I didn’t tell you that it’s within your power to speed this process up. There are three areas that I suggest to clients wanting to fast-track their brand recognition and, ultimately, sales targets:

Advertising

Tried and tested, if you put your ads in the right place and put a bit of thought into the message that you’re sending consumers, your ad will be seen and again and again.

Word of mouth

Do something remarkable and worth talking about to create some word-of-mouth buzz around your brand.

Combine the trustworthy recommendation of a friend or respected figure with regular exposure through other forms of marketing and your brand could spread like wildfire, speeding up the whole brand recognition process.

Summary

Outdoor billboards, blog advertising, local club sponsorship, wall posters, direct mail, search… There are dozens and dozens of things that you could do to get your brand out there.

The key is to choose the right mix, ensure that you’re getting enough repetition and exposure to cut through and then focus on maximising brand loyalty with your new customers.