When I was a college student, my advertising professor gave a fantastic presentation on the ideas and foundations of advertising during the first week of class. During the lecture, my lecturer moved almost systematically back and forth from one side of the room to the other, often glancing at us students as she talked as if to ensure that we were paying attention.

The majority of my students, including myself, were engrossed in the presentation and fully attentive as the speaker explained the distinctions between institutional advertising and product advertising.

But at one point in the lecture, she abruptly stopped speaking and started pacing in order to pay close attention to the one student who was not paying full attention to her. Probably as a result of the fact that he never seems to be able to put his phone down long enough to even pretend to be attentive in the presentation.

The professor asked the student whether he could remember the last point that she had just made before pausing to address him while maintaining a grim expression on her face as she gazed directly at him as if she were attempting to see through him. The atmosphere in the class seems to become even quieter, as if we were all waiting for the student to respond to her question in some witty way.

The student waited for approximately eight seconds before saying, "Ugh... " He had a startled expression on his face, perhaps from embarrassment.

I'm sorry, but I don't recall. Can you say it again? His inquiry was answered by the professor in a way that has stayed with me ever since. Her reaction not only influenced how I approach every marketing effort going forward. It has also helped me in a variety of other areas of my life.

People remember things that important to them, the lecturer informed the student.

I was so moved by those seven simple words because they made total sense to me. Additionally, they functioned as a transition into the remainder of her talk (I'm not sure whether she did this on purpose for dramatic effect, but I definitely thought it was amazing that she did).

She continued by instructing us on the two primary goals of advertising. These are: brand recall and brand awareness. An advertising must first inform the audience of its existence in order to build brand awareness. The audience must then remember it in order for them to do the intended action anytime they want or need to in order for it to achieve brand recall. Or only to remember who communicated the message and why.

And even though a variety of strategies may be used to build brand recognition. Here are the three most crucial measures to take to ensure that customers will remember your brand when they have a need or demand, after the creation of brand awareness. it begins by ensuring that they value your brand.

Salience originates in the soul

It was an epiphanic moment, which is why I recall the specifics of that lecture more clearly than many of the other lectures I endured in college. And it affected me emotionally, as do all epiphanies.

Touching people's souls is the first step to assuring that they will remember your brand.

Consider this: When you see the store brand cola (the generic cola that almost every grocery store carries) right next to Coca-Cola when you're in the aisle, don't you have a stronger emotional connection to Coca-Cola?

That's because you've watched many Coca-Cola advertisements throughout your whole life. And in those advertisements, the message was intended to make you grin and laugh, which improved your mood. Or made you pause and think, which made you feel reflective. Since the generic cola is more of a product than a brand, you most likely have no emotional connection to it.

I have another illustration of the strength of feeling. Consider your all-time favorite song. I'm sure the reason the music is your favorite is because it emotionally connected with you. You connected with the song's lyrics or mood on a deeper level for some reason.

Understanding your audience can help you make sure that your brand has an emotional impact on consumers. They, who? Who do they want to develop into? What do they enjoy? What dread do they have? Make sure that over time, the marketing communications for your business answer those four questions.

By doing so, your brand will encourage an emotional connection with your audience and you'll establish a deeper connection with them. Consequently, your brand will become important to them.

Affix a category

Achieving brand recognition and brand memory are an advertisement's two primary goals, as was previously said. And one of them is unquestionably more difficult to do than the other.

Brand recall is far more difficult to achieve than brand awareness.

This is because there are often many other brands in a category that provide the same goods or services, making it simpler to draw attention to a brand than it is to keep consumers aware of its presence.

Establishing a link between your brand and its category is the second stage in ensuring that customers remember your brand. In fact, I think that failing to link a brand or product to its category is one of the four deadly mistakes that ruin marketing initiatives.

Some of the top businesses in advertising stress that the emphasis of any advertising campaign should be T-C-B. It represents the three terms target, category, and benefit. if you are aware of your target market. Additionally, it helps link your brand to its category. Then, explain its advantages to your audience in an advertisement; this will increase the likelihood that your ad will stick in customers' minds.

For instance, suppose one of your brand's offerings is flavored water with electrolytes, and you wanted to market it to consumers that led active lives (bare with me).

You might use a thirsty football player (the target) winning a game, searching in the team's cooler for a simple bottle of water (the category), looking at it, and then saying "no way" while throwing it to the ground to tie your brand to its category. Only to take up the flavored water from your company to relieve his thirst (benefit).

Repetition promotes memory

The third and easiest step is also the most crucial for ensuring that customers remember your brand. Simply repeat yourself.

In all of your press releases, jingles, and advertising, use the same name for your brand. In television advertisements, be sure to display the product on the screen several times. Additionally, make sure that your brand's product and emblem are shown front and center in all print advertising so that everyone can easily notice them.

We are more inclined to recall things that we see or hear more often (like the lyrics of your favorite song).

Conclusion

No matter what kind of marketing you can think of, whether it's product advertising, institutional advertising, social media marketing, content marketing, etc. Making sure that your brand comes to mind whenever customers have a need or a desire for the goods or services that your business offers is the ultimate aim.

There are several strategies for doing that, which I did not discuss in this essay due to time constraints. Have you noticed, for instance, that each of the three phases has an alliterative title? Alliteration is an extremely effective method for aiding memory.

However, if the goal of your marketing initiatives is to appeal to customers' emotions. even as you link your brand to its category. And consistently highlight the name of your business and its items in all of your marketing activities. Customers will then care about your brand. It will thus be remembered.

Thanks to DeJuan Wright at Business 2 Community whose reporting provided the original basis for this story.