When an organization launches a campaign to increase brand awareness, it is often assumed that increased foot traffic will naturally follow. Although this is sometimes the case, it is never a guarantee. There is a notable difference between brand awareness and foot traffic, and one does not always bring the other.Consider an organization that launches a widespread television campaign. Although follow-up consumer surveys indicate that the campaign reached its target audience and enhanced brand awareness, the company didn't notice an increase in foot traffic or sales. There could be many reasons for this disconnect, from inconsistent messaging to choosing the wrong audience. However, this example serves as a reminder that brand awareness and foot traffic don't always go hand-in-hand. In order to get these two measures of success to work together, you must plan your campaigns carefully.
Your company can use a variety of different strategies to increase brand awareness. Some of the most common strategies used for this purpose include:
Each of these strategies can effectively build brand awareness when employed properly. To ensure that your brand message resonates with your target audience, it's best to work with a media company skilled in all of these areas.
Although building brand awareness is a key component to increasing foot traffic, it won't happen automatically. Nonetheless, an increase in brand awareness can translate to more foot traffic when brands use the right approach. For example, consider Popeyes’ recent chicken sandwich craze. It all started when Popeyes released their chicken sandwich on August 12 and then a tweet went viral between the restaurant and a competitor, Chick-Fil-A. This tweet sparked a viral competition between the two chains to determine who had the better sandwich. After a few weeks of the feud between fans, Popeyes sold out of their chicken sandwich before the month was over. The sandwich accounted for 30 percent of sales and more than doubled foot traffic in stores during the time of availability.
On the flip side, consider McDonald's one-day release of Szechuan sauce in 2017. Although this campaign was successful in increasing brand awareness on social media, it did not appear to have enough of an effect nationwide to noticeably increase foot traffic for McDonald's.
The exact strategies you can use to boost foot traffic through an increase in brand awareness depends on the marketing approach utilized.
As we have seen, brand awareness and foot traffic are not one and the same, but rather work together to achieve a common goal. A skilled media company can teach you how to create a brand strategy that optimizes each of your marketing efforts to increase your brand awareness and drive foot traffic at the same time.