Welcome to my awareness series – volume 2

Following on from volume one Brand awareness and why is it important? Volume two will guide you through how to get started with building your brand awareness program.

How to build brand awareness?

Let’s start with 5 key definitions. I start here to make sure no matter where you are in your business journey, you have the knowledge and tools you need to make decisions that will help grow your business.

What is Marketing? The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines marketing as the process of identifying customers needs and how a business can best meet those needs.¹

What is advertising? The AMA defines it as the exercise of promoting a company through paid channels. And is a component of marketing¹.

What is a marketing channel? Mailchimp defines a marketing channel as types of mediums used to advertise your company.² An example of a marketing channel is an email or social media like Instagram or TikTok.

Quick tip 1: Even today, there is no better marketing channel than word-of-mouth and it’s free. It’s like going viral for ever, and all you need to do as a business, is provide your customers with a wonderful experience, at every interaction and a quality goods or service.

Emma Grede, the co-founder, and CEO of Los Angeles-based fashion brand Good America said, “a happy customer will do the work of thousands of dollars of marketing.

What is a brand campaign? A campaign is usually a one-off, bespoke, or temporary marketing activity with content that is temporary. A marketing campaign aims to grab attention quickly to increase sales faster.

What is a brand program? A program on the other hand is a series of campaigns that tells a story. The content has a connected and consistent message designed to take the customer on a journey. A program allows the brand to connect deeper with the customer, builds trust and increases sales, resales. If done well, a brand marketing program will get your customers talking more about your brand, increase engagement, ultimately leading to more sales.

Quick tip 2: The key to a successful business, in my opinion, is consistent visibility in the marketplace. The advertising rule of 7 tells us that a person needs to see your brand at least 7 times before they will consider making the decision to buy.

3-step Brand Awareness Program Framework

Here’s my 3-step brand awareness program framework providing key area’s to consider as you start to develop your brand awareness marketing program.

1. Be clear about what you want your brand to be known for today and in the future.
2. Set out how you will measure the success of your program.
3. Map out the journey you want to take your target audience on and why.

In my experience, if you want to get the best returns from your marketing budget and build sustainable growth for your business, start with designing an awareness marketing program. If you would like help crafting the right words to use in your brand awareness program or help to develop your brand awareness strategy, contact me at DKs Content & Copywriting.

1. https://www.ama.org/marketing-vs-advertising/
2. https://mailchimp.com/resources/what-are-marketing-channels/

Welcome to my awareness series – volume 1

After reading this 2-part series you will have the knowledge and tools you need to start building your brand awareness.

What is brand awareness?

Let’s break this down by defining the three key elements of a brand, awareness and who it’s for.

What is a Brand? It’s the image your customers and competitors recognise as the identity of your business; before connecting with the products or services you offer. Some say a Brand is the most valuable asset of the business.

What is Awareness? The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines awareness as knowing something; knowing something exists and is important.¹

What is a target audience? A target audience is the customers you want to sell to, connect with and provide a positive experience for so they’ll talk about your business with others.

Quick tip for creating a good brand

Choose a name that is easy to pronounce and memorable, to many businesses make the mistake of choosing a quirky name or spell a common word in a different way – not all business can be as successful as Google, keep it simple.

Why is brand awareness important?

The answer is likely obvious, nevertheless I want to cover everything you need to know to get started. Whether you’re looking to start a side hustle, already have a small business and ready to expand or maybe you’ve just landed your first marketing role in a large corporate firm. Wherever you are on your journey, keep reading.

The more people who know about your brand, the better chance you have that your business will survive and grow. By investing time in developing a brand awareness strategy, you create more opportunities to connect with your target audience.

Let’s take a moment to think about what you immediately think and feel when you hear:

• Nike
• Apple
• Macca’s

Now, whether you like or even buy from any of these brands doesn’t matter, the important thing here is, there is a high chance know them and what they sell, thus demonstrating the importance of brand awareness.

If you would like help crafting the right words to use in your brand awareness program or help to develop your brand awareness strategy, contact me at DKs Content & Copywriting.

1. https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/awareness

It may have slowed things down. Given us a moment or two to think about what’s important. It has less of us driving our cars into the office, more of us walking outside and exploring areas closer to home – because hey COVID has taken the planes out of the sky too.

It’s reduced the smog in the city air. It’s unveiled India’s view of the stunning Himalayan Mountains. And you know what else COVID has done?

It’s reduced the number of ships on the sea allowing us, who live on the Eastern Coastline of Australia, to be witness to more whales gliding past our shores, closer than ever…

Are you smiling now as the words from the last news broadcast vacates your mind?

And you realise that it is important we not focus our attention on just one side of the changes COVID has forced upon us..

As they say, “time is the only thing we can’t buy more of. And is the one thing we can never get back”. .

And with that I urge you all to take these moments, we may never of had if COVID wasn’t unleashed.

Look around and observe the way your mind reacts to seeing something it’s never seen before.

Be amazed by the reactions of others transforming their thinking so rapidly their businesses are not only thriving, but many are directly helping others to gracefully adapt to a new way of life. Like that Aussie dad transforming his printing business into a cardboard desk company.

Listen. A new type of thinking – interacting – living is here and there’s nothing we can do about it, but RIDE THE WAVE.

• With the grace and courage of The Duke.
• Drawing inspiration from playful dolphins at sunset.
• And with the fierce determination of a shark feeding in a school of frantic tuna….

Make the most of it ❤️✌️

Here’s 3 quick tips to get you started.

You may have found your way to these 3 quick tips from reading my 5 Food Waste Facts article, and you already know that households are the biggest producers of food waste, so let’s get straight into these food waste reduction quick tips.

Getting back to the old ways

Have you ever talked with your grandparents about how they use to do things back in the day. Some of the stories mine have told me seem so hard and time consuming, though others, especially about how they prepared and cooked their food, seem to be making a comeback.

While many chefs promoting these old school methods may first be motivated, to revive the old ways as a new trend, to save on operational costs for their business. The secondary reason that we can all learn and benefit from, is the reduction of food waste going into landfill.

Easy tip 1

The ‘Nose to Tail’ philosophy of using ever part of the animal when you cook. Now of course we’re not all chefs buying whole pigs and cows to cook up for our family, however we can take this idea and use it in our homes.

Here’s an example of what I mean. My husband and I looooove duck and we’re lucky enough to live just down the street from a small family-owned BBQ duck place that sells the perfect Peking Duck.

When we first discovered our new duck place we would buy it, pull the meat, and enjoy one meal, usually a Red Duck Curry with Pineapple or Duck pancakes. But now, since I’ve been looking into reducing the food waste we produce, we buy the duck, pull the meat and enjoy our meal – then we put the full carcass, bones, neck, left over meat, we couldn’t detach, into the slow cooker, add water, herbs and spices and make a delicious broth. We then used again another day as either a soup base or break it up into individual stock cubes that we freeze in ice trays, to enhance the flavour of other dishes.

Bone broth is one of the things our grandparents, well at least mine, did as a normal part of life for a few reasons, to maximise flavour today and tomorrow resulting in cost savings but also for health benefits. According to a BBC good food article there are 5 top health benefits we can get from bone broth such as a way to increase collogen, digestion and gut health, and to support immunity function¹.

To close the loop, we put what’s left into a certified compost bag, and because our apartment building doesn’t have FOGO bins, we found one close by to use.

Easy tip 2: Make your own vegetable stock.

What do you do with the ends of your tomatoes and onions, the skin you peal off your potatoes and carrots or even the left-over parts of a pressed garlic clove? You may be lucky enough to live in a council area which provides you with FOGO (food organics and garden organics) bins and they go straight in there to be repurposed.

Even if you do have a FOGO bin, my second tip is to use the same nose to tail concept and collect your veggie off cuts and peels for the week, in a container kept in the fridge to then simmer up in water with herbs and spices to make vegetable stock. Once cooled you can freeze the liquid in ice cube trays to use whenever you need.

Easy tip 3: Start composting.

If you live in an apartment with no backyard and your building doesn’t have FOGO bins like us, don’t worry, you can still start composting your food waste.

As you might have read in my 5 Food Waste Facts article, in Australia there is a fabulous group of people, at the compost revolution², working with thirty-five councils across the country to provide equipment and education, for households to reduce their food waste. As a bonus, if your council is collaborating with these guys, you’ll get up to an 80% discount on the products you buy².

Finding this site was how I started reducing the food waste we produced with a worm compost. Before then, I didn’t think I had choices, and I was frustrated and felt powerless to reduce the food waste we produced going into landfill – but I was wrong. And now we not only reduce the food we put in our kitchen bin, by feeding the worms our vegetable scraps, after we’ve made stock. We now have beautiful rich natural fertiliser to put on our pot plants and families garden beds.

1. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/health/nutrition/health-benefits-of-bone-broth
2. https://compostrevolution.com.au/

Let’s start with the first fact I learnt that changed my life. To do this I need to take you to a little weekend away my husband and I had in our campervan. We’ve driven to one of our favourite spots, spent the day on the water kayaking and SUPing, working up an appetite.

As the sun goes down, the BBQ is on, I’m prepping sides in our little van kitchen as my husband sets up the projector to watch a documentary. I really wish I could remember the name of the doco so I could share with you because it was the source of how I discovered the first food waste fact I’m sharing with you today.

Food Waste Fact 1

A head of lettuce takes 25 years to break down in landfill and during the process creates toxic methane.

Did you ever stop to think that fruit and vegetable scraps in landfill could do so much damage? I certainly didn’t.

When I was growing up, my mother like many others, taught my sisters and I not to throw rubbish out the window of the car, although, apples cores, banana peels etc was ok, because it wasn’t rubbish. A funny story about this parental teaching before I move on to share the second food waste fact.

My sister was on the bus coming home from school. She hadn’t eaten her lunch, a sandwich and didn’t want to get in trouble when she got home. So, she took it out of her lunch box, unwrapped it from the cling wrap and threw it out the school bus window. Suddenly, the bus stops, the driver yells up the bus “who just threw rubbish out the window?” My little sister, who was no more than 10 at the time stood up and said, “it wasn’t rubbish, it’s bread that the birds can eat.” The teachers didn’t share the same view, and she was suspended for a few days for throwing rubbish out the window, but at home our mother couldn’t punish her because my little sister had done exactly what she had taught us to do.

Now I’m not advocating this is necessarily the right lesson to teach our children today, however the concept that food waste should be treated differently to rubbish is now a huge global conversation.

Food Waste Fact 2

Living in high density accommodation in Australia, where not all councils are proactively providing FOGO (Food Organics and Garden Organics) bins to stop food waste going into landfill, means you have no choices – That’s not true.

My husband and I live in an apartment, with a small outside area, and our building doesn’t have FOGO bins, so I wanted to start composting as our solution to reduce the food waste we produce. My husband just so happens to be a landscaper, and he said we can’t have one due to where we live. I didn’t accept there was nothing we could do, so I went on a search and found the compost revolution website and discovered a worm farm compost solution.

A worm farm is small, they say you can keep it inside, so you don’t even need a balcony. Having one of these small compost worm farms can process up to 2 litres of food scraps per week¹.

Food Waste Fact 3

The UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2024 key messages² states that most of the world’s food waste comes from households, in fact 60% of all the worlds food waste comes from our homes.

In Australia, in 2024, most of the conversation has been about the cost-of-living crisis. The Foodbank hunger report 2024 states that 3.4 million households in Australia have run out of food in the last year³.

So, we have a situation where households are contributing to 60% of the food waste and we’re also struggling to feed ourselves! It all seems hard to believe and somewhat overwhelming to think about how us as individuals can help solve the problem. But this next fact maybe somewhere to start.

Food Waste Fact 4

Ugly fruits and vegetables – What are they and how might they be part of the solution? Imperfect looking fruit and vegetables generally rejected from the supermarkets is the ‘what’. According to a study published by Bond University 2.4 billion kgs of food never leaves the farm due to the supermarket’s unrealistic beauty standards⁴.

The ‘how’ is that by knowing about ugly fruits and vegetables, and that there are companies dedicated to making them available to you, provides another option available to help you reduce food waste. As a by-product you’ll also help our Aussie farmers with the money you spend on good fresh produce to feed your family.

Where can you find ugly fruits and vegetables in Australia?

• Farmers Picks rescues imperfect produce rejected by the supermarkets and offers boxes which are 30% cheaper than supermarkets⁵
• Good&Fugly delivering real produce to your door
• Harris Farm Markets imperfect picks a family owned and operated grocery chain.

Food Waste Fact 5

End food waste states that in Australia, through-out the entire grow, buy and sell process, food is being wasted⁶.

• 22% during production
• 17% during processing
• 3% during distribution
• 7% during wholesale & retail
• 16% from hospitality
• 3% from institutions
• 32% from households

The purpose of me sharing these food waste facts is to first make you pause and realise that everyday actions, such as buying and cooking food is contributing to environmental issues. But more so, that we can all start becoming part of the solution, instead of contributing to a dangerous cycle.

1. https://compostrevolution.com.au/products/worm-farms/the-farm-worm-farm/
2. https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/45275/Food-Waste-Index-2024-key-messages.pdf
3. https://www.foodbank.org.au/hunger-in-australia/?state=nsw-act
4. https://bond.edu.au/news/ugly-food-pretty-nice-for-budget
5. https://farmerspick.com.au/pages/about-us
6. https://endfoodwaste.com.au/about-food-waste/

Let’s start with what awareness means and why it’s important to your business.

The definition of ‘awareness’ in the Oxford dictionary is ‘knowledge or perception of a situation or fact’.

To translate this into something meaningful for business – an awareness marketing program will give your business the opportunity to set the perception of what your brand has to offer in the market place.

For example, the mission for my business DKs Content and Copywriting is to help your business become the story your target audience is living and sharing:

• • • • ‘Living’ translates into buying your product or service and
      • ‘Sharing’ translates into the cheapest marketing channel available – word of mouth. And today ‘word of mouth’ isn’t just conversations at backyard BBQs, it also means followers, likes and re-posts.

The first step for me to achieve this mission, is to teach you the value of creating an effective awareness marketing program, for your business.

Have you noticed I am using the word ‘program’ not ‘campaign’?

Here’s why:

• • A campaign is a short-term sales driven activity vs a program which is a longer tail activity, broken down into a series of communications.
    • These communications should be designed to help the market get to know who your business is, the value it has to offer and will build trust in the minds of your audience – so they believe you can deliver what they want to meet their needs.
  • A well-designed program is always on. It brings your brand front of mind to steal the attention of who want to sell your products to. And executed so your brand/product is present where your audience is playing every day.

Essentially, an awareness program is the foundation of a great marketing strategy so there is a continuous flow of traffic driven to your website.

The value of an awareness program to your brand

Just in case you missed it, I already shared the key value of a well-designed and executed awareness program will bring to your business – views, traffic and visits to your website.

These metrics indicate your brand is now part of the consideration list of your target audience.

For the Marketing Managers

If you’re a marketer who wants to translate the value of an awareness program and why you should be given budget to do so – here’s the elevator pitch:

“To drive top of funnel traffic and increase demand performance, we need to create an awareness program that is always on, automated and has a consistent flow of marketing funding.”

contact@dkscopywriting.com.au

Following on from The Value of a Brand Awareness Program, here is the framework to help you start building one.

Step 1: Be the story your target audience is living and sharing.

What do you want your business to be known for? What value will your business / product / service add to your customers lives?

Take the time to answer these questions and create your brand story. Make your story relatable, relevant and about the audience you want to reach.

Be sure to remember, your brand/product/service is the solution or enabler to ‘their’ problem/want/need – it’s not about you, it’s about them.

Step 2: Know your objectives and the dollar value each will deliver.

To measure your ROI (return on investment) with KPIs (key performance indicators). Map the anticipated actions your activity will achieve and use an engagement score card to evaluate the dollar value of these actions.

Step 3: The Design framework

Set SMART objectives for each communication / touch point in your program
I recommend an omni-channel approach with a clearly thought out execution plan to roll out your brand story, so that it makes sense no matter what stage your audience picks it up – Timing matters. A well planned roll out,  should act like bread crumbs on a path to something wonderful, leading your potential customer directly to the next logical step on their buying journey.

Turn the features of your business / product / service into customer benefit statements
Build your assets – to be visually engaging, entertaining and strategically tap into what the customer wants to achieve.

Key takeaways

Do the pre work before you start designing

Know your brand story
Know your target audience
Know your ROI formula

Musts to include in your program:

• Product features that read as customer benefit statements
• Hire a professional copywriter to bring your statements to life – this is where a copywriter performs their wordsmithing magic.
• Map your execution plan to share your story to drive the perception in market you want for your brand

contact@dkscopywriting.com.au

Here’s what having all the elements together can lead to – Consideration

Let’s start with a recap of what these elements are:

The right Channel Mix
The right ROI formula
Brand driven perception

Now, why is Consideration so important?

Consideration is what I like to call the dating stage. The asking their friends what they think of you stage. The curious stage of hope, the excitement of something new. This stage is your first metric to measure the success of your awareness program and validate that you have done what you set out to do and they, your target audience, is clicking on your ad to find out more.

It’s an indicator your target audience is starting to believe your business / product / service will improve on their already Instagram fabulous lives, today. You’ve started to inspire them, you have them daydreaming about the joy they will feel.

It’s all about your well-crafted, genuine words that have started building trust, a connection, providing certainty that your business / product / service will deliver on its promise, that what you’re offering will meet they need.

Once your business is on their consideration list, your job is already half done.

The next stage – Conversion

Each interaction your target audience has with your ads, has the opportunity to lead to dollars. Which converts to revenue. Conversions grow your sales, applications, bookings and your existing customer base.

When the time is right for them to make that decision to purchase, they will search for your brand, they will compare it with others because they already know what your business / service / product is offering. And today might be the day they buy. Why? Because when they land on your website and read the words on their screen, replicating the promise you have made to meet their need – conversions happen.

Key takeaways

The consideration list is your first metric to help measure the success of your Awareness Program
It’s the dating stage, first impression count

Let’s work together to design your effective Awareness Program. Email me at dks.copywriting@gmail.com

Don’t miss out on the last day of awareness week. Follow me @dks.copywriting in Facebook and Instagram.

It may have slowed things down. Given us a moment or two to think about what’s important. It has less of us driving our cars into the office, more of us walking outside and exploring areas closer to home – because hey COVID has taken the planes out of the sky too.

It’s reduced the smog in the city air. It’s unveiled India’s view of the stunning Himalayan Mountains. And you know what else COVID has done?

It’s reduced the number of ships on the sea allowing us, who live on the Eastern Coastline of Australia, to be witness to more whales gliding past our shores, closer than ever…

Are you smiling now as the words from the last news broadcast vacates your mind?

And you realise that it is important we not focus our attention on just one side of the changes COVID has forced upon us..

As they say, “time is the only thing we can’t buy more of. And is the one thing we can never get back”. .

And with that I urge you all to take these moments, we may never of had if COVID wasn’t unleashed.

Look around and observe the way your mind reacts to seeing something it’s never seen before.

Be amazed by the reactions of others transforming their thinking so rapidly their businesses are not only thriving, but many are directly helping others to gracefully adapt to a new way of life. Like that Aussie dad transforming his printing business into a cardboard desk company.

Listen. A new type of thinking – interacting – living is here and there’s nothing we can do about it, but RIDE THE WAVE.

• With the grace and courage of The Duke.
• Drawing inspiration from playful dolphins at sunset.
• And with the fierce determination of a shark feeding in a school of frantic tuna….

Make the most of it ❤️✌️

The decision to purchase

So, you have the attention of your target audience, they are on your website, or in your store. Now, they have made their first purchase, they “converted”. At this moment you have an existing customer base.

Take a look at my article on How to grow your business from withinfor tips on how existing customers can be a low-cost acquisition channel, when you deliver the value you promised them.

Back to Conversion………..the result of all your marketing activity are working well together.

For every completed application form, completed booking, completed sale, all goes towards your bottom line. And we now have the last step in the ROI framework.

Recap moment

The 3 step ROI framework

1. Awareness leads to Consideration which the indicator of your brand penetration in the market
2. Consideration drives Conversion
3. Conversions equals sales and revenue

In my How to Measure ROI you read tips on way to measure your return from each stage of the framework.

Now what?

Read How to grow your business from within.

Follow me @dks.copywriting on Instagram and Facebook there will be tips on engagement and retention programs up soon.

Attention ocean lovers and underwater adventurers – Here’s one for the bucket list.

Now picture yourself, wind flowing through your hair, coasting across the turquoise coloured ocean. As you look in towards the shoreline you see the breathtaking backdrop of bright green volcano hills behind the little sea-side towns of Honolulu.

The boat starts to slow down a few hundred meters from shore and floats above a huge underwater crater…….you’re here. You feel a little flutter of excitement in your belly knowing you’ll soon be cruising down underwater on a chic canary yellow scooter.

You jump from the boat into the warm Hawaiian water, wiggle your head into your glass, air filled helmet and get yourself comfortable on the little scooter seat.

You close your fingers around the throttle of your right handle bar and start gliding down below the surface of the water, into the crater filled with hundreds of beautiful coloured fish, all fighting for the crumbs of bread in the little mesh bag attached to the front of the scooter.

After a minute or two, you slowly take your fingers off the throttle and you sit there, breathing underwater on your little yellow scooter and you just look around, staring at all the silent beauty swimming around you.

Now it’s time to start planning your underwater scooter adventure and be ready for when the lockdowns to be lifted and we can travel again.

If you want to do what I did, when I planned my trip, book online with Island Water Sports before you get to Hawaii this will guarantee you get a spot on the day you want.

You don’t have to though, there are so many little tour booking kiosks in Waikiki. Be a little aware of some of the vendors on the main street though. If I’m booking tours in town, I always go back to the same beautiful lady, Lee, from this little place up Seaside Ave.

I did the underwater scooter tour on my second time to Hawaii – I’m so in love with the island life, I’ve been there three times in the past four years. While we’re all at home dreaming of where we’ll go when the travel bans are lifted, come on a virtual adventure through my travel stories. You never know, it might just be the inspiration you’ve been looking for.

Follow me @dks.copywriting on Instagram and Facebook