As an individual living in the UAE, or who frequents the place often, which airline comes to mind when you want to travel? Why?
Whatever answer you have is your perception of that brand and that is how brand awareness works.
It is not a day’s work. Building brand awareness requires years of advertising, strategic marketing, and consistently delivering top-notch services. That is why when their clients think of their product, all they can think of is the innovation, comfort, and other perks that come with their product. In the case of Emirates Airlines, they maintain a high level of brand awareness that makes their client think of reliability and comfort when their logo pops up. This makes them an industry leader in terms of preference and perception.
In a market as wide as UAE’s, with hundreds of businesses offering the same service as you, maintaining a strategic brand positioning is the best way to remain relevant in business. You need to conduct brand awareness surveys and research a lot of studies to understand customer dynamics, or else you lose competitive advantage.
What is Brand Awareness Research?
Brand awareness research is how you build your business identity, credibility, and define customer relationships. Its major focus revolves around returning customers being able to recognize a specific brand – yours, amongst hundreds of other brands. This recognition is the backbone of a successful marketing strategy and drives customer loyalty and growth.
Importance of Brand Awareness Research in the UAE
The importance of brand awareness research cannot be understated. As a business owner, it can help you assess how effectively your business is resonating with its target audience. By better understanding your brand’s awareness, you will be able to measure the key performance indicators of your campaign and know where to improve subsequent campaigns.
Also, in a rapidly evolving market like the UAE, where consumers are exposed to a variety of brands, understanding where your brand stand is crucial for maintaining a competitive edge.
How Brand Awareness Surveys Contribute to Growth in the UAE
Generally, surveys are used to collect direct feedback from users. Brand awareness surveys are used to collect reviews from customers who have patronized a particular brand about their perception of that brand. The following are ways it helps businesses;
1. Identify gaps: it helps to highlight where brand visibility is low.
2. Understanding consumer preference: to gain insights into what attracts customers the most
3. It aids improvement and innovation through optimizing marketing efforts.
Key Components of a Brand Awareness Study
A justified brand awareness study does not form from the heavens. It includes testing how easily consumers can remember your brand (brand recall), consumer perception – understanding the emotions, stories, and values related to your competitors, and evaluating how well consumers can identify your brand.
Brand Positioning Research in the UAE
This is all about how a brand is positioned in the market against its opponents. The goal of brand positioning research is to create a distinct image that strikes a nerve when consumers come across it in a crowded marketplace.
Brand positioning research delves into how a brand is positioned in the market relative to its competitors. The goal is to create a distinct image that resonates with consumers and stands out in a congested marketplace.
A properly structured brand positioning in the UAE ensures your brand not only aligns with consumer and cultural expectations but also captures attention.
Image 1: the graph below shows the relationship between customer feedback and its effect on business improvement over nine years.
Conducting Brand Positioning Research
Below are some tips to conducting a successful brand positioning research strategy
● Understand your frame of preference
The first thing to do when conducting a successful brand positioning research strategy is to meet the specific consumer goals as that is the primary goal of the business. A frame of reference helps to generate a better understanding of your customers and what they need.
● Understand your current brand perception
This is a way of enhancing your brand’s image. It provides you with adequate information from monitoring online reviews on platforms and gives you insights into how customers view your brand.
Tracking who liked your business post, the number of positive and negative reviews, and so on are pointers to understanding your current brand perception.
● Conduct market research and competitor analysis
Market research and competitor analysis are two different components. According to the Small Business Association, market research finds customers for your business while competitive analysis makes your business unique. A perfect blend of both gives your business a competitive advantage regardless of how crowded or congested the market is.
● Create a brand positioning map
A brand positioning map is a diagram or map that allows you to compare your competitor’s product and identify how to leverage it in the marketplace. Based on what is important to the customers, this map plots two major benefits of a product on each axes of a graph.
This helps you to brainstorm how your product can better the competitor’s and also lays the foundation for your value proposition.
● Choose your brand position
After designing how you want to better your competitor, the next thing is to write a brand positioning statement. This statement defines your target audience, highlights your unique differentiation, and demonstrates your value proposition. A brand position is like a north star in the universe of your competition.
● Communicate your brand’s position
This is the last stage of conducting a successful brand positioning research strategy. Here, you deploy empathy and cultivate an emotional connection to tell people a compelling story.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is market research and competitive analysis the same?
No. Both terms are not the same. They perform different functions. Market research is a way of finding customers for your business while competitive analysis grants your business uniqueness.
Why is brand awareness research important in the UAE?
UAE is a competitive market. Hence, Brand Awareness Research is important for maintaining customer loyalty and staying ahead of competitors.