What's Brand Recognition?

Brand recognition is the ability of consumers to identify your company, product, or service by its name, logo, tagline, and/or design style.

As an entrepreneur, it’s vital that you establish a positive brand image for your business.

This will help you develop brand recognition and draw in new customers. It’s important to note that your logo, tagline and design style are not the only factors in promoting brand recognition.

You can also use color psychology to subconsciously enhance your audience's perception of your business.

Certain colors have been shown to increase trust, such as blue, while others like red tend to be more energizing. By consistently using fonts associated with trustworthiness and friendliness — like serif or sans-serif — you can better convey feelings of stability and warmth to attract customers.

Brand recognition is vital to selling products and services, as it helps customers choose your brand over competitors.

Brand recognition is more than just brand awareness - it's about your customer being able to recall a strong memory about your brand.

There is a tendency to confuse brand recognition with brand awareness.

Brand awareness describes a customer's knowledge of your company, its products and services, and how you communicate with your audience.

Brand recognition goes one step further to express familiarity with what your audience feels about your company, often as a result of strong personal feelings or experiences with the brand.

Your customers can have brand awareness without having brand recognition, but they cannot have brand recognition without first having brand awareness.

Brand awareness is easy enough to measure (through surveys, for example), while the measurement of brand recognition is much more difficult. Even so, if you know that people have strong feelings about your business because they have so many positive things to say about it—even if they don't mention the specific name of your company—you can safely assume that you've achieved the ultimate goal: high levels of both brand awareness and recognition!

Strong brand recognition makes you a "go-to" business in your industry.

Think of it this way: If you were in need of a plumber, and two named Phil were available in your area, who would you be more likely to call? One with the the green van with the cartoon wrench on it, or one with a vehicle so generic you can't even remember what color it was? Your answer is probably Phil with the green van.

A strong brand identity helps make you the "go-to" business in your industry.

Think about Nike, Starbucks and Apple. When you're looking for shoes or coffee or a cellphone, they're often top choices because they have great brand recognition.

They have a powerful image that's recognized by people around the world—and that sets them apart from competitors.

Boosting brand recognition can help you build customer loyalty and improve customer retention.

Think about some of the biggest brands in the world.

What comes to mind?

• Apple's iconic logo and signature "think different" ad campaign
• Coca-Cola's polar bears and red-and-white color scheme
• Nike's slogan, "Just Do It"

It might seem like these businesses are doing well because of their branding: their logos, slogans, and overall image. But for any company that has successfully established itself as a household name, brand recognition is more than just a logo—it's a feeling. And it isn't something you get overnight.

Building brand recognition can take years… or even decades.

When customers see your brand name and logo frequently, they start to associate them with their needs and wants.

All of these actions add up to a relationship between your brand and the customer—when they need it, they'll think of you first. This is why brand recognition is the first step toward building loyalty.

Recognition is also a key part of the marketing funnel.

To sell your product or service, people need to know who you are. Once you've built up enough recognition, people will start choosing your business over competitors' businesses because it's familiar to them.