Someone asked us recently:
“I know I should start with things like Google Ads because they can convert quickly, but when should I start spending on brand awareness?”
The question made sense. They were thinking about marketing in fairly traditional top-of-funnel and bottom-of-funnel terms. Google Ads to capture people ready to buy now, then brand awareness later once there was more budget for things like billboards and broader campaigns.
Our answer was: you should be building the brand from the beginning.
You just do not need to start with a billboard.
A lot of the earliest brand-building work is relatively simple, reasonably affordable or something the business needs to have anyway.
Your website.
Your Google Business Profile and Maps presence.
Your social profiles.
Your organic content.
Your signage.
Your photography & videography.
Your reviews.
Your business cards, proposals, uniforms, vehicles and the way the business actually presents itself when someone encounters it.
Every one of those things is building recognition and shaping what people think about the business.
Someone might drive past your sign, see one of your posts a month later, find you on Google six months after that and finally make an enquiry.
There was never a neat moment where performance marketing stopped and brand awareness began.
They were getting to know the business the whole time.
So when do you spend more to build awareness?
Once the foundations are doing their job, we can start asking how much further we want to amplify them.
That might mean broader paid social, sponsorships, PR, outdoor advertising, radio, television or other channels designed to put the business in front of more people before they are actively searching for it.
But there is little value in spending heavily to introduce thousands of people to a business whose website is confusing, Google listing is incomplete, brand is inconsistent or customer experience is not ready for the attention.
Get the basics right first.
Then use the marketing budget the business can responsibly support to reach further.
As the business grows, that budget can grow too. And when it does, you are not suddenly beginning to build a brand.
You are amplifying one that has been building all along.
