When you think of a brand, or specifically your brand, what comes to mind? Broken down, a brand constitutes a name, tag line, logo and design, as well as many other identifiable elements which should ultimately define and be synonymous with your business. A brand, we now know, is much more than that. It is the voice, attitude, style, familiarity and feeling that people get when they think about a business or company, and it’s hugely important.

On the back of a global recession competition is stiff and just a click away at the best of times, so the more awareness there is surrounding and supporting your business the better. One of the ways that you can boost your brand is to use (or make better use of) email marketing. These days it’s an extremely affordable solution that can help keep you in the inboxes and minds of those who matter most to your company; your customers and subscribers. On average it takes 7 times for a customer to recognize your brand after first encountering it. The beauty of email marketing is that it allows to you to engage, interact and find out more about your customers long after they have left your site. In short, it helps them remember you and recognize your brand quicker.

Without further ado, let’s look at the ways that it can help your brand.

• It keeps your customers informed about what’s happening at your company; what’s trending; latest industry updates and what specials or promotions are running.

• It gives you the opportunity to let them know more about your blog, forum or website and your subscribers the opportunity to share your fabulous news and articles with their friends via email and social networks.

• Thankfully these days emails are becoming more personalized and targeted, based on customer behaviour, purchase history and geo-location, to name a few. This means your email campaigns and brand have the potential to reach the exact target audience you’re interested in.

• Loyal customers become your own personal brand ambassadors without you having to do much. Provide the best service you can, consistently and from the very beginning and your customers will spread the word about your company (and brand) for you, to their family and friends.

• It helps reinforce your brand, especially if an email welcome letter or campaign is sent soon after a customer has left your website. If they haven’t visited your site in a while, then your message will remind them about your company, what you have to offer and why they were interested in you in the first place.

So now we’ve had a quick look at how email marketing can benefit your brand awareness, let’s look at what you can include in your email campaigns to help win your customers over.

1. Don’t be shy to remind them how great your product or service is

With all the competition out there, it won’t do you any harm to blow your own horn. Remember, your customers first bought from you because they thought you were fabulous and loved what you had to offer, remind them of this and don’t give them any reason to cross over and sniff at what’s on offer from your competitors.

2. Make sure that your email campaigns have the same style, colour, font and format as your website

If a customer has visited your website but hasn't received a newsletter from you then you want them to be able to instantly recognize your brand in the email when they preview or open it.

3. Be consistent when you send your email campaigns

Whether that’s every Saturday or every third week of the month, your subscribers will come to recognize and appreciate this pattern. A welcome email sent soon after a person has signed up also gives you the opportunity to tell them more about your company and let them know the different ways that they can stay in touch with you. It creates a sense of familiarity, which is part of what you’re aiming for. It’s good practice to send a warm and friendly welcome email before you start hitting them with your regular campaigns. It’s similar to ‘courting’ in a real relationship, and really, who doesn't like to be wooed?

4. Make sure you have a standardized email template that clearly shows your company name, logo and tagline

That way, each time your customer opens your email and reads something relevant or useful, they positively associate that knowledge with you and your brand.

5. Remember to take the time to personalize each email

Rest assured your subscribers don’t like being thought of as just ‘an email address.’ By taking the time to personalize each campaign you make them feel unique, which of course they’ll like and in turn associate this feeling with your brand. It’s easy to personalize your campaigns and it’s simply a matter of changing your settings in the campaign builder stage of your message.

6. Keep your campaigns and content user friendly

You want your message, links and branding to stand out and be immediately visible, not hidden amidst cluttered copy and a busy design. If you have a lot you want to say, don’t cram it into one message; rather have a link to your website where they can find out more information if they need to.

Email marketing has been shown to deliver one of the highest ROI’s over any other e-marketing tactic and by incorporating it into your overall marketing strategy; you are effectively optimizing your company’s brand awareness, whilst at the same time building and nurturing an online relationship with your customers.