If you’re aiming to build a recognisable brand, relying solely on SEO won’t cut it.
Yes, SEO is an undeniably powerful and effective tool for driving brand awareness (and as a digital marketing agency that specialises in helping businesses achieve exactly that, we appreciate its value!).
However, it’s just one part of a bigger picture when it comes to brand awareness.
To truly make your mark, you need a broader strategy that goes beyond building search rankings and measuring keywords.
That doesn’t mean that SEO is dead, by the way. We’ve written about that here.
Looking beyond SEO: other ways to boost brand awareness
To get your name in front of as many people as possible, it’s essential to explore a combination of digital and more traditional marketing channels.
These complementary tactics can significantly amplify your reach and strengthen your presence across multiple touchpoints.
Some effective ways to improve brand awareness include:
- Social media campaigns – Increase visibility across various platforms where your target audience spends their time.
- Content creation – Valuable, relevant, and engaging content positions your brand as an authority in your industry.
- Influencer collaborations – Leverage credible voices to expand your reach to their already established and trusted audience.
- Commercial agreements (including stadium naming rights and event sponsorships) – Align your brand with places, companies, and events that resonate with your audience.
- Offering free resources – The provision of tools, guides, or insights that give real value can generate trust and drive organic sharing through word-of-mouth marketing.
- Paid advertising routes – Targeted ads, such as Pay-Per-Click (PPC), can help get your products and services in front of the right people quickly.
Why it works
Building brand awareness isn’t just about being found.
While it’s true that SEO does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to organically increasing your online visibility, brand awareness also depends on being remembered.
And a multi-channel approach to marketing keeps your name at the forefront of their mind.
Here’s why this approach to brand awareness strategy delivers real results:
Multiple touchpoints ensure better recall
It’s well established, from neuroscience research to classic marketing principles like the ‘Rule of 7’, people need to encounter a brand multiple times before they take action.
The more frequently and consistently your brand appears across different platforms, the more likely it is to stick in someone’s mind.
Whether it’s a social media post, an influencer endorsement, or a sponsored banner at a local event, each interaction plays a crucial role in reinforcing brand recognition and building trust.
Your audience isn’t all in one place
While Google is undoubtedly an incredibly popular platform, it’s certainly not the only place your audience is looking to find new information.
Some users are more likely to be found attending events, reading blogs, or scrolling social feeds – so your brand should be there, too!
By limiting your brand presence to just one channel, you’re missing out on a huge portion of your target audience.
Brand personality isn’t created by SEO
SEO can get you traffic, but the real goal with any online marketing activity is to drive measurable results – typically in the form of engagement, purchases, and increased customer loyalty – and that comes from building an emotional connection with your potential customers.
This is where other brand-building methods come into play.
With social media campaigns, influencer collaborations, and engaging content (whether a video, article, or infographic), you can create a compelling brand personality that ensures your business stands out even in the most crowded markets.
Building blocks for credibility and authority
Every business wants to be seen as credible.
However, credibility can’t just be claimed, it must be earned through consistent visibility and trust-building efforts. While testimonials and accreditations help, they’re only part of the equation.
When a brand is featured across multiple relevant platforms, it sends a powerful signal that your brand is reputable and trustworthy.
In turn, this boosts your perceived credibility and positions you as an expert in your field.
Multi-channel marketing amplifies performance
These strategies don’t just deliver independent results; they amplify one another.
A well-executed campaign on one platform can significantly boost performance on another.
For example, a strong social presence or influencer endorsement can increase branded search, while high-quality content can earn valuable backlinks that improve SEO results.
Case Study: Hill Dickinson & Everton Football Club's Stadium
As announced by the BBC, the Liverpool-based law firm, Hill Dickinson, secured the naming rights for Everton Football Club’s new stadium in May 2025.
A type of commercial agreement, obtaining naming rights can provide impressive brand exposure and visibility results, helping to drive brand awareness and reputability.
And this landmark sponsorship deal between “The Toffees” and the international commercial law firm was one of the largest naming rights deals in Europe.
But did this rather pricey purchase (reportedly worth up to £10 million a year, per Non-Billable!) actually move the needle for Hill Dickinson’s site performance? The data says yes.
Since Everton’s first Premier League home game at the newly named stadium, there’s been an undeniable upturn in both traffic and online visibility (all metrics have been obtained through SemRush):
- Spike in website traffic: The law firm’s website received 22.2K new visits – a whopping 119%+ increase
- Rise in traffic value: With $23K total traffic value, this is an increase of $11.1K – this means if Hill Dickinson were to pay for this organic traffic via PPC, it would cost over $23K/month
- Increase in branded searches: Average monthly searches for ‘Hill Dickinson’ increased by a massive 21,707
- Healthy click-through rate (CTR): CTR of 0.54 for the search query ‘Hill Dickinson’ shows that more than half of users are clicking through to the site
As reported by Insider Media, Fiona Parry, a partner and head of the firm’s business services group, also divulged some of the benefits they’ve seen from this partnership:
“We’re seeing a lot of people approaching us, including lateral hires and more junior lawyers, and we’re getting good enquiries from clients who we’ve never acted for before.
“At the same time, clients we do work with are coming to us for different services that they didn’t realise we offered.”
With only one backlink from Everton’s website (a simple linked logo in the footer), Hill Dickinson’s SEO gains clearly stem from branded search growth and increased visibility, not traditional link-building or technical improvements.
For this marketing-savvy law firm, the naming rights deal has certainly proven to be a smart brand awareness investment.
Explore SEO and so much more with Aqueous
Just because we’re specialists in SEO, that doesn’t mean our expertise ends there.
Quite the opposite – we can support with PPC campaigns, social media posts, and even put you in touch with a trusted video production agency.
Whether you know exactly which digital marketing services you’re interested in or are open to our suggestions, we want to hear from you.
Give our friendly team a call today on 0800 285 1424 or head online to book an intro call.
