If you've been scrolling through LinkedIn lately and wondering why so many posts sound the same, you aren't alone — and apparently B2B consumers feel the same way about us.

According to the marketing firm Dentsu, 68% of buyers think B2B brands sound exactly the same. They're unable to tell one company apart from the next, which presents a huge problem. You need people to be able to tell you apart in order to survive!

This is why brand recall is so important. Ideally, when a customer is struggling with a problem that your company solves, they think of you. (In other words, they recall your brand when it matters most.) However, if folks can't tell you apart from your competitors, that's not likely to happen.

Today we'll discuss how to build and measure brand recall effectively — a concept we also refer to as Mindshare. Invest the time now to build unforgettable brand experiences so that your prospects turn into customers when they're ready to buy.

Let's go over some definitions real quick:

• Brand recall: This is the ability of a consumer to remember your brand on their own. If you sell CRM platforms and a potential customer needs one, you have strong brand recall if your brand name immediately pops into their mind as they consider that product category.
• Aided brand recall: Here, consumers can pick your brand out of a list of competitors. If a survey asks, "Which of these CRM platforms do you know?" and includes a list, and a customer selects your company name, that shows a baseline level of familiarity.
• Unaided brand recall: The gold standard of brand recall, this is when a person can name your brand without being shown a list of options. This is true top-of-mind awareness (aka Mindshare).
• Brand recognition or brand awareness: These terms are often used interchangeably with "brand recall," but they're different. Brand awareness just means that when people encounter your logo or branding, they register who you are — but it's not linked to purchase intent in the way brand recall is, so we won't focus on it here.

Unaided brand recall is the strongest predictor of purchase behavior. We want people to actively remember our names during their research! As we continue through this piece, when we refer to "brand recall," we're talking about unaided recall.

The B2B marketplace is crowded, and brand recall is an essential driver of sustainable growth. Here's why brand recall matters so much:

B2B buying cycles grow longer by the day and often involve multiple stakeholders and significant financial commitments. Research also shows that buyers are usually 70% done with their research before they ever reach out to a company. You must be on people's minds before they begin looking for solutions!

When your brand is easily recalled, people see you as credible and trustworthy. Buyers feel more confident choosing a brand they're aware of and when they do reach out to you, you're able to build on that foundation to close the deal instead of having to start from scratch.

When a brand is memorable, you're more likely to feel connected to that company. This accelerates a foundation of customer loyalty and repeat purchases — a customer thinks of you, does business with your company, has a positive experience, and the relationship continues to deepen.

When someone has a problem that needs to be solved, the first brands they'll look for are the ones they can easily think of. This reduces your reliance on paid channels and boosts the chances that customers become proactive advocates, telling their networks about you and referring others to your company.

Building brand recall requires a comprehensive brand strategy that allows prospects and customers to collect positive experiences with you. Here are six targeted marketing tactics we use and how the Goldcast platform makes them possible:

People come to trust you when you show up the same way across channels, every time. Your audience should be able to immediately recognize your content, regardless of where they see it.

This goes beyond logos and color schemes. We're talking about your messaging, brand values, tone of voice, and the way you engage with your audience overall. Every single aspect of your marketing campaigns should be cohesive and line up with your brand identity.

Modern event platforms like Goldcast allow for unparalleled branding control, meaning you can ensure that every digital touchpoint — from registration pages to virtual event stages — looks and feels like you.

Emotions drive about 90% of our decisions, and people feel positive emotions toward companies that share their values. While B2B buyers will certainly be results- and outcome-driven, they also want companies to be transparent with their pricing, reliable and supportive, and able to demonstrate ROI and measurable results.

To showcase your values, try video testimonials. When prospects see real customers of yours talking about how you've transformed their businesses, they can see how your values play out after the purchase is made. It shapes positive brand image and brand perception and creates emotional connection in a way that you talking about yourself just can't.

In the Goldcast platform alone, we saw webinars grow by 225% in the last year. Suffice it to say that events are everywhere, and audiences are swimming in options. So, once again, you must step it up to make a lasting impression.

Aim to create engaging, Netflix-esque experiences with high production value, interactive elements, and creative content that feels entertaining and educational.

A few tips inspired by the Goldcast engagement panel:

• Use live polls throughout your event and share the results in real time, sparking more conversation.
• Call out emoji reactions during a presentation so the audience knows how folks are feeling and can chime in if they agree or disagree.
• Use the lower-thirds feature to drop in helpful info or fun snippets to keep people watching.

When your event feels more like a show than a corporate Zoom call, brand recall naturally follows.

Video is the most powerful way to build brand recall right now. According to Wyzowl, 87% of people have been convinced to buy a product or service after watching a video, and 78% said that they'd prefer to watch a video to learn more about a company.

Video is effective because it fosters a human-to-human connection, giving your audience a face to connect with. This is much more memorable than someone reading a text-only blog! Short-form video in particular has a high engagement rate, and platforms like Instagram prioritize shorter content, which means more views.

We've long been proponents of video, which is why we built Goldcast with video at its core. Every video recording you create or upload — whether it's a podcast, a webinar, an interview, or something else — can be edited and repurposed into a stream of powerful content marketing assets.

PS: There's ongoing research into the best tactics to build brand recall; for example, this TikTok study showed that elements like voiceovers, CTA display cards, and custom music boosted brand recall. Be open to experimentation, and keep your eyes out for new and emerging research.

One of the hardest parts of building brand recall is getting in front of people enough times that you stick in their minds. When you've got a resource-strapped team, you can't dedicate all of your time to content creation — but with AI, content repurposing is more achievable than ever.

Using a tool like Content Lab allows you to create content just once and then amplify it across platforms. Each webinar or video recording becomes dozens of video clips for social media, blog posts for SEO plays, email campaigns, and more. Then, you distribute those assets across your platforms so people see your messaging over and over. Mission accomplished!

In the B2B world, thought leadership is a powerful driver of brand recall. When people start to look to you for valuable insights and advice, they'll also naturally think of you when they need a related solution.

For thought leadership, think beyond product features and take in the bigger picture. What does your brand stand for? What industry trends are affecting everyone — and do you have a unique take on how to address them? What are some innovative ways you're approaching things at work? These are topics that stick with people and build Mindshare without making people feel like you're hard selling them on your brand.

Bonus points if you create recurring, episodic thought leadership content like podcasts or a webinar series! People like being able to return to a show over time and catch up on new content, and the repeat exposure lends generates brand recall.

Now that you know how to create brand recall, let's talk about a few ways to measure whether your approach is working. Tracking brand-building activities can be tricky; you won't see immediate conversions or upticks, but here are some things to look at:

The best way to find out what people know is to do a little market research. Surveys can establish a baseline and track your progress over time. Ideally, you test both aided and unaided awareness so you have a true understanding of how well people remember your brand.

Sample questions for respondents might include:

• Which of these companies are you familiar with? (with an accompanying list) → aided recall
• When you think of [industry/category], what brands come to mind? → unaided recall

Remember that you want unaided recall, so if you don't see great numbers in that area, it's time to dial things up.

If a lot of people are mentioning you on social media, that's a positive indicator of brand recall. You can also look at metrics like direct traffic and branded search volume — more of either means that people are typing your name in themselves, which shows high brand recall.

Proving the ROI of brand initiatives is hard stuff. As an integrated platform, Goldcast is built to plug right in with your other platforms so that you can track everything your prospects do.

If you have full visibility into how someone found you, what events they've attended, all of their conversations with sales, and more — and then you eventually follow that engagement through to a closed-won deal, you've got a pretty clear connection between brand-building and revenue.

In this way, Goldcast closes the loop between everything you've done to generate brand recall and business growth, giving you the data you need to justify your marketing efforts.

Building B2B recall requires brand consistency and regularly creating memorable experiences for your audience. Develop your strategy and get the right content repurposing tools in place before you start, and then you'll be able to easily scale as you go.

Goldcast provides B2B marketers with everything you need to win Mindshare, achieve brand recall, and drive revenue. You'll be able to create fully branded, TV-quality events that captivate audiences. You'll also have the ability to amplify your key messages with AI-powered content repurposing that extracts your top moments within seconds.

Perhaps most importantly, you'll be able to integrate with the tools you already use and measure the true impact of your work by connecting engagement data to pipeline and ROI.

The brands that people remember are the ones that have put in the time to earn Mindshare, long before intent signals are on the scene. Ready to join their ranks? Request a demo of Goldcast today, and let us show you what it's all about!

And if you'd like to try our forever-free instance of Content Lab, we've got you covered there, too!