How do Digital Credentials Help Increase Brand Awareness?: A 2023 Guide

Brand awareness sets institutions apart from each other. Organizations try to adopt every possible good practice to improve their brand visibility and online presence. But this does not seal the deal if the effective ones get left behind.
Any organization that solely focuses on traditional modes to drive engagement, awareness, and traffic, can struggle to get visibility among its competitors. With the rise in the use of digital media and digital platforms, the competition has become more complex and the need to stay relevant remains constant.
The latest foolproof method to enhance brand engagement and awareness is collaborating with digital credentialing platforms. Issuing digital certificates and digital badges has proved to be one of the most effective tools to promote your brand, market and create awareness of the brand’s presence. Many financial, educational, and government organizations have invested in verifiable credentials to support brand promotion.

Let’s start the discussion with:

What is Brand Awareness?

Brand Awareness - it’s a self-explanatory term. In simple words, it’s about making people aware of a brand, its service/product, excellence, advantages, and how it solves problems. It’s a marketing jargon that is similar to brand promotion.
By promoting a brand, marketers make people aware of the presence of a company. The awareness program entails advertising the brand in a positive light. The higher positive perceptions, the more likely the brand will perform great.

A solid awareness session can instantly increase sales.

It’s a common scenario that consumers lean on a brand/product that they are aware of. Thus, if a situation occurs when a potential customer needs assistance with a product/service that you deliver, he/she will likely choose you over the competitors if the consumer is familiar with you.
As online brand promotion is the primary technique to reach a wider client base, investing in an online mode of brand awareness is critical.
The online awareness program might look different for each sector. Edtech, finance, and government agencies rely on digital credentials to reach their awareness goals.

What are digital credentials?

When a discussion on a new-age marketing platform or tool is ongoing, it’s best to be aware of its definition or what it is. So here it is:
Digital credentials which include Digital certificates and digital badges are high-stake and low-stake credentials respectively. These are portable documents that verify the legitimacy of the person’s competency in the skills, qualifications, or progress achieved.
Digital credentials can be shared on all digital platforms like websites, social networking sites, or via email. They are secured by bank-level encryption that resolves any security or data manipulation issue and is backed by metadata that makes the verification easy and traceable.

Time to jump into the best 5 tips for brand awareness:

Digital Credentials

Many organizations and institutions aid digital credentials for creating brand awareness and brand visibility. Let’s see how digital credential creates awareness on each digital platform:

Social Media

When a person is rewarded with digital credentials, they can share the achievement within their social circle, social media channels, and professional websites. For example, a person is rewarded with a digital credential for completing a project. That person then proceeds to post it on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or some other social media channels. As the post draws traction and gains visitors, the brand gains visibility on each platform. The display of credentials will also create a sense of curiosity among people. Thus, it leads to brand awareness.

Website Traffic

One of the major factors of digital credentials is their portability and shareability. When a person shares their credentials by embedding them on the profile or via links, they get directed to the organization page, driving traffic towards the site and creating brand visibility and awareness.

Email

Email marketing is the most effective form of online marketing. Promoting and advertising the digital credential issued via emails to potential members will help gain new applicants as people are attracted to credentials that support their career development.
The growth of the Digital credential program could also be analyzed with the help of different analytical tools that will help the organization track the website traffic, performance, and engagement.
To make the digital credential program more meaningful, one can also consider the structure of the program based on competency of the skills, earning criteria of the reward, standardization of the credential, and endorsements.

Shareable Content

Content sells. It’s an undeniable fact that organizations have already accepted.
Creating valuable content that offers insights into the market/industry can be your key to unlocking the door of brand awareness.
Create content that people engage with. Create content that tells a story.
Blogs, social media posts, YouTube videos, or email campaigns are some of the best practices to keep your potential customers engaged with your brand.
Don’t only stick to your field. You can also create content on topics that discuss pain points of similar markets or product/service faces and how to solve them.
It’s best to avoid transactional content and focus on value-added content.

Freebie

It’s one of the oldest marketing techniques that is relevant to this day. We all love freebies.
If you offer something without charging a penny, discuss it. Let people know about it.
There is nothing better than increasing brand engagement without investing in a lump sum.

Referral Programs

Customers love to spread kind words about a business that offers them some perks. A smart referral program can entirely shift the competition for your good.
Arrange a referral offer that increases sign-ups on your website.

Tell A Story

Remember how we used to nag our grandparents, parents, and relatives for stories? Guess what? Storytelling is relevant to this day.
We still love stories. And love brands that tell stories.
So tell a story that intrigues customers to be your loyal clients.
The more people enjoy your stories, the more people will engage with your brand. It’s a smart technique to improve brand awareness free of charge.

A Case Study

Let’s check the popular case study by IBM on how they have driven employee engagement by offering verifiable badges:
When the global workforce is struggling due to talent shortage, IBM has addressed the issue by offering digital badges. The organization promised open badges to employees who invested in up-skilling. The badges track employee development at the nano level and enable HRs to make the right decision during hiring drives.
On-time delivery of trackable trust badges plays significant roles in competence measurement and improved operation growth.
Collaboration with a credible credential management platform can offer similar benefits that otherwise would have cost an arm and a leg.

Be A Pro Brand Promoter

Brand awareness is a non-negotiable program that every business regardless of its size must invest in.
For educational, training, and financial institutions, digital credentials prove the best. Verifiable certificates work as ‘kill two birds with one stone’.
The certificates protect business details from forgery while also promoting the brand/organization using the white labeling solution.
Digital credentials not only help the user to get the benefit of career development but also help the organization to create brand awareness and gain brand visibility. It can be the most effective marketing tool for any organization that is not shy of adopting a digital credentialing program.
CertifyMe is an ideal choice for educational and training institutes. From brand awareness to credential security, the credentialing platform takes care of all.

Check the demo for a solid grasp of the way the tool functions!