Why Some Brands Stick in Your Head (And Others Don’t)

The worst time to introduce yourself is when everyone’s asking for a quote.

By the time a potential customer starts looking for a business like yours, there’s a good chance they’ve already got a few names in mind.

Perhaps they’ve seen a competitor’s advertising, heard someone recommend them or stumbled across something useful they shared six months ago.

Whatever the reason, those businesses have a head start. Not necessarily because they’re better, cheaper or more experienced, but because someone remembered them at exactly the right moment.

And that’s something worth thinking about.

Because there’s a world of difference between someone recognising your name and your name being the first one that pops into their head when they need what you do.

Brand awareness vs brand recall: What’s the difference?

Imagine you’re driving down the motorway and spot those famous golden arches.

You know exactly who they belong to. You know what they sell. You’ve probably already decided what you’d order.

That’s brand recognition.

Now imagine you’re three hours into a road trip, everyone’s getting hungry and someone suggests stopping for a quick bite.

What’s the first restaurant that springs to mind?

That’s brand recall.

Brand recognition is knowing a brand when you see it. Brand recall is thinking of it without needing the reminder.

Both have their place. But if growth’s the goal, brand recall deserves a little extra attention.

Because getting noticed is lovely.

Getting remembered when somebody’s got a problem you can solve? Even lovelier.

You can rack up all the website visits and LinkedIn impressions you like, but if nobody thinks of you when it matters, you’re missing the best bit.

McDonald’s and Heinz: So recognisable they don’t need a logo

Most marketing teams would have a small meltdown if you suggested removing the logo from their advertising.

McDonald’s? Couldn’t care less.

For its Iconic Stacks campaign, it put a few lists of burger ingredients on billboards and called it a day.

No logo. No brand name. Not even an actual burger.

Just lettuce, cheese, sauce and an outrageous amount of confidence.

And the annoying thing? You barely needed telling who it was for.

And Heinz has been at it too.

The brand has played around with advertising that doesn’t need to shout its own name from the rooftops. A familiar splash of red, a certain typeface and a few foods that practically demand a dollop of ketchup.

You get the picture.

Imagine being so recognisable that you can leave your name off an advert and people still know exactly who you are.

Of course, this sort of recognition doesn’t happen overnight. A consistent visual identity gives people familiar colours, typography and design elements to recognise wherever your business pops up.

But here’s where things get really interesting.

McDonald’s isn’t just a pair of golden arches. It’s the name that pops into your head when you’re hungry, in a hurry and fancy something familiar.

And Heinz? Well, try imagining a plate of chips without somebody reaching for the ketchup.

These brands have spent years making themselves part of everyday moments.

So they’re not just brands people recognise when they see them.

They’re brands people think of when the occasion calls for them.

Why being remembered at the right moment matters

There’s actually a name for all this marketing wizardry.

Mental availability.

Which is essentially a fancy way of saying how easily your brand pops into someone’s head when they need what you sell.

And those little moments that get people thinking about buying something? They’re called category entry points.

Think situations, problems or occasions that make someone go, “Right, I need one of those.”

For example:

• Someone takes a fresh look at the company website and thinks, “Blimey, we’ve moved on a bit since this was built.”
• The marketing director is wondering how on earth they’re going to get more enquiries through the door.
• A growing company has its eyes on a new market but isn’t quite sure how to position itself.
• A founder’s getting a little fed up with seeing the same competitors everywhere they look.

Any one of those situations could have somebody searching for a branding, website or marketing partner.

The question is whether your business gets a look-in.

Because let’s face it, most people don’t wake up every morning wondering whether today might be the day to commission a new website.

They might not need one for another three years. They might be weighing up an investment for months. Or they might be perfectly happy until something changes and suddenly the old website isn’t cutting it anymore.

Your latest LinkedIn post probably isn’t going to make them drop everything and book a discovery call.

But it might be one of the reasons they think of you when they finally need help.

And that’s a pretty good reason to keep showing up.

How to improve brand recall

Now, unless you’ve got McDonald’s marketing budget tucked away somewhere, you probably won’t be plastering the country with billboards anytime soon.

Luckily, you don’t need to.

You just need to work out which moments should make people think of your business.

1. Start with the problem, not your services

Nobody wakes up one morning and announces, “Right, today’s the day we invest in some strategic positioning.”

Well, probably not.

People are usually responding to something that’s happened. A frustration, a new opportunity or a problem that’s finally become too annoying to ignore.

So have a think about what actually sends your customers looking for help.

What are they worrying about? What’s changed? What conversations are happening behind closed doors?

Those are the moments worth getting your business associated with.

Because when somebody finally decides they need help, it’d be ideal if your name was at the top of the pile.

2. Give people something to associate you with

Being able to do a hundred different things is impressive.

Getting somebody to remember all hundred? Good luck with that.

People need something to connect your name to.

An accountancy firm might become the first port of call when a business is gearing up for growth. A property consultancy might be the name that comes up whenever someone mentions they’re running out of office space.

It’s not about pretending you only do one thing.

It’s about making sure there are a few things people know to come to you for.

And the way your business looks and sounds can help make those associations stick. A distinctive voice gives people something to recognise beyond the logo.

Otherwise, you risk becoming that business everyone’s heard of but nobody quite knows what to do with.

3. Be useful long before anyone needs you

Not every person who reads your latest LinkedIn post is about to whip out the company credit card.

Rude, we know.

Some might not need you for another two years.

But that doesn’t mean you should disappear until they’re ready to buy.

Be interesting. Share the things you’ve learned. Give people the occasional laugh and a reason to stop scrolling.

It’s also worth remembering that a strong brand isn’t built through one lovely campaign. It takes a bit of consistency, and a clear idea of what you want people to associate with you.

Give people something they’ll remember you for. A useful way of looking at a problem, an opinion that makes them think twice or a story they find themselves repeating to somebody else.

You don’t need to finish every conversation with “Fancy booking a quick call?”

Sometimes it’s quite nice to just be good company.

4. Find out what people actually remember

Fancy finding out what people really think of your business?

Go on, ask them.

Specifically, ask your customers what made your name spring to mind when they first needed help.

Was it an article? Something somebody said? A problem they’d always associated with your business?

And you might find out something rather interesting.

That shiny new service you’ve been talking about for months? Barely a mention. That thing you did years ago? Apparently everyone remembers it.

Funny how that works.

The best marketing doesn’t always pay off immediately

Apparently, marketing is supposed to work miracles by Thursday.

Launch something on Monday, generate a few leads by Tuesday, have the sales team celebrating by Wednesday.

Lovely when it happens.

But plenty of people seeing your business today aren’t buying anything anytime soon.

They’re busy. They’ve got other priorities. They’ve probably got seventeen tabs open and a meeting in four minutes.

Still, they might remember something you said.

And when their priorities change, the business that’s already made an impression has a much nicer starting position than the one desperately introducing itself for the first time.

Is your business getting remembered for the right things?

Being brilliant at what you do is a very good start.

Being remembered for it? Even better.

At Giant Peach, we help businesses turn what makes them different into something the outside world can actually see, understand and remember.

Strategy, branding, websites, marketing. All the right pieces, pulling in the same direction.

Because you’ve put an awful lot into building your business.

It’d be a shame if nobody thought of you when it mattered.

Fancy a chat?