In the days of the old west, cattle were branded with a red hot piece of iron to let other ranchers know which cattle belonged to which ranch. A seasoned rancher could, at a glance, read the brand.
We have now become more sophisticated, and less excited about brand awareness, but it is still important. If a customer sees your meme/logo, and hears your product name 7 times, they are more likely to buy.
However, this is just a door opener. Your ads MUST seek action NOW. If you are trying to build brand awareness, it doesn't always translate into sales.
A good example and a bad example. Coca Cola used to produce magical ads, in days gone by. "Have a Coke and a smile" is an example of a great tagline. You instantly associate drinking a Coke with smiling. Since everyone wants to smile, everyone should want to buy a Coke.
However, they have now started to try to advertise to idiots with their "Coke Zero" ads. These advertisements use two bumbling idiots, that are supposed to be brand managers that are so stupid that they can't tell the difference between Coke and Coke Zero. What is the message? Coke is for idiots.
When you create an ad, do a mockup, and ask ten people, "What does this mean to you?" If their answer doesn't involve some method of "I want to buy that...NOW!" then it's not a good ad.
You want to create urgency, value, and a solution within each ad, so that the buyer will want to buy now, and buy your product.
Do not ask an employee (that is dependent upon their livelihood on not upsetting you) to give you an objective opinion. Instead, ask random people their opinion, and make it simple to do so.
"Just doing a marketing test...what does this ad say to you?"
Keep it simple, make it fun, and make it imperative that they buy now, and your ad will be successful. (Track it, and make sure that it pulls results.)
