Building brand awareness is essential for any company looking to lead its category and gain market influence.
Whether you’re a startup or scale-up, consistent PR and strategic communications are key for getting your message out there and becoming a brand people associate with your space. Think Netflix for streaming, or Darktrace for AI-powered cybersecurity.
What is Share of Voice and why does it matter?
Share of Voice (SOV) is a core metric for brand visibility. It shows how often your brand is mentioned compared to competitors and how visible your key messages are across different channels.
But measuring SOV is only the beginning. The real challenge for marketers and communicators is knowing how to grow it.
How a content strategy increases Share of Voice
Earned and social media do not operate in a vacuum. And this is one of the most important things that any brand seeking to boost its SOV must remember. Whether a journalist reviewing a pitch or a user consuming content on their feed, its relevance will determine whether they want to engage and share it with their audiences. Start by understanding what trends and topics your audience is engaging with online and explore how you can credibly tap into those conversations.
Why regular news keeps brands visible
How often do you reread a book or an article? I’d wager you are not doing it regularly. Similarly, your audience needs new reasons to engage with your brand, so never overlook an opportunity to tell them good news. Product launches, customer wins, and executive hires are all opportunities to stay visible and relevant.
How expanding beyond traditional media grows reach
When it comes to earned media, all brands are fighting to feature in a finite pool of publications. And unless you’re Google or Meta, the same tech journalists are unlikely to cover you every week. Consider where else your audience is consuming content. Are they reading sector publications? Are they consuming influencers’ content? Are they engaging with your partners’ channels? Don’t miss opportunities to extend the reach of your brand and engage your audience by focusing your comms too narrowly.
How repurposing content maximises Share of Voice
Don’t treat content like a one-trick pony. When you have something to say, be savvy about the different ways you can take it out to market. Reactive comments are a great way of driving up SOV in news-heavy industries, such as in cybersecurity, where data breaches occur almost daily. Quick responders can secure multiple hits, while key messages can then be repurposed on social media as quote cards or threads. Similarly, notes from an interview can inform a byline, or with the right news hook, a pitch could be repurposed as a Letter to the Editor.
Why consistency is essential for sustained Share of Voice
This comes back to Jim Collins’ analogy of a flywheel: when you start pushing a heavy wheel, it inches forward, and each push requires a great deal of force. But if you keep pushing, the wheel itself starts to gain a momentum of its own. This applies to building SOV too; building brand awareness and recognition takes persistence.
This is particularly true given SOV will rarely be consistent quarter on quarter – after all, nothing is stopping your competitors from throwing everything at it one month and disrupting otherwise consistent results. Only with consistent measurement will you understand if this is an anomaly or ceded ground, and what it will take to reclaim it.
Want to start building momentum to boost your SOV?
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