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by Devyani Mehta / July 7, 2025
Brand exposure is one of the most critical yet often underleveraged drivers of marketing success today.
In a data-dominated landscape, it’s easy to prioritize precision over presence. But when creativity takes a back seat, brands risk fading into the background.
Using cross-channel advertising software can help maximize visibility across platforms to ensure your message reaches audiences wherever they are.
Brand exposure is the extent to which a brand is seen by potential customers through marketing, advertising, or public presence. High brand exposure increases awareness, trust, and potential sales by repeatedly placing the brand in front of its target audience across various channels.
Once your brand strategy defines who you are and whom you’re speaking to, the next challenge is ensuring you’re consistently seen and remembered. This is where many teams lean on marketing automation tools to coordinate campaigns across channels.
Exposure may be difficult to quantify, but its impact is undeniable. It lays the foundation for brand equity, being known, trusted, and chosen, and accelerates outcomes across the board: awareness, acquisition, loyalty, and advocacy.
As artificial intelligence solutions and detailed analytics give companies access to more data, it becomes easy to allow creativity to take a back seat to more exact methods of targeting your audience and focusing on key performance indicators to fine-tune your approach. While no business would argue for eliminating creative solutions, not all robustly encourage them. Any creative brand strategy will usually include a fair amount of risk.
Companies that are reluctant to deal with the uncertainty that comes with creative solutions run their own risk of becoming dull and uninteresting to consumers. To quote Leo Burnett, “To swear off making mistakes is easy – all you have to do is swear off having ideas.”
Creativity, paired with data-backed planning, becomes a must for any brand looking to increase market awareness and gain exposure. Only by tapping into strategies that utilize art, excitement, and emotion can companies find the right formula that will push their brand into the consciousness of otherwise distracted consumers.
To start, think about the positive things your consumers are already saying about your brand. Not only can this feedback be taken into account as you continue to improve your company for your customers, but the positive things that have been said can also be used as marketing tools in future advertising campaigns.
Here are seven creative, data-backed strategies to increase brand exposure, paired with real-world examples from top-performing brands:
Content marketing is a well-known strategy for increasing brand exposure. Companies can fill their website with valuable blog posts or user-generated content that helps drive traffic. This is a very effective way to get your brand in front of people, but thinking outside the traditional company blog can propel brands even further.
Take, for instance, the swimwear company Rip Curl and its illustrious surf-centric media site The Search. Filled with impassioned writing, jaw-dropping ocean images, and cinematic video shorts, The Search perfectly encapsulates the spirit of Rip Curl without having to make any direct references to the brand name or products. The association alone enhances the brand, and it strategically targets Rip Curl’s key audience with content that is far from a sales pitch.
Of course, not all companies have the luxury of crashing ocean waves to build up their brand, but all companies should have a buyer persona in mind that they can target with their content. For over 120 years, The Furrow has been a trusted farming resource for John Deere’s tractor-buying customers – in fact, some have labeled it the world’s oldest example of content marketing.
Brands' content production has expanded beyond static and video in today's rapidly evolving digital landscape. Short-form video content on platforms like TikTok, Instagram reels, and YouTube shorts has become a dynamic tool for brands to tell their stories quickly and memorably, engaging their audiences with bite-sized, creative videos.
No matter what the makeup of a brand’s consumers, it’s nearly certain that there is some kind of content that will be valuable to them, be it a blog, podcast, LinkedIn article, or eBook. Using creative brainstorming, you can discover new and exciting ways to generate content that will entertain and engage.
Nearly 45 years ago, funk band War asked, “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” — and it remains a powerfully useful question for companies to ask when trying to gain more brand awareness. Co-branding can be an especially effective strategy for introducing a brand to an entirely new segment of consumers while creating a unique and possibly even newsworthy experience.
That’s precisely what happened when Airbnb paired with the Art Institute of Chicago to offer art fans the opportunity to spend a night in a Vincent Van Gogh painting. The partnership garnered volumes of positive press for both the room-sharing travel site and the venerable Midwestern art museum.
Brands today often collaborate with macro and micro influencers who bring authenticity and access to niche audiences. Influencer partnerships create a trusted voice for your brand and drive organic sharing, expanding exposure in ways traditional advertising cannot.
There have been some particularly creative brand partnerships in the travel industry. Sundance TV partnered with Visit Seattle to showcase personal stories set in the city, including one short film from musician and grunge icon Dave Grohl. This helped promote the city from an emotional rather than tourism-focused perspective.
In a similar fashion, NYC & Co. partnered with Nickelodeon to make the hustle and bustle city of New York more family-friendly. The campaign highlighted the new SpongeBob SquarePants Broadway show and was also advertised in other cities, with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles acting as kid-welcoming ambassadors to the Big Apple.
For a successful brand partnership to work, you don’t necessarily need to involve famous artists or Saturday morning cartoons. It’s possible to form a strategic brand partnership and come up with a shared opportunity that can be publicized to both brand email lists or over social media. The key is creating something that lets you to introduce your brand to a whole new receptive audience.
There are a few creative methods for building brand exposure that are as high-risk and high-reward as utilizing humor. A smart and funny video or campaign can do wonders for getting a brand exposure, but a misfire could have negative consequences. It all depends on the brand identity and the brand’s target market.
Using humor on social media has proven especially effective for some brands; Wendy’s and Moon Pie have made headlines with their sarcastic and sometimes bizarre Twitter musings. This has allowed simple fast food and snack brands to relate to new, younger customer demographics in a whole new way.
Humor can be especially effective when it comes as a surprise from a brand, especially in the B2B space. One wouldn’t expect biting corporate satire from a stock image company, but that is exactly what Dissolve did with their “This Is a Generic Brand Video” spot on YouTube. With its spot-on parody of all-too-familiar brand ads, the video garnered over 2 million views and won a Shorty Award in 2015.
The same goes for another B2B company, Phonexa. Companies in the call tracking and analytics space don’t usually utilize traditional commercial videos. This is exactly why the company decided to produce and release a comedic ad spot – to stand out and get exposure in a crowded marketplace.
What is critical for brands to keep in mind is that their use of humor aligns with their brand identity. A B2B company may be able to release a comedic video or engage in some April Fool’s Day fun, but creating a completely irreverent Twitter feed could confuse and turn off target customers. Brands need to know who they are trying to reach with their creative initiatives in order to decide if humor will help them get more exposure.
Using creativity to increase brand exposure is primarily about establishing an unexpected connection with consumers. One simple way to do this is by telling your brand's story.
Eyeglasses upstart Warby Parker found a smart way to do this by including its story on the cleaning cloth that comes with every pair of glasses. The cloth proclaims “Warby Parker in 100 Words” and then proceeds to use precisely 100 words to explain their founding. Any time one of their customers cleans their glasses, they are reminded of the company’s history and unique brand identity.
Sometimes, a brand can get exposure by telling its story to a whole new population segment. Chanel has been around for over a century and is commonly associated with high-end luxury, meaning its core audience tends to be a little older.
But in a vibrant and artfully designed video, Chanel shared the story of founder Coco Chanel to appeal to a broader, younger audience. The biographical spot allowed the brand to frame itself as a triumph of hard work and a revolutionary force in women’s fashion and empowerment.
There is no shortage of ways a brand can share its story, either by making inroads for the first time or reintroducing itself to new audience segments. Sometimes a founding story can be compelling enough to merit press coverage. The creative challenge lies in seeing how your brand can use its story to form a bond with consumers.
For brands looking to have an outsized impact on getting their name out there and raising awareness, creative live events can be a useful path forward. Events have an innate excitement and spur curiosity – they also bring your brand into the “real world.” In an era when there is so much focus on digital efforts, there is something attention-grabbing about literally putting your brand in front of people.
It worked for SaaS giant Salesforce. Back in 2000, when Salesforce was just a startup, it was looking for a way to announce its brand and its intention to disrupt the CRM software space. They did so by proclaiming “The End of Software” in mock protests at the DEMO 2000 tech event and later hosting a party where attendees were encouraged to toss software boxes into garbage cans. The stunts offered a massive return on minimal investment: Salesforce was named a “Company to Watch,” and their events captured the spotlight of major business publications like Forbes and the Wall Street Journal.
Brands can utilize live events in several ways. A well-publicized anniversary party can showcase a company’s growth and achievements. Interactive displays can illuminate the curiosity of everyday people, like the “shark bite” surfboards that the Discovery Channel left along an Australian beach to promote the 10th Anniversary of Shark Week. By finding creative ways to engage with people through events or everyday interactions, your brand can successfully introduce itself to new audiences.
While it can seem counterintuitive at first, sometimes the best way to increase your brand's exposure is to start by targeting fewer people. Creating an air of exclusivity or even mystery can naturally generate more buzz and excitement.
This has proven effective in tech. Facebook famously started by only being accessible to college students. In 2006, when it became available to a wider audience, it had roughly six million users (still short of MySpace, which had 30 million users at the time). Two years later, it would skyrocket to 100 million. Similarly, Evernote began with early adopters on a beta version and built enough buzz so that its availability to the public became a tech news event.
Like utilizing humor, brands need to have a firm grip on their target audience and brand identity to decide if exclusivity is the right method to get brand exposure. It was perfect for American Express and their Centurion Card. Reportedly, the “Amex Black Card” was already a myth before its creation, luring in even famous spokesperson Jerry Seinfeld. By the time the card was actually launched, it had already achieved almost legendary exposure thanks to perceptions of exclusivity.
Undoubtedly, one of the strongest ways to boost a brand’s exposure is by having satisfied customers who are eager to advocate for that brand via online reviews or other platforms because it aligns closely with their own identity, often clearly defined with brand language.
Perhaps no brand has done this better than Apple, which has consistently tied its brand to consumers’ identity for over 40 years. By developing a brand image that paints Mac users as alternative, creative, and cool, Apple became one of the most well-known brands in the world, eliciting religious-like fervor among some of its devotees.
Another brand that has been able to successfully leverage its own consumers as part of its brand identity is Jeep. Born out of necessity as a widely used transport during World War II, Jeep has become a powerful brand that is associated with ruggedness and adventure. This powerful brand association has created fans who have their own Jeep blogs and stay devoted to the brand even in the face of critics. Jeep smartly leans into its own customer fandom with ads that reinforce those same brand associations.
When a brand is able to cultivate such intention passions among its customers, it creates advocates who will increase the brand’s exposure independently.
Brand exposure may feel abstract. How do you put a dollar amount on visibility? Yet, the ROI of brand exposure is very real, especially when brands align creative campaigns with long-term revenue goals. Exposure drives familiarity, which drives trust, which increases conversions.
But let’s zoom in on how that ROI actually manifests.
At the most fundamental level, brand exposure feeds the top of the marketing funnel by expanding the pool of potential buyers. When your audience consistently sees your brand in compelling, relevant contexts, your cost per acquisition (CPA) often drops while your customer lifetime value (LTV) climbs.
Think of brand exposure as an accelerator for your full-funnel performance:
One clear indicator of ROI is the shift from unknown to remembered. When your brand is easily recalled in a competitive category — think “CRM = Salesforce” or “email = Mailchimp” — you’ve created equity that no performance ad alone could buy.
It’s also important to reframe ROI in exposure campaigns: not just in terms of immediate sales, but also in earned media value, brand sentiment, word-of-mouth acceleration, and audience data acquisition (emails, retargeting pools, etc.).
It’s easy to focus on what’s flashy in a brand exposure campaign, but the real power lies in what you can track. Measuring exposure helps you make creative work accountable and more repeatable. The challenge is that exposure isn’t always linear or transactional. So, how can you measure it?
Here’s a framework to assess brand exposure from both quantitative and qualitative angles:
At the core, exposure is about how many people saw your brand and where they saw it.
Exposure means nothing without attention. Use engagement metrics to validate quality:
How is your exposure landing with audiences?
For exposure-driven campaigns, consider:
Measurement is a creative task itself. The key is triangulation; don’t rely on just one number. Use dashboards that combine impressions, engagement, sentiment, and intent to build a complete picture of how brand exposure is paying off.
Brand exposure is the foundation of brand equity. Exposure drives visibility, while equity captures the long-term value that visibility creates.
When a brand consistently appears in meaningful ways, such as Nike’s iconic “Just Do It” campaigns, LEGO’s creative social content, or Patagonia’s purpose-driven ads, it builds familiarity. Familiarity leads to trust, and trust drives purchase decisions.
Exposure only becomes equity when it’s consistent and aligned with your brand identity. Disjointed messaging across channels can dilute perception, while brands like Patagonia and LEGO maintain a unified presence that turns casual observers into loyal advocates.
Creative exposure isn’t just about awareness; it’s about building trust and emotional connection. Done right, it turns visibility into sustainable, long-term brand success.
While brand exposure tracks how frequently your brand is seen or experienced, brand awareness is about recall and recognition. Exposure feeds awareness. Consistent, creative brand exposure makes it more likely that audiences will remember and trust your brand.
Yes, often by being more agile, niche, or creatively bold. Small brands can win attention by targeting micro-communities, leveraging influencer partnerships, or taking advantage of viral social trends faster than enterprise players bogged down by layers of approval.
Many brands focus solely on volume (e.g., impressions) without aligning exposure to brand identity. Others chase every platform without a strategy or ignore the emotional tone that drives memorability. Poor creative, inconsistent messaging, and over-reliance on paid ads are also common pitfalls.
Not at all. While paid media can accelerate reach, organic strategies like content marketing, influencer collabs, UGC, press coverage, SEO, and community engagement are powerful and often more trusted by audiences. The best exposure strategies blend both.
Timing is critical. Launching exposure efforts around industry events, cultural moments, product launches, or viral trends can dramatically amplify impact. Brands that align campaigns with audience behavior and seasonal relevance often outperform year-round “always-on” campaigns.
Yes, exposure without clarity or authenticity can cause confusion or backlash. If messaging feels tone-deaf, misaligned with values, or forced, visibility may generate negative sentiment. In today’s landscape, how you're seen is just as important as how often.
Top-rated tools on G2 like Sprinklr, Brandwatch, Talkwalker, and Meltwater help track social reach, sentiment, share of voice, and earned media exposure.
Brand exposure isn’t just a marketing tactic; it’s the momentum that drives brand growth, loyalty, and long-term equity. The most iconic brands didn’t rely solely on ad spend or analytics dashboards. They earned attention by showing up creatively, consistently, and in the right context.
The path to meaningful exposure starts with clarity: a well-defined brand identity, a deep understanding of your audience, and a willingness to experiment with ideas that make your brand unforgettable. Creativity doesn’t replace data; it amplifies it. The best results happen when storytelling, design, and strategy come together.
If your goal is to build a brand people trust, talk about, and return to, exposure is where it begins.
Discover the best brand intelligence software on G2 and track visibility, sentiment, and share of voice all in one place.
This article was originally published in 2019. It has been updated with new information.
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Devyani Mehta is a content marketing specialist at G2. She has worked with several SaaS startups in India, which has helped her gain diverse industry experience. At G2, she shares her insights on complex cybersecurity concepts like web application firewalls, RASP, and SSPM. Outside work, she enjoys traveling, cafe hopping, and volunteering in the education sector. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
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