{"id":6123,"date":"2024-03-18T01:09:47","date_gmt":"2024-03-18T01:09:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zenmedia.wpengine.com\/?p=6123"},"modified":"2024-03-20T04:57:21","modified_gmt":"2024-03-20T04:57:21","slug":"what-is-share-of-voice-and-why-is-it-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenmedia.com\/blog\/what-is-share-of-voice-and-why-is-it-important\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Share of Voice and Why Is It Important?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want to know the secret behind the world\u2019s most iconic brands? It\u2019s called share of voice\u2014and if you wield it effectively, your brand can join their ranks.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a world where attention is currency, share of voice is a crucial concept to understand and master. But what does that term actually mean?<\/span><\/p>\n

In essence, share of voice refers to the share of your market that your brand owns. In the pre-digital era, this meant the share of advertising in a market that your brand owned as compared to your competitors’.<\/span><\/p>\n

Take a global, well-known brand like Kleenex. They have a massive share of voice (sometimes referred to online as \u201cSOV\u201d). Or consider Nike. Also a huge share of voice.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that we’re in the digital era, the definition of share of voice has expanded to include everything from<\/span> digital PR<\/span><\/a>, to digital advertising, to social media mentions, to website traffic\u2014in other words, every form of measurable brand awareness in your particular market, whether that’s an industry or a geographical region.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, how do you go about measuring your share of voice? And, once that’s done, how do you increase it?<\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s our guide.<\/span><\/p>\n

What Is Share of Voice? Why Does It Matter?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Share of voice matters because it’s a measure of how many people know, or are aware of, your brand.<\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, it’s one of the best ways to see where your brand currently stands in the market. Once you know where you are, it’s much easier to figure out how to get where you want to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

To use the above examples again, take<\/span> Kleenex<\/span><\/a>. Their share of voice is so overwhelming that many of us use their brand name to refer to the product they sell, even if the product is made by a competitor, like Puffs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before<\/span> digital marketing<\/span><\/a>, when brands were using print, radio, and TV advertising, share of voice and share of voice marketing were important because they would influence which brand a customer reached for when they were out shopping, like in a grocery store, looking at shelf after shelf of the same product.<\/span><\/p>\n

It influenced which brand a customer might go out of their way to ask for when they were at a department store or hardware store.<\/span><\/p>\n

It influenced which car dealership a customer would choose to visit first, or which real estate agency they’d call when it was time to shop for a new home.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, in the digital era, share of voice has that same influence\u2014and then some. The digital landscape has put brands in a position of fighting for fractions of customer attention. Share of voice now has the power to make a difference in whether or not a customer will scroll right past your ad on Instagram or Facebook.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is why <\/span>share of voice matters now more than ever before<\/b>: Because brands are competing with each other to grab even two seconds of a customer’s attention. And they’re not just competing with others in their market or industry. They’re competing with every other brand that’s represented on a customer’s social media feed or on the Google search results page they see.<\/span><\/p>\n

Without a significant share of voice, your brand won’t be able to break through the online noise and reach new customers.<\/b><\/p>\n

Practically, knowing your share of voice will tell you things like:<\/span><\/p>\n