How to Increase Brand Consideration: A Practical Playbook

To increase brand consideration, you have to earn a place on the buyer's shortlist before they ever contact you. Consideration is the stage where someone who understands their problem compares a handful of options and decides which ones deserve a call, a demo, or a visit. If you are not on that list, you cannot win, no matter how good your sales team is.

This playbook explains how to increase brand consideration in both B2B and B2C. It covers three essential steps (show up where shortlists are built, publish proof buyers can verify, and build third-party presence), the consideration stage content that supports them, and how to measure progress with branded search, direct traffic, sales-call answers, and brand lift polling.

What brand consideration is, and why it decides so many deals

Awareness means people know you exist. Consideration means they would include you in the small set they actively evaluate. Preference comes later, when they lean toward one option. Many brands spend heavily on awareness and then lose at the consideration stage, because buyers know the name but cannot see a reason to shortlist it.

The reason this stage matters is that the shortlist usually forms without you. Buyers research independently, ask peers, read reviews, and increasingly ask AI assistants before speaking to any seller. By the time someone fills in your form, they have often decided who else to talk to. Getting onto the buyer's shortlist before first contact is therefore a marketing job, not a sales job.

B2B brand consideration vs B2C

The principle is identical, but the details differ. B2B buyers are protecting themselves from risk and often need to convince a committee. B2C buyers are mostly protecting themselves from regret, wasted money, and effort.

Step 1: Show up where the shortlist is built

The first step to increase brand consideration is to appear in the places where buyers form their lists. You cannot influence a shortlist you are absent from. Map those places, then decide which you can win.

• Search results. Category terms, "best X for Y," "X alternatives," and "X vs Y" queries are where shortlists are literally typed out.
• Review and comparison sites. Buyers use them to narrow a field quickly, so a thin or empty profile removes you from consideration.
• Communities and forums. Industry groups, subreddits, and professional communities are where peers ask for recommendations.
• Newsletters, podcasts, and social feeds. Especially on LinkedIn for B2B, these build familiarity before any search takes place.
• AI assistants. Answer engines summarize options from your site and from third-party sources, so clear positioning and credible mentions both matter. See AI search optimization for how brands earn citations.

Your own site has to make a fast first impression. A visitor from a comparison query should understand within a few seconds who you serve, what you do, and what makes you different. Use the same plain description on your site, profiles, directories, and social accounts, because inconsistent descriptions make a brand harder to categorize, for people and for machines.

Local B2C brands also need an accurate Google Business Profile, since it is often the shortlist itself. The guide to Google Business Profile optimization covers the setup.

Consideration stage content that earns a spot on the list

Content at this stage helps a buyer compare and choose, so it needs to be honest, specific, and easy to scan. It is different from awareness content, which explains a problem, and decision content, which closes the sale. The content marketing funnel guide shows where each type fits.

• Comparison pages. Compare approaches or categories fairly, with criteria a buyer would use. State when each option is the better choice, including when it is not you.
• Alternatives pages. People search for these constantly. Cover what a buyer should look for in an alternative, and where your offering differs.
• "How to choose" guides. Provide a checklist of questions to ask any provider. A buyer who uses your checklist starts judging vendors by your standards.
• Fit pages. Say plainly who you serve best and who you are not right for. Stating limits builds credibility.
• What to expect. Explain onboarding, timelines, and what you need from the customer. Uncertainty about the process is a hidden reason buyers drop vendors.

Research the actual wording buyers use. Comparison and alternative queries often appear in Search Console and sales-call notes before you ever think to write for them.

Equip the internal champion

In B2B, the person who finds you rarely makes the final call. They must defend the choice to a finance lead, a technical reviewer, or an owner. Give that champion what they need to do it: a one-page summary of what you do, a business case template they can adapt, a plain-language security or compliance overview if relevant, and an outline of what implementation looks like. Content that arms an internal advocate often does more than another thought-leadership article.

Consideration content for B2C and local brands

A local dental practice, gym, or home-service company faces the same test on a smaller scale. A shopper compares three or four options in a few minutes, so the deciding factors are review quality, clear pricing or price ranges, visible credentials, real photos, and how easy booking is. A short "what to expect at your first visit" page and honest answers to common questions often tip the choice.

Step 2: Build proof assets buyers can verify

Buyers on a shortlist look for evidence that reduces risk. The strongest proof is specific and checkable. The rule that protects your brand is simple: never invent, inflate, or imply a result you cannot document.

A customer story framework without inventing anything

Use the same structure for every story so each is easy to produce and easy to trust.

1. Get written permission from the customer, including how you may name them and whether they approve the final text.
2. Describe the customer in terms they approve: industry, size, and location.
3. State the problem in their words, including what they had tried before.
4. Explain what you did with enough detail that another buyer could picture the work.
5. Report the outcome using only results the customer confirms. If there are no hard numbers, describe the change accurately and do not make up figures.
6. Add an approved quote and, if the customer agrees, a way to contact them as a reference.

If you have no stories yet, publish what you do have: your process, sample deliverables, a clear scope, team profiles, and responses to common concerns. A real, modest proof asset beats an impressive-sounding one that falls apart under questioning.

Comparison pages and pricing transparency

Buyers who cannot find a price often assume it is too high or that something is hidden. Where you can, publish starting prices or ranges, what drives cost, and what is included. Where pricing depends on scope, explain the factors and what you need to give a quote. Our own approach appears on the pricing page, and you can adapt the same idea to your offer.

Keep comparison pages factual. Use criteria such as scope, process, support, and who each option suits, and avoid disparaging other vendors. Pages that read like honest advice get shared and cited, while pages that read like attacks get ignored.

Step 3: Build third-party presence and reviews

Buyers trust what others say about you more than what you say about yourself. Third-party presence turns your claims into corroborated facts, and it supplies the sources that search engines and AI assistants draw on.

• Reviews. Ask every satisfied customer, make it easy, and reply to all reviews, including critical ones. Never offer rewards for positive reviews or screen who gets asked, because platforms prohibit both and buyers can tell. A reputation management process can keep requests and replies consistent.
• Directories and profiles. Claim and complete the profiles buyers actually use in your category, from industry directories to Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, and Yelp for local brands.
• Industry mentions. Earn inclusion in roundups, partner directories, association listings, and trade press. The guide to link building strategies that still work covers outreach that earns these placements.
• Speaking and guest content. Podcasts, webinars, and conference talks put your people in front of buyers in a trusted setting.
• Peer advocacy. Customers, partners, and employees talking about your work in communities often carry more weight than any advertisement.

Only claim awards, certifications, and affiliations you actually hold, and keep them current. Everything a buyer can verify strengthens the rest of your proof.

How to measure brand consideration

Consideration is hard to see directly, so use several imperfect signals and watch the direction over quarters, not days. No single metric is reliable alone.

The most useful habit is to ask the sales team one extra question on every first call: were we your first choice or one of several, and how did you find us? Over time, the answers show which steps move you onto more shortlists. The guide to how to measure SEO ROI explains how to connect those signals to closed revenue.

A 90-day plan to increase brand consideration

1. Days 1 to 30: Interview recent customers and your sales team about why you were shortlisted and who else was on the list. Check how you appear in search, review sites, and AI answers for category and comparison queries. Record baselines for branded impressions, direct sessions, and self-reported sources.
2. Days 31 to 60: Sharpen your positioning on the pages that matter. Publish one comparison or alternatives page, one buyer's guide, and a pricing explainer. Start two customer stories with permission, and set up a review request process.
3. Days 61 to 90: Pitch industry roundups, podcasts, and partner directories. Publish the finished stories and expand your review profiles. Measure the same signals again and decide what to repeat.

Results build gradually, because shortlists change as buyers meet you in more places. Treat the first quarter as setup, and judge progress over several quarters.

Common mistakes that keep brands off the shortlist

• Buying reach and calling it consideration, when buyers know the name but see no reason to shortlist it.
• Using vague claims such as "best-in-class" instead of specific, checkable facts.
• Hiding pricing and process, which leaves buyers to guess.
• Gating every proof asset, so the people deciding who to call never see it.
• Publishing invented or exaggerated stories and reviews, which damage trust when discovered.
• Measuring only last-click leads and missing the influence that came earlier.

If you want help building the consideration layer, our content strategy service starts at $1,800 per month and begins with the buyer interviews and search checks described above.

Frequently asked questions