As an entrepreneur, you probably spent a large chunk of your time, resources, and efforts on developing the perfect product for a defined demographic. While this is the core of your business, most entrepreneurs are at a loss when it comes to marketing these products or services.
Some people make the mistake of jumping straight into aggressive marketing, which is really detrimental to the brand. But, as a small business owner, you don’t have to go through this vicious cycle. Through brand awareness, you’d be put miles ahead of the rest and also gain a longevity edge.
So, what is brand awareness?
Brand awareness is how your customers know you exist, and more importantly, develop a relationship with your brand, messaging, products/services, and logo.
Through brand awareness, you make a lasting impression of your brand and products/services on your target customers. You can easily show how you stand out from your competitors through this means.
As a small business owner, don’t neglect the importance of being the go-to brand when it comes to the products/services that you offer.
In this article, we’d exhaustively look at all the ways that you can successfully entrench yourself in your local market as a small business.
Seven Brand Awareness Strategies for Small Businesses
The top seven brand awareness strategies that we recommend for small businesses are:
- Develop an SEO-focused content strategy
- Invest in influencer marketing
- Prioritize social media marketing
- Plan unique, attention-grabbing events
- Offer promotional services
- Collaborate with other brands
- Referral rewards
1. Develop an SEO-focused content strategy
Your messaging as a brand is extremely important, therefore, it needs to be out in front of those who need to see it. Using digital marketing, a brand has to plan and distribute only quality content. With brand awareness, SEO content is especially important as it goes a long way in ensuring that your target audience finds your brand, first of all, and then finds you memorable.
For the most effective outcome and organic visibility for your brand in your locality, SEO can be one of the most lucrative ways to save costs while getting your brand familiar with prospects. Your content strategy ensures that you distribute valuable, user-focused content across the board.
So, this should be at the top of your list as you work on brand awareness. A professional would be your best bet in delivering this service, however, you could start learning all about SEO and content strategy as well to implement.
2. Invest in Influencer Marketing
There’s a common misconception that only big brands can afford influencers. Influencer marketing, a marketing niche that developed in the social media age can be maximized by all types of businesses looking to familiarize their brand with their target audience.
You too could profit immensely by leveraging the large following and authority that influencers have across social media.
Even if you do not have the money to pay their fee, many influencers are open to mutually-beneficial partnerships or agreements.
An influencer can help;
- Build trust with your target audience
- Get your messaging out in a unique way
- Provide enjoyable content to attract your audience
- Resound your brand over and over again
- Provide an endorsement that serves as social proof.
To get the most out of this investment, always make sure that the influencer’s followers match the archetype of your customers, else, you may just be creating awareness among people that are uninterested.
3. Prioritize Social Media Marketing
As much as SEO can do a lot on its own, organically, you can even get more word about your business out there by building a strong social media presence. What’s so great about social media is that it;
- Allows you to showcase brand personality as well
- Helps foster a relationship with the brand and customers
- Has a wide reach of prospects
- Allows you to run targeted ads
So, as a brand ensure that you get to consistently publish entertaining and valuable content on appropriate channels to connect with more of your customers. Always bear in mind that social media is for networking, therefore, tailor your content to suit the channel you’re publishing on. These are the tips for maximizing social media for your brand that you should check out.
4. Plan unique, attention-grabbing events
Even big corporations all over the world use events and activities to promote brand awareness. Events are a great way to spread the word about your business in a non-direct, yet effective way.
In social settings such as these, most people get to see the human side of your brand. With this, you can pass your message in non-verbal ways but rather, appeal to emotions to resonate with your crowd.
We saw the rise of online events such as webinars, Twitter spaces, clubhouse, etc during the covid-19 pandemic. The reach was incredible and to this day, many brands use this means to get people talking about them. This effective method has come to stay and would always be an option small businesses can explore.
5. Offer Promotional Services
This is a more traditional marketing approach, however, its effectiveness can not be debated. People love getting stuff for free or at a discounted price, therefore, this can boost word of mouth and stay on top of their minds.
When prospects find your product or service useful and satisfactory, they are more likely to remember you when they need those products/services. Therefore, a promotional campaign can give them an experience of your brand for free or without paying the full sum.
6. Collaborate with other brands
There are many brands who’d be more than happy to collaborate with your brand as long as it’s mutually beneficial. This is a highly effective technique that small businesses can explore.
Collaboration can open you up to a whole new market and opportunities. You could find a brand that sells a service or product that goes together with yours to partner up. For example, if you own a gym, collaborating with a sportswear brand can be a winning move as you could mutually tap from both of your customer bases.
Local businesses can enjoy the long-term benefits by going in this direction.
7. Referral rewards
People love to get extra money, especially when they don’t have to break their backs for it. By introducing a referral program, you are encouraging people to speak to their network about your product for a set fee. This could reduce the work and walk for your brand while having even more reach.
Even though this method might be more suited for your brand if your goal is sales, this also encourages organic word of mouth and social proof.
Bottom line,
Brand awareness is beneficial for the long term for local businesses who want to remain memorable by tying their brands to the products they sell.
Brand awareness allows people to get to know you in terms of messaging, products, logos, and other brand stationeries.
Being an entrepreneur can be very tasking but extremely rewarding. So, while you concern yourself with developing or selling your products/services, you could outsource brand awareness to professionals such as Effe Towers to get the word out there about all that you do.
