Every entrepreneur wants to find better ways in which he or she can market their brand more effectively. However, when we consider the expenses for marketing, it can make us cringe. We’re all in the same boat, and with this post we aim to bring about a sense of “enlightenment” when it comes to being a marketing whizz.
Before we elaborate on the 5 budget-friendly options to boost your brand, let’s stop to understand brand awareness.
So what exactly is brand awareness?
Simply put, branding is the energy and effort you as a business owner put in to promote your brand. Your customers and prospective customers know about your brand through brand building and awareness.
Most car manufacturers have iconic branding.
Take a famous car manufacturer, such as Ford. When we see the oval-shaped blue badge with the cursive print “Ford” we know it’s that old but fondly loved American motoring heritage. We associate Ford with their monstrous pick-up trucks, 4x4s, and muscle performance cars. When we think of Ford, we also envisage their affordable everyday family cars. Another thing that crosses our minds is the car manufacturer’s history such as Henry Ford’s Quadricycle, which he had actually built at his very home.
What we’re trying to make clear is that Ford established a strong sense of brand awareness that continues to grow from one generation to the next.
Brand awareness benefits you can’t miss out on
Yes! Brand awareness provides many positive benefits for your growing business. Not only is it an investment, but also very profitable when done correctly.
It promotes loyalty
When a well-known brand already established itself with a strong customer base, the benefits are clear as crystal. Customers are loyal to a brand that they know, like and trust, and they would buy the same brand repeatedly. In a word, once a customer is loyal, it isn’t easy to shift to a new product or other company for that matter.
More sales
Just as we’ve mentioned in the previous point, loyalty maintains sales amongst loyal customers. It also creates new sales due to current customer’s spreading the good word.
Now that you’re more clear on the concept of brand awareness and its importance in business, it’s time for the next step.
5 ways to increase brand awareness without burning a hole in your bank
1. Content marketing
Content plays a very large role when it comes to marketing a business. Because there are, no fixed laws that content should be limited to print, business owners can resort to digital convenience too. Content marketing both digitally and in print is a great way to advertise what your business is all about.
Content creation is essential for building your brand.
One of the reasons content works, is because as you work hard and persevere, you’re able to make a positive impact. Content can help you connect with your target market and provide them with value. It’s also an opportunity to share what your business stands for without physically being present with the customer.
Content can help you distinguish your audience patterns like what interests them most. In other words, you’re able to see where your viewers spend most of their time on your website. Once you’ve established that, you can start working on content targeted to the topic they’re looking for.
Use your Facebook page and Instagram to get in front of your audience. And remember, consistency is key. Try post every day, or at least every second day.
2. Moving content – “Video is king!”
Written content is excellent and provides a strong impact on readers and viewers, but in marketing and brand awareness, you can’t deny videos. Video streams are becoming more popular as we continue to witness digital marketing’s “edge” these days. Some statistics proved that videos make an even better impact on viewers and businesses as opposed to content.
Some people prefer watching videos to having to read content. Being able to hear the person’s voice as they discuss matters that interest their audience makes it seem as if they’re closer to their viewers. Remember, connection is everything.
3. Networking partners
Networking and teaming up with other business can greatly improve your presence on the market. Networking partners may not share the same market as you do, but they have connections that may benefit your business. This could mean more clients and more income for the business via your network partners.
When it comes to networking as a whole, it’s clear that brand awareness is seen even amongst the customers. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful advertising means because it is built on trust, loyalty, and experience.
Networking is a great way to connect with others and build brand awareness.
When you network, it doesn’t have to be limited to work-related topics or only occur in a working environment. Instead, you could invite your investors, partners and shareholders to a luncheon. This promotes the teams to socialize and learn more about each other in a more comfortable environment.
4. Marketing through sms/mobile device
When you harness the power of marketing your brand and increasing awareness, you’ll learn that SMS’ are super effective. By being able to send an SMS to a few numbers, it helps to expand your reach in the market. Nearly all the people you meet own a cell phone.
Use every economical platform available to build your brand.
This means that using SMS marketing to reach consumers can prove to be lucrative. Not only will you reach more people, you’ll also build on that brand awareness that you’d like to achieve. SMS’s also stand a better chance of being opened and read opposed to emails (which is another effective way to create brand awareness).
The downside of SMS marketing is that it offers limited space to say what you need to say. Another disadvantage about SMS’s is that people aren’t always happy about receiving unsolicited text messages.
5. Regular business cards? Nope!
We’re not saying that regular business cards are no good at all, we’re simply saying don’t be afraid to change it up. Some entrepreneurs find that using a different design and concept opposed to regular business cards made a positive impact on their business.
Some create a special fridge magnet reflecting their logo and business contact details. Some even go as far as to create a completely different concept like a pop-up house in the form of a business card to represent a real estate agent.
Pros of brand building and awareness
Hard work pays off
A brand that manages to establish a good reputation, often ends up benefiting, even more, the older the business becomes. In other words, customers and potential customers don’t forget good brands.
If we take a business like McDonalds or Coca-Cola, their influence is globally recognised. People identify these brands internationally even when the languages and countries change. That is true branding success!
Seeing more = long-term investment
If a consumer sees the same company’s advert often, psychologically, they’ll be more inclined to consider the product for purchase.
Customer trust
When there is loyalty, there is trust. When customers become loyal to your brand, as we’ve mentioned earlier on, they tend to continue purchasing. Customers trust what your business represents, and feel that they can share this trusted brand with their friends and family.
Cons of brand awareness
Everything has its good as well as bad sides, meaning there are always an advantage and a disadvantage. The following are some of the pitfalls of brand awareness
Brand leader
Creating balance when it comes to leading the market takes time. You need to balance being present in you consumer’s minds while creating a sense of uniqueness.
Creating a unique brand throughout various lines of products does not mean that one item should represent all. It means consumers should be able to relate to each item in their own unique way. Take Converse and Jack Purcell for example; even though one parent company owns the brand, each has their own characteristics.
Bad reputation
If your business received bad feedback in earlier years, it may forever be associated with that negative standpoint of view. This one takes harder work to try to mend or salvage a bad reputation.
Sometimes this is near impossible to regain that good reputation unless starting from scratch. At the end of the day, damage control always leads to more expense that may not have been in your budget as well as lots of “sweat and tears”.
The Takeaway
One of the things to remember when looking to achieve maximum-branding results is that the process can become challenging. Challenges affect medium and small businesses. Sometimes challenges seem close to home or too difficult to overcome but it all forms part of the brand awareness process.
People have their own opinions; however, it shouldn’t put a damper on your drive for success. Another good tip to remember is that when mastering the craft of brand building is the fact that you should look forward to it!
Don’t break the bank to build a successful name for yourself.
The flexibility of marketing your brand comes with all sorts of advantages. You can enjoy yourself with branding because you can have fun, entertaining or hosting an event. All of that while showcasing your brand at the same time – good way to multitask.
Getting the help you need to set up your brand is crucial. It is in fact, better when you get professional help for your marketing goals. Marketing experts can relate to the struggle in which business owners face in the constant “battle of the brands”.
The crucial step is to ensure that your tone, message and content is staying on-brand. By sending out a consistent message of what your company stands for, your target market will relate great content, products and services with your business.
