Brand awareness is the foundation of all branding and marketing. At its most basic, it means increasing the number of people who’ve heard of your company. But it doesn’t stop there. Its true value lies in spreading the word about what your small business stands for and why people should turn to you for the solution you sell.
In other words, you’re reaching more of your target market and better communicating your unique selling proposition and your brand personality to them.
The following tips for building brand awareness help you accomplish all these goals.
How to Build Brand Awareness
- Deliver great products or services and unwaveringly exceptional customer service; there’s nothing more powerful than word-of-mouth marketing
- Actively encourage positive reviews from your delighted customers or clients
- Establish a referral program or some other sort of incentive for your existing customers or clients to send you more members of your target market
- Create social media accounts and use them regularly, sharing a combination of curated and original valuable content for your target audience and engaging with people
- Use a content marketing strategy to build up a library of valuable content on your website
- Solicit guest blogging opportunities on reputable websites your target market visits, and use them to share your industry expertise
- Offer guest blogging opportunities to noncompetitive experts and influencers in your industry to add to your credibility, and because they’ll share links to their posts with their own audiences
- Create podcasts, host webinars, speak at seminars or business events, and find similar ways to share your expertise with interested parties and build your brand authority
- Run digital advertising campaigns, especially on social media sites like Facebook, where it’s relatively affordable and there are extensive targeting capabilities
- Sponsor a local charity, nonprofit event, community event, youth sports team, etc. to get your name out there and to demonstrate that you give back
- Develop mutual discounts or other partnerships with local businesses that align with your organization’s philosophy and culture
- This isn’t for every small business, but consider taking a public stand on a controversial issue; yes, you’ll alienate some people, but you’ll also win vocal, high-value fans among those who agree
