How Small Business Owners Can Boost Brand Awareness
There are so many ways to market your business. You can advertise on television, radio, or online, send out printed brochures and catalogs, create posters and flyers or hand out stickers or give out branded flashlights with your company name printed on them.
How do you know what will work best for your business? By understanding the target audience and their needs.
You need to know who they are, what they like, and what they don’t like about competitors before coming up with a marketing plan. Once you know that, you can implement one of these strategies to increase brand awareness for small businesses.
Advertising
When most people think of advertising, they think of print or television commercials that are meant to get your attention and persuade you to purchase a product or service.
But advertising can also mean using signage and logos around town, as well as sponsoring community events or hosting educational seminars to get your name out there. You could do something comical in order to be more memorable, a great example would be to design a magic 8 ball for your brand if you want something more unique and hands on.
There are many ways to advertise your business, but you should prioritize what is most cost-effective for your budget.
Keep in mind that traditional advertising (print, radio, and television) is losing effectiveness every year. That’s why many small business advertisers want to focus on digital advertising. That includes online ads, paid social media posts and paid search engine listings.
Facebook ads
Facebook ads can be incredibly effective at getting your product or service in front of a targeted audience. If you own a dog grooming business, you don’t want to advertise to people who love kittens.
There are several types of ads you can run on Facebook, but they all have the same goal: to drive clicks to your website or prompt people to take action, like signing up for a free report or downloading a guide.
If you’ve ever seen an ad in your Facebook feed that’s about a weird topic like “How to build a wooden spoon” or “Sneezing panda,” then you’ve seen a boosted Facebook ad.
You can create these ads yourself using the self-serve ad platform that Facebook offers to advertisers. If you’re not sure where to start, use a Facebook advertising calculator to find out how much money you’ll need to spend to hit your desired audience size.
Networking Events
If you’re trying to break into a new industry or you want to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs in your city, then you should start attending networking events. Attend every type of event you can find, from tech meetups to conferences to marketing events meant for small business owners.
You’ll have the opportunity to network and meet new people, but you can also use these events to increase brand awareness for your company. You can do this by bringing business cards, pamphlets or branded USB flash drives that have information about your company on them.
Depending on what your business does, you can offer free products and services in exchange for the attendees’ contact information.
For example, if you own a digital marketing agency and want to get clients in the banking industry, then you can offer to create a free social media marketing strategy for banks in exchange for their contact information and permission to follow up with them down the road.
Print Ads
Print ads are advertisements that you see in magazines, newspapers and online publications. They’re good for advertising a product launch or new service that you’re offering. If you want to enhance your brand visibility further, consider exploring digital sign installation, which can effectively grab the attention of passersby and create a lasting impression.
Because people are more likely to read print publications than they are to click on a website, print advertising can be a good way to get your company in front of potential customers.
While it’s possible to create your own print ads, it’s better to hire a professional graphic designer who understands the best way to catch people’s attention with your ad. If you don’t have the budget for a print ad, try pitching an article to the editor of a publication that focuses on your industry.
This is called “ghostwriting”. You can pitch an article, write it and then have the editor publish it with their name on it.
Blogger Outreach
You don’t have to create content on your own website to get your brand out there. You can also reach out to bloggers in your industry who are already creating content. Ask them if they would be interested in featuring your products or services. Blogger outreach is a common strategy in the SEO world these days according to this consultant https://rossk.com/international-seo-consultant
Once you find bloggers who specialize in your industry, look at their content and see if there are any ways that you can incorporate your products or business into their posts.
If you want to reach out to these bloggers, you can start with a short email. Make sure the email includes the following information: who you are, what your business is, what products or services you offer and how you can help the blogger.
Episode Outreach
If you have a podcast or video series, you can reach out to other podcasters and video series to see if they would be interested in cross-promoting with you. You can also approach other media companies to see if you can get a guest spot on their show.
Again, you can offer to cross-promote with these people in exchange for them featuring your products or services. If you’re on someone else’s podcast or video series, you can use the opportunity to promote your company.
You can also give guests a call-to-action at the end of your episode or video to prompt them to take action, like signing up for your free report.
Showroom Visits
If you sell a product or service, you can arrange to have a local showroom where your customers can come and see what you offer firsthand.
Having a showroom gives you a chance to interact with your customers. And even if they don’t purchase products or services on the spot, they will likely remember your brand the next time they need your product or service. You can also arrange to have a traveling showroom.
This means that you host a temporary showroom at each of your customers’ locations. Like their office building or their home. You can do this by partnering with a trade show company that has a traveling showroom.
You also have the option of hiring a mobile marketing company to bring a showroom to each of your customers. This can be a more cost-effective option if you have a large customer base.
Conclusion
Small businesses are an important part of the economy and create jobs for people in almost every community in the country. They are also the backbone of many families, providing a steady income for owners and their employees.
If you own a small business, you may be wondering how to increase brand awareness for your company. The good news is that there are a variety of ways to do this, including advertising, attending networking events, creating content and more.
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