Running a small business can be incredibly rewarding for many people, but there are challenges that are baked into any business model. One of those is how to make people aware of your business in the first place. Advertising and marketing are necessary to increase brand awareness for small businesses, and there are easy-to-use strategies for getting your name out there for people to find you.
- Content Creation
Blogs are a great way to showcase information about your brand, build authority in your area of expertise, and allow other sites to link back to your content — which helps increase your SEO results. Consistently publishing new articles and blog posts on related topics to your business can help keep your content fresh and aid in growing your audience.
- Team Up With Other Brands
Co-branding is a unique way to build your customer base and also enhance your own authority and reputation when you partner with other brands or businesses. This sort of collaboration is beneficial for both parties: Your audience checks out the brand you’re collaborating with, and the company you’re partnered with brings their own audience, who are now aware of you. Win-win!
- Utilize Social Media Smartly
Have you noticed that almost every business is on social media? Don’t get left out! Social media is a huge part of networking and branding for businesses, and it allows users and customers to engage with your business directly. Social media also provides organic word-of-mouth style marketing. When people like what you do or what you sell, they are likely to take to their favorite platform and give you a shout-out. And if they can tag your social media handles in their praise, all the better!
- Consistency Is Key
Branding is all about consistency. You want the tone of your web page, your socials, your newsletter, and any other platform where you’re visible to have a consistent style of messaging. Color palettes, font styles, and image usage are all part of consistency as well. You want all your platforms to match, so customers have a unified experience regardless of whether they engage with your website, your Twitter feed, your Facebook page, or your newsletter.
- Newsletters Are Gold
With all the information and possibilities out there, it can feel overwhelming to try and find the right brand for your needs if you’re a customer. For small businesses, this is where a newsletter can be an incredible way to keep your customers in the loop and build your audience, as well as increase brand awareness for your small business. Not everyone is going to pop over to a website daily, and while social media is an excellent resource for marketing, it’s also a lot of information and your tweets or posts might get lost in the feed.
With a newsletter, you have a direct connection with your audience in their inbox. Just make sure the content you send out is specific, relevant, and timely. No one likes spam, and too many marketing emails can get people to unsubscribe. However, a weekly or monthly newsletter with highlights and deals can get your audience to come back again and again.
