9 Ways to Boost Brand Awareness

You’ll have a hard time increasing your customer base and boosting sales if the target consumer doesn’t know your brand. When you want a soda, you ask for a Coke— not for a cola. When you sneeze, you reach for a Kleenex— not a tissue. Such terms are the apex of brand awareness. By following these tips, you’ll make sure your business doesn’t become ‘the Pepsi’ of your niche.

Referral Programs

Smart referral programs are a great tool for boosting brand awareness. When they can get extra perks, people will gladly spread the word of your brand. Airbnb and Dropbox are great examples.

Back in the day, Dropbox generated tons of word-of-mouth buzz by offering existing users extra storage space for every person they refer. The referral program saved the company a lot of advertising funds and delivered a huge number of sign-ups.

Infographics

People love seeing interesting data and statistics packaged in a bright and colourful image. If you create a good one, you can rest assured that people will share it far and wide. When done right, infographics are a powerful tool for brand building.

Great Guest Content

By sharing impressive content on other blogs, you can make your name known in your niche. But, your guest posts must be up to par. If you can write something that’s memorable, helpful, and valuable, you can make a lasting impression and reach new audiences.

Go Freemium

If you’re an online business, think about offering free versions of your products or services. A free version of a product usually has some limitations. For instance, it can include a watermark.

Then, paying customers get to remove the watermark. Many will opt for the free version. But, by using the free version, they are also promoting your brand to others. Free versions of your services or products will get your brand in front of more eyeballs.

More Free Stuff

Everyone likes freebies. Stamp your lanyards, (like these), frisbees, pens, koozies, wristbands, and other promotional items your target audience may find useful. Local events are great places to give away such items.

But, make sure to give people what they need. If it’s winter, branded earmuffs will be much appreciated. At summer music festivals, you can hand out power banks. If someone’s phone battery dies and you save them, they will definitely remember your brand. It’s key to give something that’s well-designed and provides value. Otherwise, it would be just like junk mail.

Local Partnerships

If you are a local-oriented business, this is the way to go. You can hold seminars and business events with other local business. You can also donate to local charities, organise fundraisers, and sponsor local sports teams. You’ll do big things for your brand by making sure you plaster your business’s name around local events and festivals.

Social Focus

Social media presence is vital, but don’t spread it too thin. Registering on twenty different platforms is a fool’s errand because you can’t dedicate enough time and effort to all of them equally. Even if you’re just on a few platforms, you don’t have to put the same amount of energy into each.

If you have lots of photos to share, you should focus on Pinterest and Instagram. Small companies in creative industries will also mostly benefit from Instagram. B2B companies perform best on Twitter.

Learn where your target audience likes to hang out. You should be present on all the major social networks, but you must reserve your biggest efforts for the one that works best. If you’re not sure where your target audience spends most of their time, dig into analytics. Free analytics tools like Google Analytics can help you see where your referral traffic is coming from, as well as a lot of other useful data.

Podcasts

There’s a lot of buzz around podcasts recently, and for a good reason. People love to digest content conveniently, on the go. You don’t need a super-popular podcast. A modest following of listeners comprised of members of your target audience should be your goal.

You can start your own niche podcast and invite industry experts to be your guests. That way, you wouldn’t just be building your brand, but you would also develop relationships within your field. You can gain avid followers if there isn’t much on the airwaves in your niche.

LinkedIn Publishing

Guest posting and running a blog on your site aren’t the only ways to build a brand through content. Recently, LinkedIn introduced a new publishing tool that lets all users publish their articles straight to LinkedIn.

You can set up your own business blog and utilize LinkedIn’s new feature, but you can also attach posts to your personal account. That way, you can establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. Be sure to promote and share your posts after publishing.