5 Ways You Could Be Missing Out on Building Your Brand
Having a business and building your brand can be a challenge in many different ways. From getting the name right to finding the perfect set of employees. You will often face a number of problems in setting up a business, but half the fun is overcoming them and being able to build a successful business.
Building a brand however, is a completely different matter. Identifying a well thought-out brand to represent your business can be testing, as it is often an ongoing process that requires constant maintenance.
There’s a large chance you already have a logo or even a colour scheme associated with your business. You might already have a sign outside your establishment too. While this is certainly helpful, it’s a far cry from having a recognised brand and unfortunately a brand is much more than just a logo!
5 Ways You Could Be Missing Out on Building Your Brand
Whether you’re only just starting out, or your brand has been going for some time, you might be overlooking some key opportunities in developing the brand further. With so many different ways to communicate your brand to your target audience successfully, here are just a few ideas.
Invest in Fresh Engaging and Creative Content
Many businesses are able to build their brand further by positioning themselves as an expert in their field. Finding industry-leading information to share across their own blog as well as social channels, the brand becomes associated with new insights that are thought-provoking and interesting.
Through creating specific content that is tailored to your target audience, you are essentially building a community for people with a shared interest. Content that is at the forefront of your industry is likely to be shared, which adds authority to your brand.
Build and Maintain Social Media Accounts
Using social media is becoming somewhat of a necessity for businesses. Living in the digital age, so many of your consumers will turn to your social profile for information before clicking on your website. What’s more, using a social media platform gives your brand a chance to show off its voice and personality.
If you’re planning to utilise social media, the key is to be consistent. Having a coherent message and a familiar tone to your social posts can be great in building trust in your brand. You should also aim to respond to all queries that come through via your social channels, in order to create a positive space for your consumers.
One point to mention on this is that social media growth shares some principles with email marketing. In that it is about relationships and regular posting. Now posting 4-5 times a day on Facebook, then Pinterest and Instagram and Twitter can be a drag. However you can’t just leave it for a month and expect it to be just how you left it.
Consider investing in a outsourced VA ( virtual assistant ) to do the graft and grind, try Upwork for these. Or if you would rather maintain control use one of the many available social media scheduling platforms out there such as Octosuite.
Another social media growth technique if you run a WordPress blog is to use a plugin to autopost content to Facebook and other social platforms. Not every post you make may look or read like Shakespeare when done this way but it drives traffic and keeps your pages fresh and current.
Engage Audiences With Promotional Giveaways
As a brand, you are trying to connect with your audience on a more personal level in order to instil loyalty and trust. This will indirectly boost your leads and create more success for the business.
Promotional giveaways are a great way to reach out to your target audience in order to make them feel appreciated and recognised. Through careful research, you can form a strategy that sends out a gift to your longstanding clients, or even a seasonal gift for birthdays and Christmas. Promotional products have been proven to be more welcomed than direct mail or TV ads, and encourage more consumers to take action.
Study Your Online Visibility in Search
It’s all well and good having a well put-together brand, but what’s the use if no one sees it? It’s crucial to have a carefully designed website and strategies in place to ensure that customers find you when searching online. This way you can not only appreciate building your brand but you can also control it better.
The Google Search Console ( formerly WMT ) can offer useful insight into your search presence. As can other tools such as MOZ for instance, so use them well.
Developing your website to a high standard, complete with correct content, can be the difference between a good year for business or a great year.
Review and Maintain Over Time
One of the biggest mistakes when building your brand is simply negligence. Many businesses will create a brand, post on social media and blog regularly but without review. Industry trends can change very quickly and it’s important that you come back to your brand to ensure it is still in line with your overall business strategy!
