Do you want to know how you can increase your brand awareness? Then you've come to the right place, especially if you have a limited budget to beat your competitors.
What can you do next to traditional ads to ensure that everyone talks about your brand? We have collected 10 ideas to make people talk about your brand.
1. Increase your brand awareness with social media
Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat and Whatsapp offer companies a fantastic free platform to promote themselves, build their brand and expand their audience.
Although it is a challenge to find the time for your profiles and blogs, activity is very important. You should therefore try to post several times a day. But what do you have to say? If you have expertise in a certain area, it can help you get a large following. Offer meaningful and relevant content and you get a valuable and involved audience in return.
Remember that interaction is essential to grow your number of followers, which means that you must respond in time to responses on your social media and involve your followers in the conversation.
The social media tool Hootsuite regularly provides overviews of the best performing brands on social media . You can view these examples for inspiration. Then read our guide on how to master social media for tips on how to become an expert in social media.
2. Organize an event
Whatever company or organization you have, a live event is a great way to attract the attention of current or potential customers. This can be in the form of a summer barbecue or a Christmas party, or an event around the launch of a new product or promotion. You can even give a workshop to share your professional expertise.
During an event you get in touch with potential customers, while they get the chance to experience the look, feel and personality of your brand. You can always enter a theme to make it more interesting, for example a cocktail evening in the atmosphere of the 1920s or a Dutch drink. Perhaps it's a good idea to raise money for a good cause during your event: it's the perfect way to give something back.
3. Start a PR campaign
Media attention is basically free advertising. It is even better than that, because the media enjoys more credibility and offers a higher chance to convince potential new customers to look for your brand. The difficulty consists of coming up with a newsworthy angle, and that depends on your goal: local or national media, print media, TV or radio.
Perhaps you have a good personal story to tell about why you founded your company, or you have introduced a new, unique product or established an interesting sales trend. Publish the results of a survey within your field to provide a credible basis for journalists, or venture responsive PR and keep your eyes open for relevant requests from journalists you can respond to.
4. Go to a trade show
Exhibiting can be extremely effective in making your brand visible to hundreds of people in your target group. However, it can be expensive, so make sure you are well prepared so that you get the best return on your investment. It is not always a matter of 'now that we are there, people will come naturally'. You have to do more to get people to your stand and keep them there long enough to get to know your brand and to take your message.
Organizing a competition or giveaway is a great way to attract attention. Who doesn't like to get something for free? Funny or handy branded gifts are always appreciated, for example gadgets that people can give to their children or a snack and a drink. A promotional shopping bag is also a good idea: turn the recipient into a walking billboard. Not sure where to start? Read our tips for original goodie bags .
Do you want to take the initiative with your brand? Organize a competition
5. Join forces with another company
Together you stand strong: if you can find other companies that appeal to the same type of customer as you without being direct competition, you have the opportunity to join forces for mutual benefit.
As a florist you can for example offer an exclusive discount to customers of the local bridal shop. It's a great way for you to attract customers. For the established company, it is a way to reward customers free of charge and with virtually no effort.
6. Become a sponsor
Sponsoring an event or product is another proven way to reach a target group and increase brand awareness. By sponsoring an event, your company can get personal contact with visitors and create brand awareness.
But choose wisely: what you want to sponsor must be relevant to your target audience and your message. Avoid potential PR disasters: McDonalds sponsorship for sporting events has not always worked out well for the company. And most people also know Pepsi's PR campaign , in which the opening of a can of Pepsi could magically solve the two opposing camps during protests.
For help in making the right sponsor choice, read our blog about the reasons why big brands want to sponsor your event .
7. Take to the street
For companies that focus on consumers, there is no better way to gain brand recognition than to take to the streets and get in touch with potential customers.
From a pop-up on the street to professional artists, a flashmob or people discovering a new world with VR headsets, the possibilities are endless.
8. Invest in promotional material
Small promotional gifts are a great way to thank customers and at the same time strengthen your brand. For example, give them a power bank with your brand on it: it hardly costs you any money and your customers will have your company name and contact details within reach in the coming months.
brand management software
But don't be too stingy again. It makes no sense to give a power bank that will collapse in no time. The visibility of your brand is not only short-lived, but if you give away gifts of low quality, your company will make a bad impression.
The more creative the gift, the better. A unique, personal gift will really be appreciated by the recipient. Maybe he or she will post something on social media, which will put your brand in the spotlight even more.
9. Use the power of video
Video marketing continues to rise in popularity: in 2020, video is expected to make up more than 80% of total internet traffic .
With such statistics, chances are that your target audience will at least occasionally watch online videos, and in the battle for most video views, social networks are paying more and more attention to video on their platforms.
That means that if you make great video content for your brand, chances are there is an audience that wants to watch those videos and social networks are more likely to show your content to their users.
10. Try content marketing
The concept of content marketing has been around for several years, but there is still a significant number of companies that are not yet following the trend. The benefits are numerous: companies can increase organic search traffic, generate more leads, shorten the sales cycle and profile themselves as a thought leader in the sector.
If you want to build brand awareness, regular blogging can be just as effective for you as for thousands of other companies that are already actively involved in content marketing.
What can you do next to traditional ads to ensure that everyone talks about your brand? We have collected 10 ideas to make people talk about your brand.
1. Increase your brand awareness with social media
Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat and Whatsapp offer companies a fantastic free platform to promote themselves, build their brand and expand their audience.
Although it is a challenge to find the time for your profiles and blogs, activity is very important. You should therefore try to post several times a day. But what do you have to say? If you have expertise in a certain area, it can help you get a large following. Offer meaningful and relevant content and you get a valuable and involved audience in return.
Remember that interaction is essential to grow your number of followers, which means that you must respond in time to responses on your social media and involve your followers in the conversation.
The social media tool Hootsuite regularly provides overviews of the best performing brands on social media . You can view these examples for inspiration. Then read our guide on how to master social media for tips on how to become an expert in social media.
2. Organize an event
Whatever company or organization you have, a live event is a great way to attract the attention of current or potential customers. This can be in the form of a summer barbecue or a Christmas party, or an event around the launch of a new product or promotion. You can even give a workshop to share your professional expertise.
During an event you get in touch with potential customers, while they get the chance to experience the look, feel and personality of your brand. You can always enter a theme to make it more interesting, for example a cocktail evening in the atmosphere of the 1920s or a Dutch drink. Perhaps it's a good idea to raise money for a good cause during your event: it's the perfect way to give something back.
3. Start a PR campaign
Media attention is basically free advertising. It is even better than that, because the media enjoys more credibility and offers a higher chance to convince potential new customers to look for your brand. The difficulty consists of coming up with a newsworthy angle, and that depends on your goal: local or national media, print media, TV or radio.
Perhaps you have a good personal story to tell about why you founded your company, or you have introduced a new, unique product or established an interesting sales trend. Publish the results of a survey within your field to provide a credible basis for journalists, or venture responsive PR and keep your eyes open for relevant requests from journalists you can respond to.
4. Go to a trade show
Exhibiting can be extremely effective in making your brand visible to hundreds of people in your target group. However, it can be expensive, so make sure you are well prepared so that you get the best return on your investment. It is not always a matter of 'now that we are there, people will come naturally'. You have to do more to get people to your stand and keep them there long enough to get to know your brand and to take your message.
Organizing a competition or giveaway is a great way to attract attention. Who doesn't like to get something for free? Funny or handy branded gifts are always appreciated, for example gadgets that people can give to their children or a snack and a drink. A promotional shopping bag is also a good idea: turn the recipient into a walking billboard. Not sure where to start? Read our tips for original goodie bags .
Do you want to take the initiative with your brand? Organize a competition
5. Join forces with another company
Together you stand strong: if you can find other companies that appeal to the same type of customer as you without being direct competition, you have the opportunity to join forces for mutual benefit.
As a florist you can for example offer an exclusive discount to customers of the local bridal shop. It's a great way for you to attract customers. For the established company, it is a way to reward customers free of charge and with virtually no effort.
6. Become a sponsor
Sponsoring an event or product is another proven way to reach a target group and increase brand awareness. By sponsoring an event, your company can get personal contact with visitors and create brand awareness.
But choose wisely: what you want to sponsor must be relevant to your target audience and your message. Avoid potential PR disasters: McDonalds sponsorship for sporting events has not always worked out well for the company. And most people also know Pepsi's PR campaign , in which the opening of a can of Pepsi could magically solve the two opposing camps during protests.
For help in making the right sponsor choice, read our blog about the reasons why big brands want to sponsor your event .
7. Take to the street
For companies that focus on consumers, there is no better way to gain brand recognition than to take to the streets and get in touch with potential customers.
From a pop-up on the street to professional artists, a flashmob or people discovering a new world with VR headsets, the possibilities are endless.
8. Invest in promotional material
Small promotional gifts are a great way to thank customers and at the same time strengthen your brand. For example, give them a power bank with your brand on it: it hardly costs you any money and your customers will have your company name and contact details within reach in the coming months.
brand management software
But don't be too stingy again. It makes no sense to give a power bank that will collapse in no time. The visibility of your brand is not only short-lived, but if you give away gifts of low quality, your company will make a bad impression.
The more creative the gift, the better. A unique, personal gift will really be appreciated by the recipient. Maybe he or she will post something on social media, which will put your brand in the spotlight even more.
9. Use the power of video
Video marketing continues to rise in popularity: in 2020, video is expected to make up more than 80% of total internet traffic .
With such statistics, chances are that your target audience will at least occasionally watch online videos, and in the battle for most video views, social networks are paying more and more attention to video on their platforms.
That means that if you make great video content for your brand, chances are there is an audience that wants to watch those videos and social networks are more likely to show your content to their users.
10. Try content marketing
The concept of content marketing has been around for several years, but there is still a significant number of companies that are not yet following the trend. The benefits are numerous: companies can increase organic search traffic, generate more leads, shorten the sales cycle and profile themselves as a thought leader in the sector.
If you want to build brand awareness, regular blogging can be just as effective for you as for thousands of other companies that are already actively involved in content marketing.
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