There are over 30 million small businesses in the United States. While that number may seem exciting from the lens of this country being a great place to start a company, it's also sobering considering the amount of competition that's out there.
No matter what niche you operate in, your brand is fighting for eyeballs and sales against thousands of competitors. Given the fact, in a time where conserving money is essential, can you carry out an effective brand awareness strategy to stand out?
As it turns out, there are ample ways to help get your brand noticed by new customers, even if you don't have a large (or any) marketing budget. Below, we share 8 cost-effective strategies that you might want to include in your next awareness campaign.
1. Own Your Social Media Presence
Social media is used by billions of people. The best part is that creating a profile on any number of social platforms and connecting with massive user bases doesn't have to cost your company a dime!
All you have to do is figure out which social channels cater to audiences that are most like your target demo. Then, claim your pages.
Once your pages are claimed, get into the habit of sharing valuable content with your social community and engaging with content that others share. Through sharing and engaging, you'll find that your popularity on platforms will go scale alongside your sales.
2. Participate in Local Events
Too many businesses put all of their eggs in the digital basket when it comes to their brand awareness strategy. While investing in digital is a must, it's equally important to get out into your community and make yourself known to locals.
The best way to do that is by participating in community events like fairs or doing similar things (sponsoring local sports teams, making donations to local charitable causes, etc.). By building goodwill in your community, not only will you grow your local customer base but word of mouth will hopefully catapult your company into the minds of people further away.
3. Present Yourself As an Expert
Nobody wants to do business with a company that doesn't know what they're talking about. Therein lies the value of presenting yourself as an expert when it comes to topics surrounding your products and services.
You can do this by adding a blog to your website. You may also want to explore making connections with other websites that discuss topics similar to your specialty to see if they'll let you "guest post" on their site so you can reach new audiences.
Guest posting is an important aspect of search engine optimization, as this article passively points out. The more you're cited around the web, the better search rankings you'll enjoy.
4. Cross-Promote
A freeway to build brand awareness that few businesses exploit is cross-promotion.
For example, if you sell cookies and another company in your community sells milk, why not promote one another's complementary products to your customers? Doing so won't cannibalize your business and will create additional awareness for all parties involved.
5. Lean on Visuals
Visuals are a must when engaging people online. To that end, pictures are great but videos are even better.
If you're not on YouTube already, create a profile, and make it a point to post relevant content on at least a monthly basis. This content can be similar to the content you may already be sharing on your blog in that it should be targeted at your key consumers and in some way add value to their lives.
6. Dabble in Gorilla Marketing
Gorilla marketing can be illegal in some areas so we recommend checking with local authorities before carrying out tactics you may be contemplating. Marketing tactics that fall under the gorilla umbrella include putting up creative flyers that promote your brand or tagging brand graffiti.
Gorilla tactics work especially well in grungy city areas so try to relegate your tactics to these spaces rather than vandalizing purely residential communities where your message might not be as appreciated.
7. Offer Freemium Services
If you run a SaaS (software as a service) company, you can get your brand a lot of attention by offering free access to your services.
Companies that offer things like accounting tools, photo editing tools, or similar services tend to have a "free tier" that gets lots of people in the door. From there, once a consumer's trust has been earned, these companies try to coax their free subscribers into upgraded, paid packages.
8. Stand For Something
Vanilla brands have a hard time standing out in today's marketplace. To give yourself the best chance of getting ahead of the masses, know what your brand stands for, and let that influence its voice.
Having a clear voice as a brand is particularly impactful when events happen in your community, country, and around the world. It lets you speak out and say something that hopefully, will build further loyalty with your customers and maybe even positively impact the greater good.
A Brand Awareness Strategy Doesn't Have to Cost You More Than Your Creativity
Big companies spend millions to execute a brand awareness strategy. That has made some small businesses feel like they would need to do the same to keep pace.
The truth is though, you don't have to have access to tons of money to get your company's name out there. With a little bit of creativity and a whole lot of drive, you can make your mark on consumer's consciousness.
For more frugal tips that can help you get the most out of your business and life, check out additional content on our blog. Visit the Marketing section of the Frugal Finance Blog right now for more insight into implementing a strong brand awareness strategy online and offline.
