Danni White is the CEO of DW Creative Consulting, which helps professional service companies and nonprofits grow their organizations.
Generating brand awareness is essential for building a strong and memorable brand that resonates with your target audience. In uncertain times of economic instability, many companies are focused on cutting—cutting jobs, cutting budgets and cutting opportunities.
Yet amidst these many areas of cutting, there are also areas in which leaders can focus on growing awareness in a deeper way—even if it isn’t the ways in which we are accustomed. As marketing agencies and departments become leaner and leaner, there are many actionable ways in which leaders can organically continue to grow their brands and their thought leadership in the process.
Here are five strategies that I continue to find effective for generating and maintaining steady engagement and growth from brand awareness.
1. Content Marketing
Content marketing remains a very viable way to generate awareness of your brand, product or service. Create and distribute memorable, valuable and informative content to your target audience at the cadence to which they are accustomed and through the channels they already use.
How are businesses leveraging content marketing these days? A lot. According to reports by the Content Marketing Institute, 73% of marketers in the B2B space and 70% of B2C marketers use content marketing regularly as part of their overall marketing strategy.
While your copy doesn’t have to be flamboyant, it does need to be informative and relevant. It should be likeable and sharable as well.
2. Social Media Marketing
Social media is nothing to sleep on. The key is to find which social media platform your target audience is utilizing and meet them there consistently. One recent report indicates 44% of local businesses currently use social media to drive brand awareness for their business.
Leaders should take the time to utilize social media platforms to engage with your audience; promote your brand, product or service; create a lasting and memorable impression; and build relationships with current and potential customers.
3. Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing has grown into an over $16.4 billion industry. That’s not to be taken lightly. There is an influencer for almost every product or service imaginable. Leaders must remember that people don’t just buy what you sell, they also buy who is selling it.
Partnering with the right influencers and bloggers can go far to align with your brand and your brand values. By leveraging their reach and credibility, you can reach a wider audience and build brand awareness.
In some cases, partnerships can happen organically. People like and share your stuff all the time. Dig into the data and analytics. See who is watching, buying, chatting, liking or sharing—and craft a plan for outreach.
4. Public Relations
Develop relationships with journalists, media outlets and local talent to secure coverage for your brand or business. Whether it’s a new product launch, service re-release, the release of thought leadership around your industry or even supporting a local charity or service project, leveraging the media around you is key.
A strong public relations initiative should include press releases, media outreach and building relationships with key influencers in your industry. It may also include creating events and things for the media to talk about.
Today, anything can be turned into a big deal for your business. When you leverage media on local events you host, prospective customers will be inclined to visit you when your business has larger events.
5. Brand Collaborations
Brand collaborations is very different from influencer marketing. With brand collaborations, you partner intentionally with other brands and organizations to co-create products, services, events or experiences that appeal to both of your audiences.
For example, if you’re a local agency, you might co-create a networking experience with a local restaurant or another agency to tap into your collective network of buyers, clients and peer-related friends. In the digital space, webinars are a great example. If you’re a real estate agency owner, for example, you can partner with another peer in the same industry to talk about a topic that is relevant to both audiences.
Is your company struggling to organically generate brand awareness?
By implementing these strategies, you can increase your brand’s visibility among potential clients, reach a wider audience, connect with your peers in the same or different industries and build a strong emotional connection with your target audience.
Remember, generating brand awareness is an ongoing process that requires consistent effort and a willingness to experiment and adapt your strategies over time. And they don’t always have to be paid. A lot of strategies work best with time and effort.
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