As any seasoned entrepreneur will tell you, branding is the cornerstone of a successful business. To understand how to achieve your desired results, it is important to start with well-defined parameters of what it means to brand a business.
Branding is any activity which is purposely designed to burn your company name, logo, products, services, mission, vision, and values into your potential customers’ minds. The key is to leave a lasting impression of your business on the target audience.
Luckily, there are different strategies and approaches to branding that are suited for all budgets. Low-budget branding could be just as affective given that you employ the simple strategies detailed in this article.
Gamble Responsibly
First and foremost, don’t be afraid to take chances. Evaluate risk and take a calculated gamble once in a while when deemed appropriate. Sometimes trial and error is the best approach, and most importantly, valuable information could be garnered for future campaigns.
Viral videos are a non-traditional method of getting your brand out there. It is a novel approach suited for the current digital era. Best of all, if the video is attention-grabbing and memorable, not much promotion will be needed for the clip to gain momentum.
The best example of this comes from Dollar Shave Club. In March, the company spent $4500 on an entertaining video that went viral. Prior to launch, the impactful video attracted five million views, 12000 subscriptions, and helped raise $1 million in venture capital.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
As the saying goes, many hands make the work lighter. It holds true in the arena of branding as well. Try to collaborate with other brands to increase exposure for all parties involved.
However, it is important to employ a targeted approach and work together with other organisations that share a similar audience. After all, the quality of your audience is often more important than the quantity.
This strategy is best displayed in the fashion industry. Mathew Williamson works hand in hand with H&M, while Missoni has a line at Target. Not only will it increase awareness and build a greater audience, but sales will undoubtedly increase as well.
Moreover, by bringing fresh ideas to the table, your small business could try to cooperate with an established organization. Perhaps, the bigger brand will even foot the bill given that your start-up shows excitement and the potential for growth. You don’t have anything to lose by reaching out to others within your industry, so it’s definitely worth a shot.
Influence Those with Influence
Every niche has leaders and innovators who set trends that the rest of the industry then adopts. Such trends eventually trickle down to consumers. The best approach would be to influence this 1%, which will, in turn, help brand your small business within the mainstream audience.
These trend setters influence others through professional contacts, word of mouth, and social media. A cheap and effective way to get them to talk about your product is by sending free samples or taking a personal outreach approach. The extra effort is worth it if they end up promoting your business.
In addition, services such as BrandBacker allows for targeted branding of your business through its affiliation with over 10000 bloggers and influencers.
Digital Conquest
The online impact of branding cannot be understated. With the rise in popularity of the smartphone, it is important to branch out and have traffic through both internet browser and apps.
To brand your business on social media, you must keep your message consistent across platforms. Go about it as if your brand was a person and build your image with that in mind. Most importantly, provide valuable content with a high likelihood to be shared.
Additionally, if you have the extra budget, take a look at Promoted Tweets and Facebook Ads. They have the potential to reach a huge audience. Just make sure the content has the potential to be impactful and go viral.
Branded for Life
As you can see, message and content are more important than the budget when it comes to branding your small business. A useful approach is to target those under the age of 30. People tend to remain loyal to brands that they’ve valued from a young age.
Furthermore, growing up in the digital age, millennials are more in tune with reviews associated with a brand. A 2011 survey by Pew Research Center found that 76% of people under the age of 30 consider brand image a major factor when shopping. Moreover, 55% name reviews as the leading factor in deciding to buy a product.
Therefore, it is important to use social marketing to set yourself apart from the competition. Positive reviews and word of mouth go a long way. Through social media campaigns, you have the potential to make a lasting impression on a vast audience.
Use this strategy in conjunction with collaborating with others in your niche, and reaching out to influential members of your industry to effectively brand your small business. In the end, you’ll find that the harder you work, the more luck you’ll seem to have.