Last Updated 2 years by Emily Standley-Allard
Improved brand awareness can create more customer loyalty, make higher sales and give you enhanced competitive advantages in a crowded market, among numerous other perks. However, many people think building brand awareness requires substantial budgets. Not the case! Here are six powerful tips for building brand awareness without breaking the bank. Learn the most actionable ways to make progress with modest financial investments.
1. Keep Your Social Media Profiles Updated
You probably already have several social media profiles for your business, and if not, it’s certainly time to create them. Many people land on a company’s social media profiles before checking out their websites. Others gauge social media profile content before deciding whether to pursue a company further.
It’s great to include cohesive details like your company’s logo, color scheme and slogan on a social media page.
However, you could still fall short with brand awareness if people come to a business profile and see no updates for the past few weeks or more.
That lack of activity could make them think your company is struggling or not involved in creating anything worthwhile.
Figure out how someone from your company could post updated content to all social media profiles without getting overwhelmed. Social media also helps your SEO so it’s important not to neglect it.
It’s better to commit to adding new material twice a week than try to do it every day and quickly realize that’s an unrealistic frequency.
Try to include a mix of materials, such as videos, images and open-ended questions to users. Most people appreciate the variety.
Curation of automated content is fast, simple, easy and inexpensive through freelancers or with a tool like Crowdfire.
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2. Broadcast Live Content on a Schedule
Live content broadcasts let you vastly increase the target audience reached.
Whereas an event at a physical location may only attract people with a 10-15-mile radius, live events shown online can generate interest from individuals in other states, countries and time zones.
Aim to commit to planning frequent live streams to capitalize on brand recognition opportunities, but keep an eye on viewership numbers to confirm they’re paying off.
As Kyshira Moffett, founder of brand strategy company The KSM Group, said, “Livestream is arguably one of the most cost-effective ways to drive organic traffic for your business and can increase the speed of customer conversion. Select the platform that your market leverages the most and hit the ‘live’ button.”
She continued, “Create content that is interesting, actionable and engaging. Don’t forget that having strong calls to action throughout your session can quickly generate leads.”
Also, deciding you’ll have a live broadcast every month or on a similar schedule lets people plan to attend, gives them something to anticipate and increases the chances they’ll ask friends to join them during future streams.
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3. Start or Advertise on a Podcast
Podcasts represent a type of media that has achieved a prominent presence in the media landscape. The number estimates vary, but some put the total number in the millions.
On the one hand, you may think the market saturation makes it overly challenging to succeed with a podcast. However, if you take the time to understand your target audience and what they want, you’re more likely to gain traction.
You can keep the overall costs of creating a podcast down by purchasing a budget microphone and taking care to find a reasonably priced hosting provider.
Some active podcast creators say they got their shows going for less than $100 and still spend approximately $20 on the monthly hosting costs. However, podcasts require ongoing commitments, whether related to finding guests or determining what to discuss on each episode.
If starting a podcast is too big of an endeavor for now, consider advertising on one. A study found that 42% of podcast listeners purchased items mentioned during episodes.
Additionally, consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands saw a 37-point increase in brand awareness after advertising on podcasts. Other industries, including tech and financial services, experienced rises, too.
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4. Distribute Branded Freebies
People love getting free things, especially if they’ll use them regularly rather than stashing the products in drawers and forgetting about them.
Freebies can be fantastic for building your brand awareness because they make your company name more noticeable than it would be otherwise.
For example, stress reliever balls are popular branded items to give away.
Take the time to browse the various colors and shapes and add your company name.
Everyone gets stressed from time to time. Many people put stress relief balls on their desks within easy reach. If the item features your brand, the recipient sees it often, and so does anyone who visits their workspace.
Consider items people may use while on the move, too.
For example, tote bags potentially make your brand more visible across a broader geographic area.
The same goes for car magnets or bumper stickers.
When creating your branded items, aim for a mix of visual appeal and functionality. Those characteristics will make people more likely to use the products for the long term.
5. Create How-To Guides
Credibility is a significant part of making your brand succeed. Getting more people aware of your company and its products is a fantastic start, but it’s even better if they build trust in your organization.
You can stimulate that effect by educating them with high-quality content related to your brand.
Start by doing Google research to learn about the most searched for “how-to” queries associated with your product category. Perhaps you sell camping tents. In that case, your target audience may want advice about things like:
- How to select a tent
- How to dry a tent
- How to pack a tent
- How to use tent guy lines
- How to find the best tent placement
- How to repair a tent in an emergency
Consider writing video or text-based guides that answer questions like those. Use non-intrusive branding, such as by including your name and logo in the corner of a written guide or clip.
Then, complete each content piece with a gentle recommendation to check out your brand for more tips or purchase products that address users’ pain points.
The main goals here are to teach people and convey authority. However, it’s a bonus if your efforts cause increased purchases or other desirable outcomes.
6. Explore Cross-Promotion Activities
Cross-promotion campaigns are also valuable for raising brand awareness. If done thoughtfully, they’ll expose your company to an entirely new audience segment. Begin by finding companies that target the same people you do but are not direct competitors.
It’s also valuable to think carefully about which groups of people have a clearly identified need or desire for your product but remain unreached.
Perhaps you sell a line of premade healthy smoothies.
Then, you might consider partnering with a gym to have the products stocked on its premises in a cooler.
Think about launching a promotion where people could present an empty smoothie bottle at the gym to get $50 off the next month’s fee or a similar benefit.
The idea is to create a mutually beneficial partnership.
Don’t forget to use social media tags to ensure the most people know about the campaign and feel interested in checking out a business they probably didn’t know about before.
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Better Brand Awareness Is Within Reach
These six strategies to build brand awareness illustrate that you don’t have to spend a lot to help more people know about your brand. Instead of trying all of them at once, choose one or two suggestions to implement.
Select a few metrics before getting started so that you’ll have a good idea of whether a new marketing method works well as is or needs tweaking for improved results.
Conclusion
Content marketing is an absolute must for industries to build their brand awareness but as you can see it doesn’t have to break your budget. Build a better epic business online and promote your brand by using these tips to get more customers, grow your profits and be in business for the long haul!
Author Bio
Eleanor is the editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. She was the director at a marketing agency prior to becoming a freelance web designer. Eleanor lives in Philly with her husband and dog, Bear.
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