There are two ways to promote your brand to potential customers. You can either broadcast to people directly through the content you produce, or encourage others to promote your brand indirectly by sharing your content, creating their own brand-related material, or endorsing your business as part of a formal partnership or influencer relationship. In this article, we’ll look at how to use both content and human relationships to develop your brand awareness and reach more of your target customers.
1. Content marketing
Content marketing is the bread-and-butter of digital sales and remains the most powerful and effective way of increasing brand exposure and establishing yourself as an authority in your industry. By regularly creating and publishing informative blog articles, videos, podcasts, and downloadable guides, you can build your brand authority and attract an ever-growing stream of visitors to your website and social media channels. High-quality content builds trust with your audience and encourages them to engage with your brand by proactively addressing their pain points and purchase motivations.
Content marketing is also the means of engaging with several other lucrative digital marketing channels, including paid advertising, social media, and search engine optimisation (SEO)– you have to have something to say in order for people to pay attention to you. Sharing your content on multiple channels – using consistent and compelling messages for each of your buyer personas – gives you the best chance of the widest brand exposure, so always cross promote your material on your website, blog, social media, and through your email network. This also makes it easy for followers to share your content with their networks.
2. User-generated content (UGC)
User generated content (UGC) is a very effective way of engaging your customers and increasing your brand exposure, by essentially co-opting your customers to create your marketing content for you, for free. UGC can include photos, videos, reviews, testimonials, or any content created by your customers – from pictures of themselves eating at your restaurant, to un-boxing videos and review blogs. If you are successful at offering a good product with an enjoyable customer experience, customers will probably start creating UGC without being prompted, but there’s no harm in encouraging customers to share experiences with your brand on social media. A branded hashtag will help you appear in searches on social media whenever someone posts UGC. Make sure you show appreciation to customers that create content on your behalf, reposting their content on your social channels and website (if appropriate) to showcase their loyalty and encourage others to do the same. This helps to humanise your business, develop trust with your audience, and increase your brand visibility.
3. Partnerships and collaborations
One of the most cost-effective ways to increase your brand exposure is by partnering with other businesses, brands, or authority figures in your sector. For example, since the pandemic, B2B businesses in a range of sectors have collaborated with others through LinkedIn groups on shared projects and support networks to reach a larger audience, increase brand credibility, and establish new customer and supplier relationships. To find good partners or collaborators, look for aligned businesses or non competing suppliers in your sector who have a similar target audience. Partnerships can range from joint product launches to informal mutual recommendations, discounts for customers if they purchase from both partners, or simply exposure and cross promotion on your business websites and social media channels.
4. Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is another collaborative strategy for increasing brand exposure but differs from partnerships and collaborations with other businesses. Influencers are typically individuals in your sector (e.g. successful business people, coaches, or investors) who have a loyal following on social media who look to them for recommendations and advice. A good influencer partnership can help you promote your services and products to a large audience in a short time, but you need to be strategic in your approach for influencer marketing to be successful. For SMEs, what you’ll be looking for is micro-influencers, who may have a social media following of between 1000 and 10,000 followers in a specific niche or area. Followers are likely to see them as trusted peers rather than distant figures or ‘celebrities’, which can make their endorsements more effective and powerful. Micro-influencers are also typically more cost-effective to work with than their larger counterparts, making influencer marketing more accessible for businesses on a smaller marketing budget, and those looking to target a specific demographic.
Next steps
Whatever your sector, business objectives, and current level of brand exposure, we can help you reach more customers, get more inbound leads, and make more sales online. To find out more about our tailored inbound marketing services and how you can benefit, please contact JDR today by clicking here.
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