One of the biggest challenges for businesses today is to create a lasting brand and look at ways to optimise this brand visibility. In fact, the internet has in many ways changed the way businesses were handled and operated. Perhaps one primary reason is you no longer have to build brand indirectly through ad campaigns and publicity endeavours.
The internet is the new buzzword in the world of branding. It has opened the scope of direct communication like never before. For the first time, manufacturers and business personnel get the opportunity to connect directly with many potential clients and create a strong brand recall merely on the merit of the product rather than artificially created buzz.
Not only does the internet help in establishing the brand but also improve its visibility going forward, create awareness about the brand and achieve the other crucial business objectives that are targeted through branding. Be it a small business or big, we will help you some easy to implement tips that not only enhances your brand visibility but also boost sales proportionately and help you achieve your business targets within deadlines. Just follow these simple tools and engage your audience in an undeniably striking manner.
• Let Your Communication Be Authentic: In a world that is mired with double speak and innumerable instances of miscommunication, it sure helps to have a company that conveys the right information to its users. The fact that the rising importance of social media in our lives facilitates more effective direct communication needs to be cashed in on and the effort needs to be directed at establishing connect with potential customers with some authentic and forceful communication on the brand value. This one on one conversation also enhances the brand visibility.
• Use the Social Media: This essentially brings us to our next step, i.e. the platform we might use to achieve the end. Given the meaningful penetration and the rising popularity of the social network platforms, often these can create the best platform for increased brand visibility. These days’ start-ups are implementing great tactics to gain some social media. Recently I spoke with CEO of Coupomachine.in regarding their social media tactics. Their primary goal is to run as many as blood donation campaigns and free mobile recharge on every usage of their coupon. Recently they have given Rs. 50 (Less than $0.9) mobile recharge on every Askmebazaar coupon. With this tactic they successfully had 2000+ leads. That said it is important to exercise caution. Ensure that social media is used more to address the communication end of your brand building exercise rather than converting into a sales funnel. The Same tactic has been implemented with every Snapdeal coupon usage from couponmachine and it was successful. Additionally, care needs to be taken on the message that is conveyed through the social media. Not only should you avoid anything negative but also any derogatory content about peers should also be never tinkered with. Remember just like the branding gains, the negative impact on a brand on social media as scathing and hard to handle.
• Talk about Your Business: This is particularly helpful if you are in a negative sector. Pass the word about how great your business is. Let people know about the ins and outs of your business and how it can meaningfully impact their lives because remember nobody can talk about your business as earnestly and appropriately as you can. Therefore, go ahead and create your own blog, tell your story and let the world know about your business initiatives, the brand you have built and no doubt help in spreading the word about your brand, enhancing the brand visibility all the way.
You can even use the blog to interact directly with the consumers who use your product and get inputs from them on ways to improve the overall brand value and get ideas on how the demand cycle is shaping up. This will no doubt also help you get better ideas about future ventures if any and give you the right set of the research base to start with.
• Leverage the Network: There is nothing like using your existing and established network of friends and acquaintances for getting the right type of exposure. Not only is it difficult for new businesses to get the right exposure, but it also involves a significant amount of money to achieve this end. In comparison, it is much simpler to get your friends, colleagues and social network acquaintances to get refer you, write testimonials for you and even spread the word for the brand that you have created. Not only is it a largely inexpensive affair it also lends a significant amount of credibility to your work with personal experiences and recommendations acting as a stamp of approval for you.
• Search Engine Optimisation: Creating web content that is search engine optimised is one of the smartest initiatives you can undertake towards enhancing your brand visibility. In very simple words it means that you lace your entire body of web content with a sufficient number of words that are searched for most often. What it does then automatically boosts the views of your website or blog as the internet gleans through the massive information overload entirely on the basis of the keywords. Search engine optimisation helps your web pages rank high in search engines based on the keywords or keyword phrases that you use in your content to boost the SEO element. This can often direct a huge amount of traffic towards your site, create brand awareness and thereby helping you make constructive progress towards a lasting brand visibility initiative. Essentially SEO initiatives help in making your pages a lot more capable in dealing with the changing algorithm of search engine priorities and look at how these can be addressed best in terms of the necessity that you would want to bank on.
• Ranking On The Web: When we are talking of SEO, it is hard not to mention website ranking in this context. Many sites like Google or Alexa help you rank the website. The ranking is significant because it gives you a comparative picture on how your website fares vis-a-vis the many others in the market and the ways you could cash in on the projected visibility of the brand. The gradual rise or upmove in the ranking can also help improve the brand visibility and harness the infinite possibilities available on the internet from funding to expansion. Perhaps in that context looking at a higher Google ranking is not just easier to achieve but also ensures a larger reach. Don’t shy away thinking it is an expensive and time-consuming affair. It can be surprisingly simple and often easy to execute but of course, you need to think out of the box. A simple solution can be putting your business on Google maps; this is one of the easiest ways to get to the top of the list! Also regular posts on Twitter and Google plus go a long way in helping improve the broad rankings of the website.
• Advertising Online: Of course every business needs some amount of advertising to build and maintain the brand name. Given the rising trend and penetration of the world wide web in our day to day activities, it goes without saying that some online advertisement can go a long way in helping you make steady gains in that aspect. Not only will it help you getting attention for your business online but also it can be instrumental in connecting with the right type of advertisers who can help you create presence across medium and help your brand create that edge that helps you tide over competition from peers. It can also help you decide on the best type of advertising exercise for your business and result in significant savings by redirecting the budget towards methods and means that can provide you the maximum mileage. Essentially what you then get is a cost effective but efficient means of advertising that can constructively boost the overall brand value and visibility and at the same time help you realise much higher returns from the limited ad spends that you might undertake to give a fillip to your brand.
• Go Big On Visuals: Another interesting and inexpensive way to boost the firm’s brand visibility is through the use of photos and compelling visual elements. You must remember that people love to share photo posts whether they are inspirational, sarcastic or funny. There is no harm and absolute gain in betting big on them. So never shy away from putting together some text and quotes that appeal to your target audience and create them to spread a message by leveraging your brand. You create a double impact with these types of endeavours. Not only is the brand visibility enhanced through these exercises but also it creates a good will and positive market value about the brand as a result of these exercises thus enhancing the overall appeal of you brand.
• Create Contests: Have you ever wondered why reality shows are such a big hot with the audience. It is mostly because it gives them a platform to associate with the programme and also gives them a platform to flaunt their abilities. So what are you waiting for? You can create your own reality show online by creating contests and making giveaways. People love to win things and you can even use Facebook ads to promote your endeavours.
Guest post by Priyanka Chowdary. Follow her on Google+