7 Ways to Increase Brand Awareness for Your Small Business
Reputation is everything.
Establishing a brand identity and increasing brand awareness are critical steps in positioning your business for long-term success.
This is especially important for small businesses, which do not have the luxury of a large marketing budget.
If you're a small business looking to increase brand awareness, this article is for you.
How to Increase Brand Awareness for Your Small Business
You can increase brand awareness for your small business by understanding what your brand is, creating value beyond your products and services, using various online channels, creating valuable, shareable content, making it easy for audiences to try your products and services, contributing to your local community, and paying attention to what your customers want.
1. Understand What Your Brand Is
You cannot establish a brand identity if you yourself are not aware of what your brand is.
Think about what your brand identity is and how you want to present yourself to audiences.
What does your brand look like visually?
What is your brand’s voice?
What are your brand's values?
These are all important questions to ask yourself when it comes to understanding your brand.
2. Create Value Beyond Your Products and Services
To truly stand out from the competition, you need to do more than just offer great products and services.
You should also be creating additional value for your customers so they can have a better experience with your brand.
This will create long-term brand loyalty among your customers.
For example, if you're selling clothing online, consider offering styling advice or an exclusive newsletter that provides special discounts or sneak peeks of upcoming collections.
This way, you are creating more than just a product, but an entire experience.
Another good example is Nike.
Nike goes beyond selling athletic shoes and apparel by offering value through its Nike Training Club app and Nike Run Club app.
These apps provide workout programs, personalized coaching, and community engagement, offering added value to customers and helping them achieve their fitness goals.
3. Take Advantage of Different Online Channels
These days, it's easier than ever to get the word out about your business.
With a variety of tools and platforms available, you can tap into different online channels to increase brand awareness.
Social media is a great way to not only engage with potential customers but also build relationships with them.
You can create engaging content, interact with customers on various social networks, and even run ads to reach more people.
It's important to learn the expectations and communities around different social media channels in order to effectively engage with them.
For example, the communities on Instagram and TikTok engage differently compared to discussion-focused communities like Twitter, Reddit, Quora, and LinkedIn.
Content marketing is also a great way to build your brand.
Blogging and creating videos are two of the most popular forms of content marketing.
Creating helpful content that educates or entertains readers can help you establish trust with potential customers, increasing brand awareness in the process.
4. Create Valuable, Shareable Content
Creating valuable content is a great way to increase brand awareness and build relationships with your audience.
When creating content for your website or blog, make sure it’s interesting and engaging so that readers are more likely to share it with their friends and followers.
Make sure the content is relevant to your industry as well, as this will help you establish yourself as an authority in the field.
You can also create shareable images and videos with helpful tips or even offer discounts or exclusive content to those who share your content.
In fact, 62% of B2B buyers report relying on practical content like case studies and visual content to help them make their decision.
They also cite the importance of source credibility in the content.
5. Make It Easy for Audiences To Try Your Products and Services
People often need a little bit of extra encouragement to try new products or services.
Make it easy for them by offering discounts, free trials, and other incentives that make it more likely for them to give your product or service a shot.
Service-based businesses can go the extra mile and offer free versions of their services to clients.
For example, companies that offer repairs and construction offer free price quotes to break down the estimated cost of the project.
Other businesses, like those in online marketing, offer free website audits to show clients how they can benefit from working with them.
By offering these incentives, you can increase brand awareness and get more people to try your products or services.
6. Contribute To Your Local Community
As a small business, you should be focusing your brand awareness efforts inward instead of trying to cast as wide a net as possible.
Your local community is perfect for this.
It is also far easier to increase brand awareness in a smaller community than it is on a larger scale.
Get involved with local events and organizations in your area, as this can help increase brand awareness and build relationships with those in the community.
You can also set up a booth at trade shows or offer free services to charitable causes.
These activities will show that you care about your local community, which will help build local trust and loyalty for your brand.
7. Pay Attention to What Your Customers Want
It’s important to pay attention to what your customers want.
If you are consistently listening to their feedback and responding accordingly, you can better tailor your products and services to meet their needs.
As a result of customers feeling like their opinions matter and that the company values them, brand loyalty will increase.
You can gather customer feedback in a number of ways, such as:
Surveys
Focus groups
One-on-one interviews
When you take the time to understand what your customers want and respond accordingly, you can further increase brand awareness and loyalty.
Wrapping Up: How to Increase Brand Awareness for Your Small Business
Below are proven strategies for increasing brand awareness for your small business:
Understanding what your brand is
Creating value beyond your products and services
Taking advantage of different online channels
Creating valuable, shareable content
Making it easy for audiences to try your products and services
Contributing to your local community
Paying attention to what your customers want
By increasing your brand awareness, you can attract and retain more customers.
