According to a recent study, more than 67 percent of consumers made decisions based on company or product reviews online. This means you have to be active in branding and protecting your company’s reputation.
Unfortunately, with the Coronavirus pandemic’s current cash crunch, you may be tempted to put off all marketing and branding activities.. After all, no one wants to lose even the little money left.
Fear not! There are several ways to increase your brand reputation and awareness on a tight budget.
It’s important to continue branding and managing your reputation now because:
- you’ll outdo your competitors who cut marketing costs
- you need to maintain your company’s public visibility
- the right effort will limit negative reviews thereby boosting sales
- it will create or maintain the customers’ bond with the company
So, how do you achieve all the above without using up your limited funds?
Budget-Friendly Tips for Increasing Brand Reputation and Awareness
As you know, it takes years to build a company brand and reputation. The secret to a powerful, long-lasting brand is a strong bond that exists between the company and its customers. This connection is ultimately what will help businesses survive a downturn in the economy.
Despite the current fear of not earning enough money to get by, you can still brand your business on a tight budget. Here are five ways to do it:
1. Host Webinars
A webinar is a type of online conference where you interact with and do a presentation for the audience. All you need is a computer, internet, and video, communication, and presentation tools.
The webinar happens live but can be recorded for later viewing.
Participants can sign up for the scheduled event from anywhere and log in when the time arrives. You can upload documents, graphs, and images to act as visual aids for your presentation.
How does a webinar help your branding efforts?
For one, you are connecting and interacting with your audience. You can highlight product features or announce a new product on the market. You can share the link to the webinar to raise awareness about the company.
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Moreover, you can do Q&As and learn more about the issues your customers are facing.
Ensure that your entire focus is on helping your audience. That means inviting panels, getting experts, and providing great information. If you focus on selling, then you might lose some of them.
2. Create Video Content
Wherever you look on the internet, it is littered with a lot of video content. Why? Because videos are effective. You can use this to your advantage.
You don’t need expensive video equipment to create great video content. Nowadays, many people do it using their smartphones.
Create short educational videos to bring in new subscribers. Offer your current customers valuable content, and they will trust you more. Make sure to engage with them in the comment section.
Discover the most commonly asked question and make a video solving that problem for them. The more you do this, the more they become loyal to your brand. They’ll even help you attract customers by sharing the content.
3. Guest Posting
Guest posting is another inexpensive way of raising awareness and branding your company. All you need to do is reach out to other business websites and ask to write for their blogs.
Writing guest posts drives traffic to your website and theirs. You’re able to feature as an expert or authority, which enhances your brand in the industry. In addition, potential customers will read your content and may decide to buy from you.
This is why guest posting is effective. If you’re the one writing, you’ll encounter little to no expenses. If you have to get a writer, then you’ll incur some small cost. Even so, the benefits will be immense for your brand and reputation.
Some of the steps you need to take to succeed as a guest blogger include:
- Knowing where to find guest posting offers
- Knowing how to reach out to those businesses
- Defining what you want to achieve with those posts
- Knowing how to submit quality guest posts
If you do this well, you’ll notice a rise in the engagement on your website.
4. Content Marketing
The beauty of content marketing is that it holds so much potential for the success of your business. Doing it well will bring in more money than you’ll be spending on it. Besides, it is still budget-friendly, especially if you are the writer.
Writing content for your website helps you generate more leads. Then, either sell to them or convince them to learn more about your products or services. It will build trust, improve your company image, and give the perception that you are an expert.
Moreover, you can pick up the specific words the customers use and include it in your marketing. You can solve the customers’ problems by answering frequently asked questions.
By combining content and social media marketing, your brand’s visibility will increase. This means more engagement with current and potential customers.
And if you’re lucky, your content might go viral, thereby bringing you more attention.
Consider providing extra information to your customers through infographics and eBooks. Include SEO techniques to ensure customers find your content through search engines.
5. Organize Contests
Organizing contests is another cost-effective branding strategy. It doesn’t take much to set up the contest. For example, a graphic design company can ask its customers to compete in a design contest. The customers use the company’s new software, and the winner gets a prize.
The reward doesn’t have to be expensive. You can decide, for example, to give away a free subscription for a few months. The interest and excitement generated by the competition will attract new customers. This will offset the subscription prize you gave out.
Another type of contest you can go for involves User Generated Content (UGC). This is where you push an online challenge to your audience to create content about your brand.
For example, you could ask your audience to make what they think would be the best and simplest ad for your company.
You can solicit all this engagement free through social media. The authenticity from your customers will give your brand some social proof. The audience reach will be enormous if you factor in different platforms.
This means they will be associating with your brand for an extended period.
Branding on a Budget
As you can see, you don’t have to burn through a lot of money to promote and brand your business.
Keep it simple and focus on effective ideas such as guest posting and content marketing. Create short, evergreen, and informative videos. Try your hand at hosting webinars and organizing contests as well.
When you do these things while focusing on helping customers, your brand will grow organically.
Heather Redding is a part-time assistant manager, solopreneur and writer based in Aurora, Illinois. She is also an avid reader and a tech enthusiast. When Heather is not working or writing, she enjoys her Kindle library and a hot coffee. Reach out to her on Twitter.
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