Article

Steve Habazin
Steve Habazin 6 September 2019

When Your Brand is Starting Out: 5 Tips to Grow Brand Visibility

As a company just starting out it can be tough to realize no one knows who your brand is or really understands what you’re offering. As a suggestion, people will tell you, “Hey, you should focus on marketing and branding!” But what does that actually mean? Developing your company’s brand requires careful attention, planning, and figuring out what your company is capable of doing. Fortunately, there are lots of opportunities for new companies to get their branding in tiptop shape. Start with this list of 5 tips to grow brand visibility.

There is no doubt about the influence marketing has on having a recognizable brand. You could argue that the perception of your brand’s product or service by an audience is arguably more important than what’s actually being offered. Think about a brand that you wouldn’t suspect could do well. Like a pet rock. When pet rocks were all the rage in the late 70s and early 80s, its founder was able to walk away with $15 million. If you’re wondering how someone was able to turn a profit over something we can find everywhere for free, it’s because of marketing and branding. 

When it comes to having a company in an industry with high levels of competition offering similar or the same products and services as you, branding is what will get you ahead. For example, the amount of ride-sharing applications has boomed since the advent of the first app in 2011. One brand, in particular, has dominated the market and now also serves as a colloquial phrase. If you haven’t guessed it, we’re talking about Uber. The company’s branding and marketing are so on-point the brand’s name is used to replace common verbs. This has certainly helped them grow brand visibility.

Having strong branding determines your company’s visibility and differentiates your brand from the competition. So, get started and implement our 5 actionable tips you can use to help grow your brand from scratch.

Get to know and understand your audience

As nice as it would be to appeal to everyone and to have them all want your brand, we know that’s impossible. Instead of trying to get everyone’s attention, focus on a specific audience you know would be interested in your brand. Tailor your marketing and create a persona for that specific audience. Knowing what they like and want will help you create an identity your audience can relate to. Use a brand tracking tool like Latana to get inside their heads and use the data to grow brand visibility.

Branding-audience.png

Source: Unsplash

Later on, develop more personas as the spectrum of your audience gets bigger. Expect changes within your audiences as time moves forward. Just make sure you keep track of those changes so your brand can adapt and retain that audience.

Know what your competitors are doing

Your brand is bound to have competitors and there’s a good chance they existed before your brand even got started. Don’t think of this as a drawback of your brand though. If anything, make it work to your advantage. Check out your competitor’s social media, website, and general presence. Track their brand performance over time and compare it to your own.

Learn from your competitor’s mistakes and do better. Also check what’s working for them and what you could do that’s similar but still unique. There’s a lot to be learned from the competition and the key is deciding what makes your brand different from them.

Have a brand story

All brands start from somewhere and it’s a good idea to share just what that somewhere is. Let your audience know who you are and what your brand is about. It’s an inherent trait for us to want to know more and that desire doesn’t stop at your brand. There’s a high chance people will research your brand and are more likely to trust you if they can know something more about it.

Brand-story.png

Source 

Having a brand story provides a human element to your company which in turn develops trust and builds relationships with your audience. It also distinguishes yourself from competitors. Remember that point on how you input efforts in branding is what differentiates you from the rest? Your story will keep people from confusing your brand with others and will help grow brand awareness.

Create meaningful and engaging content

In order to communicate with your audience and express your brand’s persona, you will want to create meaningful content that people will engage with. Drive home your brand’s message with content that caters to your audience and serves as something they will want to share. If your audience ends up liking what you produce and shares it that will help grow brand visibility.

Content and its points of distribution, whether it’s through social media or via email, is a great way of reaching out and communicating with your audience. Use the opportunity to directly engage with your audience and see what suggestions they have that could make your brand even better.

Consistency is key

All the hard work you put into building a story and brand, it will be wasted if you’re not consistent. The last thing you want to do is confuse your audience with different messages or imagery depending on where they interact with your brand. You need to have a voice and aesthetic that is consistent across all platforms. This builds trust and loyalty amongst your audience since they know what they’re getting at all times.

To make sure your brand is consistent have a set of guidelines everyone in your team can follow. This includes your marketing team who is directly responsible for sharing your brand. They should know exactly how to use your message and visuals. It’s also important your other team members are intimately aware of the brand’s persona since by working for your brand they also represent it. Educate your in-house team about the brand’s mission, persona, and goals so they’re all on the same page.

Get Started

Starting out as a new company is always an exciting endeavour. Creating and developing your brand is both stimulating and inspiring even if it does come with its own set of challenges. We all want to become the brand that people choose and value the most. By taking the right steps, patience, and hard work reaching that level of brand recognition is definitely obtainable. Get started by implementing our 5 actionable tips.

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