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By Emily Jones
Special to the Financial Independence Hub
Marketing your online business isn’t necessarily a cut and dry endeavor. For instance, you may have the best products on the planet but are having trouble getting them in front of the right people. Or you’ve found the right people but are unable to communicate with them clearly. Either way, you won’t be making any money.
In the marketing world, there’s no quick fix to success: there are things you should know before choosing your business growth strategies and the following brand building strategies can help you take your efforts to the next level.
The Internet is now pervasive
There’s no denying it: the Internet dominates virtually every aspect of our lives. Thus, it comes as no surprise that it has become very a popular and effective marketing medium. Take control of this monster with these two tips:
Leverage social media
Sites like Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook have the potential to boost the popularity of your brand exponentially. But to get the most out of these sites, it’s important to know which one works best for your brand. For instance:
- Pinterest and Instagram are best for sites with a lot of pics
- B2Bs do best on Twitter
- Small businesses in creative industries do well on Instagram
To succeed, you must create a creative and engaging marketing campaign to help you stand apart from your competition. Do so by posting updates several times a day to make sure you are engaging with your audience on a regular basis.
Embrace influencer marketing
Influencers are well liked and trusted by their audience, making an endorsement by them very valuable. To take advantage of this, find key influencers who are already in your industry. Just make sure that their business complements (rather than competes) with your product or service.
Popular influencers are being courted by my many companies. Give yourself an advantage by researching them: this will give you an idea of what you can do capture their interest and get them to listen to your story.
You may also want to create a couple of influencer strategies. In this way, if your desired influencer decides to go another way, all is not lost. You have other options to choose from.
Offline Brand Building
Although most of your brand building marketing work will be done online, there’s still something to be said about offline marketing. But for this type of brand building to work, you must be consistent. Keep this in mind as you pore over the following tips:
Make the most of merchandising
Merchandising, while often overlooked, is one of the most powerful marketing languages. No longer relegated to logos, ads, etc., when merchandise is packaged properly, it can create and foster a personal, powerful, and long-lasting relationship between consumer and brand.
Merchandising has the power to communicate with consumers in a multisensory way. When you are able to reach your target demographic in this way, the higher the likelihood that you will be able to create a strong emotional connection.
Hold an event
Use your company’s connections to bring in interesting speakers for a special event or workshop. Virtually anything goes as long as you are able to provide your customers with real value.
Take this time to educate and inspire them. Give them something new to think about and they’ll forever associate that experience with your company.
Merging the Two
In order to remain competitive, businesses in this day and age have had to adapt to the current climate i.e. use online strategies to build brand awareness. But, offline strategies are still pretty effective as well.
Further, when you combine the two, it creates a marketing monster that can build your brand like nothing else. Don’t believe it? The following tip may change your mind:
Record everything
Although your business is based online, chances are that work is being done offline. Take advantage of this and document the things that take place in your business to build a closer relationship with those in your target demographic.
For instance, you may want to:
- Take pictures of your colleagues hard at work
- Record a life event
- Record videos informing people about your latest offers and deals
To find success in business, it’s no longer possible to do the bare minimum: especially in terms of marketing. We must go beyond the traditional marketing vehicles and create experiences that speak to the consumers’ very heart. Using the above tips are a great way to get started. Good luck!
Emily Jones is a marketing specialist at OSI Creative. Being always interested in business developments, innovations and everything else what is connected with the business world, her main talking points are packaging and displays and their importance for business development.
