How can you convert prospects, turn them into loyal customers if you haven’t met them? There are a lot of talks these days about the importance of conversions and engagement, but the value of branding is often forgotten.
But you have to present your brand online as if it’s the modern-day equivalent of first meeting your customer. Whether its meeting someone online or in person, you’re left with only a few seconds to wow them.
The good news is, taking a few steps in creating a trusted brand for your business isn’t as daunting as it seems.
In this post, we’ll talk about the tactics on how you can expand, strengthen, and establish your brand presence and reach. Also, check out this practical guide on how you can make your first e-commerce sale.
1. Reach out to influencers
If you want to build brand awareness, reaching out to influencers in your niche can significantly help. Chances are, these people have already established themselves in the industry and have a massive loyal following.
They are called influencers for a reason ‒ so start leveraging them.
It isn’t advisable to contact them and ask them directly to promote your name with their friends, or followers in exchange for a monetary commission or free items. Instead, what you can do is start integrating yourself to their conversations.
You can do so by replying to their tweets, tagging them if there are important news and updates, or direct message them with a link of the blog post you’ve published.
While other influencers might ignore it, some may find it interesting and relevant. They might even go as far as sharing it to their network, which will put hundreds of eyes on your brand.
2. Keep your content and image consistent
Great branding is all about having a consistent image and content. It’s crucial that your content complements with your brand image ‒ from the tone, feel, and subject matter. If it isn’t consistent, then you’re unlikely going to achieve any meaningful connection with your audience.
Keep in mind that branding will work best if it’s authentic. Instead of targeting a broad audience using a generic message, focus by giving people value through a highly engaging and genuine message.
3. Define your keywords
Keywords are usually a sum of words, terms, and phrases that sums up the main point of a particular subject.
In digital marketing, keywords are often used to help build websites, blog posts, landing pages, and other different forms of content.
So if you know how to work your way with these words, along with a couple of SEO techniques, you’re more likely to have a good position on search results. This can lead to more website traffic.
Utilizing the right keywords in your content will help you find the right audience for your business. That’s why it’s essential for you to know the primary terms and trends that are relevant to your business.
For you to accomplish that, you need the right keyword tools to make the entire process much quicker and accurate.
4. Use your social networks wisely
Some businesses and brands join specific social media platforms without really thinking whether or not it’s relevant to their business and target audience.
So if you want your social media efforts to take effect, you have to use them wisely, and in the right way. Don’t use a social media platform if it does not apply to your business.
Take Pinterest for instance. It isn’t the best platform for selling appliances and cleaning products. LinkedIn, on the other hand, isn’t probably well-suited for a local trendy boutique clothing store.
So, before posting anything, take time to think your social media marketing through. For things that might potentially interest your prospective customers and their friends, utilize Facebook. Meanwhile, if your business is leaning more on the visual aspect, then Instagram or Pinterest may be the perfect fit. For current news and other happenings, use Twitter.
The more you know how to tailor your posts according to these platforms, the more traction you’ll be getting, boosting brand awareness in the long run.
5. Create a sales funnel
Sales funnels are broadly used in Inbound Marketing. It guides customers in their shopping journey.
Keep in mind that the funnel is made up of four stages ‒ attract, convert, close, and delight. These are the stages a user goes through before they can reach the solution that you have to offer them.
Before making a purchase, users go through this path:
- Attract: Know what the problem is and look for relevant information.
- Convert: Look for possible solutions. Then, consider products and services that are currently available in the market.
- Close: Assess the prices, payment methods, promotions, and discounts that are offered.
- Delight: Satisfaction with the entire purchase and starts to form a relationship with the brand. Engagement is high, and simultaneously promoting it in their network of family and friends.
6. Optimize everything
Whatever post, page, or link on your site (and social media channels) is a fantastic opportunity to be seen and noticed by other web users. They significantly help with your SEO and either has the power to boost or hinder your search rankings.
It’s essential that you optimize every one to a tee. Work with experts to ensure that all your URLs, titles, images, and content are in sync. That way, it will boost your chances of getting noticed. It’s also handy to know some data-driven tips on how to improve your e-commerce conversion rates.
7. Think long-term branding results
Think of your branding strategy like a wave. What begins first as a small ripple can become much larger (and powerful) once it gains momentum. So don’t be easily discouraged in the early stages because if you do, you’ll never reach your full potential.
Some branding campaigns produce minimal results in the early stages but eventually grows into valuable marketing assets over time.
So, whenever you’re developing your brand, it’s vital that you think long-term.
Always remember that results are never always immediate. Start small and then grow your branding efforts in the long run through releasing new content, ads, video and marketing messages on a regular schedule.
The more your target users are familiar with your brand, the more that you’ll start to see the results through site traffic and conversions.
8. Over to You
Digital marketing isn’t just about bringing in more online sales, boosting your search engine rankings, and improving your click-through rates. While they’re crucial, it isn’t the only aspect that your team needs to focus on.
It’s vital that you also have to increase exposure by raising brand awareness. That way, people will gradually get to know your brand, recall it in the future, and recommend it with others.
Boosting your brand awareness will help you generate leads, referrals, and sales in the long run.
Digital marketers often neglect to build their brand because sometimes it’s easier to track results through an SEO or PPC campaign than creating a deliberate branding effort. But the thing is, building a strong brand can be a powerful asset for any business.
So if you think that your business has neglected branding in your campaign, then try to utilize the eight digital marketing tips that we have discussed above. That way, you can strengthen and establish your brand over time.