A Guest Post by Samantha Mason
When you are buying yourself a drink, do you ask for a soda, or a Pepsi? Do you have an mp3 player, or an iPod? And when you accidentally cut your finger, are you looking for a plaster, or a Band-Aid?
Nowadays, some brands have become monumentally popular and they replaced the common names for similar things in language. Well, these titans of the business did pretty much for brand building and awareness, but if you might fail to achieve their level, it’s okay. That does not mean that you cannot build a great brand and make people remember and use it.
Of course, there is no one-size-fits-all in the brand building strategies, but here are some to help you start or continue your activity. Maybe, you will not become as popular as Pepsi (sorry, Coca-Cola), but you can try! Here are the best ideas for brand building.
Referral programs
Users will tell their friends about your product or service especially when they know that you offer an additional feature for that. For example, Dropbox’s legendary referral program offers you and your friend additional storage space, up to 60 GB. When Dropbox was new and little-known, this program helped to launch a word-of-mouth process, attracting a huge number of users and saving company advertising money.
High quality guest content
Another idea on how to rise sales and attract more sign-ups is delivering useful and great-looking content for blogs. Some may disagree, but guest posting is still a good and powerful way to make your target audience know about you.
Remember, poor content will not work – you have to generate and publish awesome stuff. High-quality content will help you introduce your brand and make a good impression on your potential customers.
Infographics
The Dogs Hate Hugs infographic from Pet Insurance U is bright, colorful, sweet and funny. This type of content is usually shared widely by users in the social networks, making infographics a great way of building a brand. The one by Pet Insurance U got a great number of shares and brought company sales and valuable links.
Freemium accounts
Freemium can help you get more users attracted by your product or service. Everyone likes free stuff, and when users know that they do not have to pay, they are more likely to give it a try. The main thing is to provide limited access, but make it enough to let the users feel the benefits. Offer to get a paid version at the stage when the user is already involved and do not want to stop. Think of what else you can offer on that stage to push your user to the paying point.
Moreover, you will get more social media coverage – there are bloggers that write about applications and tools and more often they do not want to pay for an app just to describe it in the article.
For instance, Fresh Books is a software for small businesses that allows you to track expenses and manage your projects. Their freemium approach allows users to see and try this software, demonstrating some basic features. The full range of features is offered in the paid version.
Another great example of offering free services is Student Share. This website allows students to download free academic papers. However, to get a full access, one should create an account or upload his/her own paper sample of high quality.
Social media contests
Offer your users to take part in a social media contest, where the participants have to make a video or photo somehow related to your product or service. The participants will share the link with their relatives and friends to get votes, putting your brand in front of more eyes. As a result, you will reach more build awareness.
Something funny and memorable
One of the best ways to rise sales and develop brand awareness is to give the audience something funny and unique to create the identity of your brand. Don’t be afraid if your niche has a little dose of humor – that’s even better. Bringing some comedy in a serious environment can make your product or service even more memorable.
Remember that great Old Spice advertisement? Not only this hilarious video impresses the audience, but it also works as a funny joke, shared widely across the Internet and making your sales grow.
If you are ready to become a super-star in the world of business – try these pieces of advice and you will become one in no time. If you have any more ideas about brand building strategies, feel free to share them in the comments below.
