Congratulations! You have launched your eagerly anticipated startup. Your dreams have come true – but now, the real work begins. The business landscape is an ever-changing environment. To thrive, you need a strong presence in the marketplace to enable your business to secure a spot in the minds of your potential customers.
Brand Awareness is the extent to which your prospects eyeball your offering. All too often, startups get carried away by what they do or think they do without considering how people perceive their brand. Think of the biggest brands out there who have made an emotional connection with their customers – they all started by spreading the word about their brand, and we would like to show your critical steps to help draw attention to your nascent business in this PR for startups guide.
Ready to dive in? Good.
Establish Your Brand’s Presence on Social Media
It’s not enough to create a website that pops up on Google, Yahoo, and Bing; you have to create a strong social media presence. Social media helps us to share and communicate information about our services, activities and achievements. Facebook still remains the world’s biggest social media network boasting 2.9 billion monthly active users. YouTube and WhatsApp have 2.2 and 2 billion monthly active users respectively. You cannot afford to miss out on the social revolution. Run ads, engage with your audience, follow their accounts, share and comment on their posts. In combination with other forms of content such as blogs or eBooks, social media gives you a greater chance of appealing to prospective clients than those who don’t.
Tell Your Story Every Time
Your narrative is your de facto identity. It’s your “why.” Think about what your brand stands for and develop unique content according to your ethos. Everything from your brand’s colors to your language must be symbolic and should evoke a certain feeling from your fans. Keep tabs on your client’s activity and develop relevant content and activities season after season. Appeal to their sensibilities using text, photos, and videos to craft a captivating story instead of simply reeling facts about your products and services. Studies have shown that the emotional response to a social media ad influences a client’s intention to spend more than the ad itself. Your content should be tailored to different target audiences as well. You can include topics such as product demos, customer stories, or industry-specific news to improve your content’s desirability.
Build Local Connections
Building connections with people and organizations in your local community is one of the most effective techniques for achieving brand awareness for a startup business. By partnering with local businesses, charities and non-profits, you can tap into their audiences and cross-promote, helping you both build a loyal and supportive customer base. Cross-promotional activities include combining products, offering discounts, and organizing joint events. For example, you can offer discounts to customers who donate to local charities or provide exclusive services to customers who help out in their local communities. In addition, partnering with local newspapers, radio stations, and television networks can help you get your message to a wider audience. Building local partnerships gives your brand the recognition it deserves, while helping you create a positive atmosphere for your business and its physical community.
Start Remarketing Campaigns
A remarketing campaign is a pro technique used to strengthen your brand message among people who have already heard about your brand. This approach is based on the premise that it is easier to reinforce your importance among existing prospects who may have come across your broadcast. It requires several touchpoints to gain a conversion and a retargeted ad produces tremendous results. One study showed that 70% of viewers who view retargeted ads from a previous page are more likely to convert.
Analyze Your Results
Awareness is synonymous to growth and growth must be measured. Analyzing your efforts with tools like Google Analytics can help to identify areas that need improvement and provide insight into how effective your strategies are. Additionally, analyzing customer feedback can help to understand what customers think of your products and services and how to improve them.
Wrapping Up
Building awareness for your startups involves taking proactive steps towards establishing a strong presence on social media, telling your story, building local connections, and starting remarketing campaigns. Social media networks like Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp provide a platform for sharing information and engaging with potential customers. A clear brand narrative and local partnerships can help to reach a wider audience and create a positive atmosphere for the business. Finally, analyzing results using mediums like Google Analytics and customer feedback can help to measure the effectiveness of strategies and identify areas for improvement.
It is the job of startup marketing agencies to apply time-tested, data-centric techniques such as lead generation, search engine optimization, content creation, and social media management to propel outstanding business growth for your startup.
