Two of the key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. One of the key aspects of any business is marketing and getting the word out about your products and services. This particularly key when you have competitors. The following contributed post discusses this and entitled, How To Drum Up Attention For Your Business.
* * *
The current consumer market is oversaturated with products and services. So much so, it can be difficult for a new business looking to get a foot in the door of their chosen market. Brands are fighting to be the bigger fish in the pond while the smaller fishes are looking for any way to climb the ladder and gain as much attention as possible. Publicity for a business is a must. Recognition for a brand is a must. How you choose to go about getting the attention that you want for your business is the key, here, as everything that you decide to do will have an impact on both your company and its reputation.
Right now, your business is at an impasse. You need to stay on top of the crop in your industry while doing what you can to remain at the forefront of your consumer’s minds. Keeping up with brands in your industry has to be a priority for you if you hope to remain unbeaten and keep your name recognised. Brand recognition is so important for your customers to trust you, so never underestimate your own power to be excellent. If your business is a small one, you will already be striving to achieve the top business awards, trophies and celebrations that surround your business. You don’t need to have a huge competition out there, but you do need to stay relevant, and you need to be the best.
Complacency can kill your business, and if you want to avoid this and be a key player in your industry, then you’re going to need to know how best to attract attention to your business and what you’re doing. Getting your business name on everybody’s lips? That’s not always easy, but it can be done, and you can do it well starting now. Let’s look at some of the best ways to get attention for your business today.
Get Online
If your business isn’t digital, it’s not going anywhere. While there are plenty of brick and mortar businesses making a killing without a website, these are businesses that have established a customer base a long time ago. To be competitive in the market today, you need to have a presence online. This means getting yourself onto social media and really getting to grips with customer communications this way. The best thing about social media? It’s mostly free. If you’re not in the position to start buying Facebook Ads or LinkedIn ads you can leave that piece of the puzzle for much later. Find the time to update your blog – use an excellent outsourcing service if necessary – and keep on top of your interaction.
Throw An Event
Getting your brand out there takes some effort, but every business can benefit from holding an event. Not only will it get the attention of new clients and prospects, but it will also show the local community that you are there, you’re public and you are relevant. You could do something for charity or for the community if you want to give back as a way to expose your brand, but you can also choose to run a workshop to share your professional ability and expertise. This is especially popular for food service businesses, as it’s an excellent way to expose your brand and draw the attention of the locals to you. An event gives you a chance to get face to face with your customers, and you can get to know what people want from you, too.
Press Coverage
Gaining PR coverage? That’s free advertising right there. It’s a good way to gain more credibility and convince people that your business is a good one to spend time learning about, and the hardest bit about it is coming up with a way to talk about yourself in a newsworthy way. However, if you want to attract some coverage for a PR campaign, what about the event that we talked about earlier? Bring in the local newspapers and radio stations to advertise your event; the exposure is something like you’ve never experienced before.
Play Well With Others
If someone had told you at the start of your business that your success is going to lie in other companies, you might shake your head. However, you should open your eyes to the opportunities ahead of you if you attract customers through different businesses. Like-minded businesses are not necessarily your competition, either. For example, a local butcher may decide to start selling his packs of meat in the local supermarket, and they would market each other’s businesses to their customers. So, if you are offering a graphic design service, then partnering with a local t-shirt company could be a good opportunity for you to market your designs. Identifying the right businesses that can support yours can help to strengthen your brand opportunities and get you out there into the world.
Content Is Everything
Your business content on your website is going to be a part of what keeps people coming back over and over again. It isn’t just crucial for customer traffic, though. Great content that is relevant to your website will offer a connection between your brand, your possible consumers and the world around you. You have the chance to share valuable information, and it’s not something that you should put to the bottom of your priority list. Content will help to keep your brand as relevant as possible in the industry, and when you get it right, you can remain essential and deliver value.
There are many more ways than these to build brand awareness and garner attention for your business. The better you grow and promote your brand, the more you can attract the right company and people to you – not only that, but you can also win the awards that will keep your business professionally recognised. And that’s the goal for any company in the rat race today.
