In tough times, and even in good, finding new customers is an ongoing challenge. When positioning your company or product to be top-of-mind in your arena (so that new customers come your way), having a strong brand is essential.
As outlined in last week’s column, your brand is more than your logo and tagline. It’s many things, like the quality of your product or service, how you dress for a presentation and the customer service experience you provide. Your brand is the external perceptions by the public of your company and product.
While quality, and even things out of your control, impact your brand, there are marketing strategies you can deploy to enhance your brand-building. Here are some ideas:
Public relations
Good publicity will establish positive perceptions of your company with your target audience and therefore be extremely effective in creating a brand. Good publicity is more credible than paid publicity (advertising). So, do something newsworthy. Having a third party, like the news media, tell or validate your story provides credibility to your image and product in a way that is priceless. Good publicity provided through a valid third party, such as a newspaper, motivates potential customers to take action.
Social media
I’ve written many columns on leveraging social media like Facebook, Twitter and blogs. Yes it is another touch point for your marketing messages. Join communities that are full of your target audience. Have your own pages on social media, do podcasts, have a blog, post on others’ pages and blogs, and continue to be very active. This type of activity will make your efforts more visible. Be consistent across all your social networks with your messaging, and that will help you establish your brand. And of course — it’s free.
Email marketing
Make sure your email communication is professional, helpful and targeted. Make your customers feel special. Give them relevant advice and even re-purpose some of your public relations work in your email marketing.
Email marketing is about building a close brand relationship with someone, so they will be a repeat customer. Plus, it’s another free touch point that reinforces your other marketing strategies and messages.
Advertising
Creating and placing paid advertising and deploying direct-marketing initiatives (like direct mail) can protect and further build your brand by establishing that steady drumbeat of messaging, keeping your company at the top of your target audience’s mind. Think of it as something similar to the regular maintenance on your car. Change the oil to keep the car going — and to make it run better. It’s the same for advertising. Regular advertising, aimed at your target audience, builds your brand.
Building a good brand is so much more than creating a logo and a tagline. That’s part of it, of course, but public relations, third-party credentialing in the press, social media, email marketing and advertising are the communication vehicles that help build and strengthen your brand.
Josh Sommers is president and CEO of Focus Media, a leading Hudson Valley advertising and public relations agency. He can be reached at josh@advertisingandpr.com or 294-3342, ext. 303. Read his blog at www.advertisingandpr.com. His column appears Fridays.
