Clever Branding on A Budget

When we talk about branding merchandise, the good old pen, mug and keyring normally jump to mind. These faithful items will never go out of fashion when it comes to spreading the word about your business.

But with a bit of creative thinking, there are a myriad more ways that you can apply your branding and raise increasing awareness of your brand, driving sales to your website and fuelling growth.

And while a large budget helps, in these cash strapped days the most powerful methods are those that require minimal or no investment.

So we have created the ultimate guide to growing brand awareness on a budget or you can take a look at brand identity agency to learn more about high-quality branding.

Use your vehicles

The one item that is out on the road every day, being seen by hundreds if not thousands of people, is your car. Ask yourself this question – is your brand reflected in anyway by your car? Chances are you don’t even have a simple sticker with your logo on the back window.

And if you run a fleet of vehicles driven by your sales and technical teams, and none of them have any branding whatsoever, then you are missing out on thousands of pounds worth of potentially ‘free’ advertising every single working day.

You don’t have to invest in expensive vehicle wrapping and livery services – a simple sticker for the back window is enough to get you going.

Bespoke shelter

Do you have outdoor furniture in and around your office building and car park that offers nothing but bland, plain surfaces that are crying out for something more interesting.

Chances are you can redecorate these prime pieces of real estate and turn them into a bespoke shelter that is unique to your company and expresses your brand.

Not only will it make the outside areas of your premises more interesting, it will also elevate your brand to visitors and passers-by, and beyond.

Write your own ‘How to do’ book

Would you consider yourself to be an expect in your field? Assuming that the answer to that question is a firm yes, the second question is, why are you not telling everybody your story?

While you don’t want to tell everyone the secret formula behind your success, it would be interesting for a large number of people for you to talk about how you can solve their problems, what methodology you use, and go just far enough for them to know that they won’t be able to do it themselves, and need the expert help of your good self.

If you can get this into a short and easy to read ebook, then you can release these across various platforms and use it to build awareness and interest and collect leads.

You can set up a sales funnel that offers potential clients the chance to download the book in exchange for their email address.

Once they have your book, your ‘branding’ will be in their hands, and on their desks, ensuring that they turn from a cold prospect, to a burning hot one!

Increase your social media presence

There is no excuse for any business that is trading in the 2020s not to be on social media – even the more old school businesses.

Social media has been the biggest, sharpest revolution in business branding and marketing for decades, and offer a wealth of low cost, highly targeted opportunities to reach out to your potential customers, that previously would only have been contactable after a massive marketing spend.

Social media has enabled some businesses to be truly global within a couple of years – something not attainable pre-internet.

So stop seeing social media as a drain on your time and energy and see it instead as a platform for you to get out your unique message, and as a source for growth.

Go old school with business cards

They might have fallen out of favour for a while, but business cards are still one of the most effective ways of spreading awareness of you, your services, your brand and your company.

Social media seemed to have knocked the need for business cards off one of the top spots for a while. Everyone has a LinkedIn profile, and the usual refrain was to connect immediately on LinkedIn.

The one big flaw in this system though, is that once you’ve shaken hands and walked away from each other, different faces come and go and by the time you get back to your desk you have completely forgotten that person’s name.

A business card is a real, tangible asset that you can put in your pocket, and remove later in the afternoon, using it as a reminder of the person that you just met.

So if you a reminded of their presence when finding their business card in your pocket, you know that others will do just the same with your business card.

Printing a business card is still relatively cheap, but we would advise you just to spend that little bit more and work with a good designer who will produce something that is a little bit different and unique.

A thicker card, textured finish, can lift your card above all others, and make it more memorable. Don’t be afraid to give it to every one you meet – even If they are not particularly relevant to what you do. You never know who they know!

Opt for a bright colour – and embrace it wholeheartedly

When you think of some of the most well known brands globally, they all have one thing in common – a strong bold colour.

Using a strong colour and incorporating it into everything that you do company and brand wise injects some consistency AND fun into everything that you do.

Frequent mentions of the colour, weaving it into your cars, your premises, your marketing, your everyday activities will start to establish that colour as synonymous with your brand, and vice versa.

The more you embrace your business and brand wholeheartedly, the more this pride in your brand comes through, and the more your existing and potential customers will want to be a part of it.