What prevents you from investing more in brand awareness? In most cases, a tight budget is the obstacle. I get it. You have to plan all expenses for your new business, so additional ones don’t come easy. But when you started this business, you knew that marketing was essential. You were ready to make the needed investments of time, effort, and finances, so you could build brand awareness and attract a larger audience.
Ultimately, the goal is to sell more.
This process doesn’t have to be expensive and difficult. The best online apps for building and measuring brand awareness are effective, affordable, and easy to use.
Let’s make a list of top online marketing tools that help you develop a branding campaign and teach you how to measure brand awareness.
Best Online Apps for Building Brand Awareness
#1. Mentionlytics
Even before you engage in the branding campaign, you should figure out how to measure brand awareness. Are influencers and average social media users already mentioning your products or services? Have any bloggers mentioned them? How much do these mentions increase after you start the branding campaign?
Mentionlytics helps you measure the brand’s online reputation before and after you take any steps to promote it. By comparing the starting and the current point, you’ll see if your campaign is cost-effective.
The price for a startup package is $39 per month
#2. Facebook and Instagram Ads
These ads can be relatively cheap, since you’re the one who controls the budget. They show your message to a very targeted audience, based on interests and location. If you’re trying to build the brand identity of a small business, paid social advertising is a must.
#3. SetApp Gift Card
When you’re trying to attract more people towards your brand, offering a gift is a great idea. You want to give them something that’s highly useful. An Amazon Gift Card is too generic. If you want to target a specific target audience, such as Mac users, a Setapp Gift Card is a better option. It costs $9.99, and the user gets a month to use all apps curated by the Setapp team.
They select the best macOS apps from all categories, and give access to their Premium versions for a low monthly price. If you give such a gift card of high value, the users will definitely remember your brand.
You can offer a gift card with the first purchase, but you can also save it for the second one, so you’ll show appreciation to your loyal audience.
#4. ManyChat
With this tool, you can create Facebook Messenger bots. When someone contacts you via Messenger, the bot will send a welcome message, discount code, and a soft sell message. You can build a bot personalized to the needs of your business.
There’s a free plan that’s perfect for businesses that are new to bots. If you want better chat templates and more features, the Pro plan costs $10 per month.
#5. Buffer Reply
This is another tool that helps you develop better customer support via social media. That’s important for building brand awareness. If your target audience sees they can trust your brand because it provides outstanding customer support, they will spread the message around.
The tool is different from ManyChat because it’s not a bot. Buffer Reply organizes all conversations from all your social media profiles in a single inbox that your team can access. They will never miss a message, and they will always offer a prompt response.
#6. NinjaOutreach
This platform is built primarily for finding bloggers and influencers. What better way to increase brand awareness than by having influencers help you spread the word?
NinjaOutreach offers a database of millions of Instagram influencers you can search for using keywords or hashtags. It also has an outreach platform that gives you the ability to run automated email campaigns and reach more influencers faster.
#7. Podcasts
Who listens to radio shows? You’ll be surprised to know that the number of people listening to podcasts is huge. The most popular genres for podcasts include healthcare, comedy, news and politics, society and culture, and business.
What category does your business belong to? If you offer educational content that shows you as an expert, you’ll attract listeners. You’ll tell them how to improve aspects of their lives that are relevant to your niche. Of course; you’ll mention your brand along the way. When they combine educational content with brand promotion, podcasts are some of the most effective online marketing tools.
To start recording podcasts, you’ll need basic equipment and a streaming service. SoundCloud is a great hosting service for podcasts.
#8. Exitbar.io
When you don’t have the time or finances to develop specialized content for your brand on a regular basis, curated content is a good idea. With Exitbar.io, you’ll find relevant articles to share with your audience. However, the tool will also add a call-to-action to each link you share. This means that when you send your audience to another website of high authority, they will get a popup promoting your brand.
That’s smart!
#9. Sprout Social
This is one of the most popular online marketing tools. It helps you reach out to your audience with a more engaging message. It also delivers reports on the performance of your promotional campaign.
Through its deep listening features Sprout Social lets you find people who are interested in your message. The tool has a learning curve, which is why the 30-day trial version is so important. You’ll try it for free without providing credit card information. If you’re happy with the results, you can choose a plan, starting from $99 per month.
#10. LinkedIn
This platform is perfect for making business connections, but did you know that it’s also suitable for branding? You can publish content on LinkedIn. The platform is very selective regarding content publications, so they have to be good. If your content is good and it gets published, it immediately gains authority for your brand.
#11. BuzzSumo
This is a tool for competitor analytics. You can enter any website or topic there, and you’ll find the content that performs best across different platforms.
When you get these details, you can analyze them. You’ll see what keywords competitors target and how they engage the audience. You can tackle the same topics from a different angle, so you’ll add a new dimension to them.
You can also analyze your own site, so you’ll see what type of content your audience prefers. Then you’ll keep offering pieces that your readers like to share.
#12. Visme
Visme is one of the best online apps for creating infographics. This type of content is cool because it lets you share a message in the most visual way possible. Even if there are loads of details in the content, the infographic format makes it easy to digest.
You can try the tool for free and develop up to 5 infographics with the Basic plan. If you want to use it for business, the cheapest package is $39 per month (it’s for a single user).
#13. Storyheap
Are you sharing stories on Instagram and Snapchat? You should. This content format helps you to develop a closer connection with your audience. It shows your brand in a more personal light. You can use Stories to feature interviews with employees and managers. You can show a day in the office. You can give sneak-peeks into new products and services, so you’ll generate hype around a new launch.
What’s the role of Storyheap? It helps you upload Instagram and Snapchat stories form a single platform, but that’s not all. It also gives you analytics, so you can measure the success of this content.
#14. InviteBox
You’ll do your best to reach new customers, but you know what? Your current customers can do part of the work for you! Through a referral program, both loyal and new customers gain benefits. Those who are happy with your brand will recommend it, and the network will keep growing.
The word of mouth is a powerful tool. People get recommendations from real users instead from the brand itself. When you offer incentives for the members of the referral program, they get passionate about spreading the message.
InviteBox is a great tool for developing a referral program.
#15. Shortstack
This is a versatile tool that covers multiple aspects of your branding campaign. You can create great landing pages that convert visitors. You can also use it to create fun quizzes and organize contests and giveaways. Shortstack includes email marketing features, too.
The best part is that all these features work well, so you save yourself money and effort that you’d spend on individual tools.
The Starter pack costs $29 per month or $159 per year.
#16. Pendo
For the perfect branding campaign, it’s important to understand the buying journey of your current customers. Maybe you don’t have too many of them and you want to attract more. By analyzing the behavior of those who landed at your website and converted into buyers, you’ll see what triggers their decisions.
The analytics tell you what the visitors are doing at your website. If you notice a weak spot that makes them bounce, you’ll figure out how to fix it. You can also use Pendo to develop nice surveys that show how your customers feel about your product.
Branding Should Be Fun!
We just listed some of the best online apps and tools for successful business branding. When you use the right combination of tools, it will be easier for you to build hype and awareness around your brand.
But don’t get too involved in the tools. Their purpose is to give you information and automate certain parts of the process. The branding campaign depends on human touch, so it needs your involvement. Use the tools you need to use, and do your best to turn branding into a fun process.
About the Author!
James Dorian is a technical copywriter. He is a tech geek who knows a lot about modern apps that will make your work more productive. James reads tons of online blogs on technology, business, and ways to become a real pro in our modern world of innovations.
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