Starting a new venture is loads of fun. It means taking your wildest ideas and turning them into reality.
No matter how good those ideas are, without a strong and compelling brand, you won’t be able to hook your target audience into products or services.
In today’s fast-paced, highly competitive marketplace, creating an authentic brand that stands out and resonates with your potential customers is critical.
Get your brand seen and heard by potential customers by following the strategies below.
Incorporate Custom Logo Apparel or Merchandise
A startup may want custom-printed designed products for branding, as these can serve as an effective marketing tool to boost brand visibility and recognition. Services like The/Studio can help bring your brand to life by creating high-quality custom products with your designs or logo.
Custom printed products, such as T-shirts, hats, mugs, and other promotional items, can help to create a memorable brand image and promote brand awareness among customers. They can reinforce the brand values and make great gifts for customers, employees, and partners.
Company swag can encourage employees to become strong advocates for your brand, which can expand your network of customers. A cycle of trust exists when consumers see that your team members are knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the company.
Additionally, custom-printed products are a cost-effective way to promote a brand and can generate a high return on investment. By having unique, high-quality, and well-designed products, a startup can differentiate itself from competitors and establish a strong brand identity.
Incentivize Word of Mouth
Leverage the power of referral marketing to grow your startup by utilizing your current customer base. Instead of targeting a broad audience, referral marketing focuses on existing customers who can promote your brand within their network.
Encourage referrals by offering incentives such as discounts or complimentary services, and watch as new customers attract toward your business through word-of-mouth.
Here are several ways you can implement word of mouth into your marketing strategy:
- Provide discounts or credit for future purchases: This is an effective strategy for businesses with a high rate of repeat customers. For example, a SaaS startup can offer a discounted referral membership plan.
- Offer cash incentives: Motivate customers by offering them monetary rewards, such as cash or gift cards, that customers can use at their discretion.
- Give away free products or services: Offering free products or services can motivate customers to refer their family and friends. This method works best for businesses selling regular, low-cost services they can occasionally gift.
Word of mouth is one of the cheapest forms of marketing and has an exponential impact on your brand.
Leverage the Power of Influencer Marketing
Attracting, engaging, and converting customers is crucial for startup growth. Influencer marketing can play a significant role in brand growth by leveraging the trust of content creators with large audiences. These influencers can help to boost your startup’s reach, visibility, and engagement.
As a startup, you’ll want to start small. Partnering with nano and micro-influencers, rather than big celebrities, is a more effective strategy. These smaller influencers, who have a following of 1,000 to 10,000 (nano) or 10,000 to 100,000 (micro), offer higher engagement rates than macro and celebrity influencers. They also allow you to reach a more specific and engaged audience, making your startup influencer marketing campaigns more impactful.
A study conducted by Experticity revealed that micro-influencers are involved in 22% more purchasing conversions than others types of content creators. Furthermore, 82% of consumers polled are highly likely to trust and follow their recommendations.
Get Featured on a Major Publication
Getting featured in major publications can significantly increase your startup’s brand visibility and credibility. This type of coverage positions your brand in front of a diverse audience, and it can establish your startup as an industry authority.
Here’s what getting a featured piece onto a major media publication can do for your startup:
- Brand awareness: While brand awareness is difficult to measure, it’ll surely help bring new eyeballs to your company.
- Referral traffic: Gaining a mention in a prominent publication can provide a long-lasting source of referral traffic to your website as long as the article remains published.
- Authority and reputation: Having your startup featured in a major publication can boost your credibility and enhance your reputation. Displaying the logos of these publishers in an “As seen on” section on your website can increase conversion rates and further establish your brand’s authority.
- Ongoing relationship value: By establishing a solid relationship with a publication, you open the doors to more opportunities for exposure. You may even be invited to become a regular contributor or write columns for high-authority media sources, allowing your brand to receive continual exposure.
- Domain authority: Google evaluates the authority of a website by considering the number and caliber of inbound links that lead to it. By appearing on a well-established media outlet, you may secure a backlink to your website, boosting your organic search rankings considerably.
There are many ways your startup can get featured in major publications. Start by reaching out to journalists, reporters, and writers who cover stories in your industry.
Craft a unique and compelling story that will pique the interest of the journalists and their readers. Your pitch should communicate the value of your product, its impact on the market, and how it’s relevant to their readers.
Next, create high-quality blog posts, infographics, case studies, or videos demonstrating your expertise. Finally, share this content with the journalists and ask them to use it in their stories.
Wrapping It Up
A recognizable brand identity precedes even the best marketing strategies. Establishing a strong brand from the outset makes marketing a breeze. Your brand serves as a compass that guides all of your sales and marketing efforts.
New startups are popping up daily, so establishing a strong brand identity is more important than ever. Branding can affect your bottom line by attracting new customers, increasing customer loyalty, and ultimately driving sales.
Put these tips into action and watch your startup brand soar to new heights.
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