Brand marketing has a long-lasting impact on how well your company will perform. There are many factors which influence brand marketing success. In this article, we will look at 6 top tips that marketing companies recommend for taking your brand to the next level.
1. Get Smart about social
If you aren’t already building your presence on social media, now is the time to start. Identify the social media platforms that are best for your business. These are the most natural fit for your business sector and the demographic profile of your most likely customers. B2B brands are more likely to reach potential customers on Linkedin than on Snapchat. Consider whether the particular social media platform features are best for your business.
2. Prioritise interactions over numbers of social followers
Look beyond your number of followers. Brand awareness doesn’t guarantee successful brand marketing. Although adding new followers increases brand awareness, it doesn’t provide the complete picture.
If your sole focus is on increasing your follower numbers, you are ignoring shares, comments and opportunities to build interactions with potential customers. Better interaction on your social platforms means you are more likely to convert brand awareness into customer purchases.
3. Measure your website traffic
Assess the number of people who are aware of your brand and how they find you. Look at the numbers of people who reach you via organic search, social, referrals and direct traffic. Organic searches measure the number of people who reach your site via search engines. Social traffic comes from your social media followers. Those who reach you via links are referral traffic.
Digital visitors may approach your site directly by typing your web address into their browser. (Perhaps you gave them your business card.) Those who are already well aware of your brand are also important to understand. You can measure the direct traffic to your site with popular tools like Google Analytics, register with a traffic counter site and/or consult with a marketing agency to track this information and convert the data into actionable recommendations.
4. Learn from your offsite mentions
Analysing offsite mentions will tell you about your position and perceptions of you in the marketplace. You can conduct backlink searches, use social listening software and even Google your own brand name to discover what people are saying about you. Measure the number of references to your brand, your website and how high profile they are. Study the number as well as the content of both negative and positive reviews on external sites.
5. Shape the conversations beyond your own platforms
Whether they are first-timers or regular followers, people who engage with your brand can be leveraged to set the tone for the wider perception of your brand. Brand management should go beyond your own social channels, your website and any of the platforms you control directly.
Engage with those mentioning your brand on external review sites and your other offsite mentions. Take time to interact and respond to those who are talking about you, so that you are shaping the conversations about your brand. Address negative reviews and show your appreciation for testimonials and referrals. You don’t need to transform sly-sounding queries into a Twitter battle, but if you find yourself in one, keep it clean and on brand.
6. Define success, track progress, keep learning
In the course of formulating your brand marketing strategy, decide what success looks like for your business. Whether it’s increasing awareness of your brand, changing perceptions of your brand, converting brand awareness into purchases, or something else, have a goal in mind at the outset.
Track the progress of your brand marketing efforts over time. You can make small adjustments to your techniques and refine your strategy after each monthly analysis. Do give yourself time to see results, whether that’s over the course of a few months, half a year or more.
Remember, there is always room to improve strategy and refine your techniques. There will also be changes to how search engines and social media platforms will make your marketing goals easier or more challenging to achieve. Keep learning about the digital ecosystem and keep thinking about how to make your brand stand out for the right reasons.