In today’s competitive marketing world, all eyes are locked onto a company’s every move. Every business wants to stand out for the right reasons and building a credible online brand and a brand within a community are two marketing tools to help you do this. As well as a route to your market, having a strong, recognisable brand which has a consistent identity throughout your marketing activities, helps you to differentiate yourself from competitors within the marketplace.
So how do you create online content to promote your brand?
Take time to consider specifics around your target audience e.g., their generation, gen z, millennial etc. Think about how you want your brand’s text to read. Whether it should be friendly, funny or professional and what kind of content may appeal to your target audience. Educational videos, graphic designs discussing your services, testimonials, blogs, podcasts, posts targeting your client’s pain points are all options to consider when making a monthly or weekly content plan for your social media. Take time to assess your current performance, analyse competitors and market trends and update your plan based on your research regularly.
A good website also helps to establish your brand by letting the audiences know who you are and what services you can provide. A website provides reliable information to potential clients, which helps set your firm apart from competitors. It’s important to ensure all the information on your website is up to date and current including contact information, services you provide, testimonials and any facts and figures about your business. Testimonials and reviews are a fantastic way to build credibility on your site and on your social media.
Ensure your website is fast. A slow website can cause people to leave before the page even loads. GTmetrix and Pingdom Tools are some tool options you could use or give to your web developer to test the speed of your website and make sure it’s working well.
A simple way to plan your content can be to use the SOSTAC system
Objectives – Where do we want to be? What do we want to achieve out of this content?
Strategy – How do we get there? Consider target markets, objectives, your sales sequence, and integrations with other businesses.
Tactics – How exactly do we get there? Who you will communicate with, your content plan and contact plan.
Actions – The details. This will include responsibilities and structures, processes and systems, internal resources and skills and external agencies to help with content creation.
Control – How do we monitor performance? Use KPI’s and website analytics, user experience reviews, conversion rate optimisation and consider your process of reporting statistics.
And how can you start building a strong community for your brand?
Start off with grass roots activity – this strategy is when brands plan and make content that’s highly targeted to a specific audience. This could be offering product samples or flyers and free gifts at an event. Take time getting to know your audience, especially when meeting them in real life. People will naturally spread word about your brand if you leave a good impression by showing you really do care about their business interests.
Create or join a group of people who regularly interact with your target market – meetings online with these groups or face to face you will gather market information will quickly. You can host casual meetings for drinks to build relationships with your partner group and combine target market contacts to invite too – pulling contacts from a variety of people helps increase everyone’s pool of contacts. Try to gather with your target audience at least once a month if you plan to host events for them.
Most importantly, figure out who your target audience is. Find people who care about what it is your company provides. What do potential clients, contacts, colleagues need from you, where they are located and what kind of community might they benefit from?
Finally, always consider – research, consistency, and visibility
There are so many ways you can optimise your digital presence to help promote your brand. Remember you don’t have to do it all or all at once – think about your target audience and social media plan. A good website and consistent social media content is a great place for you to start. Research who your target audience is, what they need from you, where they may be located and what events they attend. Be consistent with your meetings and online groups whether it is monthly or weekly and have consistent branding.
You will be seeing the benefits of building your brand and community before you know it!
Emma O’Day, Head of Marketing at Cashroom