Tucson Social Media - How to Brand your Business in Three Easy Steps

You want your business to become a household name but you don’t have the ability to spend millions on advertising. This is especially true when you’re just starting out. However, you still want customers to remember your brand first, whenever they think about a product you make. So how do you brand yourself like Coke, Nike, Yahoo, KFC, or Dell? Here are 3 easy ways to put your brand in the minds of your customers.

FIRST: Brand your business’s online presence.

Whatever your company name is, you should also have the .com name. If you run a real-world brick and mortar location named say… Best Cup a Coffee Shop, then you should also register bestcupacoffee.com and bestcupacoffeeshop.com. Even if you just put up an informational website rather than selling coffee online, having the extra facet to your brand name can only help. You must also set up your Facebook FanPage for your business. Since there are more than 500 million Facebook users, this a huge audience base you cannot ignore.

If you are a sole proprietor, or hold a position such as realtor or insurance agent, you should have yourname.com. Some companies may give you web space like companyname/yourname.com, but if you need people to remember your name then register it as a domain, and slap it on your business cards. Also, setting up a LinkedIn profile for yourself is imperative.

SECOND: If you can’t tell the world about your small business, at least tell your neighbor. Look at your local market first. Making sure you can be found in local online directories is KEY. Especially when you consider that 97% of consumers use online searches when researching products or services. Can you be found when your target customer is looking for you? If not, then setting up your local directory profiles should be the next thing you set up and then maintain them by updating and refreshing monthly.

THIRD: Setup a follow-up system.

No one remembers the things they hear once, but everyone remembers something repeated frequently . Do you have an easy, automated way to follow up with customers over time? Then, you should have a way to capture your target audience’s contact information and follow up with them on a regular basis. Offering a free informational product in exchange for email information is a great way to start. An autoresponder is a system which can be used to capture their information and then place them on a list for future updates and automated deliviery of new information and offers.

When figuring out how to brand your business, always try looking through the eyes of the customer first. Where do they look when they want your product? Do you sell something consumable, if so when will they need to purchase again, and what’s the best way to keep your business name in front of them.