Coronavirus — and the recession it has led to — has created unique challenges for small businesses everywhere.
We want you to know that, here at Marketing 360®, we get it and we’re right there with you. But, having been founded in the middle of the last recession, we also know that there’s a lot of opportunity for the businesses that are willing to stick their necks out there.
There’s no denying that recessions are tough and that we’re all facing a unique challenge, but with that challenge also comes a whole new opportunity to drive unprecedented amounts of online traffic to your website and build awareness in your brand online.
Small business owners have some of the fullest schedules, but this pandemic has given many of them something that’s rare these days — the time to focus on building and maintaining their brand online. Today, I hope to help you make the most of it.
4 Tips for Building and Maintaining Brand Awareness
#1. Build more content.
Content marketing is a critical aspect of SEO (search engine optimization), but it’s one of those things that takes a lot of time, which means that it’s something that’s easily overlooked by most small business owners. However, when your business ranks organically in the SERP (search engine results pages), it will reduce the need for paid online advertising while still ensuring visibility for your brand.
SEO is, ideally, something all businesses should focus on online, but it’s also one of the most time-consuming digital marketing channels. Now is the perfect time to devote a little more to the SEO of your website by sitting down and building content. Whether it’s in the form of blogs, pages, or even videos, content marketing is an incredible use of your time that will eventually pay off exponentially.
What kind of content should you create? The sky’s the limit, honestly. Case studies and customer success stories, how-to guides, informational articles related to your industry, video tutorials, and personal anecdotes relating to your business are all excellent examples of the kind of content you could be creating.
#2. Engage with your audience on social media.
Posting on social media is a given, and it’s something that your business should be doing already. But, posting is not enough by a long shot. A truly effective social media marketing strategy also has to consist of engagement, and since you have a lot more time on your hands, it’s a great opportunity to start engaging more with your audience on social media.
You can start creating more engagement by keeping it in mind when creating your social media posts. A few ideas for creating more engaging posts include surveys, questions, and contests. Rather than just providing information to your audience, ask them to provide you with their own information.
Engagement shouldn’t stop when someone shares or comments on one of your posts. A successful engagement strategy keeps the conversion going, so when someone comments on your post, make it a point to respond to them. And, when someone mentions your brand on social, repost it!
#3. Build and strengthen your online reputation.
Depending on the nature of your business, you may, or may not, be working directly with your customers or clients right now. But, even if you aren’t currently working with your customers, that doesn’t mean that you can’t be fostering better relationships with them and utilizing their help in strengthening your online reputation.
Now that you’ve got some time on your hands, you can start building your online reputation by requesting reviews from past clients. A lot of people want to support local businesses that have been affected by COVID-19 but don’t know how. Writing reviews is an easy, free way that they can do that, so make sure that you let them know how much their reviews could help.
In addition to requesting reviews, it’s also a good time to start responding to your reviews, claiming your listings, and ensuring that your contact information is up to date on all of the business directories and reviews sites you’re listed on. This last thing is made much easier by using the Local Listing Ads® program, which ensures consistency across the most popular listings in minutes.
#4. Breathe new life into your website.
There are a lot of moving parts to an effective digital marketing strategy. There are your listings, your social media pages, reviews, ads, and, of course, the central hub of it all — your website. Everything you do online points back to your website, but with so much going on, a lot of businesses don’t put a lot of time or love into them, which can make them end up looking and feeling outdated and stale.
Modern websites need to be responsive, mobile-friendly, SEO-friendly, user-friendly, and attractive. If your website doesn’t check all of these boxes, then it might be the perfect time to start building a new one. This doesn’t have to be a huge expense, either. With DIY-friendly website builders, like Websites 360®, anyone can build a great, cost-effective website on their own, even if they have little to no previous design experience.
Alternatively, it may be the case that you’ve got a great website already, but that it hasn’t been updated in a while. Now is a great time to breathe new life into your site by building a landing page. Landing pages are ideal because they can be more targeted than the other pages of your website, and you can direct everything from ads to videos to them.
Whatever your goals, Marketing 360 is here to help.
There’s a lot of uncertainty at the moment, and a lot of businesses have been greatly affected by the coronavirus pandemic. But, it’s not the time to rest on your laurels. What you do now will have a direct impact on what your business looks like on the other side of this.
Whether you’re looking for a little guidance on how to build and maintain brand awareness yourself or you want professional assistance in doing so, we’re here for you. Contact us today to learn what we can do for you.