There are many ways and places to market yourself and your business these days, which can sometimes seem more overwhelming than helpful. There are plenty of avenues that cost a hefty sum and promise to do your business good, but some businesses can’t afford to explore those avenues just yet.
Fortunately, there are other methods—some that are low-cost, and some that cost nothing more than your time—that can still make a big impact when it comes to branding your business. We asked 12 Forbes Agency Council members to share some of their most cost-effective brand-building strategies for businesses. See what they have to say here.
Members of Forbes Agency Council offer suggestions for budget-friendly brand building for businesses.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Target Prospects With Consistent Digital Public Relations
It really depends on what stage the company is in. If it’s a company that has closed its first round of funding, has a great story to tell and has a solid marketing contact (or team) in place, then the easiest and quickest way to build good brand recognition is via consistent PR buzz that can feed a strong digital content marketing campaign to target prospects. That is a winning combination. – Catherine Seeds, Ketner Group Communications
2. Have A Strong Presence On LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the No. 1 platform used by Fortune 500 companies. As such, companies that operate with a business-to-business sales model should have a strong presence on the platform. Often times, key decision makers have active LinkedIn profiles that you can connect and engage with. From my experience, B2B companies see the most leads come from this channel. – Darian Kovacs, Jelly Digital Marketing & PR
3. Gain Third-Party Credibility Through Media Outlets
Through media relations or pitching your story to journalists in publications or broadcasts that appeal to your targeted audience, you gain third-party credibility. This attracts prospects and speeds up the time it takes to close a sale. Although social media is more popular than ever, it doesn’t have the credibility held by media outlets produced by journalists. The secret is knowing how to pitch a story. – Nancy Marshall, Marshall Communications
4. Build Value With Content Marketing
Content marketing is easily one of the most cost-effective methods. It delivers three times as much traffic as SEO campaigns for about half the cost. It also begins to build value with your audience by focusing on their problems rather than your products. And finally, one piece of content can be turned into multiple pieces and spread across social channels, email campaigns, etc. for a longer shelf life. – Kathleen Lucente, Red Fan Communications
5. Turn To Instagram
Instagram is a great place to start, as it allows you to do several things at once. You can post outstanding visual content (including videos), add value in captions, engage with people in comments and stories and make use of the business tools, which are quite similar to the ones you’ll see on Facebook business pages. It’s one of the most universal social media platforms at the moment. – Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS
6. Discover Where Your Audience Is And Be There
“Easiest” and “most cost-effective” aren’t necessarily the best ways to decide where to build brand recognition if your audience isn’t there. The easiest way to be successful is to determine where your people are and be there too. If your people are on Facebook, be there and add value! If they are on YouTube, then be there and add value there. Be authentic and it will resonate with the right audience. – Katie Harris, Spot On Solutions
7. Get On The Move With Mobile Marketing
The easiest way for companies to make an immediate difference and ensure that they have the attention of their audiences is to get into mobile marketing. That means making it possible for customers to get ads where they are—and that is on mobile. When customers are on the go, there is no better way for them to be able to hear from you in the moment of need. – Jon James, Ignited Results
8. Don’t Forget About YouTube Advertising
We’ve all seen it: the five-second-or-so countdown before you can “skip the ad” on YouTube. This means we are watching an ad for at least five seconds before the video starts. These five seconds are possibly the best return on investment in the business for building brand recognition. Even when we “skip,” we’ve watched that company’s ad for five seconds and given them free advertising—priceless. – Randy Soderman, Soderman SEO
9. Leverage Word-Of-Mouth Employee Marketing
Splashy commercials, high-touch ads and exclusive sponsorships are great, but pricey. You can build brand recognition in an organic and economical way through your employees. Use internally owned channels to educate and excite employees about your brand and encourage and reward brand ambassadorship. The word-of-mouth power of your employees could ultimately outweigh any major ad campaign spend. – Howard Breindel, DeSantis Breindel
10. Invest In Search Engine Optimization And Search Engine Marketing
The best place to start building brand recognition is through search engines (SEO and SEM), because they allow you to strategically get in front of people who want to learn more about you. In contrast to social media, where you have to interrupt people’s social interactions and hope for a positive reaction, people actively searching for solutions are often eager to learn more and are more likely to buy. – Adam Guild, Placepull
11. Build A Social Media Presence
One of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to drive action is through social media and social media advertising. This may not be the easiest, as building content and ad audiences will take time and effort, but when it comes to the return on your time, getting your social media game on point can pay dividends. – Bernard May, National Positions
12. Tap Into Your Existing And Local Network
One of the most common overlaps coming out of our clients’ digital marketing strategies is to leverage an existing network for brand recognition. If you’re just looking to jump right in, for business-to-business, your LinkedIn 1st Connections are hugely valuable. For a local service business, your local friends on Facebook may help the most. And don’t forget Google My Business and Google Maps. – Ben LeDonni, CreativeMMS