You have created a brand and now you wish to market that brand to a wide audience – there’s just one problem. You don’t have a lot of cash. Not to worry. You’re about to learn a few brand marketing tips that don’t require you to be rolling in dough. In fact, a few of these will allow you to conduct branding and brand management all without spending a dime, unless you count electricity and internet fees. Get ready to make your brand known, because you’re about to learn ten brand management ideas for the frugal marketer.
1. Website Marketing
You don’t need loads of money to start a website for brand marketing purposes. Most URL and hosting packages run under $20, especially if you take advantage of the frequent sales that occur online. Your website should act as your home base online – your virtual business front, if you will. In addition to branding and brand management, you can also sell your products right from your website.
2. Email Marketing
You will want to capture any leads that you send to your website and the email address is by far the most effective means of communication for the brand marketer. Once you have a person’s email address, you can start sending branding infused emails that feature your logo, your overall message and possibly some tips and tricks or other juicy content to keep them interested.
As long as your emails aren’t sent too frequently and as long as they’re not boring or intrusive, you’ll understand why so many brand marketing experts recommend email marketing when it comes to engaging and expanding one’s influence online.
3. Blogging
With or without a website, blogging is another effective way to keep your audience well-aware of your business and your business’s goings on. Keep your blog informative, entertaining and publish new posts often. If you don’t know what to write about, keep an eye on the competition. Surely someone in your industry is blogging away about the latest happenings in the business or about the latest tips and tricks of the trade.
4. Whitepapers And Infographics
Downloadable whitepapers are a great way to gather contact information from your audience, and it’s also a great way to spread brand marketing information about your business. Keep your white paper’s well-researched and well laid out to encourage sharing amongst your target group. You never know when a downloadable whitepaper will lead to the wildfire effect, where it spreads far and fast, thus expanding brand marketing awareness even further.
Infographics can be downloaded or not, but they also have the opportunity to go viral. The infographic is incredibly popular right now because it is usually full of useful information and it’s included in a way that’s easy to digest on any device. Infographics are also ideal for sharing on social media.
Research your infographics and encourage sharing for a real brand marketing boost.
5. eBooks
eBooks can range from ten pages to a hundred and ten pages or more, but they are usually full of information and links and logos that improve brand marketing awareness. Make sure you check your ebooks for spelling and grammar errors and research the information thoroughly to ensure its accuracy.
Once your ebooks are complete, you can offer them for a free download on your website or you can sell them on Amazon. It costs you nothing to self-publish an ebook online, unless you pay someone to format and/or provide you with a professional looking cover. The latter tips are recommended if you hope to maximize this tip for branding success.
6. Press Releases
A well-written and informative press release that includes the 5 Ws – the who, what, where, when and why – can increase your brand marketing net and can drive traffic to your website if you include a link at the end. There are many free and low cost press release websites online, and many of them include tutorials that will teach you how to write brand marketing press releases in case you don’t know how to.
7. Webinars
Hosting a webinar won’t cost you a thing, thanks many open-source products on the market. Without spending a dime, you create slide shows, make screen casts, record your voice, make animations and put it all together in an engaging presentation. You can either pre-record everything or you can host the webinar live. It’s all up to you, and it’s all free if you know which products to use.
If your webinar is informative and entertaining, you’ll encourage people to talk about your branding experience, which will increase your brand marketing awareness even more.
8. Social Media
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social media sites are terrific ways to expose more of your audience to your brand, and all while they’re engaging in leisure time. That’s the best time to market to your audience, as long as your marketing isn’t intrusive.
The best way to engage in brand marketing on social networks is to get involved with the conversations. Expose your knowledge on the subject, but don’t boast or brag. Be helpful and part of the community and you’ll start to become well-known and appreciated. That’s the best brand marketing you could ever engage in.
9. Public Speaking
You could always host a public speaking event in your area. By speaking to a small group face-to-face, you’ll encourage a bonding experience that could evolve into improved customer loyalty. This doesn’t have to cost anything, unless you count any printable materials you might provide to further improve the branding experience.
10. Word-Of-Mouth
It won’t cost you a thing to talk to others about your business, and it certainly won’t cost your customers to talk your business up. Encourage the spreading of your branding by talking about your business frequently to everything you meet and let your customers know that they are free to tell their friends and family about your brand marketing efforts.
You might even sweeten the pot by offering your customers a discount or a free giveaway for every person they refer. That’s yet another way to take branding and brand management to the next level without having to spend an arm and a leg in the process.
