The world of business is in a constant state of flux with new innovations and developments coming to the market on a daily basis.
While your company may have become successful with a particular set of strategies, there is no guarantee that such strategies will continue to generate the same returns in the future.
If your sales have started to plateau, it could be time to take a fresh look at your marketing strategy and find new ways to reach out to those customers who are not yet aware of what it is that you have to offer. By focusing your attention on building awareness of your brand, you can ensure that all those who could benefit from your products or services will have your company in mind when the time comes for them to make a purchase.
Hold a live event
No matter what kind of business you are involved in, holding a live event is a great way to raise awareness of what it is you do and grab the attention of the press and potential customers as well as helping to expand your network of suppliers.
You may wish to centre your event around the launch of a new product or service, but this does not always have to be the case. You can have a purely social event tied to a particular time of the year, or create your own special occasion by offering a workshop in your area of professional expertise. If you want to give back something to the community during your event, consider a charity auction or raffle in which part of the ticket price goes towards good causes. Don’t forget to stream some or all of your live event via social media as this makes it possible to engage with a far wider audience, anywhere in the world.
Perfect your website
In a world where consumers spend so much time online and attention spans are so easily swayed, it’s important for you to ensure your website both grabs the attention of casual visitors as quickly as possible and is extremely user-friendly and intuitive.
Ensure there are the fewest possible number of steps between visitors seeing an item or service they like and paying for it. If you manage to create a website that fulfils both these criteria, your customers will share their positive views on social media, further boosting your brand awareness.
In addition to having a stand-out website, you also need to ensure new potential customers are directed towards your site. You can do this through both onsite and offsite SEO, which should be done by a professional in digital marketing. Making use of the services of a local SEO company is a great way of making sure you reach local customers, especially if you want to target a specific geographic location or demographic.
Finding a partner with the expertise and experience to be able to employ the right variety of strategies, including making use of search engines such as Google, business directories like Yelp and Foursquare and increasing the number of online reviews of your product or service can dramatically increase the level of awareness of your brand.
Consider the freemium model
Many companies, especially tech start-ups, start out by offering a service for free or at an extremely discounted price and allowing consumers to experience the benefits first hand, before offering them a chance to upgrade for additional, specialist services or in order to remove advertising from their product.
Although it may seem as though such tactics are relatively new, they have been employed by some of the largest companies in the world for decades. One of the largest, most successful and best-known companies in the world – Coca-Cola – used this strategy to great effect for more than 70 years, keeping the price of a bottle of the drink at just five cents between 1886 and 1959.
Ensuring your products or services are as affordable as possible for as many people as possible, especially in the early days of your enterprise, will ensure far wider distribution which in turn will lead to greater brand awareness. So long as your products live up to consumer expectations and the additional benefits on offer through the upgrade represent good value for money, you’ll have no difficulty convincing consumers to hand over their hard-earned cash.
Focus on experiences
Studies that show an increasing proportion of the population, especially from the millennial generation who are fast becoming the most dominant sector of the consumer market, are becoming less interested in acquiring things and far more interested in experiences.
No matter what you sell or produce, find a way to turn it into an experience for the customer. Consider offering free, time-limited trials of your products or services. Attend consumer shows where potential customers can try items out first-hand. See your marketing budget not as part of the cost of doing business but as an investment in your business. Legendary car maker Aston Martin now focuses on this strategy itself and has seen sales grow sharply as a result.
If the nature of your product makes all this impossible, invest heavily in your customer service division to ensure that every customer who makes a purchase from your company goes away with a smile on their face and that any complaints or other issues are dealt with swiftly and efficiently. By doing so, you will make the process of dealing with your company an experience in its own right, and this will reflect positively on your company as a whole.
Collaborate
Consider joining forces with other businesses, especially those in your local area, who are dealing with the same customers but not directly competing with the goods or services that you supply.
The classic example of this would be a florist shop joining forces with the local bridal shop in order to offer exclusive discounts to those customers who take advantage of your services, and vice versa.
This is not only a sure-fire way to attract new customers and boost awareness of your brand within the local community and beyond, it also benefits both parties as customers are rewarded for their loyalty.