Your brand is not your name, your logo, or the color schemes you use in your marketing. It’s not something that can be seen, but rather felt. There’s a reason you get filled with a sense of security when you think of Apple products, or strangely feel protected when you think about Allstate. These companies have been able to both inject personality into their brand and disseminate it to the point that they’ve become household names.
Know that it’s not only hardware giants or multi-billion-dollar insurance companies who can do that. Brands like Zappos have been able to do the same and only started with a dollar and a dream. Let’s take a look at some of the things new online businesses can do to gain brand recognition.
Build Your Voice
If you want to be recognizable, you have to be memorable in some way. And just like with people, it goes much deeper than looks. You need to build a solid personality for your brand and it has to be consistent. This is done by finding your brand’s voice.
Many make the mistake of starting by using rigid corporate language to come across as professional. They often end up sounding like any other brand in their niche, which is the last thing you want if you want to be remembered.
Instead, every piece of content and sales copy has to feel like you’re having an actual conversation with your customer. This will make your brand feel more real. Know what their core issues are, and address them every chance you get by showing empathy and offering a real solution.
Build Your Presence on Search Engines
Brands that have mastered brand recognition usually have a strong presence on social media. Their names will pop up near the top for searches related to their niche, and you have to be there as well. This is why your online business needs SEO. Search engine optimization is not a manipulation technique. Rather, it is a set of sound practices that will make your website seem more relevant while offering a sound user experience to visitors.
This means that you will have to work on multiple fronts at once. You will need to research the top keywords people search for when looking for your products or similar ones. You have to make sure that your on-site copy is congruent with those. You also have to look at things like your site’s semantics, navigation, loading time, and how many inbound links from high-quality sources you have.
This is mainly done by having a good content creation and distribution strategy. First, look at what type of content your competitors release. You can use a tool like Buzzsumo to show which pieces of content are being shared the most in any subject. This will allow you to see what people react to and create similar content while injecting your personal voice.
Build Your Local Presence
You should also try to make your presence felt in your home base. Getting recognition at the local level is much easier, and could allow you to build traction for your brand. Here, SEO can also help. If you haven’t claimed your Google My Business listing yet, do so, and make sure that your contact information is consistent everywhere you post it online.
Next, we would suggest that you find a way to help your community. It could be by sponsoring events or creating one. Workshops are also a great way to give back to your community and start building a good name for yourself.
If you want your brand to get recognized, you can follow these few tips. This should be enough to get you started – all you need now is your dedication and a solid strategy.
