How can you grow your business if people aren’t aware of its existence? Entrepreneurs owe it to themselves to do everything in their power to get people to know about their brand. The idea behind brand awareness is to make business to customer interactions memorable. That way, when the next opportunity to buy a similar product or service comes around, the customer will consider the brand freshest in his mind.
Typically, business owners use regular sales promotions to bring attention to their brand, build trust and credibility and make the brand more recognizable. However, this is not the only way to boost brand awareness. In fact, the most effective tactic is word of mouth.
Word of mouth
Word of mouth remains the most effective form of marketing. With just a few loyal customers, your brand can rise to become a household name with almost zero advertising budget. The key to using word of mouth is having a quality and unique product or service that gets everyone hooked the first time they try it. Loyal customers understand your journey and believe in the solutions you bring to the table. They, therefore, spend their days sharing that story with their friends, family and colleagues even without your knowledge.
When you realize that you have acquired certain loyal customers willing to sell the vision and mission of your brand, the next thing to do is sit down and figure out how you can derive more value from these loyal customers. Figure out how to enlist these unpaid brand ambassadors into your sales promotions and other brand awareness initiatives.
Tap into the value of loyal customers
Your loyal customers will be glad to help in any way they can to see your brand take off. Taking advantage of this is a big step towards increasing brand awareness while spending near zero dollars in a marketing campaign. Some of the ways you can ask these customers to help include:
Ask them to spread the word
Every time you come across a customer who is extremely passionate about your product or service, don’t shy away from asking them to help you get more people like them to try your products or services. Ask them if they know anyone who might be just as excited to use your product or service as they were when they used it for the first time.
It may surprise you to find that they might know a person or two. Reach out to these people with free or discounted offers. Approaching loyal customers and asking them to help will make them feel appreciated and will further cement their resolve to helping your brand leave a mark in people’s minds.
Ask loyal customers to record testimonials
Testimonials from passionate product or service users provide authenticity and reach people your brand would have had a hard time reaching. If you can get these customers to record video testimonials, even better.
If possible, give them your brand phrasing to incorporate in their testimonial and share the video on your website or on social media. You can also include links to the customer’s online pages or blog as a way of thanking them for advocating for your brand in their circles of influence.
Boosting brand awareness does not always have to mean spending money. With a good product or service and a willing loyal following, you can transform an idea into a million-dollar company in just a few years.