What should you be doing right now to build and secure brand growth?

When to comes to marketing, we already know that many of you focus on social media, and on top of that organic content.

As much as that is great, we’re in a pay to play era and organic content and “boosted” content only get’s you so far.

This insight isn’t coming personal opinion, but from an expert who currently runs a marketing and advertising agency, working with global brands. Now, you read that and think, ‘but I’m a small business’, yes, that maybe be so but the current landscape is the same for everyone - including you!

We’re here to support but also educate you on the best ways to market you brand, focusing on longevity. We want you to have the best success no matter your size.

We want to help impact your bottomline in a good way - as you’re in business and in it to make money 💰and see an actually ROI (return of investment).

So, with that in mind, we have 8 tips on the best way to increase brand awareness, consumer engagement and revenue. You need to focus on a multi-faceted approach that leverages digital marketing, customer experience, partnerships and data insights.

Here are some key strategies:

Digital marketing and Social Media

• Content marketing: Create valuable, engaging content that resonates with your target audience. Blogs, videos (not just Reels) and see if you can be guest on podcasts (this is great for pushing personal as well as brand awareness. Clips are an asset for social media). All of these can drive traffic and increase brand visibility.

• Social Media engagement: This what we would call Community Management. If you can’t be the manager, hire someone who can do that for you. You need to actively engage with your audience on platforms like Instagram, Facebook (if you still use that), TikTok and LinkedIn. Use a mix of organic posts, stories and paid advertising* to reach a broader audience.

* We don’t mean boost content, actually have a solid advertising budget that supports all your marketing efforts. When you boost a few posts, your organic reach and engagement goes down.

• Collaborations: Partner with Creators who align with your brand values, messaging, tone of voice etc. Authentic endorsements can significantly boost brand awareness and credibility and cross pollinate audiences.

Customer experience and personalisation

• Personalised marketing: Use data analytics to understand customer preferences (not what you assume or want it to be). The more tailored your marketing messages are the better. Consumers want to be and feel part of your brand. Personalised emails, product recommendations, and targeted ads can enhance customer engagement. We’re all Amazon shoppers and Netflix watchers!

• Exceptional customer service: Provide outstanding customer service to build loyalty. Respond promptly to inquiries and feedback (Community/ Customer managers are a must. This isn’t a role for a social media manage). Having a proper team member who knows and understands your business is paramount #facts. You have to believe us, but we’re speaking from experience. Either way, make sure you go the extra mile to solve customer problems.

Innovative campaigns and events

• Creative campaigns: This isn’t something you need to be a big brand to do. You can create and launch innovative marketing campaigns that stand out. Use storytelling, humour or emotional appeal to create memorable experiences.

• Events (what RW Comms brand activations IRL): Host or create in-person events/ activations, press events or workshops. These events can attract potential customers, encourage UGC (user generated content), created better brand loyalty, provide value and showcase your brand’s expertise.

Check out this one, that RW Comms created for brand Veet and Scholl.

Strategic partnerships and collaborations

• Collaborate with other brands: Partner with complementary brands for co-branded products, events, or cross-promotions. This can introduce your brand to new audiences.

Utilising technology and data

• Analytics and insights: Use data analytics tools to track and understand customer behaviour, campaign performance and market trends… Yes, you can do this for FREE as a small business. Insights from data can guide your marketing, PR and content strategies and improve decision-making. You can save time and ensure consistent communication.

SEO and online presence

• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): Optimise your website (trust us, you don’t even need to be an expert for this, you could do it yourself) and content for search engines. Make sure you have a user-friendly website, what do we mean by that. Make the UX (user experience) easy and simply. Make it complicated they will log off).Ensure your website is fast, mobile-friendly (if you design it or get someone to do, check across mobile and even tablet) and easy to navigate. A seamless online experience can convert visitors into customers.

Feedback and continuous improvement

• Feedback: Regularly seek feedback from customers, team, family and friends to understand needs and preferences and maybe things that don’t work that well. Use their feedback to improve products, services and customer experience.

• Continuous innovation: Knowledge your market, industry and either stay ahead or onto of market trends and continuously innovate your product/ service offerings. Introducing new features or products can keep your brand fresh and exciting.

These really aren’t a lot of things to adopting and build into what you’re already doing. The landscape is very competitive at the minute and focusing on brand is key, alongside your marketing and PR efforts. We’re sure a lot of you know this already, but this is just a little reminder.

Anyone who follows or engages with us, we want you to feel that you can come back to us and either get a little reminder, nudge or learn something new. We don’t need to tell you how tough it has been and is at the moment, we want you to grow and succeed with a little helping hand from us.

If you want us to cover something in particular, please let me know. Feel free to drop me (Jamie) an email: [email protected].