Brand advertising is really just another form of brand marketing.
The right advertising can help you create brand awareness, which can help you establish trust with your audience, create brand authority, and attract new customers. It can also help you to encourage brand loyalty.
You need to think more carefully about your ads so that you aren’t just promoting your product or service but are contributing to your overall branding at the same time. Here are a few ways you can do that successfully:
Social Media Contests
Social media contests can help you create more awareness for your company and to establish your brand identity at the same time.
The secret to success is picking a contest theme and prize that align with your values. For instance, if you own a personal training business, you might challenge your followers to create the most fun and unique workout idea. Alternatively, you could ask them to share their personal fitness achievements.
Discuss your reasons for entering the contest to showcase your brand’s values, and ensure that your prize aligns with them too. This clearly rules out offering a liposuction session for a personal trainer, but the lines may not always be so clear. Just consider your prize thoughtfully.
Infographics
Infographics are often overlooked as a branding opportunity. Instead, the focus is more on getting quality backlinks to your site.
However, if infographics are done right, they are a valuable branding opportunity.
You should choose the subject of your infographic carefully. Whatever information you share on it should help to establish you as an authority. Take advantage of that opportunity and choose a topic that will not only provide a solution for your audience but that will also allow you to show off your expertise.
Choose a design for the infographic that expresses your brand identity and values. That can include using your individual colors, fonts and more, as well as choosing an overall style that reflects your brand personality.
Include your brand name and link on the infographic, and promote it widely.
Podcasting
Podcasting is often seen as the brand product, but it can also be a great vehicle for brand marketing.
Podcasts are a great medium for showcasing both your expertise and your brand personality. You can share interesting and informative content that helps to educate your audience or solve their problems. At the same time, you can show off some of your personality in the way you present the information and even in the side banter that takes place.
You can create your own podcast that runs in conjunction with your other content marketing, or you can sponsor a podcast that best reflects your brand’s values. Both options create valuable opportunities for branding.
Premium Content
Guest posting and publishing on the right platforms, such as LinkedIn Publishing, can help you advertise your company and establish your brand at the same time, if done properly.
It is important that you write your best content for these other sites to establish yourself as an authority and to attract new leads and customers.
When you are shopping for sites on which to publish your content, choose those that have authority in your niche and that reach the target audience you want to reach.
These may seem like simple tasks, but they can be much harder than they sound.
Branded Products
Branded products make for great giveaways that get customers excited while also creating more brand exposure.
You can give away branded items as small and inexpensive as pens with your logos on them or as sophisticated as electronics like iPads and mp3 players with your company name and contact information.
You can think even bigger and invest in items like car wraps or personal advertising.
Every time that people see these items, they are reminded of your branding. The more people see your brand, the more authority you build with them and the more likely they are to think of your company when they need the product or service that you offer.
Make sure that your branded products use the right logos, colors, fonts and more and that you choose the right products to reach the audience you want and make the impact that you want.
Branding can take the place of advertising or marketing, and the difference between the two is often marginal. Sometimes, it just comes down to whether you have to pay for the opportunity or not.
These simple strategies can help you get more from your advertising and to establish your branding. Over time, you’ll have the kind of recognition that can generate word of mouth and help you get more customers without having to do much more on your own. You’ll get more leads and sales, and you’ll be the authority in your niche.