Three ways to leverage your brand and boost exposure

For small businesses, branding is everything – their products and services may not be as inexpensive as their larger competitors, but they can often provide more personalized support and build better relationships with their customers. But that raises the question: How do you establish a brand in the first place?

As MarketingProfs notes, there are several ways to accomplish this goal – and most of them are relatively easy to implement. Moreover, the benefits of gaining this extra exposure are manifold – it could lead to more visits to small business website, leads, inquiries and even purchases.

1. Quality assurance

When consumers are browsing retail stores, they may be oblivious to the quality of the products. By working with related companies, small businesses may be able to establish themselves as industry watchdogs, branding products with their seal of approval. This extends the reach of their brand, while also providing a valuable service to customers and partners.

“Hearst’s Good Housekeeping Magazine is a prime illustration of how companies can offer organizations the opportunity to receive a de facto certification by placing their logo on its packaging. The publication has been doing this for more than a century and with great success. Businesses still put out press releases when they receive the ‘Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval,’” the news source explains.

2. License the brand

Small businesses could also license their brand to sponsor local activities. Big brands use this strategy all the time – major sports teams feature the Nike logo on their uniforms or sometimes companies become the “official sponsor” of an event.

While small businesses probably don’t have the pull to license brands in that way, their could be a bevvy of local opportunities. For example, entrepreneurs could sponsor the high school football team, charity drives or talk radio shows. The key is creating relationships where applicable for the brand.

3. Build referral networks

In the construction industry, word-of-mouth referrals are big sales drivers. It makes sense – if a customer is paying a contractor to build a home, there is a certain amount of trust there. If that contractor then recommends a specific electrician, clients may become more likely to take the construction company’s advice.

“You see this a lot in the service industries, where companies that complement, but do not directly compete, set up referral networks and associated ‘finder’s fees’ to incentivize other firms to recommend them if the opportunity presents itself,” MarketingProfs explains. “It can make for a nice additional revenue stream for some businesses, particularly in the law, accounting or insurance fields.”

As a separate report from Duke University notes, brands can have a major impact on consumers, as they tend to use and buy products more often from brands they have a relationship with. They can also recommend them more often to friends.

Establishing a brand isn’t something limited to major companies and corporations such as Apple or Best Buy. Small businesses can and should strive to create a meaningful and unique reputation among its target audience to help differentiate its products and services from bigger competitors.

What strategies have you employed to enhance small business branding? Have you been successful? What are the effects you’ve noticed after establishing your small business?

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