Whether you’re a new start-up or an established business, brand awareness is always key. How can you make sales if people don’t know about you or the new things you’re doing? The Content Marketing Marketing Institution in fact found that 89 percent of B2B marketers labelled brand awareness and visibility as the most important goal, over sales and lead generation. But in this day and age, with so many communication platforms, advanced technologies and modern ways of thinking, what are the most effective methods of getting your brand out there? Let’s take a look at some of the main strategies that could be effective for your company.

1. Social Media

It’s no secret that Social Media is a widely used tool that has a powerful effect on people’s opinions. No matter the platform of choice — Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube to name just a few — there is a potential to reach millions, even billions, of people around the world. Through a profile and regular activity that attracts your target market, a company not only has the ability to get their brand seen by the many people on Social Media, but you actually can communicate a strong and relatable brand personality. The great part about Social Media is that it is easily customizable. You can target audiences by age, gender, geographical location and even interests, to ensure that your brand is being seen by those most likely to identify with your values and require your services.

2. Content Marketing

Another modern day technique for brand visibility is content marketing. With the onslaught of technology and the world wide web, audiences are faced with an overload of content, which is updated and shared every hour. People visit various websites, scroll through social feeds and Google search on a daily basis, so if your brand has content out there for them to stumble across, it’s all the more likely that audiences will become more aware. Try using bloggers and creating native articles to post on various publications that you know your target market are reading; or you could shoot interesting videos to upload and share on Social Media. You could even try writing an e-book on a topic of interest; just try and be creative and be proactive about spreading the content online.

3. Traditional Methods

Let’s not forget about those tried and tested traditional methods that have been working for marketers for a long time. Guerrilla marketing, for example, can be highly effective for companies trying to get their name out there. Uber, which is a billion dollar company has been known to take advantage of guerrilla tactics. You could also try getting a toll free number for your business because by adding a clear contact detail to the brand, you will be visible on 411 directories and online directories, which are seen by many people everyday. Plus, toll free numbers make it easier for customers to get in contact with you and therefore allows you to provide better customer service — an added bonus that can make a huge difference.

Increasing the visibility of your brand can be a process that is often time consuming and requires effort. Whether it’s using modern techniques or traditional approaches, marketers should be aware of effective strategies and be sure to make brand awareness a priority; if done properly, it can broaden your customer base, solidify your market position and increase returns.

Organic link building is an essential part of any business’s online presence. The process of building links will not only improve a company’s search ranking in browsers like Google, but it can also act as a promotional tool by triggering earned traffic for the company’s website.

Process of Link Building

The method of building organic links can, in many ways, be compared to playing dominoes. For instance, a web developer will craft a link that is meant to set off a chain reaction whereby other sites link to the original link, resulting in “ripple effect”. This creates a web or network of links that connect back to the original site. None of these links are purchased, but rather created via the inclusion of strong and relevant web content and the selective but effective use of keywords. The goal is to set links in motion by creating content that speaks directly to consumers, reaching them on an emotional or personal level.

Some Great Google Link Videos

Recent Changes

Link building has evolved significantly over the past decade, but Google’s recent algorithm changes have web designers rethinking their approaches. In the past year, Google introduced two programs, Google Panda and Google Penguin, which work to identify websites that are overloaded with keywords or contain low quality content. The ultimate goal of these changes is to improve search results, filtering out spam and irrelevant information. These changes require that anyone building links be much more cautious when writing content and creating keywords to promote their brand.

Building Brand Identity

When executed properly, organic link building can actually help a business craft a brand identity. The web of links created by this process will help a company establish an online reputation through a kind of “word of mouth” process. As more and more people share information about a company, that company will develop a consistent and recognizable image on the web. For instance, social media offers one of the most common and most effective outlets for companies to build brand identity through organic linking. Once a person retweets a link or shares it on Facebook, a business has the potential to go viral.

Creating Trust

By building a web of organic links, a business will not only be able to promote itself on the web, it will also be able to establish a loyal customer base. The companies that are most successful at linking are those that conduct the most research into their target clients, establishing a connection with the consumers and speaking directly to their needs. Moreover, the new Google algorithm itself is based almost entirely on enforcing the creation of trustworthy links. Therefore, companies who build links successfully will have created relevant and readable content that consumers will see as genuine.

Though the process of building links has changed, largely as a result of Google’s increased oversight, it is no less important than it ever was in helping promote a brand. In fact, if anything, it has become even more important, as its successful implementation has become more difficult. Web designers and developers who play by Google’s new rules, however, will reap the benefits of increased site ranking, traffic and brand recognition.