Whether you are a large corporation or a small solopreneur with an LLC, it’s important that you understand the power of the internet. Things have definitely come a long way from dial-up AOL.
Today, you have the ability to reach out and touch millions of people through the internet, making it extremely beneficial when trying to build a business. Digital branding is something you absolutely need to wrap your arms around if you want to see your business grow. Consider it digital gold. Without proper digital branding, you will find it extremely difficult to grow your business in today’s internet-based landscape.
To help you get started, here are four ways to grow your digital branding and get your business booming. Make sure you understand each concept so you can move forward and execute on the strategies.
1. Utilize Social Media
What’s a four-letter word that everyone loves hearing? FREE! If you want to improve your digital branding, you need to be utilizing social media to the fullest. Where else can you advertise and market for free?
Think about who your audience, customer, consumer and demographic is and what platforms they would be on. If you are selling a product to a consumer, obviously LinkedIn might not be your best choice.
If you are selling a physical product or products, Instagram would be a home run. You can easily post images to promote what you are selling. Make sure they are high-quality images and don’t forget to put your website URL in your bio so you can direct people over to your website to build traffic and convert sales.
This is one of the best digital branding strategies out there when you’re bootstrapping and trying to stay as lean as possible.
2. Content Is King
Content and copy are essentially sales and marketing in text form. It’s what sells your brand. Content (as long as it is well-written and SEO-optimized) is a huge traffic driver to your website and will allow you to be found in SERP (search engine results pages), such as on Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines.
If you can bring value to people, they will be more willing to see you as a trustworthy authority in the space. People like doing business with friends and people they like. If you’re adding free value by putting content up on your website where they can engage and learn, you just found a new best friend.
Your content should be leveraged on your social platforms as a teaser that directs people to your website to continue reading or to see what you are talking about or describing. You should absolutely have a Facebook and Instagram page. You could even do Pinterest if you feel it would be a benefit. But all of these should drive traffic back to your website where people can engage with the content on your site and ultimately make a purchase.
3. Create an Online Community
This goes back to friends like doing business with friends. You want to create an online community surrounding your brand. It can be a Facebook page or group, a blog on your website or an ambassador program online where you allow influencers and people in your space to help promote your brand and build your community.
Digital branding is all about getting eyeballs on your company and its products or services. You want die-hard fans and followers. People who will skip a lower-priced product to simply come back and do business with you because you make them feel like they’re part of your (business) family. People like feeling as if they belong to something, so why not create the culture to do just that?
4. Create a Story Rather Than Pushing Products/Services
With digital branding, you don’t necessarily want to be selling people. In fact, people don’t want to be sold at all — they would rather feel as though they came up with the decision to purchase on their own or that the product will benefit them in one way or another and must buy it.
If you can create a story surrounding your brand and its purpose/solution, you will see your sales soar. For instance, gather testimonials of how the product or service helped solve people’s problems. Don’t simply gather data that says “the product is good, it worked as advertised, fast shipping, good packaging, etc.” You want a wow-factor. You want to tell a story about what your product does and get an emotional reaction out of the person.
For example, “Have you ever planned the perfect outdoor party to have it ruined by bugs? All that time spent making delicious food only to sit it out for people to enjoy but have it be overtaken by flying pests? Not to mention bug flying in people’s hair and faces. What a pain! It’s not a fun experience and definitely not the memorable moment you wanted your guests going home with. What if there was a product that gave you back your outdoor freedom and fun, while eliminating pesky bugs?” Then you plug your solution (product).
People want to feel an emotional connection with your brand and what you’re selling. Create it and watch what happens to your growth. Try this digital branding strategy and see for yourself how it can help.
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Matt Weik
Matt Weik is the Founder/Owner of Weik Fitness, LLC and is a well-respected fitness expert/author with a global following. He’s a certified strength and conditioning specialist, personal trainer, and sports nutritionist. His work has been featured in over 85 fitness magazines and over 1,500 websites. You can contact Matt via www.weikfitness.com or on his social channels found on his website.
