Small Biz Essentials – How Can You Get Brand Recognition through Content?

To many small business owners, brand awareness sounds like something they don’t need to worry about yet. It’s for the “big guns”. It’s a “later problem”.

You may not be Coca-Cola or Mercedes yet. Maybe your name will never be known worldwide. But this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t strive for brand awareness as soon as possible.

No, this doesn’t mean shifting focus from getting the ROI you need to making your brand known. If you’re a regular on the Idunn blog, you know that I’m always advocating for ROI-oriented content above all else.

But what if you could get two birds with one stone? Getting brand recognition through content isn’t impossible. Quite the opposite.

Remember: a brand is more than your logo. You could say that a brand is the tone of voice you use, the image people perceive of you and the expectations that arise when they hear your name.

And it’s up to you to fine tune all of the above. Let’s see how you can turn your content game into a well-oiled machine that boosts your brand awareness.

4 Ways to Get Brand Recognition through Content

Small business owners want logos that help people remember their brand. Special colors, typography, a bold catch phrase incorporated in the logo are just a few things that can make people remember a brand. Of course, I wouldn’t dream of telling you that you should go with an average logo and hope for the best. I’m only saying that you can couple that with other ways of getting people’s attention.

Content is one of them. Think about HubSpot. They made a name for themselves by offering state-of-the-art content. Even free courses and certifications. For inbound marketers and inbound marketing agencies, HubSpot is the go-to place for relevant industry stats and recent trends – whether they work with HubSpot’s solutions or not.

Granted, HubSpot isn’t a small business. But they used to be. Content is what helped them grew and become what they are today.

Here’s how you can make that happen for your small business:

1. Find Your Tone of Voice

…and make sure it matches to what your buyer persona responds to. Most of the small businesses we work with tell us the same thing about their preferred tone of voice: “we want to be professional”.

Of course you do! No one wants to come across as amateurs!

But this doesn’t mean everyone should use the same stern tone. Funny blog posts work like a charm. Don’t worry; I’m not saying your posts should sound like a Comedy Central script. You just need to add one or a couple of jokes every now and again to keep people interested.

One of our clients, an online auto parts store that we do social media management and marketing for, told us that they didn’t necessarily appreciated all the funny posts on their profile. They wanted to be stern and professional. I urged them to take another look at their audience.

It was mostly made up of car mechanics or people interested in cars. Jokes about how hard a mechanic’s job is and had gotten them a lot of shares and a huge organic reach. And, guess what? They mostly reached other mechanics or people with interest in car repair and maintenance. Ultimately, they got them sales.

The result? They are now asking for more funny posts.

Adaptability is the key to finding the right tone of voice for your brand. Yes, you want to be very professional when you’re talking about IT services for major corporations. You also want to be relaxed, friendly and helpful when you have a beauty clinic – much like talking to your best friends about what works in terms of skin care and what doesn’t. For an auto shop, you want to be funny and helpful.

The list could go on forever, but I think you got the point.

2. Never Compromise Content Quality

Whatever tone of voice you choose, it’s important to be consistent with it. And with the quality of your content.

Nothing keeps people hooked like constantly delivering excellent content. This is why, at Idunn, we don’t offer just content. We offer authority content. Always.

If you’ve worked with copywriting agencies in the past, you may have noticed that they offer various levels and types of content and copy. Basic, expert, authority – these are usually the names they use.

The cost of copywriting services increases when you go up a level. This is something I never wanted to do in my agency.

I strongly believe that the Internet is already too plagued by poor quality articles, click bait and irrelevant information. I don’t want to add to that. So my team and I always deliver authority content, the kind that is valuable to the readers and brings ROI to our customers. The two are always linked together!

If you want to get brand recognition through content, there can be no other way. If an article doesn’t hook its reader from the headline or from the first phrase, they’ll close it and forget about it. And about your brand.

Carefully-crafted copy, on the other hand, gets people to come back. To follow you on social networks. To buy from you and even to recommend you to their friends and family.

Authority content doesn’t just bring you customers. It brings you the kind of customers that turn themselves into brand ambassadors.

3. Distribute Your Content Efficiently

What good is authority content if it doesn’t get discovered by the right people? In order to get yours before the eyes of those who may be interested in your brand you need to up your SEO efforts, of course, but also to distribute the content efficiently.

Let’s face it: SEO can only get you so far. If you want to boost your brand recognition through content, you need to do more.

Social media marketing is a must for any small company. Aside from helping you improve your brand awareness, it is also great for forming a community around your brand.

As soon as you have your audience, all you need to do is deliver constant quality to keep them engaged. Every share or retweet you get is a step towards gaining brand recognition through content.

Besides social networks, you can always reach out to thought leaders in your field or your area. Ask them to read your content and give you honest feedback. If they like it, ask them to link to your website on theirs. This is how brands are made online.

4. Be Persistent

Most new clients we work with on content ask the same question: “when will I get results?” And they never like the answer.

Brand recognition through content doesn’t happen overnight. Neither does ROI. This is a long-term game.

I could tell you (and my clients) that a single blog post can bring you a fortune and instant fame. But that would be a blatant lie. This (almost) never happens. And I added “almost” because there is literally one in a million chance for this to happen. Unless you are already famous (think Rihanna level) and write a blog post about an intimate event in your live, you’ll never boost your brand recognition through a single piece of writing.

How much does it take?

A year, maybe two. If you’re in a very specific niche or a local business that caters to a small community, it can happen in as little as six months.

But no sooner.

So you have to be persistent. A business is not a one-hit-wonder. It’s something you build in time.

Looking for copywriters that can help you build brand recognition through content? You’ve come to the right place: