Top 10 Digital Branding Strategies For Small Businesses

Top 10 Digital Branding Strategies For Small Businesses

With tens and hundreds of similar products and services breaking into the market daily, its branding is the sole element that puts one in the limelight. How? Why do you pick Lays over any other packet of salted crisps? They're both fried potatoes, after all, no? Huh, now you know the answer! 

You see, innovation is one thing. But it can only take you so far when manoeuvring a customer's mind. How you decide to showcase and communicate your product is an entirely different aspect. And not to exaggerate, but more often than not, it's also the element that decides its fate. History has it – many remarkable products have fallen prey to ambiguity because their branding game wasn't strong enough to withstand the industry's big players.

Even today, when everything has gone digital, branding continues to be an alpha for this very reason. In fact, with the audience gradually turning to mobile screens for anything and everything, it's a new challenge for businesses to ace digital branding too. But well, being a relatively newer concept, the word around its hows, whats, and whys aren't so fluent. So hey – read this blog and learn everything you possibly need to know about digital branding. 

What Is Digital Branding?

Unlike traditional branding, digital branding aims to position your brand on the online front. But while the logo, name, and other physical aspects largely influence your brand's online presence – digital branding doesn't just finish there. It's more than what meets the eyes. The core of digital branding lies in striking an emotional link with the people. Say, through social media interactions, websites, apps, etc. In many ways, it inspires your audience to relate with your brand, all while conveying the value of your product and building a distinctive, memorable image of your business. 

Want an example? Take inspiration from Amazon. An e-commerce giant like none other, it's Amazon's powerful digital branding strategies only that caused it to erupt in the online shopping space. So much so that today, there is hardly any internet user who doesn't know about it.

Why Should You Focus On Digital Branding?

No matter if you're a small-time business or an established entity, if you haven't started planning your digital branding strategies yet, it's high time you should. Here's why:

• It helps your business create a fully digital brand image.
• It enables your brand to earn a positive reputation online.
• It fosters customer loyalty and better digital relationships.
• It lets you generate new leads more efficiently.
• It adds to other online marketing and advertising strategies of the business.

Are Digital Marketing And Digital Branding The Same?

Another prevalent notion around digital branding is that it's the same as digital marketing. Long story short, it's not. And if you're wondering why, well, here's your answer;

• Digital marketing is performed to market the product online, whereas digital branding helps create an online brand image of the business. 
• Digital marketing aims at generating sales, typically one time. On the other hand, digital branding focuses on forming lasting bonds with customers by creating brand awareness online.

This, however, brings us to a crucial conclusion. Digital marketing activities, no matter how clever, yield results only after digital branding has successfully earned the business a solid brand image. So, set your priorities right. Remember, it's always digital branding first and digital marketing later.

Thinks To Do In Digital Branding Of Your Brand

While digital branding is super essential for the growth of your business, it's not something that you can (or should) do overnight. Like any other marketing strategy, it requires careful planning and execution to get desired results. Here are a few things you need to keep in mind while working on digital branding for your business:

• Set realistic goals and objectives.
• Do your research and understand your target audience.
• Invest in a good website design.
• Create quality content.
• Promote your brand across different channels.
• Measure and track your results regularly.

Set Realistic Goals And Objectives

The first and foremost thing you need to do is set realistic goals and objectives for your digital branding strategy. Ask yourself – what do you want to achieve through this? Do you want to increase brand awareness? Drive more traffic to your website? Increase sales and conversions? Once you have a clear idea of your goals, it'll be easier to chalk out a plan of action.

Do Your Research And Understand Your Target Audience

Before you start working on your digital branding strategy, you must clearly understand your target audience. Who are they? What are their needs and wants? What are their pain points? Once you have answers to these questions, you'll be able to create a strategy that resonates with your target audience and helps you achieve your desired results.

Invest In A Good Website Design

Your website is the face of your brand, and you must invest in a good website design that accurately reflects your brand identity. A well-designed website makes a good impression on your visitors and helps you rank higher on search engines. So, make sure you invest time and money in creating a website that looks great and functions better.

Create Quality Content

As we mentioned earlier, content is the king in digital branding. Whether it's blog posts, articles, videos, or infographics, ensure all the content you create is high quality and provides value to your target audience. If you're not a pro at creating content yourself, hire someone who is. It'll be worth the investment.

Promote Your Brand Across Different Channels

Don't just stick to one platform when promoting your brand online. Make sure you're present on all the major social media channels and that you're regularly sharing quality content. Apart from social media, there are other platforms like email marketing, Google AdWords, and native advertising where you can promote your brand.

Measure And Track Your Results Regularly

Last but not least, don't forget to measure and track the results of your digital branding strategy regularly. This will help you understand what's working and what's not so that you can make necessary changes to improve your results.

10 Super Essential Digital Branding Strategies To Grow

The wait is over. Here, check out the top 10 digital branding strategies:

1. Logo
2. Website
3. Brand Message
4. SEO
5. Social Media
6. Email Marketing
7. Online Advertising 
8. Content Marketing
9. Course Creation
10. Influencer Marketing

Logo

In the face of any brand, a logo is the first thing that a customer comes in visible contact with. Not just this, right from social media pages to product packaging, your brand logo is going to be everywhere. So, you must create one that is unique and speaks for your brand personality. Don't go too overboard – remember, the simpler the logo, the easier it is to remember and recognise.

Website

Next up, it's the website – the home of your brand. Now, let's come straight to the point. If your business's website is efficient, user-friendly, and provides just the right amount of information, there's a high chance it can help you convert leads. But conversely, if your website is sluggish and overly jammed with ads, you'll notice your warm leads quickly disappear. This is why it is crucial to building a website that's convenient and easy to navigate. 

Brand Message

Your brand message is another significant element that contributes to your branding efforts. It's the language your company speaks. So you get to decide – what message and information about your brand you want to give out through it. Think of it this way. Consider any particular speciality about your business or product that sets you apart and weave it into a short, crisp one-liner. That, right there, is your brand message. 

SEO

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a genius way to ensure your brand grabs the attention in the digital space that it deserves. But sadly, it's a tough nut to crack. However, one way to get started is through Google Webmaster guidelines. Once you get the hang of the dos and don'ts of SEO, it'll become way more manageable for you to navigate keyword research tools like Ahrefs and Ubersuggest and make your website rank higher.

Social Media

In today's time, where everyone consumes more information from Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook than any other source, it becomes a no-brainer for every brand to have a strong presence on these platforms. So don't hold back – create content on social media regularly. More importantly, ensure each piece of content you create aligns with your overall brand personality while suiting the platform type and the target audience using it. For instance, content for Instagram can be a little quirky and fun. But on platforms like Twitter, aim to be more informative and bite-sized. 

Email Marketing

Your social media digital branding strategy may be a bummer for a more formal set of audiences. But that's where email marketing pops up as a saviour. 

Creating an email list is the first step toward reaching out to those potential leads who aren't on social media. But before building one, you might want to figure out a few stuff. Start choosing a specific customer segment you want to target and then move on to the most crucial aspect – your goal behind sending them the email. 

Online Advertising

This list of digital branding strategies would be incomplete without online advertising. And the reason makes complete sense. Even if you succeed in creating an incredible digital brand, it won't be helpful if there isn't any awareness about it. So, the word is clear – you need to promote your brand online. And this can only be done through online advertising tactics, like display ads, search engine ads, retargeted ads, social media ads, etc.

Content Marketing

With new brands flooding in daily, it's become more demanding to retain customer attention and loyalty. While online advertising works wonders in getting you the traffic, it can't help you fetch engagement. And if your brand's online presence isn't engaging enough, your customers will eventually lose touch with it. So, focus on content marketing. Engage with your target audience and customers through photos, videos, blogs, and articles to keep them hooked on your upcoming products and, of course, your brand.

Course Creation

Talking of content, what could be better than creating high-quality, on-demand courses to keep your audience engaged? We're not kidding – with over 6 million Americans riding the bandwagon of online education, if you are a creator in the education field who wants to ace his digital branding game, create online courses, and you're already good to go. Yes, it is lucrative from both revenue and branding standpoints. So, don't sleep on this trend – grab hold of an online course creation platform and get started. Here are a few Thinkific alternatives to help you start cheap but GREAT.

Influencer Marketing

Lately, influencer marketing has become a game-changer for small and huge brands. And we're in for it too. 

Influencer marketing means looping in social media influencers with large followings to promote your brand on different social media platforms. It's great because this way, you are not just targeting your set target audience. By getting an influencer to speak about the brand on your behalf, you are also getting attention from their loyal followers. This means your reach increases substantially.

Conclusion

Digital branding is the need of the hour for businesses looking to make their mark in the online space. Following the right digital branding strategies can improve your visibility, build a solid customer base, and eventually turn them into loyal brand advocates.