Effective ways to promote your business

If you stop and think about it for even just a minute, there are more than a few ways to promote your business than you might first realise.

It makes sense to try and market what you do and how you do it differently from everyone else as the cornerstone of your promotion strategy. If you concentrate on what your competitors are doing, you can easily be side-tracked and even disillusioned.

Why is it so important to differentiate your brand?

There are more than 2.5 million businesses in Australia alone, and that number is constantly growing as new enterprises come into existence.

While the number of direct competitors may never be known, you can be sure that you need to use some form of promotion to be found by your target market.

This can be anything from having the best promotional merchandise Australia has to offer or getting expert help for your SEO marketing needs. A quality digital marketing company can look after the latter, but promotional products are often harder to find.

Promoting your company for today and tomorrow

There is one thing about promotions and marketing that it always pays to keep in mind is that you need to think beyond the short term.

Too many companies put a significant amount of energy, money and resources into one particular promotional campaign. This means that all that effort relates to a one-off push and can easily become an all or nothing scenario.

What about next week, next month or even just tomorrow? Will your marketing promotion last a long time or be memorable enough to keep your target audience interested?

It’s important to do all you can to keep your brand top of mind with your target market and be the name that people remember when it comes to what product or service you offer. Even better still is to have the best word of mouth working for you.

Nothing is quite as powerful as having people promote your brand in their own words.

An often overlooked promotional asset

There is one asset that a company has that can be overlooked as a promotional arm of the business. That is your own staff.

If you stop to consider how many times someone is asked about what they do for a living or where they are working, you can see how often your company is given the spotlight. It may only be for a short period of time, but there is a golden opportunity to have your business showcased in one way or another.

You might remember encountering someone who has the chance to talk about their job, and you will hear what they think about the company and their role. 

It won’t take long before you realise what their relationship with their workmates is and how the business runs (at least according to them).

If they have problems with their workplace, they will often overshare about the issues they face and any concerns they have with how it all works together. This can almost immediately paint a picture of how the business performs from an internal perspective and can influence how that company is seen from the outside. 

Anyone involved in that conversation or who overhears those comments will make their own judgement about the brand and usually carry that into any other conversation about where people work. It is not unusual to hear somebody say, “I know someone who works at ***, and they said…” and the following feedback is then spread to someone else.

The all-important word of mouth

With both staff and customers talking about your company, they both have the chance to put your business in either a good or bad light. 

In the case of this word of mouth, it is not true that bad news travels fast. In fact, more people are more likely to listen to positive feedback about a company and remember it because the majority of people are quicker to point out their dislikes rather than focus on what is good about something.

This is why when somebody talks about how much they enjoy working where they do or how highly that person thinks of a company they do business with, it makes a significant impact.

The next time you hear about or see something linked to that particular company, you are very likely to recall that positive word of mouth. It makes sense that you will naturally be drawn to dealing with them rather than any competitor because you have experienced a genuine review of what they do.

A conversation can often follow a similar pattern in relation to word of mouth, such as;

A: I’m thinking of getting a new product or service

B: I’ve heard about a company that does that really well. Someone who works there says that you can get a great deal and the quality is really good, and they really look after their customers.

A: Oh, that’s great. I’ll check them out.

B: I heard something about them doing special deals at the end of each month.

This means that A is already close to becoming a fully paid customer and – if that person enjoys a similar experience – will go on to tell others about that company.

Promotional products that work

There is a great opportunity to keep your name in the best light for your target market.

With quality products, you can illustrate the quality of your brand. This is where high-quality promotional items can really make their mark for you and your company.

Even something as simple and effective as having your name emblazoned on the best promotional pens in Australia or an eye-catching coffee mug. You can add an extra level of character by using reusable coffee cups made of sustainable material to show that you are an environmentally friendly company.

These promotional products can be a gift to valued clients, or you can show how much you value your own staff by creating or sponsoring their out of work endeavours.

This is when you can choose something like utilising the top custom basketball jerseys in Australia. That basketball team can be wearing your own brand’s basketball jersey design with your brand name or logo front and centre.

This shows that you are proud of your workforce and are glad to support them both in and out of work.

There are many different ways to promote your brand, but the simplest ways are often the most effective of all.