10 Easy Ways to Do Branding and Digital Marketing for Small Businesses

Many small businesses struggle with branding and digital marketing strategies to help build brand awareness and take their business to the next level. By putting in the time and effort, you can find what digital strategies work best for your business to help you grow and flourish. Union Square Advertising has put together these 10 tips to help you gain a better understanding of how branding and digital marketing can help your small business on Long Island. 

1. Build a Strong Social Media Presence- In recent years social media has become a great channel for businesses to communicate with their customers. It also helps small businesses reach new audiences that align with their brand that they otherwise would not have been able to. The more channels your business is on, the better. Social media marketing can help showcase client testimonials, products, services, and share information while encouraging engagement, and open channels of communication between you and your audience which helps build trust. So, jump on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more and show your brand off! Make sure you are consistently updating these channels! Customers like to see that you are updating and are engaged on these pages regularly!
2. Be consistent– This may be one of the most important aspects of branding and digital marketing for small businesses in New York. You want to make sure that messages remain consistent across all platforms. If you are sharing a message on your Facebook, you want to make sure you are spreading the same message on your website, using the same tone, wording, and content. Otherwise, you will confuse your audience and push away existing and potential customers. Being consistent allows audiences to become familiar with your brand, which builds trust, which then leads to customer loyalty.
3. Create an Easily Recognizable Name and Logo– Your logo is going to appear on all your social media channels, your website, business cards, promotional materials and more to help build your brand’s identity. While your name may be rememberable, people typically tend to associate brands with their logos. While you want your logo to reflect your company, you also want to think of your audience when creating it. You want it to be attractive to them! Union Square Advertising has a team of hardworking graphic designers to help you build your logo that is not only attractive but will accurately represent your brand! A great logo will not only pull your brand together, but also establish a sense of trust between you and your audience.
4. Build a great website– In a world that is so dominated by the Internet, it is vital for businesses to have online visibility. Even with a strong presence on social media and having lots of ads throughout the Internet, nothing can replace the value of a great website. Your website is like a home base for your business. Even though you have other online platforms to help spread your messages, they should act as aids to drive audiences to your website, making it the main source of information for your brand.  It is a space where you as a business are in complete control of your message. While your website doesn’t need to be fancy, it is important to showcase who you are as a brand. Another important aspect of having a great website is making sure it is mobile-user friendly! Audiences now hold the internet right in the palm of their hands, so if your website is difficult to navigate through on a mobile phone, it may push customers away.
5. Utilize SEO- SEO, also known as Search Engine Optimization, helps increase web traffic by using organic search results on search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Take the time to figure out what words your customers are using when searching for your business or similar businesses. Then utilize these words on your website, throughout blog posts, and a variety of other ways, so that when audiences search them online, your website comes up! For example, if your audiences typically are searching “digital marketing in New York”, you should make sure those words appear somewhere on your website. 
6. Take Advantage of Online Ratings and Reviews– Customers across all demographics heavily trust and rely on online reviews when deciding whether to use a business’ product or service. As a small business you want to make sure you monitor online review sites and keep them current.  Make sure you add photos, descriptions of products and services are accurate, operation hours and all other information is correct. You’ll also want to monitor these sites regularly. If there is a negative review, make sure you respond to it in a polite and appropriate way, quickly. This gives audiences the impression that you genuinely care about taking care of your customers, building a sense of trust. By contacting Union Square Advertising in Ronkonkoma, we can help you implement a strategy to help you closely monitor online review sites and answer your reviews politely and professionally!
7. Look for partnership opportunities– Trust goes a long way with consumers, but it can sometimes be a lot of hard work to build that trust. One way to expedite this process is by partnering up with a brand that your audience trusts! When that brand introduces your small business to audiences, they are more likely to trust your business, resulting in potential new customers and business. However, when looking for opportunities for partnerships make sure you are looking into businesses that are not competitors!
8. Don’t Forget about Email Marketing– You may have heard that email marketing is outdated, but it is still a great tool to use to communicate and connect with your audiences. It is the third most important method for digital marketing. Email marketing tends to amplify customer retention, and influence purchasing behavior, while remaining inexpensive. Emails are a great source of information for your customers! Make sure your email marketing campaigns are mobile friendly, kept short, designed simply, and include a call to action.
9. Research your Competitors & Differentiate Yourself– It is crucial for you to look at your competitors and investigate what they are and aren’t doing. From here you can see what areas these businesses are lacking in, and build your brand accordingly, allowing your business to offer additional value to the market and stand out. Look to see where they are positioning their ads, where they are lacking in ads and other areas, and use this information to your advantage!
10. Have professional content across your channels– Content is key for any branding or digital marketing strategy! Content is what is going to help drive audiences to your brand and to act! You want to make sure that any blog posts, photos, videos, and other forms of content are visually appealing to your audience, while having quality information. Good professional content has the power to educate audiences, fuels SEO, and can take your conversations with your audiences deeper, establishing a better connection! If the content looks unprofessional, it may give customers the wrong impression of your brand, so make sure everything looks good! By following these tips, your small business can make the most of your branding and digital media strategies, bringing your business to new heights!For more information on how you can improve your branding and digital marketing for your small business contact Union Square Advertising at (631) 676-4430 or email info@unionsquareadv.com.