Building a unique brand in 2013 can be difficult. The Internet gives entrepreneurs an easy barrier-to-entry, which means new brands are being created all the time. Getting your brand to stand out in this environment isn’t only a simple matter of effective marketing: it requires strategic thinking and experiential marketing that directly engages your customers.
The competition is fierce, of course, but that doesn’t mean the biggest threats to your brand are your competition. You may be surprised to find that the biggest threats to your brand often come from within.
Ineffective Traditional Marketing
Although your traditional marketing efforts – print ads, radio commercials, etc. – help you communicate your brand to your target audience, they aren’t necessarily building your brand in a way that boosts ROI and expands your customer base. The more money you throw at ineffective traditional marketing purchases, the less you have to invest truly building your brand.
You can drive sales and expand your customer base on a more direct level if you’re willing to think outside the box of traditional marketing.
Learning to Engage Your Customers…Again
Through experiential marketing like mobile tours, street teams, and event marketing, you can grow more efficient at getting your brand remembered in the minds of your customers. Essentially, you can learn to engage your customers on an emotional level all over again.
Too often, the greatest threats to your brand are the status quo strategies of traditional marketing. Companies devote large chunks of money to traditional advertising and then don’t measure their ROI, assuming that their branding efforts are winning them customers in the long run.
To kill off this threat to your brand, you can take control of your marketing, get face-to-face with your customers, and begin creating a real experience for your target market.