5 Ways to Amplify your Brand Message

Author Almu Corazon

As a small business owner, wife, traveler, jewelry maker and international entrepreneur I have lots to do on a daily basis. Lately I’ve been traveling a lot and I like to take the time spent in cars, airports and planes to reflect on what’s going on in my life. Most recently, I have been primarily focusing my reflections on analyzing the opportunities and challenges my clients and I are going through. Have you ever wondered how our situations might be mimicking those surrounding us? I find it fascinating that whatever my clients are going through, I am on some level going or have gone through a similar situation.

All this thinking inspired me to share with you few tips on how to amplify your brand message. These guidelines have always helped me and my clients amplify our messages, generating great results. So, hey, I love sharing the beans!

• First, whatever it is that we do, it is best to align it to our business by using social media as a marketing tool. Choose strategically which social media platform represents what. For example, Facebook for me represents a bar/lounge/restaurant where I gather with my friends and clients to catch up, share jokes, news and interesting facts. My blog represents my office, where I share tips and guidelines on how to enhance our business and lifestyle. Instagram represents my favorite café, where I go to get motivated, share inspiring quotes, talk about my journey and meet new friends.
• Adding value through our sharing is key to standing out in the crowded market. Having our own voice is a must these days, especially if we want to build a loyal audience. Clients and prospects keep coming back for more when what we share is what they need/want to read/hear. We cut through the clutter on social media when we bring a benefit to our audience. As a client once told me, “Everyone is a bit selfish at the end of the day. One way or another, we all look for our own benefit.”
• Nine years ago I used to tell my clients: “Images are worth more than 140 characters” That was only one year after Twitter was created. Adding a picture, graphic or video to our posts organically invites our audience to share/repost, and like or comment on our posts. Of course adding a sentence to share our own voice to the image is crucial; otherwise it is asking people to watch the news on a muted TV. Half the fun, right?
• Avoid confusing selling with marketing. Social media's strength is marketing, creating a desire for a brand through content. When we create an effective positioning strategy that activates our clients to take actions—what we call “leads” in the industry—we can sell through our content marketing. Otherwise, we are sending misleading signals to our audience like blindfolded kids trying to hit a piñata.
• When we are a solo company, or we have a small team and a limited budget, online multitasking can become a challenge. Thus, the best advise is building our website as our main hub of digital efforts. Let’s go back to being in different places for different reasons, since that’s where my #tips started. Would you go to your neighbor’s office building to call your clients and invite them to visit you? Or would you rather welcome your clients to your own personal office? The latter option allows you to host meetings, keeps clients coming back to you whenever they need something, and encourages current clients to tell others where and how to find you. It sounds so simple and yet I started my digital career over 10 years ago, convincing heads of companies and departments why they need to create websites to serve as their main center of operations. And even now I have to explain the strategy to top executives and small business owners. Good thing is that it is becoming clearer as we keep gathering more proof about how effective this approach is.

Ninety percent of the challenge in building a legion of raving fans is having a great product/service. Conversely, we can have the best product/service ever, but without great marketing — it's nothing because no one will know. The life of a social post isn't particularly long, so it's vital that we find ways to amplify our message. The more eyeballs we attract with our content marketing, the faster our business will grow.

Don’t sweat it. We all struggle in managing our efforts to increase our return on investment (ROI). The trick is finding balance between our offline and online efforts in a way that it becomes sustainable. 

Stay tuned to my next e-newsletter to receive more tips on how to amplify your message online. Have a great week!

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