In this day and age everyone is looking for a way to get their name out there. Whether it be their company, themselves or their brand, people are always looking to stand out from the crowd. Small business SEO or even for larger business, this is crucial. There are those that look for the get rich quick schemes, but in the long term, brand strength is an incredibly powerful asset. More importantly is that, in this modern era, unless we are all eaten by alien robots, the online world is here to stay and is only going to get bigger. What this means is that you need to be building your brand online no matter who you are. So let’s look at six unique and some quite forgotten ways to promote your brand online.
Podcasts
A strategy that has been forgotten by many and maybe underutilized is that of podcasts. Audio or video, but in these recent times many have started to use video as it is most effective. A podcast allows an audience to feel connected to the brand and get a feeling that they are reaching out, not only to communicate but to provide information. Why not do a live podcast and allow live interaction with an audience, this will not only provide more interaction with your brand, but if handled well can be good for PR. As an example, an Arsenal football blog, known as Arseblog, has what it likes to call an Arsecast. So popular are the rantings of this sport blogger that his blog is one of the most famous and influential soccer blogs in the world.
Create a Fight Online
Ever heard of the Shoemoney vs Barman fight, well basically two big online heavy weights had a disagreement over an issue and challenged each other to an actual fight. The fight never occurred, but the online hype was immense. With challenges being thrown down and forums a buzz with activity, the brands of Barman and Shoemoney defiantly benefited from this. What I am suggesting here is not an actual fight, but create a little commotion, challenge a competitor to a competition and then promote that competition on all different channels. What you get in return is two brands working to strengthen each other, even if they don’t intend to.
Create a Widget or App
If you have a site that is taking off but you want to give your brand more reach, why not create an app or widget. For example, if you own a site that deals with a certain topic, why not develop a widget that bloggers and forums can put on their sites for free. What this gives you is brand promotion, traffic and those handy backlinks. You could even create an app on Facebook that can be added to different fan pages, and even profiles.
Create Something Controversial
You could say this is similar to the fight, but there are many aspects to this one. It can be anything from a graphic or video to some content in a blog post or press release. Posting on a blog whether it be attacking someone’s views or just writing something controversial (politics, religion etc you get the drift), whether it be an issue or on a current event, it will be sure to create attention. This is a form of link bait and even if the attention is negative, as long as you back up your standing with facts and a good argument you will get your brand attention, traffic, and some nice natural links.
Gamification
Making a game out of your brand or website online is a great way to get users coming back to your site again and again. It involves the incentive to complete or interact with a site more. Whether it be completing a profile or earning rankings for taking part in a forum. Possibly even getting points for adding comments to posts or interaction levels – and when reaching a certain level you receive a reward of some form – whether it be a prize or more access to different areas of the site. Making it a game will not only make it fun, but will play positively on your brand.
Offer a Free Course
If you are able have your site offer a free course of some sort, whether it be cooking, golf swing or online marketing of some form, then do it. By offering it for free, it will likely become viral as not many people can turn down getting something of value for nothing. What you will get in return is the traffic to your brand and a reputation. Those precious natural links are sure to come flying in as well. So in the end, although you might not want to give something of such value away for free, in reality you will receive much more in return.
