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Branding is a hot topic these days. Today, in many business circles and meetings, it is common to hear these questions:

• What is your brand?
• What is branding for?
• What methods can be used to build a brand?
• What is a personal brand?

And ….

Some questions also go in this direction:

• Do you have to pay for branding?
• Does branding require a lot of budget?
• What are the characteristics of branding experts? Where can they be found?
• Most importantly, what is the salary of these people and on what basis is this salary calculated?

 

And ….

 

However, many still do not know that brand and branding includes a wide concept and is not limited to logos and advertising banners! Regardless of academic definitions and complex terms, branding in simple language means that we make people’s mentality towards our brand to be formed in a special way and then people come to us and do not go to other brands. As mentioned, the discussion of branding is very broad and diverse, but in this compact article, we intend to present the ways of “low-cost branding”. In other words, there are a series of creative solutions that you can use to promote and advertise your brand by spending a relatively small amount of money.

1. Have a continuous presence on social networks

It may be surprising for some people to know that this simple solution is one of the effective methods of branding; That too with a small cost or maybe almost no cost. The fact that you have a permanent presence on social networks, update your page, and respond to the comments of your audience, all indicate that your business and brand are alive.
On the other hand, the worst thing for branding on social networks is not updating the posts! The important point in this is that you should know where your audience and potential and current customers of your business spend most of their time while surfing the web.
Reaching people at the same time and place as they are is extremely important and valuable. Pay attention to the data you have about people. Most of your audience may spend most of their time on a particular social network (like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or wherever).
If so, luck is with you because in this case you can save your time and energy and focus on one area. Of course, even if it is so – that is, even if luck is on your side! – Again, you should not neglect other networks and platforms.
However, it is clear that an effective presence in social networks requires time, and here it becomes a matter of “management”. For this, you can use HubSpot’s free tool called Social Media Content Calendar.

 

2. Blog

We have already written about the importance and necessity of blogging for online businesses. Some experts believe that blogging is the most fundamental step in inbound marketing because it helps you reach qualified customers by creating informative content that matches people’s searches: those who like your identity. A group believes that after family and friends, the blog is the most important reliable source of information.
Meanwhile, blogging is fortunately inexpensive and does not require highly complex expertise. However, you should pursue blogging continuously, with a specific schedule and professionally; Like the strategy of presence in social networks that was described above.

3. Go for collaborative branding

Basically, branding is a time-consuming process and is not easily achieved. Do you think that the Google we know today has reached its current position after several years of trying and falling? What about Apple, Amazon and Microsoft? Partnering with powerful brands is a shortcut for you to promote your brand and make it known to others; And this is co-branding. Of course, it is not right to work with any old brand and the host must be a brand that matches your work and products and your organization.

 

Some recommendations regarding collaborative branding:

1. Monitor your potential partner’s audience: Do fans of the brand trust it enough? Is it difficult for you to achieve branding without working with this partner and those fans?
2. Put something in the middle: see what this big and probably old brand doesn’t have and what it actually lacks; Provide the same. It is a win-win game that can be profitable for both you, the host brand, and the fans.
3. Make customer service your priority
Zappos is a very successful online company in the field of selling shoes and clothes. This company has put all its thoughts and minds on improving the customer experience and in this way it has been able to solve other issues and challenges and save a lot of money in advertising and marketing. The importance and effectiveness of “word of mouth advertising” is not something that you and I can deny. You should make it a priority to provide a great customer experience because a satisfied customer is very valuable and can bring you many more customers.

Conclusion

Building a brand can be a huge undertaking, especially when we have limited resources, but as history has shown, there are many low-cost ways to achieve this big goal, some of which I have mentioned. Branding deals with a series of strategies and logic, that’s why it is considered a dry and complicated topic, but don’t forget that we have to live a happy and balanced life.
Enjoy branding!