Introduction to brand promotion
by Danuta & Piotr Białek
“In the previous issue, I briefly discussed the steps to take to start your own brand. It is not an easy endeavour, but with sufficient persistence and determination it can be an extremely successful step in your career. If this step is behind us, I think it’s time for the next one.”
This step is to focus on marketing, which is extremely important nowadays, where the era of computers and electronics has dominated the market and everyone has access to whatever they need without leaving their home. Well thought-out marketing is the key to success. Imagine that you are the owner of a small neighbourhood shop tucked around the corner that hardly anyone notices due to its location. This shop is your business in the maze of huge office buildings which are larger and longer operating companies. It makes no sense - you may think. On the contrary, the wheel is already rolling, so why would you stop? Prepare an action plan, set a goal and start.
Google – essential and free. Do you have a small studio at home? Or maybe you own a place somewhere in the city? Place a virtual sign wherever you are so that your potential customers can find you. Create and verify your Google Business Profile. It’s what allows your business to show up on Google Maps so people can find you and as the platform gets better and better at delivering accurate results to the searcher’s location it should be one of the very first steps of promotion as it comes completely for free! Don’t forget to verify ownership of your listing as soon as it’s registered. You can do it via Google My Business account.
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Google SEO It is one thing for you to promote your business, another for Google to promote your business. Search Engine Optimization is a set of practices that align your business with Google’s ranking algorithm. But because this algorithm has evolved to use machine learning and user behaviour to produce the most accurate and quality results for searchers, optimizing for search engines is really just optimizing for searchers - particularly those searching for what you have to offer. SEO is not the solution, but one of supportive tools that collectively work together with other activities to improve your rank. Also, because Google has amazing results focused around Searcher’s location, you have just as much of a chance as other, bigger lash salons, suppliers from your area to show up on Google’s first page without spending a penny! Except for the costs to get a website…
Website In my opinion every business needs one. Even if customer finds you on Google or social media, they will want to go to your website to check the full offer. And remember, it serves to promote your business 24/7. A good business website not only serves as a promotional tool in and of itself - it tells the story of your business and what you offer, provides contact information, and reflects your brand’s personality- but it is also essential for measuring and improving the success of your other promotional tactics.
