The challenge with startups and SME’s is the majority don’t get brand exposure.

They need a fast return on any spend, their questions to sales reps are littered with when, and how much return for my will I get if I part with my cash?

It can be heartbreaking, but as a company that sells branding, I spend most of my time trying to temper expectations and educating the business owners I meet; on why branding or reputation marketing is long term, really long term!

I mean who wants to be the one who tells your teenage son who wants to sell T Shirts online that without a budget for branding it is going to be nigh on impossible to make it, you want him to try, make mistakes and learn from the experience and grow as a person, however it is a bit like watching a toddler try and beat the world record at 100 meters, sure its cute and they learn, it is not at all impossible, but you know how difficult and how long it will take for them to break records at the Olympics!

Let’s break brand exposure down into bit sized chunks

What is the one thing everyone needs to buy something new?

Trust

How do you get trust?

Trust and familiarity go hand in hand, when you are shopping and you are looking at products or services to buy, your logic tells you; you have ‘heard’ of this company before, so you go with that product or service over the one you have not heard of.

It’s fuzzy logic at best, but it works, it is one massive ‘yes’ in the mind.

Sales is about; not convincing as that leads to remorse, it is about leading potential clients to their own logical decisions.

How can you effect people’s logic?

Delving a little into the world of Neuro Linguistic Programming; it is about establishing a subconscious rapport between your mind and your clients mind, and there are many subtle body language give-aways that are done naturally, without people even noticing they are doing it, ladies touch their hair when attracted to someone. Liars look down when they need to be creative and make up a story, we look up when remembering.

Some sales people I have seen have tried too hard to mimic people when they are with potential clients, mimicking, if done well, is a natural thing we all do when we admire someone, we copy their body movements. Couples who like each other place their wine glasses nearer to one each others glass.

The hands: Liars tend to use gestures with their hands after they speak as opposed to during or before a conversation, says Traci Brown, who has participated in a deception training program with members of the FBI and occasionally helps work on investigations. “The mind is doing too many things including making up the story, figuring out if they’re being believed and adding to the story accordingly,” she says. “So normal gesturing that might normally happen just before a statement happens after the statement.”

These clues are all well and good, but online how can I make people trust me on the internet?

You have to reach out and tell your story and tell people why you are passionate about what you do, to be you and be the real name behind your company. Be a real person they can reach out to.

The more social media you have the better. The more blogs you will have that speak to people on a human level.

In your website blog you have to relate; if you sell cars for example, you do not sell a steel structure that gets people from A to B, no, you write about lifestyle, freedom and independence, all things that matter on a human level, speaking to the mind and developing trust.

Google’s own algorithm tries to make sense of your website to see if it is trustworthy, because they know trust delivers a better search experience. if you have a Google map listing and your address and phone number on your home page helps you get seen better on their search results pages.

If you are in business for the long game and you want this business to eventually take care of you and pay you back for the heartbreak, sacrifices and the time you gave, then you have to get your head around brand reputation and exposure.

Startups would never think of sponsoring a golf tournament or a football team, let alone huge Billboard banners where they have no idea how many will see it and act upon it!  I just wish there was a way to show a startup how this kind of Brand name dropping is vital for any sized business to grow.

Smaller business people sit there with a fantastic product, oh sure they can sell face to face because their subconscious and earnest body language tells potential clients they can be trusted, but online they are not getting anywhere.

It is simply because people don’t know you yet, and the best way for people to know you is to get your name blown up over the internet, and here are a few ways that won’t cost the Earth:

Social Media.

If you are going to do this and be boring and talk about business, you may as well go to your nearest bridge and scatter your cash to the four winds for all the good this is going to do you.

Unless you have a product that people want like; you are a superbly talented singer or a phenomenal tightrope walker or an Olympic triple axle figure skater then don’t bother seriously. Social media like Tik Tok, Facebook, Instagram etc. their social media users don’t want business, they want escapism and entertainment!!

You are better off finding a world class snow boarder and paying him to stick your logo on his clothing, that is only if your product somehow leans to snowboarding, then again; I have seen some brands use the most unbelievable tenuous links to get in on the action of a good story!

Like this video called Beautiful woman the guys behind this are sublimely clever just watch the video till the end, and it’s hard not to get drawn in and see who sponsored this , you will never get it!

Press Releases

Everyone loves reading about growth, and if you are doing well you should get it on to online press release sites, unlike blogs they speak from the third person and it is purely a news story about something positive about your business. Better still give away some tips that worked for you that other readers can try.

Press release sites  syndicate your news story, in other words; your story gets sent out to many news websites around the world, and if it’s a good story you can get a good return on it, but even if just the headline gets seen subconsciously by you and thousands of others, then when it comes time to buy, your brand has a head start in the trust race!

Business directories

Yep they still matter, and some of the better sites have different unique selling points like Leads4biz where we publish our 6600+ members buying requests each day so you can browse the category of what you sell and see if you can supply to one of our members.

Our Premium members get seen 100 times more than our free members but even free means you have a back link and will be on the home page for a few days until you get pushed off by new listings and a few more days on the category page.

Premium is just $50 and people visiting your listing don’t see ads either, so; Premium is the best value branding for money from a pre-investment round startup who has been around ten years in January 2022, Hey,.. Rome wasn’t built in a day!

It is work to build brand trust, you need to set aside time for all of this and be patient for your brand name to settle into people’s consciousness.  

No Branding agency is magic, they will ask you two things when you meet them, what is your budget for your branding and how long can you maintain it? If you want a client tomorrow and no one has ever heard of you, well:

You need a miracle not a marketing guy!