As we approach 2030, the importance of creating and sustaining a strong brand presence has increased. In a highly competitive market filled with noise and lots of clutter, how can you make sure your brand stands out and is remembered? The following tips will help you strengthen your brand’s presence in 2023 and beyond.
Develop a Strong, Cohesive Brand Identity
The first step to building your brand presence is to develop a strong, unified identity. The importance of taking time to clearly identify your business and determine the ultimate vision and messaging you wish to convey cannot be over-emphasized. If there is any internal misalignment or confusion, your brand will become muddled to others.
Start with the creation of a recognizable, clean logo to craft a unique brand voice and tone, and establish a clear mission and values. Making sure that your branding is consistent across all platforms is crucial, from your website to social media to email campaigns.
Build an Eye-Catching Exhibit Booth
Any time you are representing the company off-site, you will need to maintain your branding at trade shows, conferences, and events. Your presence will be embodied in your traveling booth, so it’s imperative that your branding is accurately represented outside of the office. Creating an eye-catching exhibit booth is crucial for attracting visitors and creating a lasting impression.
Here are some tips to help you build an impressive exhibit booth:
First, you must be clear on your involvement at the event. Start by defining objectives for the event, then focus on how that translates to your exhibit booth. What do you want to achieve? Do you want to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or promote a new product? Once you have clear objectives, you can design your booth and plan your assets accordingly or get help from a professional to create an eye-catching exhibit booth that will attract visitors and leave a lasting impression.
Something that is often overlooked is the importance of having current branding reflected on booth signage. Trade show booths and exhibit displays are costly, but if you are handing out old marketing assets (brochures, cards, etc.) this will confuse attendees about your brand and possibly send the wrong message.
Taking your business on the road requires proper planning and preparation. Securing a spot as an exhibitor is an investment for the company, so it’s crucial to establish a clear goal and objectives with measurable deliverables as part of the planning process. It’s impossible to meet goals and objectives and demonstrate a positive Return on Investment (ROI) without proper alignment and clarity.
Create Content
When it comes to establishing a presence for your brand, the material you provide is of the utmost importance. By providing the material that is not only instructional but also engaging, you may increase awareness of your company and engage with the individuals you want to pay attention to it.
As with your booth/exhibit, you need to strategically plan and create the types of relevant content to bring with you that will best support your presence at the show. Examples include blog posts, videos, podcasts, social media posts, and other types of material best delivered in a variety of formats.
Engage on Social Media
In 2023, one of the most effective ways to increase the presence of your brand is to maintain an active presence on social media. Your company will have an easier time connecting with prospective customers and developing relationships with them thanks to the extensive reach and engagement potential offered by social media platforms.
To get started, create user profiles on the most popular social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Make sure your profile picture and your cover photo have the same aesthetic to convey the same message about your company. After that, you should post on a regular basis and interact with the people who follow you.
Be sure to remain current with the most recent trends and post content that is pertinent to the audience you are trying to reach. You can also use social media to create contests and promotions, both of which will help to increase the level of engagement with your brand as well as awareness of it. In addition, make use of social media in order to provide prompt responses to comments and questions raised by customers.
Build a Professional Website
Your website is frequently the first point of contact a potential client has with your company, so it is essential to ensure that it is current, user-friendly, and presented in a professional manner. Invest in a quality website design, and functionality, and provide content that includes optimized, relevant material that is search engine optimization (SEO) friendly and responsive on desktop computers and mobile devices.
Establish Yourself as an Industry Expert
Increasing your presence in the market by establishing yourself as a go-to authority in your specialty is a fantastic strategy. You can accomplish this by sharing your expertise in the form of thought leadership pieces, going to industry conferences, and making connections with influential people in the sector.
When exploring trade shows and events for the year, decide who is the best representative at the company to provide a break-out session, AMA, or any additional opportunities to publicly present your company’s offerings and services. Speaking engagements add significant value to your trade show initiatives and securing these opportunities should be part of your overall strategy.
Engage With Your Audience
When it comes to growing your brand presence, engagement is one of the most important factors. Whether you do so in person or online, be sure to provide prompt responses to questions and comments raised by customers, get involved in the discussions on social media, and generate opportunities for people to engage with your business.
An effective way to engage with a live audience during a trade show or event is to use a tool like a lead magnet and create a way to capture leads with an enticing offer. If your company is debuting a new product or service at the show, create an offer around that. For example, contests are helpful engagement tools because they encourage participation with the potential to ‘win’ something or be part of an ‘exclusive’ offer. In turn, you collect contact information such as emails so that you can reach out after the show.
Collaborate with Other Brands and Influencers
Working together with other brands and individuals who have a significant amount of influence can be an excellent strategy to broaden your audience and strengthen your brand visibility. Think about forming strategic alliances with influential businesses and people in your field so that you may produce content that serves the needs of both parties.
Although it takes time and work to develop your brand’s presence, the returns may be worthwhile. You can boost your brand presence and make yourself known by creating a strong, cohesive identity, producing content, being active on social media, creating a business website, positioning yourself as an industry authority, connecting with your audience, and working with other brands and influencers.
Conclusion
Approach your company’s trade show involvement the same way you would any other marketing campaign. During the planning process, determine which shows and events will be best suited to deliver your messages and goals to each of your identified audiences. Before committing to shows, outline the company’s overarching goals for the year then determine which shows are best to deliver key messages and accomplish your objectives.
This goes without saying but it serves as a good reminder: Make sure that whoever from your team is chosen to attend the exhibit is able to speak intelligently and charismatically about your products and services. Many companies make the mistake of sending a team member who may feel awkward initiating conversations with prospective clients, or who spends the entire trade show sitting in a corner of your booth looking at their phone. If your trade show representative does not enjoy public interaction and/or standing for long periods of time, they will be unlikely to strike up conversations with strangers and attendees who are passing by.
The person who represents your company ‘on the road’ should be lively, well-informed, and passionate about your company’s predetermined objectives for each show. Trade shows are an investment in your company’s time, resources, and human capital. Booth entry and signing up as an official exhibitor needs to be viewed and approached like every other sales and marketing effort you invest in.
Trade shows and industry events should be a part of your sales and marketing tactics, but your involvement and brand awareness objectives can only be met when they are clearly defined. You will get out of it what you put into it.
