For startups and emerging businesses, name recognition is almost always an initial hurdle to success. As your company is in its early stages, people may not have any idea who you are or what you do. This may prove difficult when trying to attract candidates to join your team.
So what can these nascent startups do to improve brand awareness and enhance their reputation? Our Viaduct team compiled a list of strategies that can help your company become more prominently known in your community and beyond.
Establish a presence on social media
In the twenty-first century, social media is king. Companies without a social media presence are missing the boat on a tremendous opportunity to grow their brand. Ultimately, there are several different ways to approach your social media game plan. Do you want to provide relevant and insightful information to a targeted audience? Do you want to play off of funny and relatable TikTok, Twitter, or Instagram trends? Do you want to playfully interact with potential customers while continuously engaging current ones? Regardless of industry, some of the most recognizable brands in the world have spent tremendous amounts of time refining their social media strategy. Be sure to formulate an initial plan and stick to it.
Are you a candidate looking to build a strong social media presence? Learn how to present yourself on social media.
Utilize public relations tactics
Building and maintaining the reputation of your business takes time—and success won’t come overnight. Seeking out opportunities to be put in the spotlight could be just the thing you need to drum up some support for your brand. With help from some simple PR tricks, your organization could benefit from a huge boost to its name recognition. Whether your company executives are being interviewed by a local news station, promoted in a newspaper or magazine article, or featured in a podcast, these opportunities could be a boon for your business. As Vanna White once said, “All press is good press”—so never turn down an opportunity to talk to a media outlet.
Speaking of good press… check out this article from Buffalo Business First about Viaduct!
Take part in job fairs and community events
Making your company more visible at public events is a great way to enhance your brand. Setting up a table at a high-traffic location can get your organization in front of dozens of attendees—especially if you have some cool giveaway items with your logo on them. Choosing to sponsor the event can further turn heads and improve your visibility. Getting involved in job fairs can better position your business to appeal to and attract qualified job seekers. The more socializing you do in your company’s early stages, the more popular your brand will become.
Want to get involved in the Buffalo community? Check out Viaduct’s upcoming events schedule.
Highlight your employees
Your employees are often some of the greatest advocates of your company’s brand. Allow them to tell the story about what they think makes your organization so special and what they find so passionate about their work. Quick, one-to-two-minute videos offer a perfect way to spread knowledge about your business to people who may be unfamiliar with its purpose. By posting these videos on social media sites like LinkedIn and tagging your featured employee, you can easily and effectively enhance overall awareness of your brand while bringing greater traffic to your page. What’s more, this idea provides an awesome way for your company to recognize and reward its high performers.
Publish a blog
Adding a dedicated blog to your website can provide some subject matter expertise for your audience to enjoy. By researching—and then writing about—trending topics that are top of mind for prospective buyers, you can judiciously tap into new pools of customers that may end up supporting your business. Blog posts can be easily shared with your company’s followers on social media. It may behoove you to consider engaging with well-known industry or business professionals to take part in a blog post. Partnering with these prominent figures could further improve your brand recognition to an even wider audience.
Interested in reading more posts from our Viaduct blog? Check out our valuable content for startups, emerging businesses, and candidates here.