5 low-budget PR & branding ideas to amp up your small business

Large organisations like Apple and McDonalds have millions of dollars to spend on marketing. But as a small business, you’re probably trying to figure out cost-effective PR and branding strategies all the time. Turns out there are plenty of things you can do without blowing your marketing budget, no matter what size it is. Here are 5 PR approaches small businesses can use to generate big buzz:

1. Establish a strong brand identity

Branding is more than just a logo on your website. Your branding is who you are as a company. It’s the look and feel of your visual assets. But what does it take to have a powerful brand? You don’t need expensive gimmicks and stunts. All you need is ways of communicating your goals and values clearly and effectively. Spend time understanding what your company wants to say. Figure out what is your larger message- how you want to communicate and what is the customer-perceived value.

Do your own market research: Take time to identify your target customers. Who are they? How old are they? What is their income and education like? When are they likely to use your product or service? And why would they need it? In other words, do your homework. While companies hire consultants to do market research for them, you can easily do this by using tools available all over the web. From creating a Facebook poll to keyword searches, there’s a whole lot of ways to figure your audience out and get into their heads.

This also lets you take stock of your competitors. What are they doing? What are they bringing to the table? Do you notice any trends? Find out what consumers are drawn to? Look at the metrics and data. For example, you should be aware about your competitor getting a new logo, or the fact that all its marketing efforts are directed towards Instagram. Keeping up with such industry trends and using all this knowledge will help you develop your own brand identity and stand out in a crowd.

Make your brand visually appealing: Brand design for small businesses is just as important as it is for a large business. Once you’ve defined your brand identity, your USP and customer base, it’s time to start designing the look and feel of your brand. For starters, you need to take steps to have a great business logo. Don’t fret. You don’t need to go over budget to have a graphic designer. Use a logo generator and create an impactful logo based on your own design preferences.

Does every business need a good website? Yes, absolutely. A professional-looking website lends credibility to what your company stands for. Be it for product information, or simply to find more details about your business, a consumer is always likely to go online and check your website first. Again, you don’t need a developer to create a website. Use a website builder like Weebly or Wix and get a website up and running in no time. What’s more, having a website in line with your logo colour and fonts will create a cohesive brand identity for you.

2. Make content marketing a powerful tool

Content marketing is a great strategy when it comes to strengthening your branding. To start with, it is able to establish you as a credible source, shows how much industry expertise you have and that you are a subject matter expert in your field. It enables consumers to trust you and see you as a go-to resource. To make sense of an increasingly crowded digital space, both content marketers and PR professionals need to keep track of the latest market trends across multiple industries. When PR is combined with your content marketing strategy, a mutual exchange of ideas occurs between your PR team and your content marketing team. By using PR insights you can actually tailor content that resonates with your audience. And the creative inputs from content marketers gives your PR team a better understanding of what your consumers want to read.

With content marketing you not only develop a strong brand voice, but also reiterate your company values which eventually builds a strong relationship with customers. Creating the right content is all about knowing what your customers are asking and how you can answer those questions. That’s how you make content work for you. Plus, doing this doesn’t cost a bomb. It is totally affordable for those with a small budget.

3. Use partnership marketing as a growth strategy

Traditional marketing approaches such as hiring a marketing agency and running ads can be expensive. Instead, using partnerships is one of the fastest ways to get new customers and grow your business. One of the many ways to do this is to look for partnership opportunities with other brands that sell a different product but have the same audience as you. When your customers are introduced to your brand by another brand that is already trusted and well-established, they are likely to extend that same trust to you.

For example, JustReachOut, a public relations tool, scaled its business from 0 to 5000 customers just by forming strategic partnerships. They found out that a large number of their potential customers were spending time on other communities, publications and podcasts. So they built partnerships with these brands with whom their target audience was already engaged. They partnered with Traffic Think Tank, one of the biggest names in the SEO world to do a webinar where they were able to showcase their product and reach out to the SEO community. Packed with actionable strategies, the webinar provided lots of information in a step-by-step walkthrough. With this webinar, JustReachOut didn’t just build a strong relationship with the SEO community. It reached out to people who were not directly tied to their product, got them interested and got 30 new annual customers within 24 hours of the webinar.

Another way to partner is to find a well-known brand that your ideal customers recognize and offer special deals. You can create a unique offer or discount to target this brand’s customers.

4. Use social media to amplify your brand messaging

Want to make the right noise on social media? You don’t have to run ad campaigns on channels your customers aren’t paying attention to. There is a platform that caters to every type of customer and brand. Sometimes you may even need to be active on more than one platform to reach your target audience. But more importantly, for low-cost social media marketing, you need to choose the right channels that are likely to deliver the goods.

For instance, if you want to create a fun experience for an audience that is less than 19 years of age, TikTok and Instagram are a great choices. Let’s say you are a hair care or makeup brand, a tutorial on YouTube or an Instagram reel is more likely to drive results for you. On the other hand, if you sell health insurance, then Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter can be the right choices for a more professional image.

In recent times, influencer marketing too has become wildly popular. But not everyone can afford influencers. Go for micro-influencers instead. They charge 1.5 times less than macro-influencers according to Facebook, Instagram and YouTube data. They have a smaller following, but have more solid relationships based on trust and expertise with a focused group of followers.

5. Create positive experiences through customer service

Customer service has always been an essential component of every business across industries. In fact, PR and customer service go hand in hand. Good PR can enhance customer services in more ways than one. It helps companies control how they want to set the tone associated with their brand. PR can also address and resolve service issues that customer service can’t fix.

Remember, your brand is more than just your logo design and marketing strategies. It’s about what you do after the connection with customers has been established. It’s the reputation you earn. Also, unhappy customers write negative reviews and tweet about poor customer support all the time. Do you want to provide the highest level of customer service? Then make sure your customers have a consistently positive experience every single time they interact with your brand. There are many inexpensive ways to improve customer service.

For instance, if ordering on your website is a hassle, you can simply revamp to provide a more intuitive experience. Make the process of returns and exchange simpler by giving clear instructions and reaching out quickly to handle customer complaints. This is why PR needs to be on your customer service agenda. Taking these steps go a long way in enhancing the overall experience for customers and being known as a company who cares. By integrating PR into your plan you can satisfy both existing and new customers who will continue coming back to you.

All you need is a bit of creativity and some out-of-the-box thinking. Now that you know they can be both affordable and effective, you don’t need to spend an arm and leg creating PR & branding strategies.

About the author:

Asleen Kaur, Head PR and Corporate Communications, Onsurity