Six Tips for Launching a Brand on Shoe String Budget

Here are my six tips to help you launch your new business, product and brand on a budget:

1. Focus On The Product

When you are first starting out, don’t worry or spend too much time on the marketing or messaging side of things. Make sure the product and/or service is strong and is as close to perfect as possible before investing time and money into promotion. If the product is good, it will promote itself. Let the product do most of the talking.

2.  Advocates & Testimonials

In line with the above, you should look to build and collect advocates of your product and brand as soon as possible. Testimonials and word of mouth are some of the most potent forms of advertising you and your brand can take advantage of. People listen to other people – especially those they trust (family, friends, colleagues, even vloggers!). If my friend recommends a product or service to me, when making my next purchase decision, that recommendation will hold a lot of weight. If a brand tells me their product or service is good via marketing or a promotion, I won’t take anywhere near as much notice.

3.  Customer Service

Providing good customer service is often just as powerful as having a good product. On the reverse, we all know that poor customer service is one of the public’s biggest complaints about modern day consumer brands. As a smaller business that is launching a new brand, make sure quality customer service is at the fore front of your focus. This might mean hiring relevant staff to provide dedicated customer service as you grow – customer demands and issues will increase as you do. In the beginning, take advantage of being a smaller outfit and try and provide personalised customer service. It will help increase the number of loyal, long term customers.

4.  Collaborate

Collaborations have a number of business benefits, firstly they can provide a cash boost to a low budget start-up and more importantly they can increase brand awareness. Whilst you may have to offer them exclusivity, the long term benefits often outweigh the restrictions. Increasing awareness is an essential part of growing a brand in the early life-cycle of a new brand. Partnerships help increase productivity, via the sharing of knowledge and expertise and can even help business owners obtain better rates for production/servicing costs further down the chain.

5.  Use Your Resources

Make your product do some of the promotion and selling work for you. Ensure the way you package the product or offer a service that stand outs and can be distinctively recognised by consumers. Try to understand the pain points of your target market and do whatever you can to help solve it. Don’t forget to make use of free tools like social media and Google (YouTube, Places, Analytics, etc), manage them carefully and effectively. When used right, these tools can work wonders and provide a lot of useful customer information.

6.  Think Outside The Box

Don’t be afraid to try different options and get creative in using different free tools and channels. Create some interesting and memorable content, tell a story, consumers want to feel a connection with the brands they purchase from. How did the brand come about? What made you want to start a business? Why did you choose the product you did? Consumers find these sort of questions interesting and providing answers helps consumers connect with your brand.

If you would like any assistance in Brand Promotion, Awareness or Marketing, don’t hesitate to get in contact.