You may know your brand inside and out. You may even have a tattoo of it on your ribs that you only show after the fourth glass of rosé, and a mountain of little jingles humming into your phone notes. But what good is all that if your brand is not online, not growing your leads, and not growing your business?

A strong brand presence online offers you all kinds of things: credibility within the field, the ability to bring in customers that fit your ICP, increased cross-platform linking that improves SEO placement…not to mention bragging rights!

Solidifying your brand presence is easy once you can step back and figure out where you want to target—both in terms of people and business goals. From there, you can put together the messaging and voice that brings that refined brand definition to customers.

It doesn’t matter if your brand is plain white bread or sprinkles on electric kittens. Here are some fool-proof strategies to get your brand solid enough to dance on.

Unless your business is designed to extract every drop of that liquid gold from prunes, you’re probably not going to think that late-night AM radio ads are a part of your audience.

Take cues from your Ideal Customer Profile and consider how the audience you hope to reach might come across your messaging. If you’re selling high-value items like RV’s or artisanal fish breeds, your high disposable-income audience probably won’t find you scrolling through Tik Tok. Conversely, spending too much time marketing a unique cannabis product through LinkedIn might be puffing your time up in smoke.

The content itself should also fit your customer. They are the lifeblood of your engagement—sharing, linking to, commenting on, and liking your projects. In either creating a new market or leveraging an existing consumer profile, you must respect your audience by providing them with valuable materials. You don’t want your time wasted with unattractive content, irrelevant news, or a surplus of messaging. Be patient, be deliberate, and be relatable to your target audience.

As your brand grows and you begin experiencing traffic, consider where you want them to end up. If you have a funnel, is it connected to an actionable CTA? If you are selling products, are your commerce platforms easily accessible? If you are looking for new clients, can they quickly book your time?

Too often, products “talk the talk” through beautiful or fun content but can’t land customers in measurable ways. The brand and presence you are crafting through your content should reinforce the strategy that best serves your business. If you can’t point to effective messaging for your company, there’s a good chance your customers can’t either.

It doesn’t even have to be in your own hands—community can be a powerful tool. Software companies and manufacturers have found recent success in deploying supplemental forums and communities through apps like Discord and Facebook Pages. These are like fish tanks for good brand-building—sprinkle in a giveaway or two and a bit of moderation and poof! Instant community!

Identifying your business goals and creating engagements that suit them will help the time you spend marketing become as effective as possible. After all, the more effective your time is, the better your brand presence will be as a result!

Defining a brand persona is simultaneously the easiest and the hardest part. You can’t just fold yourself up into a letter and mail yourself to the doors of prospective customers. They need to understand you at a glance—like a Tinder Profile / LinkedIn Bio hybrid.

When there’s a lot to say, where to even begin?

Figuring out your persona is where having a marketing consultant like myself can help. But in point form, here are a few places to begin asking:

What does the language of your brand sound like?

Where would your brand want to co-partner or guest?

What sort of colors, shapes, and designs reflect you?

Could I have a coffee with the personality behind this brand? (Or a beer…?)

Finding your voice here means finding the words and ephemeral qualities which make up the worlds you want to change. If you’re looking to be a “personal” brand, you could mix up your scheduled social media content with behind-the-scenes, podcasts, holiday posts, or even (shockingly) the lows of your day. You can integrate case studies, metrics, infographics, and action-driven language into your website and content for a more professional feel.

This voice will be what customers interact with through your social media channels, your review responses, and hopefully your DM’s. Make it one that works for you and the business you want to run.

There is always more to say on the topic of marketing, but like so many other days, where does the word count go? If you’d like to learn more about brand presences, CTA’s, organic growth, or lead generation—I’m your gal. Feel free to get in touch! I’d love to talk about brands, design, and anything else that helps get you ahead.