Reaching people who’ve never heard of your brand is challenging. Yes, you can always spread the word. But just think about how siloed companies like Gymshark are. A certain audience on specific platforms knows about their clothing lines, but the vast majority of the general public, particularly older folks, has never heard of them. This issue might be affecting your company. You could be doing an excellent job of reaching individuals in your niche, but you might be floundering when it comes to broadening your audience. Your click-through rates might be sky-high on TikTok, but basement-dwelling on LinkedIn. So, what is the key to reaching people who’ve never heard of your brand? What methods are available, and how have companies used them in the past to succeed? We are introducing 10 ways to reach an even bigger audience than you may have dreamed of.
By Team Savant
Image: Walls.io
Find A Brand That Dovetails With Yours
One of the main methods for finding new audiences is to find brands that complement what you do. If you can associate your business with one of these companies, you can ride on their coattails and benefit from some of their prestige and success.
The trick here is to provide value that punches above your weight. For example, many budding coffee shop chains start by setting up businesses inside major tourist attractions, like theme parks. These arrangements benefit the attraction (because visitors want somewhere to get their caffeine fix), and support the coffee house. It can refine its approach with less competition, build sales, and generate a reputation. It can also jump on the feel-good factor the wider theme park instills.
The challenge here, of course, is to find a suitable partner. Businesses willing to work with yours can be few and far between. But don’t limit yourself in this endeavor – someone will want to work with you.
Use Guerrilla Marketing Tactics
Using guerrilla marketing tactics is another option for reaching people who’ve never heard of your brand. This unconventional marketing method is often affordable and extremely powerful, setting you apart from other companies.
Guerrilla marketing always starts with finding a creative hack – something you can do to bypass the main marketing channels while still getting your ads or content in front of your audience. Unfortunately, there aren’t any hard-and-fast rules in this regard. It comes down to your originality.
However, finding ideas is easier if you look at tactics that worked in the past. For example, brands often set up “surprise-and-delight” events, providing those in need with help. Videos of these interactions often go viral on social media platforms, reaching more people. Other options include flash mobs and street art.
Of course, the more guerilla your tactics become, the greater the risk you take. Brands can sometimes take things too far, trolling their rivals or making political statements that backfire. Because of this, be careful. As always, there is an optimal amount of risk you want to take while avoiding going any higher.
Branch Out Onto New Search Engines
You can also reach out to more people by trying ads on competing search engines, not just Google. Even today, there is a large population of users who use alternatives, often by default.
For this reason, talking to a Bing ads agency could be a good idea. Getting them to help you break into the second-largest search engine in the US will help you reach new people with relative ease.
One of the benefits of Bing is the lower competition. If your company is still relying on PPC to get the word out, you can often get to the top spot at a lower price than, say, Google.
Bing is also popular because of its AI elements. A lot of wealthy, sophisticated internet users now prefer it to the competition.
Use Referral Programs
Another approach is to use referral programs. Rewarding existing customers for forwarding new customers to you is a tactic that benefits everyone.
You see this approach being used in modern banking. Companies, like Wise, offer large cash rewards for clients who get their friends and family to sign up to the service.
Referral programs are effective at driving new sales because they leverage word-of-mouth marketing. Prospective customers are far more likely to trust their peers than your marketing methods, meaning you can often get results quickly using this tactic.
Just make sure you target your most motivated customers. A lot of clients won’t want to go to the effort of encouraging their friends and family to sign up, even if it means substantial financial incentives.
The best approach is to trial your referral programs to see whether they offer sufficient rewards for partners while sustaining your margins. While offering higher compensation for each new customer is attractive, it could harm profitability.
Optimise SEO
You can also go down the organic traffic route to find people who haven’t heard of your brand before. Grabbing people through conventional search ranking techniques builds trust and reduces the requirement to spend a fortune on advertising over time.
Search engine optimisation practices have changed significantly over the last few years, particularly since the rise of AI. However, while it has become more challenging, there are still numerous opportunities for companies wanting to grow their online presence via this channel.
For example, top brands now focus much of their content on answering users’ questions. While AI often butts in at this point, these more formal and thoughtful human-written responses can provide more specific details or controversial takes.
The gist of SEO today is to show customers that your brand has expertise and can solve problems. Anything you produce should pivot toward that need.
Run Community Events
Another tactic to reach people who’ve never heard of you is to run community events. These establish yourself with the customers who live close to you, which is essential for a brick-and-mortar firm. Showing that your company goes beyond making money and wants to make lives better is supportive of public relations.
If you’re an online business, you can also run digital community events. These could bring people together for a community webinar, or you could host a lecture while setting up video calling so people can talk to you directly.
Create Value-Driven Marketing
Creating value-driven marketing is essential for all brands wanting to extend their reach. Getting people curious about what you do can drive more clicks and engagement.
The trick here is to shed your corporate polish and become more entertaining. Today’s internet users want brands they can relate to and who say things that resonate with how they feel. Don’t take a robotic or sales-focused approach–that won’t work.
Start by experimenting with videos, blog posts, and infographics. See which formats resonate best with the new audience you want to attract.
Usually, you will find that visual content performs best. Many social media platforms are set up for it, and some actively promote it.
Ensure your content provides some sort of value. Check that you’re answering common questions, and offering tips and insights as you go along. At the start, viewers should know how your content will reward them. Then, later, you can move on to more descriptive content as you build authority.
Put Money Into Paid Ads
Of course, if you want to reach a lot of people quickly and have cash to burn, then you could put money into paid ads on Google and social media channels. These amplify your reach instantly, allowing you to reach as many people as required.
Just make sure you work with professionals who can put together ads for you that will work. Don’t try to play it by ear: most brands wind up wasting money on these platforms because they don’t understand how the system works.
Focus your ads on stories, carousels and reels. These are more likely to get clicks and encourage further exploration of what you do.
Leverage Influencer Partnerships
Of course, if you know creators in your niche who could help you expand your reach, you should use them. These individuals often have massive social cachet, making product recommendations more impactful.
Working with creators is challenging and requires building deep relationships with them. But if you can master the process, then reaching new audiences becomes far simpler.
Influencer partnerships usually start with micro-influencers in your niche, creators with less than 10,000 followers apiece. Usually, you would work with several of these, organizing an overall message to give to your audience.
Then, as you become better known, you can go up the scale and work with the larger voices on the internet. These often generate masses of engagement and introduce whatever you sell to the mass market (as long as that’s your niche).
Use UGC
Finally, related to influencers, you could also consider using user-generated content (UGC). Getting customers to post reviews of your products and services or talk about your brand on social media is a form of social proof.
UGC is effective because, again, it is authentic. Audiences often believe in their peers more than they believe in your marketing materials, especially if they haven’t encountered you or your products before.