By Mechelle aka Mama Bear
So you decided to start a business? Congratulations on taking the leap into entrepreneurship! Now the fun begins of growing your business and building a brand.
Maybe you’ve created an awesome logo (or outsourced that task to Fiverr for the cost of a burrito bowl at Chipotle) and set-up a website to market your product(s) and/or service(s). Your business cards and flyers have been created and are ready to be shared to declare that you are “Open for Business”. Time to start networking!
Most new business owners start with the usual suspects: family, friends, and neighbors. You might be lucky and also already have networks outside of those groups such as school, work, church, and local spots in your community where everyone knows your name.
You drop your business cards or leave flyers, people talk and network, and sooner or later, enough people will find out what you have to offer. This is how a lot of businesses start; it’s all based on one-to-one, person-to-person interaction.
If the above describes you, here’s a pat on the back. Unfortunately, not everyone is built to be a social butterfly. There are some people who prefer to keep to themselves. It’s perfectly okay to be an introvert; there’s no shame in being shy.
Fortunately for all my shy introverts out there, and a plus for all the extroverts, though a lot of local businesses are geared towards socialization, online businesses don’t have to follow the same rules. There are other ways to reach more people in less time to produce better marketing results.
The importance of building a brand
So what’s the big deal about building a brand anyway? After all, there are lots of businesses out there, not all of them are brands. Obviously, they’re successful enough to make it to the next year. So what is the big deal?
Well, here’s the thing, when you run a business you’re investing your time and resources. Both are valuable and should be maximized for the best results. What if your return on investment from all the time and resources you put into one-on-one interactions didn’t yield the results you expected?
Maybe you’re lucky that your business is at least making enough money to cover the monthly expenses. It’s breaking even. But is breaking even all you want from your business? Don’t you want to operate a business that lives up to its fullest potential?
At the very least, you would want to operate a business that serves as many people as possible, right? If that’s the case, you definitely have your work cut out for you if you’re going to do this on a purely one-to-one, person-to-person basis.
I’m not saying it’s impossible, because businesses do this all the time, but for every one business that is able to pull this off, 99 other businesses don’t. And to make matters worse, roughly 50% of those businesses end up going belly-up.
I know that sounds depressing, but that’s how important branding is. The good news is there’s a shortcut. Using Facebook Ads that are hyper-targeted to your ideal customer base can help build your brand faster and more cost effective.
Facebook Ads allow a targeted audience to see your business. This targeted audience can see that you offer the kinds of products and services that fit their interest.
Now, does this mean that the first time they see your ad that they would automatically click? Of course not. According to many marketing services, prospects have to see an ad at least three times for them to feel that they “know it” enough to want to click it.
Once your audience knows you, that’s when they would be more likely to click on your ad and find out more about what you have to offer. Running Facebook Ads consistently helps you to keep your business in front of your targeted audience, increasing your chances of turning them into paying customers.
Want to find out more on how Facebook Ads can help your business? Here is a FREE Guide – 5 Ways Facebook Ads Can Take Your Business To The Next Level.
Thanks again for stopping by www.MamaBearMarketing.com! Hope you got some good information that will help you on your journey. Continue to check back in. I would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below.
Let’s grow this village!!
Mechelle aka Mama Bear