In the crowded online space, seizing opportunities to stand out against the competition can be the difference between carving out your portion of market share and fading into the digital background. By identifying under-utilized brand touchpoints, you can enhance your connection to potential or current customers and foster brand awareness. 

 

You’ve taken care of the basics: you use your logo as a profile photo to build brand recognition across social media platforms; you post consistently on social media and you’ve got an ad budget and strategy in place; you regularly publish fresh digital content on your website. But here are a few brand touchpoints that you might be missing out on:

 

• No more auto-generated messages. Customize everything.

A standard followup or confirmation message is forgotten the second it disappears from the screen. “Thanks for your purchase. We have emailed a copy of your receipt,” does not communicate anything specific about your brand or its values or personality.

Simple adjustments can make these same messages memorable, and most importantly, turn them into brand touchpoints that help solidify your brand identity for customers. Reward a customer who’s signed up for a newsletter, made a purchase, filled out a survey, or entered a contest with a genuine message that makes them feel appreciated and doesn’t sound like a stale, canned response.

 

• Cross-promote to reach new customers and drive business. 

Aligning with other companies with similar values is a great way to reach a complementary customer base and generate brand awareness. Collaborating with another business on a package deal to drive sales is an opportunity to showcase your brand to new audiences through collateral like printed flyers, brochures, and posters, or digitally in the form of online event banners and social media shout outs. And of course, traditional and digital advertising are brand touchpoints for a strong cross-promotion, too! 

 

• Get involved in the community.

Sponsorships and partnerships are a great way to support charitable organizations in your area and raise your profile in the community. Beneficial for both branding and public relations, increasing face-to-face interactions between your company and the public at hosted benefit events and organized volunteer opportunities, along with donating financially and sponsoring programming, are all ways to gain more brand recognition in the community while fostering goodwill. And of course there will be signage and swag that includes your branding as a sponsor or partner. 

 

• Don’t forget the stationery.

Printed materials like business cards and letterhead are a given, but digital stationery goes a long way in the age of virtual meetings and events. Consider creating distinctive email signatures and visuals like branded Zoom backgrounds. Depending on your budget, it might be worth it to upgrade plans on your website hosting and email distribution platforms to eliminate all external branding. This enables more customization that matches your own branding and color schemes, and can result in cleaner, more cohesive visual brand touchpoints.

 

• Be part of the (podcast) conversation.

Once considered a niche marketing tool, podcasting and audio streaming continue to grow and reach new audiences. Even if you don’t have the equipment or technical know-how to create a podcast, you can still make a splash as a guest on a show that discusses topics related to consumers in your industry or that has a large following that overlaps with your target audience. This helps to get your brand in front of listeners who may be interested in your product or services.

Similarly, as a podcast sponsor or advertiser you can put your money behind a creator whose work resonates with your ideal customer. For a smaller budget, audio ads on streaming platforms like Spotify, or even shorter video ads on platforms like Peacock, Tubi, and Amazon Prime Video are options with high targeting potential.

 

• Your employees are key to your brand.

Sales and customer service teams are an extension of your brand, and it’s not just because of the uniform—though a polo with your brand’s logo is great free advertising and looks pretty sharp. Customer-facing staff should act and sound like your brand, because the experiences customers have interacting with your staff are also brand touchpoints. Training and engaging your team on best practices and internal policies is critical to ensuring that person to person interactions result in conversions rather than lost sales. Remember: your team can either be the best or worst representatives of your brand.

Ready to grow your brand awareness and gain new business? SNR Creative can help you create memorable brand touchpoints to reach new customers and establish brand recognition. Get in touch to get started.