A2X Consulting

There are tried-and-true marketing strategies that have been honed over time to bring your brand to the public eye and get you the buzz needed to raise awareness and boost sales. Whether you create catchy slogans and jingles, cater to your local market with targeted ads, run promotions and giveaways, or work to get media attention in a variety of ways, you probably have a fair notion of what works in the real world to generate business buzz. What you may be less sure of is how to generate the same kind of attention with consumers in the online arena. Let’s face it: there’s already a lot of white noise in cyberspace, which means you have to work pretty hard to be heard above the din. However, there are all kinds of tactics you can try in an effort to bring your company front and center with internet shoppers. Here are just a few surefire ways to get noticed and gain some buzz for your online operation.

1. Get in on a trend. Planking, Tebowing, and the Harlem Shake all have one thing in common: they are trends that took off thanks to internet videos. It’s no easy feat to get in early on these viral video crazes, but if you can manage it you may be able to generate an insane amount of instant attention for your business. It won’t last, of course, but you can parlay your buzz into long-term patronage by offering products and services that consumers need and providing them with the stellar customer service that will keep them coming back and turn them into brand ambassadors. Getting them through the virtual door is just the first step.
2. Engage consumers. You don’t want to make it too easy for people to pass you by. And while you might not have a ton of money to put towards advertising efforts, there are steps you can take to ensure that everyone who comes in contact with your website or social networking profiles is prompted to interact, whether by liking your posts on Facebook, sharing content with friends, or chatting with live representatives.
3. Reach out. When you have a business to run it’s not always easy to make time for outreach efforts, but if you fail to connect with industry pundits through blogs and social media outlets you’re missing a huge opportunity to create interest and awareness of your brand. So add comments, write guest posts, offer giveaways (with a review), and reach out to those who have the power (and readership) to bring your brand to an audience.
4. Web specials. Promotions are a great way to get people talking about your business, and the online arena offers myriad ways to use this strategy to your advantage. By using web and mobile specials you can encourage consumers to take specific action. For example, QR codes that advertise added value for snapping a pic with a smartphone could bring a whole new demographic to your website. And offering freebies could prompt visitors to sign up for membership to your site and your mailing list. The opportunities to connect with prospective customers online are practically limitless, and getting creative with web specials could definitely build some buzz.
5. Use the visual medium. With all the websites pushing textual content in order to max out on keywords for optimization, it’s easy to forget that the internet is a visual medium. And by the way, a picture is still worth a thousand words that fickle web surfers can take in at a glance. So consider ways that you can get creative with your content through animated infographics or web trailers related to your business, just for example. As a bonus, you can embed these files with keywords and links, so when they’re shared (and they’re bound to be passed around a lot more than blocks of text) you can gain maximum benefits. In terms of generating buzz, it doesn’t get much better.