It can often be difficult to know where to get started with your new businesses, especially in tougher times such as these where competition seems to be coming from all directions. But there are steps to take to ensure you find the most outreach, whilst seemingly obvious you’d be surprised how often they can be overlooked in favour of more flashy, or more risk averse strategies that may have a bigger impact if they land.

Reviews are your bread and honey – It goes without saying that getting positive reviews on your brand is perhaps the best way to get its name out there, especially if your market is very competitive. This has been seen recently in the mobile gaming market – with so many names to compete with it could be difficult to stand out, but a review of Better Dice for example shows how positive feedback can really push success. Depending on the market in which you operate, reviews may also hold more weight in some areas – in the example mentioned, if the service appears on the app store may determine whether or not people download the app or not. Similarly those operating in a large market such as these online casinos, reviews may determine whether users view you as trustworthy or not. Certain reputation management service providers claim to keep the brand’s reviews clean, but ironically some of these companies fail to keep up with their own reviews (Reputation Defender reviews). This dosen’t mean you shouldn’t approach a reputation management company for your brand; do enough research on their success rate and reviews before hiring their service.

Word of mouth is better – Whilst reviews may be your bread and honey, word of mouth is still your most valuable tool. Stats show that people will hold more weight in positive feedback from friends or family, as users are up to 80% more likely to use a service that is recommended to them this way than they would be from a review or influencer alone, for example. The best way to really push your brand is to get people talking about it amongst people they know – this is more difficult than other methods, as for paid promotion it’s the simple question of cost, but this organic growth will yield much better results and will see further growth beyond what may be experienced immediately. You could also get in touch with companies similar to AA Custom T-Shirt Printing who can create curated t-shirts for your brand and help you spread the word out and about!

Don’t neglect engagement – It’s also becoming increasingly important away from only opinion to engage with your audience – it has recently been said that moving forward service will likely be a defining factor over just price and and brand, be sure to engage with your audience base whether through email or social media and develop a brand personality, providing a persona – this has been seen done extremely successfully through social media with names such as Paddy Power being synonymous with a fun online presence and sets a tone for what your growing audience may come to expect from you.

Especially moving forward, defining yourself outside of just the market you operate in will be extremely important – for as many businesses that may not survive the pandemic, just as many will pop up in their place which may directly increase the competition in the short term, ensuring you stand out will be a big part of growing your brand.