Building a great brand from scratch is the dream of every startup entrepreneur. If you are starting up, I’m pretty sure you want to build a brand that is friendly, well-known and stands for something beyond profits.
In most of the cases, companies try to build a brand with advertising. They just pour money into different channels and show their logo to the maximum number of eye balls possible. But is it possible to build a brand just with advertising?
To be honest, advertising has lost its effectiveness. Just because a brand’s logo is all over the place, it doesn’t mean people will recall it, let alone have any emotions attached to it. There is too much noise with advertisements and people are tired of ads. In this day and age, building a great brand is possible without advertising.
You might already know about brands that have become household names without advertising. Can you think of a few names?
Digital brands like Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, Uber etc. have never spend money on advertising to build their brand. They always focused on user engagement and creating a good brand experience. None of these brands become what they are today through TV, Newspaper and Radio ads. The secret to building a big online brand, especially in the age of internet is to have a very low barrier of entry to a product experience.
With free products and services online, a brand can attract potential customers at zero cost. This create brand engagement and not just brand impressions. Brand engagement is 10x more valuable than brand impressions. (I am attracting you to engage with my content for free, and right now you are engaging with my brand – DigitalDeepak).
Only a few entrepreneurs understand branding and the rest end up wasting money in ‘branding activities’. Some marketers think that they can create a great brand by out-spending the competition on advertising. So they end up investing money in driving brand impressions. They roll out fancy TV ads, get millions of banner ad impressions online and cover the first page of our daily newspaper. These ads compete for the consumer’s attention… And we (consumers) try our best not to pay attention to these interruptive ads!
The ability to attract attention is the most important asset for any business. If you have their attention, you can convert that attention into a transaction. But instead of interrupting consumers with ads to get their attention, entrepreneurs should focus on creating something amazing with a low barrier of entry and naturally attracting consumers to engage with their brand.
The Problem with Brand Impressions
Before we get into the art of attracting consumer’s attention, let’s understand why brand impressions miserably fail to convert prospects into paying customers. And why it is becoming a less effective way of building a brand in this day and age.
Consider this scenario: If you have been a happy customer of Brand A for the past 10 years you are unlikely to change to Brand B. Even if you have some minor issues with the service, you will try to rectify it and remain and customer of this brand. That’s because you have formed a habit around this brand’s products and changing to a new brand is uncomfortable. You also forgive the brand for small mistakes and you have high brand loyalty.
You know that the other alternative is Brand B because they have been creating millions of ‘brand impressions’ around you. TV ads, billboards, Newspaper ads and so on. But we (consumers) are savvy and experienced enough to know that just because a brand releases ads that are all over the place, it doesn’t guarantee that they have the best products and services. It also doesn’t guarantee that they will serve their customers well. (Think OYO?)
Unless Brand A pisses you off with terrible customer support or a fraudulent billing activity, you will not try Brand B. That’s because “Known devils are better than unknown angels.”
“You can add all the bells and whistles in your ads, but they’ll never truly create the kind of emotional experience that gets consumers excited about your brand.” – Eric Savitz (Source)
You cannot make someone comfortable enough to buy from you just by driving brand impressions. If I just showed Digital Deepak logo in front of you everyday through one channel or the other, would that make you trust me?
User engagement is what makes a brand a ‘known devil’ to the customer. A good user experience will imprint your brand in the consumer’s mind. Right now, you are having a user experience with my brand.
Ads can help you make your brand widely known, but trust and comfort cannot be built with brand impressions. Think about politicians. Politicians have hoardings and put their faces everywhere, but that doesn’t make them trust worthy.
Sometimes, driving up too many brand impressions can actually have the opposite effect. Consumers might get irritated. Have you even heard the same ad twice on the radio? Hasn’t it made you irritated?
What is Brand Engagement?
When you use a product or service of the brand, they become known devils to you. If your experience was good, you are much more likely to remember the brand, use them again and recommend it to your peers.
Instead of learning about the brand from ads, you are experiencing the products of the brand. This is brand engagement. The more you engage with the brand, deeper the connection between you and the brand. This connection can never be created using ads. And this connection is necessary for a brand to become truly successful.
Brand engagement is a good way build a brand in the digital age because engagement doesn’t cost anything on the digital platform.
“Brand engagement is the process of forming an emotional or rational attachment between a person and a brand.” – Wikipedia
You have to get people to experience your brand before expecting them to trust you with your money. The best way is to have a low barrier of entry to experiencing your brand. And that means giving away something of value, for free. One of the best ways is content and content can be given away for free on the internet.
Driving Brand Engagement with Free Products
In today’s digital era, creating a free product or service and distributing it costs almost nothing. This has given birth to a large number of businesses which attract potential customers by giving free access to their amazing products.
Once someone uses a brand’s free products and have a good experience, they trust the brand. This attention and trust can be leveraged to sell premium products. Today, thousands of internet based businesses across the globe run on the freemium model.
Google gets the attention of consumers by delivering awesome search results and free email accounts. We pay our attention and engage with the brand. We form a habit of using their products. Google leverages this trust and attention to sell premium products to us and PPC ads to advertisers who need our attention.
Tons of iOS and Android apps are given away for free. They attract attention without spending a penny on ads. Their premium apps are sold to the people who already had a good experience in using their free products. In-app purchases are the one of the best app business models in the app economy.
Dropbox gives you free storage and gets you to pay attention to them. They make you form a habit around using their cloud backup and storage solution. After years of using Dropbox, if you need more storage, you will not hesitate paying them even if another cheaper solution exists in the market. It is difficult to form new habits and go through a learning curve of using a product or service. It is easier to pay a bit more money to a product that you are already comfortable using. (I recently upgraded to 2 TB Dropbox after using Dropbox for free for almost 5 years. They did not spend any ad money to acquire me.)
Bloggers create a good brand experience by publishing quality content and answering their reader’s questions. They use that attention to sell training and information products. Other bloggers sell this attention to their advertisers instead of selling their own products. A good brand engagement creates trust and makes it easy to convert prospects into customers. Brand impressions create just the awareness.
Advertise to Drive Brand Engagement
In markets where customers are not proactively searching for a solution you are offering, interrupting them with ads is one of the ways to drive brand awareness. But instead of showcasing the products to them, pull them in with free offerings and drive brand engagement first before you try to make them buy.
Brand impressions are optional in today’s digital world. Uber doesn’t try creating brand impressions at all. Instead of making media channels rich, they used the marketing budget entirely in giving away free rides to passengers.
Since they are giving away free rides – there is no hesitation for first timers to use their service. Once they use it, they are pleasantly surprised with the experience. Brand engagement done! This brand engagement is worth more than brand impressions.
In some business models, giving away things for free is not possible. In such cases, heavy discounts and low ticket products drive the brand engagement during the initial phase. Flipkart and Amazon are good examples.
Flipkart would never have become a billion dollar company by selling books. However my first order on Flipkart was a book for Rs.200 at a good discount and free shipping. I was pleasantly surprised by the speed of delivery and perfect packaging. Brand engagement done! Since then I have spent more than a lakh rupees on Flipkart!
I hope this article gave you clear insights on how to build a great brand using brand engagement than just brand impressions.
Any questions? Leave them in the comments below.
Fantastic insights about branding! Loved the way you have presented the ideas. When you think about one of the most valuable brands like Apple, even they focus on brand engagement through their exclusive Apple stores.
Yes, everytime you walk into an Apple store you are engaging with the brand. They don’t have free products but the small iPod is a good low ticket item. My first Apple product was an iPod shuffle.
Good article in simple words. It is very important to create a creative and innovative as well as repetitive engagement branding. The consumer around the world are emotional and specially in India were people are so hesitant to change.
Thanks a lot, i really impressive and very useful for my career …sir but i want to talk with you
Whtssapp user.
9459936920 plz text me
Deepak, a good one. Yes, brands are made out of nothing. Perception – created by the product or service – in the minds of the consumer makes the difference. That may be through an advertisement – or through free sample – or the combination of the both. Now the “loyal” customer category is diminishing.
Changing from Brand A to Brand B is happening much faster than any other time. No need that “Brand A” should perform bad – just a shake or non availability at the time of inquiry – makes the change to “Brand B”. This volatile behavior of the consumer really creates challenges to the marketing department of every organisation.
Yes, you are good in marketing your content.. I like this. Keep it up.. Age of digital – User experience – and that too may not lost long.. What a wonderful time to market.. Keep going.. Keep doing.
Insightful. Would continue following all your posts.
Thanks! Its a pleasure.
This article couldn’t have come at a better time, Deepak. I have a client I’m bringing through this funnel and the language here explains the process quickly and thoroughly. It also makes one realize why the freemium model is worth trying!
Thanks for reading Jillian, all the best!
Thank you for your very good article!
I need to know more about the digital world.
Thank you and will keep learning!
We are a small church and desires to let everyone know what we offer to all. We definitely have a lot to grow in this area.
nelson
You are welcome! Stay tuned for more such articles.
Deepak
Another Great Article. I have found that another word for engagement is experience. Consumers look for an experience. And a great experience trumps advertising. But there are ways to make advertising work.
If you want to build a new business in an existing business segment, you have to brand/market/advertise to the customers of the competition. Looking at consumers in an existing business, using a bullseye as the visual device, there are only three types of customers. The ones nearest the bullseye are devoted/loyal customers. In order to get them to leave your brand you have to beat them off with a stick. Even if you make a mistake, they are likely to stay loyal.
The band on the far outside of the target are only loyal to the deal. They want a special deal and are only motivated by special pricing or offers. No long term customers to be found in here.
The consumers in the band between the center and the outer edge are “somewhat satisfied”. They are the consumers who are afraid to make a change to a new product or service provider. To your point they prefer to deal with devil they know (especially with service providers). But if you provide them with the proper offer, they may be willing to give your business a chance. Consider it an interview.
But once they come, you have to be ready. If your product or service is worse than the current provider, you lose. If your product or service is the same as the current provider, you lose. The only way to bring a competitor’s clients into your business and keep them with you is out shine their current provider. Under promise and over deliver.
Keep up the good work.
Jeffrey,
That was gold! Thank you for the detailed explanation of how consumers behave.
cheers!
I do agree with you and this is the same what ‘Reward Me’ is doing for P&G products. They send free products to customers to make them their patron.
Hello Deepak,
Your article is very impressive.
I loved insight on brand engagement.
I will visit again.
Warm Regards,
Mukesh Joshi
Thanks for your comment! I checked out your profile and your personal website is well designed!
Excellent article on brand engagement. Yes it is very important to have top class product or service to engage customers.
Very good morning…very nice article…very insightful.
I was curious to know about Apple’s, Uber’s and Flipkart’s, among others, brand engagement strategy.
I also concur with you in toto regarding “..wasting money on branding activities…”.
Have a pleasant day ahead!
Awesome stuff. Thanks
Great article, Deepak. It very crisply describes the Dos and Don’t of brand awareness and these decisions that one takes, in a way shapes the brand.
Zomato, is another example. Have you ever noticed that until 2016, Zomato merely invested only in BTLs (tent cards in restaurants) and zilch on ATL? As you mentioned, they adopted the freemium model and decided to add free credits in their Online Ordering Model (discounts for customers) and credits/cashbacks in their (Zomato Cashless Model) in Dubai. This encouraged customers to use more of their products, thus customers preferred to order using Zomato over other players. Its a domino effect of sorts, one thing leads to another and before you know it, restaurants wanted to partner with Zomato because it helped increase a traction in the order/takeaway funnel.
A perfect example of how customers drove brand awareness purely because how well Zomato used its budget – solely on its end consumers.
Helo,
I have a musical band, we make musical tracks for our clients and get paid for it.
We have only one source i.e Facebook page. We upload musical videos for advertisement and entertainment purpose, so that audience can know about our band.
So how I can promote and earn from it….
Plz give any suggestions…
Great article sir. These are some of the tactics that never get old. Sir it would be great if you provide some research or case studies in real life marketing in depth.
great article.
But do the same techniques apply to services like healthcare as well?
hey deepak thanks for sharing this useful and valuable information. keep up the good work
Thanks a lot, i really impressive and very useful for my career ….
Hi deepak,
Thanks for the Article first of all..
What I understood from the examples that the Article is basically for Online services or offline services in which customer can feel or can get the offer.
what can be the solution in the business like event management, where without showing them actual events how they can attract.
In that we can’t offer even discounts /free ride etc.
What could be the attractive offer on which someone can at least inquire about it.
Hi deepak,
Thanks for the Article first of all..
What I understood from the examples that the Article is basically for Online services or offline services in which customer can feel or can get the offer.
what can be the solution in the business like event management, where without showing them actual events how they can attract.
In that we can’t offer even discounts /free ride etc.
What could be the attractive offer on which someone can at least inquire about it.
Superb article Deepak!! Keep it up writing these kinds of articles in future too…
You are the best blogger/content writer…Hats off to you!
Keep it up the good work!
Hey Deepak, Thanks for the article. I will implement the sttrstrgird mentioned by you.
Great article and extremely informative. It would definitely help me in my business of Virtual Assistance (MDS Online). Thanks Deepak for sharing!
another brilliant article from Deepak sir. I love to read your article. Thank you for guiding millions of people in digital marketing.
love you sir
This has been one more interesting topic to learn from, very well explained thanks for sharing this valuable information.
One more thing I saw a YouTube video where you where saying that there is going to be placement support for who wants to work in corporates. How we need to share our information and details so that we could get the help.
Very good article sir. Giving such a great knowledge about creating a brand.
worth a read. very well explained. Thanks Deepak
I am an event consultant and also offer catering and rental services to individuals and other event management brands.
I find it difficult to engage target customers, could you please help me with a tailored guide on my niche?
Hi Deepak, loved this article on branding which actually tells the truth behind this amazing concept. Brand building for Entrepreneurs is not easy as it was some years back due to the attention given by people to newspapers, radio ads as well as the television. Today to get the attention and sale, you should have EQ( Emotional Quotient) or Emotional Intelligence. This will lead to a massive brand success
This is awesome. Incisive and clear cut.
Meet new customers at events. …
Start a blog about your business. …
Use Facebook ads to reach customer
This time mainly student and people use the social media and purchase the product for online .
Thanking you
Thank u so much.
I knew your post will be awesomeness-filled and am glad that I clicked on it to read. Great insights into branding your business based on engagement rather than forcing people to buy. I’ll implement a similar strategy to market my business. Thanks. Stay blessed.
Nice article Deepak!
I want to learn blogging. Please provide me information about the course site
Hi deepakji, how are you? I am trying to build my e-commerce website, please guide me in this regard. Tell me about google AdWords and digitial marketing.
Regards,
dj.jagadale@gmail.com
096376 93098
Deepak
I read ur article and it is interesting but I run a preschool in Howrah where people are my very computer savvy so marketing through computer is less popular .so how can I help me to achieve my target students. Please reply soon.
It’s not really about online or offline ads. We ignore ads everywhere.
Notice that Deepak sir have used the image of a highway, not a computer screen.
And about your question Reena,
Just like Deepak Sir said, “With free products and services online, a brand can attract potential customers at zero cost.”
So, think about ways of how you can reduce the barrier of entry or completely eliminate it to increase the awareness around preschool.
Can you provide two FREE day trial?
Can you provide two FREE months per new student recommended?
Can you go into the city and give FREE lectures to new parents about the importance of preschool teaching?
Driving brand engagement through free products is indeed a great idea. The various avenues of social media can be a driving force for brand engagement.
Dear Deepak,
As always, a wonderful post. I know that you are a master at what you preach because I am going to join one of the courses that you offer.
Keep inspiring!
Hi Deepak the article makes sense. Engagement is the key. I have a question that is your free offerings to create a pleasant brand experience should be still brought to awareness else people will not know you are offering a pleasant experience so do you think we will still need to use brand awareness. When it cost message to cost the advertising cost still goes on. Any thought
I want join in this programs I need help!
Sir,
Your article is amazing and much educate about brand engagement instead of focusing only on ads.
Dear Deepak,
The article is fantastic i really loved it.
Its a good idea to work on brand engagement instead spending lot of money on brand impression.
I would like to ask something about my small education institute, i live in a urban area and the ppl are money savvy and less intereted in spending money,please suggest me what kind of strategy i can make to make my brand known.
Thank you!
Thanks @deepak_sir,for this wonderful description about branding.i have gain a lots of knowledge.
Thank you
How we can create brand engagement for real estate product, as here we can not give freebies or immediate discount or offers socially.
Ahh.. wonderful post Deepak. Thank you for sharing such a detailed explanation.
Thanks Deepak your article is wonderful, very interesting, see me make a person very happy
I have no regrets reading your article. It has enlightened me greatly and my time was worth it. I hope to get more insights fr you on branding and marketing since I’m looking forward to owning brand real soon. Thanks and Hod bless
Deepak,
Very impressive article. Keep up the good work.
Warm Regards
Senthil Nathan
Hi Deepak,
Nice article,but i have a clarification.
i am part of food business where i don’t think freebies and discounts don’t work.
Can you suggest some ways where i can create brand awareness for customers
Thanks for sharing this brand engagement strategy
Awesome piece. Very timely and informative.
Hey Deepak,
It was a very article.
but I’ve got a question here, how can I use brand engagement technique on highly competitive stuff?
I read your article. I found it very insightful. I wanted to know what is your perception on building brands for non-profits. Since I am into development sector and looking after and promoting online presence of my NGO.
I regularly follow your blogs and articles.
Thanks
Awesome article!! It is of real help to me …I got many of confusions waived off. Thank you Mr Deepak
I usually prefer to have a right mix of Organic as well as Paid advertising methodology to build a brand by driving brand engagement.
Because it depends on one’s goal that either he/she wants customers (online) to visit his/her business website (e-commerce) for direct sales based on the demonstrations & client reviews or the goal is to convince our customers to visit our local store for delightful experience & ambiance.
Rest decision is upto the customer perspective…
thanks you are best sir
Sir,
I’m proudly saying I’m a DM student of You.
I didn’t give any attention with care when it was published. That time I just read out this like a notice, But when I read this with great attention, I was surprised this how more it worth. I’m planning to read all articles once more.
Thanking You.
Thank you very much for this very insight to branding. I am not in brand department but from your ideas on developing brand engagement rather than brand awareness. i must confess it really help me see what we are lacking in the company i work for. I will use your Idea to talk to my CEO about engaging customers to build our brand. I have leant a lot thanks Sir
Thanks for sharing the article.. I will definitely use strategies mentioned by you
Your article is very impressive. I loved insight on brand engagement.
Nice Article, Deepak
Hlo
The articles of ur website is truly amazing i like it so much ….When i will willing to read about something then i would come there definitely…
thanks
Hi,
This is the very first article I have read on branding, which is very short & precise and very easy to understand with proper analogy.
Good Work!
good thoughts about brand engagements. you have explained the value of blogging for brands very well. Thanks for this article.
Again good for reading . Concepts are clean and well explained.
Thanks for the same.
It is really a nice and helpful piece of information. I’m happy that you shared this useful info with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you sir for such beautiful tips. Very much helpful.
The post is very useful and informative . Thank you Deepak for sharing.
Awesome stuff. Thanks
I have a musical band, we make musical tracks for our clients and get paid for it.
We have only one source i.e Facebook page. We upload musical videos for advertisement and entertainment purpose, so that audience can know about our band.
So how I can promote and earn from it….
Plz give any suggestions…
Great article sir. These are some of the tactics that never get old. Sir it would be great if you provide some research or case studies in real life marketing in depth.
Great article and extremely informative. It would definitely help me in my business of Virtual Assistance (MDS Online). Thanks Deepak for sharing!
I am an event consultant and also offer catering and rental services to individuals and other event management brands.
I was curious to know about Apple’s, Uber’s and Flipkart’s, among others, brand engagement strategy. nice article thakns for deepak sir
Great article on branding. It is true that a loyal brand customer would never leave the brand and choose some other brand even if the other brand spends lot of money on their marketing strategies…Great insights!
thank you for sharing a knowledgeable content you are a great inspiration for a digital marketer
wow deepak this is really awesome article thanks for sharing!!
Thanks for Sharing Sharing This Article. It`s Very helpful for learn Digital Marketing.
Thank You
Really valuable content sir
Don’t you think by giving away a free product for the first time, they will lose the seriousness in your product.
Hi DigitalDeepak
Very Good information about Building a Brand without Advertising !
DigitalDeepak your content narration keeps us to read completely without missing any paragraph. It helps us to get boost with your knowledgeable information. It was given some idea to build a brand.
Keep posting some new ideas how to develop a start up digital marketing agency.
Thanks in Advance
Ramesh Kumar
DigitalAkshal Creative Agency
http://www.digitalakshal.com
if i have artifical jewellry online business.it is good to give the customer free service for brand engagement
very nice article sir
Hi DigitalDeepak
I am definitely going to follow this strategy in the future. In short, I am a huge fan of you, all because of your videos I started my career in Digital marketing and now I am writing some blogs such as:-
How Video Marketing Is Affecting Business Growth?
Looking forward to some new content from your end which can really help me.
Thanks
Kanchan
This article you wrote about brand engagement is very compelling. I enjoyed getting an insight on engagement.
Howdy Deepak,
I read complete article,
so I spot sparks on business strategy.
How branded industry capturing market ,
How startup industry yet to catch market,
Thank you Deepak
Special content sparks me,
Your first order in Flipkart,
Your satisfaction in Flipkart
Krishnaraj
ETender Trainer
Foxonservices@gmail.com
Yeah, basically the generation of 20s has grown up seeing more advertisements on television than the show they want to see! So, it doesn’t make sense to bombard us with more advertisement.
We are adapted to ignore any or all advertisement like a chameleon adapts to surrounding color.
What we want is valuable information in an instant. And if it’s FREE, jackpot! Even better! Now you’ve glued our eyes to the screen. Or in this case, our ATTENTION to your BRAND.
Like you’ve done, after I finished watching the 25 FREE lessons on Digital Marketing. I immediately purchased the entire bundle.
It would not have been possible without that free course.
Hii sir,
I just read your content and it really awesome and helpful to me to understand that brands are not created by only ads engagement with peoples in most important and now I can really work on it just want to thanks to you
Thank you very much for your valuable advice. I will surely start the course with him.
Hello deepak Sir,
i read your content and it really awesome and helpful for us as we are a startup company i hope it will help me to create or build a good brand.
Thanks.
Hello deepak Sir,
i read your content and it really awesome and helpful for us as we are a startup company i hope it will help me to create or build good brand.
Thanks.
Yet another good article from deepak sir. Got the article at the right time as I am planning for branding activities for a startup.
Product is digital SAAS software and they are giving 30 days free trial every new customers. Engagement and experience.
Thing is it needs to reach mass number of people.
For sure at this stage your article will be guiding us.
Thanks for writing this article.
Dear Deepakji, Good article, just need your inputs on the freebies you mentioned with related to Travel Agency… .as we do not own anything ( hotel, transport, flight …..) how can we give any thig free and the discounts are also not that great wherein we can offer big discount on the products…. pl. guide.
Umesh Damle, 9820988508