How do you balance brand awareness with limited resources?

Shaping your brand's narrative starts with understanding the landscape, and defining goals and metrics is your compass. Brand awareness isn't just about being seen—it's about being remembered and associated with value. To truly capture it, you've got to measure it. Reach and impressions open the door, engagement turns curiosity into conversation, mentions showcase your impact, and sentiment digs into how hearts and minds resonate with your brand. Tracking these metrics isn't just about showing off – it's about refining your strategy. Tools like Google Analytics and social media insights let you read between the lines, enhancing your brand's symphony over time. So, set your benchmarks, dance with the data, and watch your brand's melody rise.

Shareability of the content created could be one specific metric that one can focus on. Shareability serves two purposes: one it makes sure the brand's organic reach is boosted and on the other hand it also acts as a measure for audience engagement. Both put together will surely add up to higher awareness from the brand.

First, you need to look at what is costing you money! One point could be content. Internal implementation might be one way to work economically. UGC may be another option. The focus should be on simplicity and authenticity, not on expensive, promotional, high-quality content. The content should provide as much added value as possible to the target audience. The focus should be on channels where the audience share is high and the cost is as low as possible. For example, TikTok could be a cheaper alternative to YouTube. Stories are often more effective and less expensive than the feed. Collaboration and the use of networks can also help. Through testing and analysis, the strategy can be optimized and made cost-effective in the long run.

Be where your audience is. Simple, right? So why do so many companies feel like they need to maintain a social presence on every single platform? I have no idea. Find out where the bulk of your audience prefers to congregate when they are most receptive to a conversation about what your company does, and be there. That's it. Don't bother with TikTok if that's not where you're welcome. Don't worry about X if you don't have a strategy that hinges on it. Focus your efforts on being unavoidably excellent on the one or two platforms where people are most likely to engage with you, and supplement this with regular audits of your audience's preferences so you know if and when they're migrating to another platform.

A deep understanding of the differences in the platforms is very helpful to make a decision where to focus on. It‘s not only the Gen Z / Millennials question. It’s also the different tone of voices, the different reasons, people use the platforms and the different algorithms on each social media network. You really have to connect the decision for the best platform to your company goal.

Some of the ways to optimize your content for sharing is doubling down on SEO. One of my favorite SEO tools is free--Google. Understand the keywords you're trying to search for, Google those terms, and then find what is called the "People also ask" section. Use the questions in that section to populate your blog posts. This signals to Google's algorithm that you understand what people are searching for when it comes to that topic. Reddit is also a great tool. Search for the same term as you would from the exercise I mentioned above, but include the word "Reddit best" along with the term. It would look like, if for example, you were searching for running in Philadelphia, "Reddit best Philadelphia running."

- if it fits to your brand or product, don‘t be average. - be brave and show some humorous insights. - always ask yourself is this piece of content either entertaining, educational or informative.

If you have a limited budget use your resources on your current employees to become the brand ambassadors of your organization. This adds value for fundraising, people want to know how you treat your employees and if they are really passionate you can give them incentives which cost the company very little.

I agree as balancing brand awareness with limited resources often involves focusing on targeted marketing efforts, leveraging cost-effective channels like social media, content marketing, and influencer partnerships. It’s also important to prioritize building a strong online presence, engaging with your audience, and creating valuable content. Monitoring and analyzing data will help refine your strategy over time along with consistent messaging and authentic interactions which can make a big impact without breaking the bank if there is little to no marketing budget at all.