How New Business Owners Can Boost Their Brand on a Budget

Building a digital brand presence can make or break a small business or early-stage startup in today’s chronically online world. After all, a recent Visual Objects survey found that nearly half of consumers are likely to visit a company’s physical location after finding out the business has a strong online presence.

Yet, for a new or smaller company, investing in online advertising, marketing, social media, or public relations is often like putting the cart before the horse. For one, advertising and marketing can be expensive. According to a recent WebFX study, online advertising can cost anywhere from $100 to $10,000 per month. Hiring a communications professional, public relations agency, or freelancer tends to be more cost-effective than advertising, but it still costs money. Not to mention that doing PR on your own as an executive or founder isn’t a walk in the park. If not executed strategically, PR efforts like pitching media or drafting messaging can become tedious tasks with very little return. And as I’m sure many fellow founders reading this know well, time isn’t something you can afford to waste when starting a company.

Still, there are tactics for budding business owners to build a public relations strategy that increases brand presence online without taking hours of work or costing thousands of dollars. In the newly released 3rd edition of my industry-standard bestseller Public Relations for Dummies, I share guidance to help emerging entrepreneurs manage their own PR on a budget. Read on for a sneak peek of the practical insight I outline in Public Relations for Dummies and discover how to boost awareness of your brand without breaking the bank.

Clearly define and communicate your brand.

When building a business, emerging entrepreneurs need to have a clear idea of the brand they’re trying to create. This means knowing what types of trends, causes, people, partnerships, and other factors align with the company. Then, it’s important to communicate about that brand in places where people can easily find it online, such as a website, in the news, in a company blog, or on social media.

For example, let’s say an early entrepreneur is getting a new app off the ground that resells and repurposes old clothes and furniture. That commitment to sustainability should ring loud and clear in brand messaging. This can be done through a short website mission statement tying back to sustainability, offering commentary to a reporter about recycling data and trends, or consistently sharing volunteer work with local organizations on social media. These are all great tactics for defining and promoting a brand online.

A real-life company that does exceptional work defining its brand online is Duolingo. Throughout its brand guidelines, Duolingo notes the company’s mission, which is to make language learning accessible and fun. When visiting Duolingo’s website, that exact message rings loud and clear—the first words on the site are “the free, fun, and effective way to learn a language.” Duolingo’s Instagram is full of posts that tie back to the app while simultaneously being fun and engaging to multiple audiences. And, when you Google “Duolingo,” you’ll find news outlets like NPR talking about a recent PR stunt that, as the company Mascot Duo said in a TikTok, “put the ‘fun’ in ‘funeral.’” The company jokingly faked the death of its iconic green owl named Duo, and articles such as the one in NPR are now discussing how people engaged with the imaginary owl’s death and subsequent resurrection online.

Duolingo has millions of subscribers because of its great product and because it effectively defines and promotes its brand. The company’s website branding, social media, and press mentions are just as fun and accessible as the app itself. Duolingo successfully made its mission into its brand, and it’s paying off.

Balance limited resources and time with creativity. 

By now, you might be thinking, “Sure, Eric, but if you’re a small business or emerging entrepreneur, you probably don’t have a communications and marketing team or money like Duolingo.” I’d be concerned if you weren’t. The truth is, while money and a team of professionals certainly help, you don’t always need it to get great results.

Creativity can fill the gaps when founders are tight on time and cash. Especially in today’s connected world. Anyone can pick up an iPhone and film a viral TikTok or send an email that’ll land them a stellar media placement. The trick is to be creative, authentic, and find ways to create news for your brand based on what you’re already doing.

Let’s go back to the earlier example of an app for reused items. Imagine the founder of the app created TikToks about the work they were doing with local charitable organizations. Or shared data in a short email to a reporter about what products people repurpose the most. Or collaborated with a microinfluencer who mentioned the app on their channel that has thousands of followers. These are all effective tactics for generating brand awareness without having to go out of your way or pay for a bunch of bells and whistles.

Building brand awareness early on doesn’t have to be a Herculean task. It can even be fun. It’s all about thoughtfully leveraging what your company already has in a way that further strengthens what the brand represents.

When you have the means, consider hiring out. 

Nothing is stopping you from doing your own communications and marketing in the beginning. However, as with any element of building a business, the goal should be to expand. For instance, when first starting a company, a founder may be the one who handles all the sales calls and client outreach. Then, once they have enough revenue and clients, founders should hire out to keep growing so they can focus on the bigger picture of leadership.

The same goes for public relations and marketing. There’s no reason for you or your co-founder to be handling website copy or pitching reporters on top of managing employees. Whether it’s hiring an agency, taking on a freelancer, or creating a communications and marketing department, hiring professionals will be key to growing a brand’s online footprint. Just like how hiring more sales professionals will fuel revenue.

No matter the size or age of your business, there’s no reason a company can’t have the same brand presence as a competitor or even a larger organization. With a little creativity and a dash of elbow grease, any new founder or small business owner can get their brand at the top of search results or viral on social media. As long as you focus on what you can do, rather than what you can’t, your online brand presence will stay one step ahead.

Written by Eric Yaverbaum.
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