Building Brand Awareness Through Community Outreach Marketing

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Nowadays, successful brands need to rely on more than great marketing campaigns and products people want. While those are important facets of any company, they’re not enough to capture the attention of your target audience and turn them into loyal customers. We are going to talk about building brand awareness through community outreach.

Today, people want relationships with the brands they trust.

Related Links

• 8 Tips For Writing A Better Link Building Pitch
• 3 Reasons Why Focusing On Community Is Your Best Marketing Strategy
• Why Does Your Business Need Influencer Marketing?
• 4 Unbeatable Reasons Why Your Business Should Invest In Marketing Technology
• 6 Of The Best Web Developer Sites You Should Join

One of the best ways to do that is by building brand awareness through community outreach. Whether you have a small business or a big corporation, building your brand and identity by immersing yourself in a community is a fantastic way to grow relationships, build trust, and create loyal customers that advertise for you.

Let’s dive a little deeper into the perks of community engagement — both physical and digital. Both are needed for success, and both can build your audience quickly. We’ll cover some of the benefits of community outreach and engagement, and how your marketing campaigns can promote that kind of awareness as you work to establish your brand.

Creating A Local Impact With Community Outreach Marketing

Whether you’re a local company or a larger corporation that wants to make a difference and connect with your audience, community outreach gives you the opportunity to show you’re involved with the community and that you care about your impact. It humanizes your brand and puts your name at the forefront of community care. Some of the biggest benefits of community outreach for businesses include:

• Creating value beyond what you sell.
• Giving your brand a stronger purpose.
• Demonstrating your care for the world and the community.
• Positive impact on your corporate image.

One of the most important aspects of brand development is how people perceive your brand. When someone sees your logo or company name, you want them to react positively. They should also be aware of your purpose, your mission and vision, your personality, voice, and message.

Obviously, it takes an entire digital strategy to put all of those pieces in place, but community outreach can be a big help. Whether it’s volunteering your time, donating supplies, or sponsoring local events, you’ll build brand recognition faster and create a local impact if you have clear goals in mind and you know how you want your audience to see you.

Touching On Major Issues

Anyone can volunteer with an organization for a day or make a large donation to a local food bank. Those are wonderful things, and you should make a point to volunteer and donate frequently. However, you’ll resonate with your community if you focus on the issues affecting people in your community and across the country.

For example, you might take a stance on mental health since it has become a major issue in recent years, especially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. You might do this by advocating for mental wellness starts within your company. It’s essential to create a brand culture that supports mental health and the well-being of your employees. When you do, the effects can easily trickle out into the community.

Consider encouraging some of your employees to train as volunteers in psychological first aid. Doing so allows them to go into the community and show compassion to people in crisis. You never know who they might end up helping. Your business could even serve as a hosting space if people are looking for help.

Getting Digital To Build Brand Awareness

The definition of community has changed over the years. You undoubtedly know the importance of having a digital presence for your brand. But, how much time and effort are you dedicating to digital engagement?

Whether you’re able to physically get out into the community or not, there’s a lot your brand can do to engage with your digital community by utilizing your social media platforms. Building your brand on social media can help with both local and global community involvement. If you don’t already have a member of your marketing team specifically working on your social media efforts, it’s time to make it happen.

One of the best ways to foster interest on social media and stay engaged with your audience is to follow recent trends. Some of the current ones include:

• Ephemeral content
• Short-form video content
• Livestreaming
• Podcasts
• Content monetization
• Virtual personas

You’ll probably notice a theme with the majority of those trends — a lot of them deal with humanizing brands and businesses. When you take advantage of what’s currently popular on social media, you’ll also let your audience see who you really are and the values you stand for. That will help to boost engagement, grow your audience, and make it easier to get involved in your digital community. Plus, it’s incredibly easy for people to share and promote brands online with the click of a button. The more engaged you are with your audience, the more likely it is that they’ll advertise for you.

Community outreach will always be good for brand development, no matter the size of your business. Think of effective ways you can get involved locally and globally, don’t be afraid to let your audience see “behind the curtain” of your brand, and consider getting involved in the things that matter most to you, as a company.

Video: Building Brand Awareness Through Community Outreach Marketing