• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

How to Attain Top of Mind Status For Your Small Business

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One easy Sunday evening while “surfing” Instagram, I came across a post from the popular Naija Brand Chick. She asked the question, “what business problem will you like to get sorted this week?” Followers were to comment and others could tag a brand or person to help solve that problem.

As I scanned the comments section, I was looking for opportunities to promote my own business but instead, the opportunity to promote other businesses presented itself. There were requests for product photography, digital marketing, book writing and influencers amongst others so I proceeded to tag the relevant businesses that I knew offered these services.

The interesting thing was that many of the businesses I tagged were not necessarily ones that I had any direct experience with – they were businesses that came to the top of my mind because of their consistent visibility over time.

This made me realise, or rather reminded me, that it is those who continue to show up over time that can earn top-of-mind status. And what do I mean by top-of-mind status? Simply, that when your area of expertise, niche or product type is mentioned, people tend to think of your brand first.

I also experienced this with my SME consulting practice. At the beginning of the lockdown period, clients suddenly either had the time to look more into their business operations’ or were panicking about the effect of the pandemic on their businesses. They mentioned that my brand was top of their mind because they’ve been seeing my videos and posts over a period of time.

We know how important top-of-mind status is for any business, particularly a small one threatened by changes in its external environment such as the effect of the coronavirus pandemic, so how exactly can this status be achieved?

Here are three sure ways to start developing top-of-mind status for your business:

Maintain or increase your marketing efforts: Regularly share posts about your product or service, tell your close associates, collaborate with other relevant brands, run adverts on social media – do as much as you possibly can to get the word out to as many people, as often as possible. The results may not be instant but the long-term impact will be worth it.

Offer great customer experience: You may have heard that it’s cheaper to keep your current customers than it is to attract new ones and in my experience, this is absolutely correct. The easiest way is to ensure your customers cannot deny the quality of your product or service. From placing an order right through to the delivery of your product or service, this must be a consistently positive experience. This not only encourages continuous patronage but they would also be more likely to want to tell others about your brand.

Maintain communication:There might be time gaps between customer orders or client consultations so it’s important that you maintain communication with them whether through a newsletter or regular check-ins via phone calls or messages. This simple act may appear seemingly insignificant but it can significantly decrease the likelihood of your competitors being considered as an alternative to your brand.

The important fact to note with all this is that, attaining top-of-mind status is a long-term strategy with rarely instant results but when it matters the most, your business will enjoy the outcome.

About the contributor

Stephanie Anyamele is a Small Business Consultant & Chartered Accountant with over 7 years’ experience in financial advisory, operations management and business strategy. She is the Founder & Principal Consultant of Charles Ardor & Company, a boutique management consulting firm working with owners, leaders and managers of small businesses to improve their financial and operational performance. She is also the Founder of “What Next, Coach?”, a business support membership platform that prepares small businesses to grow into medium-scale enterprises. Connect with her via Instagram (@stephanyamele), email ([email protected]) or LinkedIn (Stephanie Anyamele)