11 Ideas to Grow Brand Awareness at Lightning Speed

Looking at progress of the marketing industry and all the resources and investments that back up some of the most popular brands on the market, it’s hard to believe that some brands just become huge overnight! Although you might be tempted to assume that these brands are developed by wealthy entrepreneurs that stay behind the scenes, or that one needs to come up with a never-before heard of concept in order to become successful that fast, you would be mistaken. As a matter of fact, these overnight shocking brand successes have one thing in common: creative ideas!

We’ve studied some of the instant-success stories, and we’re sharing the things that these companies did differently and how that influenced their rapid growth. Watch and learn!

#1. Uniqlo

What it is: a Japanese business that offers casual clothing for people with different tastes and styles.

Creative idea: Seek Partnerships with Other Brands

Uniqlo offered free entrance to the Museum of Modern Art, where they got a chance to promote their brand in front of an audience that they might have never reached through conventional marketing methods. This advertizing strategy increased the chances of visitors of the museum talking about their brand and putting them in a positive light, thank to their generosity.

What to remember: A partnership with a brand that’s not within your niche will give you the chance to use that brand’s reputation to your advantage, while simultaneously giving you the chance to find new potential customers.

#2. Dropbox

What it is: a free online service that allows you to store files, pictures, and videos, with the possibility of sharing and accessing them wherever you are.

Creative idea: Invite Your Friends

Through the integrated sharing systems, via email and social media, Dropbox users were encouraged to promote the service to their friends in order to increase their storage space. With each referral Dropbox increased their user counts, while making file storage and sharing easier for all it users.

What to remember: Try to discover ways in which your service/product can self promote, and then reward your clients for their efforts. If Dropbox gave users more storage space for each referral, what would your audience be encouraged by?

#3. Evernote

What it is: a note-taking organizational service

Creative idea: Invite-only Participation

When Evernote launched their service the users has to create an account and invite other people in order to create a network with which they would share their notes. The exclusivity factor brought Evernote into the spotlight, making it more attractive.

What to remember: Apart from being an invite-only beta version of the service, the fact which intrigued potential users was that they had to make an initial investment: the access sharing. This element can make users think that they are accessing a valuable service, without requiring financial investments.

#4. Buffer

What it is: a content publishing tool

Creative idea: Guest Posting

This company chose to promote themselves through guest appearances on websites that already had an established reputation. They made sure to only publish high quality content that would build the foundation of their brand. This unconventional method helped Buffer gain approximately ¾ of their total sign-ups.

What to remember: Find creative ways of engaging with your targeted audience through outputs that you already know they are connected to. After you build yourself a trustworthy reputation you can market yourself as where they should come for top notch content.

#5. KISSMetrics

What it is: an analytics tool that shows you how to increase conversion rates.

Creative idea: Use Infographics

Use the audience’s need for easy and fast comprehension to your advantage, and minimize the effort that your service requires from the users, even when it comes to stats. KISSmetrics now has 350 thousands of blog readers each month. It has become the go-to source of easy-to-read web analytics.

What to remember: Take your audience’s preferences into account when deciding which content format they’re most likely to look for, and more importantly share, and return for more!

#6. Qualaroo

What it is: an in-built survey system that has user-satisfaction as its goal.

Creative idea: Optimize for Increased Conversion Rates

On every web page that has a Qualaroo survey published, you can find a sign-up option for those interested. So each website that uses its surveys for free is used as a self-promoting outlet.

What to remember: Turn your free demo or trial into a self branding tool. Your customers become the carriers of your brand’s offer.

#7. Uber

What it is: an app that serves as a platform where users and drivers can reach each other.

Creative idea: Make Things Free for Popular Promoters

Uber offered free services to people attending social events that gathered tech networking groups. The Uber marketing team used these promoters’ ability to share their feedback with their own audiences, and to influence others positively towards using their app.

What to remember: Use the connections and the audience of some of your clients to your advantage, and make sure you give them the opportunity to promote your brand from a positive perspective, by giving them free access to your service.

#8. Yelp

What it is: a user-based feedback and recommendation collection for a diversity of venues.

Creative idea: Create a Community  

You can build a reputation on this platform, so each of your reviews increases your trustworthiness in the eyes of other members. Yelp created a profile for each member of the community, with a history, and with the possibility to chat, and to connect with other users.

What to remember: Allow users to connect on an emotional level with your brand and to interact with the other users in order to create a community that makes the platform grow bigger.

#9. Upworthy

What it is: a website dedicated to content with a potential to go viral

Creative idea: Focus on Eye-catching Headlines

When it comes to viral content, a lot of the work is done by the headlines. Upworthy has a rigorous headline picking system that goes from 20 potential headlines, to the top 2 headlines that are most likely to make a post go viral.

What to remember: Use the power of efficient headlines in order to improve the chances of your content reaching your target audience, as well as developing your business’s brand.

#10. Hotmail

What it is: an email service by Microsoft

Creative idea: Funny Taglines

Use humor and sparking curiosity as your weapons of choice. Hotmail used a “P.S. I love you – Get your free e-mail at Hotmail” as a tagline in order to attract new users.

What to remember: Use each one of your emails as a promotional tool by including links to landing pages and offering free trials of your product/service.

#11. HubSpot

What it is: a marketing software that helps businesses attract new users, convert, and get more leads.

Creative idea: Free Advice

This platform allowed users to use their website’s URL addresses in order to get free suggestions regarding marketing improvements and suggestions. This novelty service has been used by over 4 million web pages since its launch.

What to remember: Make sure that what you’re offering is a valuable asset for your potential clients. Free suggestions and trials are ideal tools, especially when it comes to novelty services.