Creating and marketing a new brand takes more than just having a good product or service, it’s also about understanding who and what you are, and communicating that clearly. Assuming you’ve got the killer solution, what can you do to let people know about it and you? You could buy TV spots, put up a billboard, and flood the radio with ads (old school). But such a robust media plan is expensive, especially if it stays in play for long enough to work. There are plenty of affordable tools out there that you can use to achieve the holy-grail…reach and frequency of message. Once you’ve identified your message and honed your brand, social media is a good way to start. Using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Whats App Groups and the like work great, but they all have their own quirks and demographics, so do a deep dive into how they do what they do. Face-to-face interaction with your audience should be at the top of your list. Personal interaction is key. You never know how one conversation can change everything. A good way to let people know you are a thought leader is to speak in public. One way to start is with small groups at professional meet-ups. From there you can work your way up to conferences. Participate in a panel, or moderate a discussion, volunteer for anything that even remotely dovetails with your brand. Become your own PR agent. That’s the reach part of the equation, but what about the frequency? Do all I’ve suggested, but unless you keep it up and do it often, you’ll get lost in the crowd. A win is when everybody knows your name, success is when everybody knows what you do and how to contact you. Make sure what you say is relevant, original, and compelling. Make a schedule, use automated tools like hoot suite. If you create a v-blog, do it at set times and promote it on all your channels. Start a YouTube Channel, use IGTV, Blog, Podcast, and don’t let up. Video and imagery attract more engagement than text alone. Here are a few things to do to get started: Come up with a great name Set up your company legally (LLC, Corporation, Partnership) Open a bank account (checking, savings, credit card) Secure a URL like the company name (name.com) Create an email account with your URL Create a logo ID and make business cards, create a site, and sign up for every available account you can. Create a marketing plan Create a social media strategy (the biggest factor here is tagging. Know what words to use to get the most interaction. There are a ton of tagging software solutions to choose from). If you have a good product or service, and you do all of this, you will be off to a