There’s quite a few marketing types that can be used in all walks of business. The most common ones fall by the way of word of mouth advertising, direct advertising, and the new and improved digital marketing we see all over the modern online world. Since people first had something to sell, they needed customers, and to get them they needed to tell those around them. But now there’s so many more ways of reaching people to sell to, and thus we’re going to need to focus on the various methods that are becoming more and more relevant in today’s market for better success!
When it comes to marketing in business, there’s a lot you can do to draw people’s attention. Depending on the kind you’re trying to appeal to, some methods will work better than others, and there’s no such thing as one size fits all. So if you’re looking for some answers to your profits slump, look into investing into any of these ideas. There’s no guarantee a marketing campaign will bring in the recognition you’re looking for, but they’re always better than nothing.
Try a Focus Group
This is a good method to implement first, and it has the benefit of using actual people instead of market personas to test out your branding message. Focus groups have the most impact when you’re trying to come up with a new product or service for your business, or when you realise your previous marketing campaigns aren’t working out. So make sure you use them to good effect during these times, and take the feedback you get from any workshop to heart.
Everyone can run a focus group, and you don’t even have to hire out a firm to do the legwork for you. Look for people in your target market who would be interested in participating, invite them along, and get as honest feedback as possible. Of course there’s disadvantages, namely the time and place you have to reserve for such a meeting, as well as finding the people in the first place, but the advantages easily outweigh those.
Get a personal look inside the heads of your consumers, and see what they really think about. Has anyone in the focus group heard about you before now? Do they have a good perception of your company if so? Does your product or service come off as useful overall, or are you marketing it in a way that makes it look unnecessary or cheap? This is where these kinds of questions can be answered.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is often quoted as the be all, end all when it comes to making connections and reaching all the people you want to. At the same time, it often seems impossible to pull off in the way the bigger companies always manage, and you never get more of an outreach than the couple hundred followers on your social media.
So it’s clear you need more of a plan to link yourself up with the influencers that can help you the most, and getting your adverts out there to thousands more people. Even just a tweet at the right place from the right account is going to improve your profits a thousand times over! And because these customers coming through your site like what they see, they’re going to keep coming back, and will bring their friends with them.
Never go into digital marketing blind, and plan for every step you want to take. If these steps don’t work, you can see before time that you’ll need to change them. Plus, it’s always useful to work with someone from day one who knows what they’re doing. If you want some expert advice, or even just an expert to be on hand whenever you need one, you can find them here https://digitalico.com/london. You can even just learn some good habits, and constantly stay in touch
Event Marketing
If you really want to intrigue someone’s imagination when it comes to your brand, setting up a good event is going to do the trick. And that’s where you can indulge in a bit of experiential marketing within your event, so any potential customers or investors don’t forget you anytime soon.
When it comes to hosting an event, you don’t even need to have anything going on that’s related to what you’re trying to sell. Instead, simply host a fun and interactive night that makes sure people don’t miss the message you’re trying to convey (and if you have your name in lights around the place, well it’s no harm done).
So when it comes to event marketing, be as creative as possible. A conference night with a few guest speakers is all well and good, but it might not leave the impression you’re trying to go for. It can show you’re not invested in what you do, and if you’re not around yourself to host that night, you’re not going to capture the energy you want either.
Be loud and proud with your efforts, and collaborate with people from all walks of life. Artists and designers can make your signs and displays as inviting as possible. Writers and professional speakers can really capture the audience’s attention with their speeches and stage personality. Whatever it is you’re showing off, make sure it involves the people you want to sell to, and don’t be exclusive with any part of the proceedings.
Take to Social Media
Social media campaigns are incredibly popular, and relatively easy to run. Nearly everybody uses a social media platform, and that means you can reach millions of people all at once simply by signing up to a particular board’s advertising service. However, you need to know if your advertising banners or videos on this site are going to be clicked, instead of being scrolled past.
So you need to be as relevant as possible with your message, and as convenient as a standard social media user needs you to be. This is a hard balance to come by, but you can use a few general themes here; look to build yourself a fanbase and have someone on standby to be more accessible via comments on anything you post.
If you know where the people you need to market towards are based, you can pick and choose the social media platforms to advertise on. If you need something that’s going to generate leads for you to follow up, take to Facebook. You can very easily get people interested in what you’re offering considering the nature of the ads here: offering free things out to customers and then reeling in the ones who are actually interested enough to sign up.
On the other hand, if you want a more specific type of marketing, you can head towards Instagram. It has more users than ever thanks to facebook integrating it into their own platform, and thus you can easily backlink back and forth across both of these sites to reach more and more people. However, Instagram works best when you’re using visuals, rather than just words, so you can more easily use a narrative in your marketing. And that appeals to the younger users Instagram is known for. It’s a good platform if you want to catch the next generation of performers.
Collaborate with Other Business Owners
If you’re running your own small business, you’re going to need all the connections you can get. And that means connecting with other small businesses in your area. There’s so many benefits to trying this that make it one of the most effective ways to find the buyers and suppliers you really need, so send out some emails right now if you can.
If you set out with a purpose, you’re going to get the most back out of such a venture, so know beforehand what you want to get from other business owners. Do you want to simply put names to faces, and learn about other people’s businesses? This could be a good way to see how different models work. Do you want a friend on hand you can get further connections from, to take your own business higher and higher? Do you just want to learn what it is that makes these kinds of businesses so successful, and how you can follow suit?
No matter what it is, searching closer to home than ever before is going to work wonders. Make sure you’re open and friendly whenever you talk to other owners, and invite them along to conferences you’re planning to attend, or out for meetings. Know who you want to talk to, and then try to get five minutes with them at least. It can be enough to impress if you’ve got your pitch down to an artform!
The best ways to market are always going to change, but make sure you’re going along with the times for the most success. Most of all, try to be approachable and open in your advertising platform.
