Weekly MARKETING Tips
100 Simple Marketing TipsWe pulled together 100 simple marketing tips for you. From website recommendations to magnet marketing we've compiled them all here for you. Our Marketing Professionals think out of the box and each week, in our weekly newsletter, they deliver quick tips for the small business. And, if you're in need of sales tips, you can find them over on our Weekly Sales Tips. You can find it all right here. And if we've missed something, let us know, we'd love to hear from you.
Vertical Divider
|
|
|
Fortune Favors the Bold
Branding isn’t just an investment these days, it can actually be your insurance policy. Already drowning? It can feel overwhelming...if branding your business, event, or your career profile feels daunting, it makes sense. After all, it’s only your life and career you’re messing with AND there are risks to doing it poorly. Expert: Tamara Gardner - Fortune Favors the Bold |
|
Psychological Marketing
The art of using our feelings to market to us is nothing new. There are a lot of examples of it throughout retail, like pricing something at $19.99 rather than $20.00 which plays with our minds making it seem less expensive. Today it goes way beyond this with the use of certain colors, music, and imagery to manipulate the way we feel when we’re being marketed to. Some can be ignored but psychology tells us that if done right it simply works. |
|
Traditional Marketing is Still a Thing?
If your business is relying on a digital-only approach, you're leaving potential money and customers on the table. Great marketers know that a mix of digital and traditional advertising nets you the best results. Traditional advertising methods stand out more than ever in our increasingly digital world, and that's what I call opportunity. Expert: Rachel Leone - Does Traditional Advertising Still Work? |
|
Performance Based Marketing
There is nothing new about measuring your marketing efforts, but some are paid on a performance basis. All of your marketing efforts should have KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators); open rates on emails, clicks on Facebook or LinkedIn ads, etc. Some of the most important are the ones you pay for individually. Make sure your PPC (Pay Per Click) KPI’s are really tuned in to ensure you aren’t wasting money. |
|
The Shotgun Approach
This type of marketing is more or less marketing to everyone and anyone. If you have a product or service this is probably not the marketing strategy for you. As a matter of fact, there are very few occasions that this might be deployed. One that comes to mind could be just a simple newsletter sign up. The idea is to get as many people as possible in the hope to segment them to better targets at a later point. |
|
Flexibility in your Logo
This concept is often overlooked. A logo must be adaptable so it can accommodate any medium. This includes print, the web, and multimedia. It must be able to be both dramatically reduced and enlarged while still maintaining legibility. It has to fit on promotional products…from minute to massive. And now a logo has to fit in a favicon… the tiny icon seen in a web browser. A logo should be faxable. It should work in black and white as it does in color. Expert: David Gilman - Seven Secrets to an Eye-Opening Logo |
|
Out of Home Marketing
This is marketing designed to target prospects when they’re already out and about. A slightly newer technology, although not “really new”, that is used for this quite frequently is blue tooth or beacon technology. Knowing your prospects are near you or your products and being able to market to them immediately can truly expedite the buying cycle for your prospective customers. |
|
Offline Media
There are still some industries that can use some of the more traditional forms of marketing, dare we say advertising. Things like billboards, industry related magazines, radio, print ads, etc. In this digital world there can still be a place for some of these mature roads. The real key is understanding your target demographics and if they’ll respond to these well enough to make it cost effective. |
|
The Next Best Thing Marketing
The problem solved here is pretty simple. It’s getting away from the marketing insanity rule. You know, promoting the same thing over and over to the same list with no results. Try making the offer different, “the next best thing”. Think like a retailer selling an insurance policy on a product sold that never gets purchased. Now ask the same list if they would like a maintenance contract to maintain the product rather than insure it. You make money either way. |
|
Don’t Follow the Status Quo
Following industry standards can mean having standard results. If you do “this” as everyone else in your industry does, you’ll see “X’ results. A daring but possibly fruitful move can be to be adventurous, think outside the box, be innovative in the manner in which you market your product/service. The status quo can get you results but are they the results you want? Dare to be beyond standard! |
|
Go on the Offensive, but not Directly
You can attack your competition’s weaknesses as you highlight your strengths but only if you’re clever about it. Not many people like direct attacks, being too aggressive can turn people off. However, subtle but obvious strikes can be effective. Think about fast food…a line that a non-burger place could use: Think bigger than the bun, pizza holds more than just beef! |
|
Slogans
How many slogans can you name off the top of your head? It doesn’t matter how old you are, you’ll probably be able to rattle off at least a dozen! Slogans or taglines have been helping to sell products and services since advertising began. Make sure to put time into creating your slogan so customers remember who you are and what you do! Smarketing Expert: Rachel Leone - Does Traditional Advertising Still Work? |
|
Newsletters are Still a Thing
Basically, this is email marketing with a more general purpose. However, be careful to make sure that you are providing real value to those that subscribe and are not always “marketing” to them. Your email list has the potential to be your most valuable possession if used properly. Knowing your audience becomes vital and will allow you to know when to send just information to educate, simple or fun articles, or lead generation material. |
|
Add Virtual Locations to Look Bigger
If you work or live in a couple of cities or towns, consider adding those locations to your contact info. Also, add a virtual office or two where you want to be noticed and add their mailing addresses to amplify your reach. Verify those Google Places listings and get listed in local searches. This again, helps you look big without breaking the bank. Virtual offices, phones, you get the point. You believe what you perceive. Professional EXPERT: Robin Samora - 9 Ways to Make Your Small Business Look Bigger |
|
Make Marketing New
It’s been a while since we’ve developed a truly new way of marketing. Social media, mobile marketing, even VR have all been around a while. However, we have still only scratched the surface on “how” to use these medias. Go back to being creative in the ways in which you interact with your audience. You can use any or all of these methods of communication but don’t follow the trends of many…create your own. |
|
Effective Neuromarketing
This type of marketing is really based on studying your target market and truly knowing how to move them to do what you want them to do. How effective can it be? How about winning you a presidency…love him or hate him Donald Trump used a form of this to win an election. Leveraging the public’s fear of economic downturn, he was able to sway voters to vote their fear not their conscience. |
|
Mobile Marketing
This type of marketing is specifically designed for consumption on mobile devices. Due to the popularity of cell phones, this type of marketing is becoming very effective. According to some research, 70% of the entire population of the world owns a smartphone… and 70% of those people choose to access the internet on their mobile rather than by using a laptop or desktop computer. |
|
Choose Fonts Wisely
Fonts may be elegant, bold, or simple. They may be fanciful, imposing, or credible. They convey attributes like truth, leadership, or innovation. They symbolize the very essence and character of your firm. Chosen correctly, fonts have a profound impact on your company’s visibility and identity in the market. Associate Expert: David Gilman - How Fonts Impact Your Business |
|
Non-consumer Marketing or Mega Marketing
This form of marketing leverages non-commercial entities such as government, special interest groups, or even the media to get you noticed. This resembles “Influencer Marketing” but with a slight but important difference…the entities in this case rarely benefit from helping you. Let’s say you get a local news reporter to do a story on you, the benefit to you is potentially great but to the reporter/news cast it’s minimal. It can be hard to accomplish, but really profitable. |
|
Create an Iron-Clad Media Base
Your website and social media showcase your brand as an expert. Treat them with respect, as your 24/7 sales team, always on, always in promo mode. Social media and your website are the first places reporters will look to check you out, to see if you’re credible. Make sure that all links to your website work, and your information is error-free. Note: it’s fine to be more personal on social media but keep your brand personality consistent. G-rated maybe. OK, PG-13. Unless you’re super edgy. Professional Expert: Robin Samora - 7 Things You Need to Know About Getting on TV. |
|
Marketing to Masses
If you need to focus on volume or selling to a large number of people regardless of demographic, then mass marketing is for you. Typically, this is where relationships are not necessary, the audience is wide, and the emphasis is on volume. A high majority of companies using this are in retail, but it can be leveraged in a B2B environment if you need to generate a lot of leads in a short time period. The key is to give the impression of a personal touch even if it isn’t present. |
|
Video is Rocking
Did you know 85% of all internet users in the US watch online video monthly, and 54% of consumers want to see more video content from a brand or business that they support? In fact, a whopping 87% marketing professionals use video as a marketing tool, and 88% are satisfied with their ROI on social media. PR Expert Professional Robin Samora, Article: Are You One of the 87%? |
|
Try a Loyalty Program
Let’s work under the assumption (although we understand that this in not always the case) that the cost to acquire a new customer is more, often much more, than the retention of a current customer. A loyalty program gives you a chance to be creative in the way that you reward your customers for being faithful. This is also a way in which do gather a lot of data about your clientele…which we suggest you use wisely. These types of programs can be quite effective. |
|
PowerPoint Can be Better
Let’s face it: all us have sat through many painful PowerPoint presentations that leave a lot to be desired. But it really doesn’t have to be that way. Here are five of the most common and biggest mistakes to avoid when delivering a PowerPoint presentation, with recommendations on how to avoid each of them. Although there are a lot of additional factors, the emphasis will be on the visuals, which capture people’s immediate attention. Smarketing Expert: Dave Gilman Article: 5 Reasons Why Your PowerPoint Presentation Failed Miserably |
|
Try Long Tail Marketing
Defined loosely as hitting multiple small niches at once to duplicate the results of entering a larger niche. This type of marketing can be successful when a particular niche is dominated by a very large company. SEO is a great tool to accomplish this. Think of the best keywords used in marketing to your customers, then research the less known secondary keywords. You could potentially buy these up at a much lower rate. These secondary keywords could represent new niche markets to sell into. |
|
Use FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) to Drive Traffic to Events
Business owners, experts, and seekers of knowledge want the latest and the greatest information to gain a competitive edge. Customers want the inside scoop. Event managers, marketing directors, VP’s of sales and CEO’s alike want to stay ahead. They want to glean insight and discover what’s next. Events provide a forum to do just that. Your job is to get customers to take action. Professional EXPERT: Robin Samora - How FOMO Drives Traffic to Events |
|
Protect Your Website from Signature Burger Syndrome
What can you do to prevent Signature Burger Syndrome from showing up on your website? 1) Get great images that can stand for your brand. 2) Create informative visuals. 3) Write compelling text with a clear and credible voice. 4) Look for good stories to tell and strive to be concise. Expert: Michael Sweeney - Design-Product Systems - Article: Does Your Website Have “Signature Burger Syndrome”? |
|
Locale Marketing
We all use the online community to find the best of the best to do business with. However, there are times that the market is so flooded with “Experts” that using some one who is local to you is the best choice. There is still something to be said about knowing the specific demographics of those you are trying to encourage to do business with you, prospects. A local expert may have insights that “the best of the best” found online can’t possibly duplicate. This is especially noticeable in areas that have a distinct local, hometown feel to them. |
|
Methodical Marketing
This form of marketing can also be called Non-Creative Marketing or Left Brained Marketing. This is when you employ tactics that are geared toward more analytical thinkers. Proven science says right brained people respond to creativity while left brained people focus on information. This information is usually fact driven, no nonsense type of “straight talk” to the buyer. Think very practical when marketing to this audience. |
|
While at a Trade Show Less is More
You can laugh all you want about Feng shui, but it applies at trade shows too! Make sure your space isn’t cluttered with marketing materials and giveaways and focus on one or two pieces of information Be sure to engage your prospects first, then give them a promotional item. Keep a special stash of higher end items under the table and use them sparingly to impress a potential lead. Make a lasting impression with your conversation, a targeted premium that they’ll surely love – and of course, don’t forget – the fortune is in the follow-up! Expert: Rachel Leone - Trade Show Secrets You Need to Know |
|
Interactive Marketing
This is marketing that has specific actions based on behaviors of your customer. Think of calls to action on a website or automation built into an email campaign. When your customer clicks a certain button, it starts a predetermined action. Another example of this can be chat boxes on a website, where you can directly interact with a customer to answer questions live or move them along the sales cycle by showing them exactly what they’re looking for. |
|
Magnet Marketing
Magnet marketing is a proven methodology to attract prospects to a best practices study focused on solving a problem of interest to prospects. It’s all about attracting prospects who want to solve the same problem your company is solving. If a prospect is not interested in this specific problem, they’re unlikely to buy from you. You’re better off focusing on prospects who are actually interested. This is effectively prospect-reported intent data delivered in real time. Expert: Michael Phelan - Magnet Marketing - A Proven Way to Increase High Value B2B Prospect Meetings |
|
Using an Influencer
Not all influencers are celebrities. A well-known author, a popular person to follow on twitter or Facebook, or even someone well known in your industry can be the one to influence buyers to purchase your products or services. The difficulty lies in getting them to endorse you. Building a relationship like this however can expedite your marketing program. |
|
Marketing Strategy on a Budget
The most important strategy is to focus on the content that they place on their website, while focusing on the problems that their business solves and that differentiated their business. Most importantly, the problems that your clients are willing to pay for because they are the most important issues. Associate: Dave Orecchio – Bristol Strategy Inc. - Small Business Marketing Strategy on a Budget |
|
Green or Enviro Marketing
Aligning your product or service with an environmentally friendly message can give you a significant advantage over those that don’t. In a crowded market you can be viewed as an eco-friendly business, giving you distinct brand positioning. You can leverage all of your messaging to influence consumers buying decisions. |
|
In Field Marketing
As simple as it sounds, this is a version of face to face marketing. For this type of marketing we see people standing around very populated areas, mostly to hand out flyers, brochures, or other materials directly to potential consumers. Almost solely used in the business to consumer arena and can sometimes be combined with “giveaways” or some sort of gamification to attract attention. |
|
Experiential Marketing
This form of Marketing can be extremely effective when performed correctly. For those employing it, it can also be entertaining and fun. This is where you can immerse your prospective customers in an experience that’s memorable enough that they become loyal customers by the end of the encounter. Think of a company like Red Bull. They spent time and money designing events that got their customers actively involved with them. |
|
Embrace Marketing Automation
You can’t do it all, even if you think you can! Don’t drop the ball. A Salesforce study found that 67% of marketing leaders use marketing automation and the number is expected to grow by 30% by 2019. Make the most of every customer interaction by using the tools designed to be support your marketing outreach. |
|
Cross Media Marketing
Simply put, this is the process in which you carry your marketing message throughout many marketing channels. Consistency is the key here. Keeping the same message, feel, and overall consistency is key using all media outreach. Between web, mobile, print ad, and email being consistent, constant, and non-intrusive is the goal. If achieved though, it is very effective. |
|
Communal Marketing
Using current customers’ stories to sell your product or service for you isn’t new. However, making the information available on multiple outlets simultaneously is at least a more recent process. You can leverage the good words of your customers to encourage your prospects to move forward with you. Post these everywhere you have followings…social media, email, on your website, etc. |
|
Location Based Marketing
Marketing based on location isn’t new, but it’s getting better as we speak. Between Google and beacon technology using blue tooth, companies can now market to you as you walk by a store or Googling a product. Even with business to business location matters, marketing to location can be significant as a push for doing business locally has been gaining popularity for a while. |
|
Cause Based Marketing
We all have a social mission of sorts, some more personal than others. Companies have long been supporting causes and using the “good” PR as marketing material. Our recent increase in the millennial workforce and purchasing behaviors however have turned this table, now being involved in a cause can really propel a company’s marketing plan, public exposure, as well as hiring practices. |
|
Call to Actions
Used correctly these can be used effectively to judge a person’s level of interest in your product/service. You can get them to sign up for your newsletter, put out downloadable case studies, e-books, PDF’s, and more. Each of these have their own level of commitment by the prospective customer and can be used to define them as leads, prospects, or put right into your sales pipeline. |
|
Test Your Data
Marketing is undergoing rapid change at a seemingly ever-accelerating pace, driven by evolving social media behaviors and marketing technology advances. These shifts have created a marketing culture that necessitates cycles of data-driven testing, measurement and optimization. The digital marketing skills of the past—or even of a few years ago—are now largely viewed as inefficient or ineffective. Contributor: Natalie Nathanson - Assessing Your B2B Firm's Digital Marketing Efforts |
|
Business to People Marketing
Think of this as business to consumer marketing in the business to business world. If you think of marketing as a people to people process and make it hyper focused on the people you’re trying to attract, then it doesn’t matter what company they work for. Make sure your buying personas are extremely detailed and market to them as if they’re people…not a title. |
|
Guilty of Random Acts of Marketing?
Make note of all the marketing activities you’re performing and ask yourself…are they targeted to your exact demographic or are they random. If they are random, refocus and redirect them as soon as possible. Make the most of your marketing dollars by pin point accuracy. Gayle Nowak - 9 Must Ask Marketing Strategy Questions Savvy Small Business Owners Ask to End the Random Acts of Marketing |
|
Can Disruptive Marketing Turn Bad?
Most people see disruptive marketing as interrupting your YouTube videos with ads, but it can also mean a drastic adaptation of other marketing tactics. Use video where text is prominent, use vivid colors where traditional colors are dominant, there are several ways to use this type of marketing tactics just be aware of the audience. Some can be turned off by the disruption, just don’t become overbearing with it. Contributor: Tom Kaminsky - Has Disruptive Advertising Gone Too Far? |
|
Brand Marketing
In other words, Branding…but think of it in a different sense. Rather than market multiple product lines, brands like Gillette, Frito Lay, Coca Cola could essentially use advertising and marketing dollars to promote the brand rather than specific products and still sell in the millions of dollars. This is a bit different for small companies that use branding to simply increase visibility. |
|
Why Use Hashtags?
A hashtag is a free way to have a conversation about a single subject with a diverse audience and across multiple platforms quickly. With one simple hashtag, you can drive brand recognition, improve reach and engage in a like-minded subject with your customers, prospects and target market. Rachel Leone - What Are They, Why Use Them? |
|
Article Marketing
Article marketing is most similar to content marketing but with one significant difference. Content Marketing exists exclusively, or at least primarily, on your own site where article marketing is distributed on external sites…distributed to news outlets, article banks, forums, PR sites and article submission sites. Article marketing is considered a type of advertising in which businesses write articles and then strategically place them on the internet. |
|
Change Up Your Email
There are probably still a few holdouts doing business with an AOL account, hopefully not many. If you happen to be one of them, know that it dates you, big time. For those have a business email (not a gmail address), think about moving from [email protected] to [email protected]. It’s an easy way to give an impression of having a bigger company, even if you don’t have one, yet. Contributor: Robin Samora - 9 Ways to Make Your Small Business Look Bigger |
|
Try Behavioral Marketing
This type of marketing tends to be automated and is used to track triggers, actions, and the manner in which your customers react to your product or service. Most times this can be found in social media but it’s not exclusive to it. Tracking the following can measure the willingness of your customers to interact with your brand: Clicks on a link. Certain web page or landing page visits. Downloading of a PDF. Purchasing directly online. Shares or likes a post on social media. |
|
Slogans
How many slogans can you name off the top of your head? It doesn’t matter how old you are, you’ll probably be able to rattle off at least a dozen! Slogans or taglines have been helping to sell products and services since advertising began. Make sure to put time into creating your slogan so customers remember who you are and what you do! Contributor: Rachel Leone - Does Traditional Advertising Still Work? |
|
Ambush Marketing
A business that uses ambush marketing will attempt to associate its products or services with an event that already has official sponsors, this can be done geographically or digitally through SEO. Typically, the sponsors will be direct or indirect competitors of the ambushing company. As the name suggests, companies use this low-cost tactic to ambush events and compete for exposure against competitors. |
|
Spy on Your Competitors!
If you’re looking for marketing tips, tools and strategies to build your small business – and are open to looking beyond your own brand, how about doing some competitive analysis? Contributor: Robin Samora - How to Spy on Your Competitor’s Marketing Picture |
|
Try Agile Marketing
Agile marketing is more of an attitude than a strategy…it’s about being open, receptive and responsive to change with your marketing plan. As the name suggests, it’s about being flexible and not sticking to a rigid plan. Inspiration for the term comes from the tech world of agile development, where iterations to software would be steady and incremental. |
|
Only Include What Matters Most to Your Audience
There’s a saying in journalism school that goes like this “Don’t bury the lead” and that applies to your story too. In other words, don’t make your audience slog through a bunch of unnecessary details that happened, but that they don’t need to know. Contributor: Gayle Nowak - Are You Making This Mistake at the Start of Your Story? |
|
Event Outreach
If you’re attending an upcoming event, try to find out which of your prospects will be in attendance and start engaging with them as the event approaches. For example, if they’re a speaker, share on social media that you are excited to hear them speak and tag them in the post. If they have a booth at the event, find out where it is and let them know you’ll look forward to stopping by. Follow through by making your best attempt to interact with them in person at the event, and then continue to stay in touch following the event. Contributor: Natalie Nathanson - How to Leverage B2B Social Selling to Reach Your Prospects |
|
Tell Your Story in Email
Your story is the most valuable thing you own and, in most cases, the most influential. You can and should be using it in your email campaigns to grab the attention of your audience. As people learn about you on a more personal level, it becomes much easier to decide to do business with you. |
|
Assess Your Digital Marketing Efforts
Marketing is undergoing rapid change at a seemingly ever-accelerating pace, driven by evolving social media behaviors and marketing technology advances. These shifts have created a marketing culture that necessitates cycles of data-driven testing, measurement and optimization. The digital marketing skills of the past—or even of a few years ago—are now largely viewed as inefficient or ineffective. |
|
If Content is King
We’ve all heard content is king. One of the best ways to provide value in your business is through content – talks, email, blogs, videos, books . . . But if content is king, then story is the queen. Use stories to pitch and close deals. Article: How to Win Business with Story Contributor: Gayle Nowak |
|
Keep The List Clean
It’s vital to keep the database clear so that sales efforts are focused on the likely buyers in the group. In addition to names, titles and contact information, a good list will also include customer preferences, past orders and caller comments in special sections to make future interactions as relational as possible. Article: Who’s On Your List Says Much About What Will Be In Your Wallet Contributor: Ceri Ruenheck |
|
Tells Your Story in Your Email Marketing
But why…because doing so will transfer the aspirational emotion from your story to what you’re offering. It allows someone to connect with an idea that might otherwise seem impersonal or boring. And it makes your call to action feel like the next natural step for your audience. |
|
Email Marketing is Far from Dead, You’re Just Doing it Wrong
The real problem lies with email marketers abusing the system whether they realize it or not. People who do email marketing either lack the proper knowledge of what is right and wrong, OR they know what they are doing is wrong and continue to do it anyways. I cannot help the people in the second group. |
|
Use Website Analytics to Help Drive Your Social Selling Strategy
Website analytics can show you which companies are visiting your website. Utilizing an inbound selling approach by implementing a targeted outreach campaign to begin nurturing a conversation. Contributed by: Natalie Nathanson - Sales Enablement Marketing: How to Leverage B2B Social Selling to Reach Your Prospects |
|
Chatbots and Facebook Messenger Marketing
These aren’t new, but the trend is hot, and it’s working. It combines the instant delivery & attention of SMS with the attractiveness and automation power of email. Messenger also feels more personal than email, but less invasive than SMS—striking the perfect balance for businesses looking to communicate with customers. Contributed by: Robin Samora - Facebook Messenger Marketing Tips & Tricks |
|
Engage with influencers
Engage with influencers and potential partners: Start engaging with influencers and potential partners on social media to build up a referral relationship with them. These efforts can begin by mirroring what we mentioned above, interacting organically on social media to get on their radar. Contributed by Natalie Nathanson - Sales Enablement Marketing: How to Leverage B2B Social Selling to Reach Your Prospects |
|
Plan Your Marketing Plan!
To cut the learning curve, think about a customized online and offline marketing plan that’s based on your company’s vision, your situation, your industry and where you are and where you want to go. Contributed by: Robin Samora, What’s Your Marketing Plan for 2019? [Hope is not a Strategy] |
|
OK, So Why The # Sign?
A hashtag is a free way to have a conversation about a single subject with a diverse audience and across multiple platforms quickly. With one simple hashtag, you can drive brand recognition, improve reach and engage in a like-minded subject with your customers, prospects and target market. Contributed by: Rachel Leone, Hashtags: What Are They, Why Use Them? |
|
Don’t Try to Sell to Everyone or Anyone
A very common mistake made by small business owners, is considering everyone to be a potential customer. While it may be true that your product or service appeals to a broad audience, effective marketing requires a narrowed down target audience so messaging and marketing approaches reach them directly. Tip contributed by: Stacey Bruzzese - Top 5 Marketing Mistakes |
|
Preview Text (Email)
The preview text is a snippet of text from within the email. When sending a single email from your email application the snippet is the first line of text. It is a prelude to what's to come. When sending an email campaign from an email platform like MailChimp, they give you an opportunity to customize the preview text to help increase your open rate. Tip contributed by: Stephanie Creech - The Art of the Subject Line |
|
Efficient PR Strategy!
Subscribe to Help A Reporter Out (HARO) HARO is Match.com for the media and media sources (aka you). If you do nothing else in the post, make sure you do this. It takes seconds to sign up and it’s a free service that deliver media opportunities to your inbox three times daily. Easy right? Tip Contributed by: Gayle Nowak - 5 Ways Small Business Owners Can Get High-Quality Publicity in One Hour, One Day or One Week |
|
Look/Feel bigger than you are!
Mention your assistant in conversation. You may have a virtual assistant, part time assistant, intern, niece who visits you at home, or none at all. He/she can work for free and help every now and then, or not at all. What matters is that there appears to be more than just you on your team. Tip Contributed by: Robin Samora - 9 Ways to Make Your Small Business Look Bigger |
|
Co-Promotions can work
Similar to Co-branding but a bit different in the respect that co-promoting is a bit more active campaigning for business. If you find companies that sell into the same market you do, you can partner with them to do several things. Save time, money, or both depending on what your goals are. By more active we mean, not just putting each other’s logos on marketing material…this means sharing email lists, presenting with each other at trade shows, placing ads together, or several other things that would take up more space than a “quick tip”. Most importantly, it allows companies to share each other’s strengths and try to minimize whatever weaknesses you may have. |
|
Guerilla Marketing
Yup…still a thing! It may not cross your mind a lot, but this can be a simple and cost-effective way to get exposure. Creating a large decal for your car that goes on the doors or windows or both can create some buzz if your clever about it. You can also get some help from friends and family if they’re willing to do the same for you. This can be most helpful in service-based companies but can be effective for any if done correctly! |
|
Business Awards
Apply for industry awards that are made public by other organizations. The value can have multiple pluses and be repurposed. One, you can earn credibility. Two, get free publicity. Three, be exposed to potential partners. Four, use the nomination for social media. Five but not last, what if you win? Instant Boost! |
|
Create Partners
Within your network you can create your own little referral group. Reach out to see if any of your peers sell into the same demographic that you do but are not a direct competitor. This can be another group to market to! Tell them what you’re looking for, they may surprise you. |
|
Nurture and Maintain Credibility
Once you earn the right to be called an expert in your field, make sure you use tools available to you like social media and email to foster the relationships that put you on top. Keep your audience feeling like they’re the most important thing in your world. |
|
Having a Bonus can help
Keeping your clients engaged can be vital to success. A bonus of some sort can be very helpful here. Whether your industry has them regularly or not at all, may be irrelevant. You can really be unique and offer one specific to you. |
|
Check for 404 Errors in your website
You update your site consistently, so consistently check your site for errors. This can happen without warning or explanation so, check the published site frequently. Errors on you site can have a very negative impact on visitors. |
|
One Size Does Not Fit All!
Don't try to market your product/service to everyone. Define your perfect customer and target your marketing. You'll have better results with specific content directed at a smaller audience. When emailing, try segmenting your lists for more personalized communications. |
|
Learn to Out SEO the Competition
Let’s face it…no one truly understands the Google algorithm, and if someone tells you they 100% do they’re probably lying or they own Google. However, you can still out rank your competitors with the right SEO and content marketing plan. Just make sure you are very consistent…Google loves that! |
|
Facebook Messenger for Marketing
Facebook Messenger Marketing isn’t new, but the trend is hot, and it’s working – not just for big companies like the WSJ, but for smaller brands like you and me. Messenger also feels more personal than email, but less invasive than SMS—striking the perfect balance for businesses looking to communicate with customers.” Submitted by Smarketing Contributor Robin Samora |
|
Micro-Moments are a Thing
According to google 96% of people have split second reactions to things they feel the need to know…these are micro-moments! The best marketers will need to use great, rich, industry specific, targeted content to capture the attention of their market in these micro-moments. |
|
Chatbots
Instituting chatbots can be a great way to not only help people navigate complicated websites, help with customer service, or educate people on the service-based offerings on your site…but you also have the ability to get immediate feedback from prospects as well as push them directly to the content you want them to see based on their requests. |
|
Market to the Emotion
Storytelling can be a very purpose driven initiative. Create lasting connections using branding beyond the sale. Videos work well in this arena as well as events or workshops, these can create lasting emotional response. |
|
Flip the Testimonial
Testimonials have been a widely used marketing tool…on the web site, on printed material, in presentations, etc. However, you can flip this switch! Give a great testimonial to a vendor or service you use, and they post your words and company on their site. You get free publicity and possibly better customer service. |
|
Delete Old/Dead Leads
Make sure you’re careful with this one and are really sure you want to remove the lead from your email campaigns/CRM. That being said, it can really influence your analytics and give you a truer reading of where you stand with your prospects. These analytics can have influence over a lot more in your marketing plan than just emails. |
|
Retest and Adjust
Marketing is an ever changing landscape; new tools, new resources, and new techniques are developed almost daily. Make sure you’re on top of your game by periodically reviewing your strategy, tactics, and overall plan. Once you take a clear, honest look, make sure any adjustments that are needed are made. |
|
Be helpful
Don’t use your communications to just tote the company line. You can be much more than that if your found to be helpful to people in a fun, creative, friendly way. You can have relevant content with indirect, subliminal links to your company message, just be subtle about it and lean toward - helpful! |
|
Try Co-Branding
Let’s assume there are complementary businesses to yours out there. For example; a sales consultant and a marketing consultant. These two don’t really compete but may have the same client pool. So, co-brand a workshop, webinar, or training of some sort. Share the burden and the wealth. |
|
Best Practices
You don’t always have to follow best practices, you can at times, fall into mediocrity. You want to make sure you lead the pack in your respective area, which may mean thinking outside the box and trying very different things than your industry has seen in the past. |
|
Try Blogging
You can become the “go to” person in your industry by simply showing the digital world that you know what the heck you’re talking about. Write and post to social media, your own website, and if you get bold enough to ask or be asked, your specific industry resources. Game Changer! |
|
Protect You Work
Use trademarks, copyrights, and patents to protect the assets you own. From logos, e-books to infographics, if you build it, protect it! |
|
Market Your Product Before it's Ready
You need time to test. You need time to get found. It usually takes time, get your product out there early, listen to what your network and clients are saying. You'll get great info while building your brand. |
|
A/B Testing
Separating your list can be a great tool. Once your list gets big enough to do this it can also serve as a good budget control as well. Set aside a small segment of your list to do you’re a/B testing then you can utilize you budget on the “winner” of the test. Your bang for the buck increases when you test the results prior to spending! |
|
Infographics Work
Infographics can be used in a multitude of ways…as social media posts, as fill for an e-newsletter, as click bait to build your list, and a few others. If you have some great industry knowledge or have it available from a great resource, build an infographic and start using it in your marketing plan! |
|
How about Video?
I know what you're thinking, I'm not a videographer...but video is a strong tool. Use correctly you can do a lot with it. You can get your message out, be instructional, or express your expertise. It can also be a great SEO tool. All in all, even if shot on a phone and not done professionally this can be a fun and easy way to boost your marketing efforts. |
|
Scrubs Your Lists
You're only as good as your list of contacts, right? If this is true (and it is), then you should be looking at scrubbing or confirming your list every 6 months or so. There are a lot of studies out there that state, your list can be as high as 30% obsolete every 6 months if you're not validating the info. Like Santa, we have to check it twice...a year that is! |
|
Don't forget your research
Marketing research can be vital for a small company. It tells you quite a bit about the direction you're heading in, if you should stay the course, or pivot, should you target partners in similar industries, or maybe even franchise. Research is so vital that without it you could end up spending valuable time and money in a totally wasteful manner...in essence, without it you could be out of business before you even get off the ground. |
|
Pictures
If a picture tells 1000 words, can you imagine what pictures do for your marketing? I was reminded recently that pictures tell stories, stories build relationships, and relationships are what people trust when they buy. Use pictures in your marketing! Use them cleverly, but not absurdly; selectively but not sparingly; often but not flooding. You can accomplish an awful lot with pictures and just think 2 could replace 2000 words...but a slight explanation may still be in order. |
|
Marketing Budget...
Budgets are a tough topic to tackle in a quick tip. My best advice, whether you're on a shoe string budget or just been funded with plenty of money to spend, you need to do a few things. 1. Make sure you do some do diligence about what to spend the money on (Social Media, Email Lists, SEO, Etc.). 2. Timing can be an issue, not all money needs to be distributed evenly - spend may be different month to month. 3. Are you launching a new product now or later on? Are you looking for new customers or up-selling current customers? I'm 100% certain there are a ton more...but like I said touch to tackle in a "Quick" tip. |
|
Unique Selling Proposition
Knowing what make you different can be the difference between success and failure. Marketing your company effectively is predicated on making sure you can show your uniqueness. There can be several, such as; Cost, Product Quality, Service Quality, etc. Clarity of your Unique Selling Proposition truly shows what you do that makes you better than your competitors! Be Clear! Be Unique! Market to that strength! |
|
Build a Network of Referral Partners
Marketing becomes a lot easier to those who are looking to you for help and advice. Referral partners are an easy way to lay ground work for this. When meeting a referral partner and asking for their help, make sure you come prepared. Send them landing pages with calls to action that they can share with their network, give them access to special "freebies" that are not available to the public yet, or just plain give their network a discount for coming to you. All in all, a referral partner can make your marketing conversion rate a whole lot better. |
|
Consistency is Key
One of the most important things to do is remain consistent. People should be able to recognize your company anywhere and everywhere you are (Social Media, Print, Email, PR, Advertising). It's irrelevant which avenue, or the number of avenues you choose to market with...the reflection should be the same. Be consistently recognizable and people will notice! |
|
If it's not working STOP doing it!
Marketing can be a bit of trial and error at times. One of the most important metrics should be: is this marketing plan creating new opportunities, are there new leads generated? If not, stop and pivot into a new plan. Of course making sure you give it enough time to actually be measured can be a challenge, considering marketing can take some time to take roots. But nonetheless, if it's broken...fix it! |
|
Try Social Media
Even if you don't know or understand all of them…you need to know that you don't "need all of them". Pick one or two that you can manage and become a social media stand out in those and those alone. Picking a couple and doing them well is far better than trying to do all of them or too many of them and performing poorly. Poor performance is worse than absence in this case. Try Facebook and Twitter or LinkedIn and Instagram, the combination will vary depending on the business you have! |
|
Review Me
If you're a new business or an established business going through a pivot, a re-branding, or another redirection of your marketing. Asking your friends, family, colleagues, online network, or other trusted people to review your website, messaging or newsletter can be extremely effective. Ask this question correctly and the feedback you get in return can be priceless. Make sure you ask for brutal honesty and are not in any way offended when you get it. Use it as fuel for creativity and change, not to engage in defensive behavior! |
|
Mobile, Mobile, Mobile...
We are now using our phones/mobile devices more than ever and Google took notice, it actually effects your search results. Make sure your website is mobile friendly with this free tool from Google: http://bit.ly/2rDI7u9 |
|
Build a Website
Your website is your biggest digital marketing effort. It’s an overview of your company and your product/services. If you have a company, you should have a website. From simple to complex and anywhere in between, website designs keep progressing, so you need to progress with the times. What was new five years ago, looks dull and boring today. Update your website regularly with company highlights, new product announcements, and customer testimonials. |
|
What about a Logo
Every company needs a logo. Simple or complex, it is the first step to building your brand. Designs evolve, trends and styles change, the same can be said for logos. Key components to consider include: image, font and color. Detailed images are difficult to scale. Serif heavy texts are hard to read. Complicated color will complicate your life. |
|
Business Cards
Even in today’s digital world, you still need a printed business card for meetings and networking. Your card can be traditional in look and feel, or contemporary, utilizing die cuts. Either way, it’s a necessary piece in building your brand. |
