Running a business is hard enough, but when it comes to marketing your products or services, things can get even trickier. It seems like businesses of all sizes are working hard in order to capture consumers’ attention, and in increasingly competitive industries, it can be even harder to ensure that your message resonates with customers. Some of the greatest marketing successes of the past few decades involved thinking outside of the box. Here are just a few creative marketing strategies that may be worth implementing in your business.
Find an Agency
Whether it’s a digital marketing agency LA/Los Angeles or a business on the east coast, there are plenty of advantages to outsourcing your marketing efforts. From consulting about best practices for list management to developing advertising copy and visuals, an agency can help you keep your brand consistent while offering you solid data to base your decisions on.
Best of all, an agency can help you see your business from a different angle and find unique links from the zeitgeist to your products or services. Some of the greatest and most successful marketing campaigns in recent memory, such as the Monopoly game at McDonald’s came from a marketing agency.
Create Good Products for Giveaways
If you’re going to be tabling at different conferences or events, it’s important to have swag to give away. However, just because you give someone something doesn’t mean that they’ll become a customer overnight. It’s important to offer those that stop by your table something that they can legitimately use but that still markets your name and logo.
Printing business stickers or buttons is a great way to get your brand out there since consumers will wear them or put them on something that gets multiple uses. Water bottles are another popular branding option that can get others in front of your brand if the customer brings the bottle to the gym or with them to the office.
Use Social to Your Advantage
Social media is a gold mine for marketers, but it’s important to tailor your messages to the platform. While you can easily promote a video or a photo, if the media you’re advertising looks more personalized, it will speak to the authenticity that social users crave more effectively.
It’s also important to segment your lists so that different types of customers are receiving different communications. If someone that’s made multiple purchases from your website gets a video that’s explaining your brand to them, they’re less likely to respond to the video since it contains the information they already know.
Capitalize on Partnerships
Getting the right sponsorship can be a great way to boost your marketing on an institutional level. Think of different businesses and charitable organizations and how you might be able to capitalize on associating yourself with these businesses. A great example of this is Grub Hub’s partnership with No Child Hungry.
By offering its customers a chance to round up their orders as a donation to a charity that fights hunger, Grub Hub is elevating its brand and doing good while increasing sales. The result is a win-win for both organizations, as each is spending money and energy raising awareness for the other company.
Go the Extra Mile with Direct Mail
Direct mail gets a bad rap in the digital age but still has merit for the right audience. Millennials especially respond to personalized mail that meets a need or delights. When thinking about how to use mail to your advantage, it’s crucial to investigate different printing processes and finishes that set you apart from the stereotypical piece of junk mail a customer thinks of when they think about marketing. This sort of perspective can help you to create something that is truly unique and effective.
