So if you’ve been working hard on improving your marketing impacts and growing your brand on the market, you might have missed some of the most obvious marketing tips and tricks. Of course, you’re thinking about content strategy, PPC, and even magazine advertising.
But what else could you do to get the competitive edge and boost your business growth? Don’t consider that good marketing is too expensive for small companies.
Good marketing is as good as the time and energy you invest in it, not the budget! So here’s a list of 7 basic marketing strategies that can make all the difference between growth and stagnation.
#1. What’s your business’s mission?
Most companies design marketing activities without even worrying about creating an overarching marketing strategy. In fact, over 70% of businesses don’t even have a clue what their marketing strategy is. They simply have booked weekly hours for SEO, PPC, social media and content curation activities. But they’ve missed something essential: They have no strategic plan that combines all activities under one roof to serve one specific mission. If you’ve never written a marketing plan, have a look at the theprauthority.com’s marketing strategy template which gives a good breakdown of tasks. While most companies consider only the commercial goals, a strategy will help you to assess your current situation position your business effectively into the market.
Start your plan with a PEST analysis
#2. Forget SEO, think helping the user instead
SEO is the ability to make your website rank at the top of search engines’ results. However, Google has updated its search algorithm to punish certain practices such as keyword stuffing and poor content. In fact, the latest update, Fred Update in March, has seen many blogs drop their ranking as a result. Don’t learn the latest SEO guidelines from Google, instead write place the users at your core of your content. As Google’s mission is to make the users’ lives easier, you can expect positive results if you work towards this mission.
#3. Hangouts with the cool kids
Follow the examples of brands such as Manchester United Football Club and Diane von Furstenberg: hangout with your audience! Google Hangouts enable you to create streaming video events and to invite a chosen few to interact in live. The result? A boost in brand awareness and customers’ loyalty!
#4. Ditch the boring article format
If you’re still writing new blog articles every week, it’s time to change the format and bring something new and exciting to your readers. People get bored of the same old same old, so surprise them with something new with getcodeless.com’s ideas. The advantage of varying formats is that you can repurpose existing content in a new format. That means less research for better results! What’s not to love about this creative content strategy? Also, make sure you’re incorporating modern and stylish website design from Zyro to attract and keep the audience.
#5. Become the local brand
Brands are more than just a website. They have a physical presence that they should utilize to raise their awareness and reputation. Instead, you could become a brand that helps the local community. Nothing sounds like good PR as much as changing someone’s life for the better! For example, Unilever’s Surf Excel works intensively with underprivileged children to help them get the education they need to build a better life for themselves. Supporting a good cause is the surest way to become the brand of the people. In fact, 54% Millennials say they would be more loyal to a brand that is involved in a good cause.
#6. Have something to say? Podcast it
Creating content can be tenuous. What if you could simply have a chat with your colleagues or partners about the latest industry trends and share it with your customers? Podcasting lets you do just that. More importantly, you can share your podcast on iTunes to reach a wide audience. One thing to remember, though: Podcasts, while they are a form of content, tend to be perceived as a reputation builder instead. So go out there and use your expertise to represent your brand.
#7. Invite your best contacts
Leads are great, but sometimes they never turn into customers. So how about you could give your leads a boost of confidence in your own brand? Open days are exactly made for that, whether you choose to invite partners, commercial leads, or graduates. Open days allow you to share your business values and your mission with others. While normally business values are nothing but a placeholder on a website, giving your contacts the possibility to experience and breathe your values helps you to build a positive brand perception.
Forget the usual marketing activities for these forgotten basics. From defining your business mission to organizing open days in your offices, your marketing success can hide in the least expected places!
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