Marketing ultimately comes down to visibility. It doesn’t matter how compelling your products are. If customers don’t know about your business, it may as well not exist. Traditional methods of advertising like media placements in the local paper and radio can certainly work. But relying solely on these channels means missing out on other valuable opportunities to reach new customers.
Experimenting with different ideas to market your products or services is key to avoid becoming another statistic of a failed business. Otherwise, you may be left with no choice but to close shop for good. Here we’ll look at some innovative marketing ideas to grow your business.
Share Your Expertise With a Blog
More consumers are shifting their attention online than ever before. It’s becoming increasingly clear that businesses must develop a strong web presence to remain competitive. Having an optimised site is a great starting point but that alone isn’t enough to attract and engage prospects.
So how can you reach more of your target audience online? The answer is with blogging. Getting started is rather straightforward – Research keywords your audience is searching for and publish in-depth content that’s optimised around that phrase. Publishing on a consistent basis helps drive new traffic to your site which in turn establishes your brand as an authority.
Blogging may not exactly sound like an earth-shattering idea but it’s a marketing channel that’s been proven time and again. HubSpot found that B2C companies that blogged frequently generated four times more leads than companies that only blogged occasionally.
Leverage Multiple Marketing Channels
Most companies publish a blog post and call it a day. But that’s a waste of a perfect opportunity as consumers today consume media in different formats. Leveraging multiple marketing channels is another proven way to drive more traffic to your landing pages.
You can easily turn a blog post into:
- Videos
- Infographics
- Podcasts
- Email newsletters
- Social media snippets
- White papers
- Guest post ideas
Let’s say you have a business that offers salon software and you publish a blog post that provides a beginner’s guide on how to get started. You can just as easily use that same content for your next newsletter or even create a video and publish it on YouTube. There’s no rule stating that content from a blog post is limited to that format. So get creative and turn that blog post into different formats.
Experiment With Live Streams
Live streaming may seem like a novelty but it can be a powerful marketing tool. A good example comes from BuzzFeed. It started off with a simple question: How many rubber bands does it take to explode a watermelon? Instead of sitting around, the company set off to find out and streamed a video of it. The video quickly went viral on Facebook Live and generated over 11 million views.
Another example comes from BMW which created a campaign on Pericope to unveil the new M2. The campaign was a massive success and generated over 16 million total impressions. Viewers were even treated to a chance to win a day on the track.
These are just two examples that illustrate how effective live streaming can be. And as seen from the BuzzFeed example, you don’t need a large budget either. Here are some ideas to help you get started:
- Share a quick tutorial
- Review a product
- Host an interview
- Give a company tour
- Cover an industry event
- Hold an AMA (ask me anything) session
- Do a live product demonstration
Live streaming can be an invaluable part of your growth strategy when done right. Experiment with different ideas to find what resonates best with your audience.
Few businesses make it after a few years so effective marketing is the key to surviving. It’s a rather basic principle but it can mean the difference between barely meeting overhead costs and consistently generating profits. Implement some of the ideas here to market and grow your business.
