Marketing Strategies: 29 Strategies Proven 100% Successful
Designing appropriate marketing strategies is a difficult challenge for all projects and small businesses, and the increasing number of marketing channels available today makes it more difficult to find the best marketing methods suitable for your products. So what are the best marketing strategies for projects and small businesses? What are the best ways to market your brand? How do you urge your customers to communicate with you or buy your products?
Should you use newspaper ads and coupons? A consumer searching the Internet for the best price on business card printing will never see your ad in the local newspaper, and a woman who receives an 11:15 a.m. text message from the nearby sandwich shop containing today’s lunch specials will never see the lunch deal coupons your restaurant mails out. A housewife who wants to buy a dishwasher may first search online classified ads. And a lady who doesn’t have a Facebook account won’t see your ad offering a free sample of hand lotion on Facebook. Other examples that highlight the multiplicity of marketing channels and the overlapping of market segments.
Marketing strategies
So what is the best marketing strategy you can use?
There is no single marketing idea that will drive all customers to your doorstep or your online store page. Whether you sell products or services, you must use a mix of appropriate marketing strategies to attract and retain customers.
29 Successful Marketing Strategies
The list below presents a variety of marketing strategies, some very basic, but important strategies that businesses often forget or ignore.
If you have been in business for a long time, and you have not changed your marketing methods all these years, you should pay special attention to your internet and digital marketing strategies. Whichever way your existing customers find you, customers turn to websites to gather information about their needs, and to research service providers before choosing the right service provider for them. Hence, you must help them find your products/services while they are doing this.
Here are 29 essential marketing strategies that have been proven to work:
1. What are your marketing goals?
Before you choose the right marketing strategies for your business, you must define your goals. Do you need to build awareness of your brand? To be seen as an expert in the field? Are you adding a new service or product to what you already sell? Do you want to increase your sales during lunch or dinner? Do you want to increase your order volume (eg sell 10 units at once instead of 1 unit)?
Achieving different goals requires different strategies. For example, if you were the owner of the aforementioned bakery, and you wanted to increase the percentage of customers and purchases during the lunch period, consider using a text messaging strategy. But if you want to go into the catering business, or sell wholesale baked goods to nearby restaurants and stores, you’ll need a different strategy.
2. What distinguishes your products or services from others?
If you want to attract new customers, you must differentiate yourself from the competition in a physical or formal way. This is called your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), and it’s an important part of your overall marketing strategy. Lower cost, higher quality, hours of operation during the day or evening, years of experience and speed of service are all potential differences you can make to attract customers. When choosing a USP, start by reading reviews of products and services that are similar to your own, and study the comments written by the reviewers and note the important points in them. Next, make a list of the characteristics and benefits of what you sell, and then make another list outlining the things your customers care about or that make them happy. Summarize your observations in a sentence that tells people why they should choose your company over your competitors.
3. What is your target market?
Build your ideal customer persona model. What kind of people are constantly buying that service? Why do they need this service? What is their job? If you offer a consumer product, where do your customers live? how old are they How much did they earn? What other factors make them potential customers? Where are they most likely to search for or hear about the service? Who will they ask for a recommendation or referral?
After you answer these questions, ask yourself another question: “Where should I contact others to build new relationships or what should I do to get my name out there among potential clients or referrals?” Make your decisions based on your answers to these questions.
4. What is the best time, place, and format to reach your target market?
After you have identified your target market, ask yourself where and when consumers will want to learn about and/or purchase your product. If you don’t know, ask potential customers how they discovered and chose your type of product or service. Their answers will help you determine the amount of time and effort required for social media marketing, relationship building, receiving referrals, content marketing, and other tactics to increase your sales. Make your decisions based on your answers to these questions.
5. What products does the customer want to buy?
Customers may not necessarily want to buy what you sell, or they may not want the service you provide, but rather a solution to a problem or a benefit that your service provides. Think about it, plumber clients aren’t really interested in plumbing, they just want to fix a pipe that’s leaking, and web developer clients don’t want a database or design, they want a site that makes them look good in search engines, and helps them get new clients. If you need help figuring out what your customers are really buying, ask them. You will achieve better marketing results if you focus on the solutions and features that customers want to buy rather than the product you want to sell.
6. Make yourself a trusted source for existing and potential clients.
People like to buy from people they know and trust, and they don’t like having anything “sold” to them. Be a trusted resource to your potential customers by providing information that will help them make good choices.
7. Make yourself a media resource.
Journalists are always looking for reliable sources in positions of authority to quote from. Connect with local media and online and offline groups, and sign up for HARO to receive inquiries from media looking for people to interview and publish their stories.
8. Create professional social media accounts.
You and your business must have a strong presence on the important social media sites your customers use. This includes: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google Plus, Pinterest, and Instagram. Make sure each of your accounts is professional and includes a link to your business website. If you meet a potential client and lose your business card, he may type your name into the search engine to try to find you, so having an account on major social networking sites will make it easier for him to find your link.
9. Reserve your place in “Google Business” and the “Bing Places for Business” portal.
Google Business and Bing Places listings for businesses aren’t just for fast food and retail stores. You can search for any type of service according to its geographical location, and Google will show you a list of companies matching the service you searched for in the location you specified. If you live in a big city, there is no guarantee that your business account will appear in the lists on the first page, but having an account gives you an additional advantage in any case.
10. Participate in discussion groups on social networking sites.
Participating in social media discussions that attract your customers can be beneficial if your goal is to gain exposure, gain credibility, or be seen as an expert in your field. This will also help you understand your customer more. Find discussion groups for specific topics or a specific geographic area, this will depend on your type of service or product. Set aside a few minutes a day to read the conversations, and pay attention to people’s questions and complaints about
The type of merchandise you sell. This will give you a deeper understanding of what people want (instead of focusing on the features or products you want to sell). Pay attention to group dynamics, and gradually start posting informative comments, or post useful resources. If you don’t have time for this, hire a freelancer or employee to help you monitor the conversations you want to participate in.
11. Develop a content marketing strategy where necessary.
Among the modern marketing strategies, there is a content marketing strategy if your product or service is the type that a customer searches for before purchasing it, or if viewing you as an expert in your industry is important to achieving your marketing goals.
Writing articles related to the service you provide is one important tactic you can use. You’ll need content that answers customer questions at every stage of the buying cycle. Publish some articles on your site, and distribute others on other sites so that you can reach your target audience. Be sure to add a link to your site in the sources box containing the author’s bio. Other tactics associated with implementing a content marketing strategy include using white papers and other freebies to attract potential customers, and creating and publishing infographics.
12. Print flyers or brochures.
It is true that we live in the digital age, but print marketing is still important. Print flyers, brochures, or other advertising literature and distribute them to private membership groups to which you are subscribed, if permitted. You can get free templates from HP and Microsoft and use them to create your own. Print a small amount of flyers yourself using a color printer. (Make sure to use good quality paper – something thicker than regular copy paper.) If you need 100 copies or more, compare the cost of printing them in a designated location with the cost of printing them yourself. Make sure you allocate enough time to receive the printouts.
13. Volunteer to speak at local business groups.
If your marketing goal is to become famous and to be seen as an expert, speaking at local business events and others may be beneficial to you. Business groups need interesting speakers to attract members to meetings. Your speech should revolve around a topic in which you have expert knowledge. It should also focus on the audience’s informational needs and the problems they want to solve.
14. Make presentations to speak at industry conferences.
Local, regional, and national collegiate conferences need speakers, too. If you are an expert in your field, make offers to speak at these events. If you don’t have much speaking experience at such conferences, try joining a guest group rather than giving an individual speech. Be sure to promote your participation in the group before the event, and include a link to any videos or other promotions posted by the conference coordinator after the event.
15. Ask for referrals and recommendations.
Always find a way to get clients and acquaintances to recommend your business to their friends. These recommendations bring ready-to-buy customers to your doorstep, customers who already trust you (because of the recommendation), and thus it is easier to convince them to buy from you. Some recommendations and referrals happen spontaneously, but you can increase referrals by requesting them in advance.
16. Refer some work to other businesses in your networks.
Giving referrals is just as important a tool in building relationships as receiving referrals. People recommend people they like, and people in business usually like people who refer them some work.
17. Partner with another business to market your business.
Set up deals with another business that reaches the same customer base as you but sells a different product. Subscribe to mailings, give out discount coupons and refer business to each other.
18. Tweet about other people’s articles and posts, including tags and links.
You can provide interesting content and build your credibility by helping your social media followers find good content that other people have posted. This is a great way to make friends on social media, expand your network, get your name and niche known, and provide quality material to your followers.
19. Build a mailing list and send out marketing content regularly.
Your mailing list should consist of people who have requested to be on it. (Having a newsletter sign-up box on your site is a good way to get people to “request” to be on your mailing list.)
20. Build proactive relationships.
Don’t just join groups to build relationships, go to some regularly. Choose the groups that are most likely to attract your target type of customers, and try out one or two lead groups as well. Referrals are the best source of work for most microservices businesses, and the more you participate in groups, the more likely you are to be remembered when a group member requests a referral.
21. Use postcard mailing lists.
Sending postcards is an excellent way to maintain your relationship with potential and existing clients. Someone who doesn’t have time to talk to you today may need your services (or knows someone who needs your services) a month or 6 from now. Make sure you remind them of yourself with regular messages.
22. Ask for referrals.
In addition to asking existing clients if they know anyone else who uses your services, think about other professionals who could refer you and vice versa. If you’re an electrician, talk to builders, local contractors, plumbers, tilers, and tilers. If you are a graphic designer, talk to web designers and advertising agencies about referring you.
23. Unplanned phone calls to potential clients.
Cold calls are tough and you need to be able to handle rejection if you’re going to use this tactic, but it does work. If you’re dreading trying it, read this article on making messed up calls easier.
24. Walk around residential neighborhoods.
If you provide services to homeowners, knock on doors and talk to your customers’ neighbors. Distribute flyers and advertisements that are hung on the doors. Neighbors are curious about the renovations or work their neighbors are doing, and you may generate additional sales as a result.
25. Don’t dismiss people who ask questions.
It’s hard to set boundaries with people who keep asking questions without any indication that they want to buy, but these questions are sometimes used as much to assess you and your business as they are to gather information.
26. Create a website and promote it.
That some businesses don’t have websites is surprising to me. I was at a meeting at the Chamber of Commerce a few months ago, and I met a guy who said he was a copywriter. I asked him for a business card, his card didn’t have a website address, so I asked him for his website link, and the surprise is that the person who tried to convince me that he can write advertising content for the web, doesn’t have a website.
No matter how much relationships you build in person, or how much marketing you do on social networks, you’ll still need a website. Your potential clients will want to see samples of your work, get more information about you, find out if you’re a consultant or some other kind of expert, and they’ll want to read things you’ve written about your area of expertise. You can control what others see on your site, but you can’t control the ads that appear alongside your social media posts or the rules that govern them.
If you can’t afford a web developer, build a simple website using free or low-cost hosting and web design tools like Weebly or GoDaddy. After you launch your site, be sure to place its link in all your business publications, on your business card, in association member directories, and in as many places as possible.
27. Make sure your site is up and running.
Another surprising thing is the number of small businesses that join local business networking groups without having a functioning website listed in the group membership directory. This is usually caused by a misspelling of the site’s domain name when the directory was published. But other times, the business doesn’t renew the domain name subscription, or doesn’t finish setting up the site. Don’t let this happen to you. Make sure you register the domain name yourself (rather than letting your web developer do it), and make sure your credit card information is up to date with the domain owner. Review your name in the association’s guide after publishing it to make sure there are no spelling errors or links that don’t work. Check each page of your site to make sure there are no links to blank or “under construction” pages.
28. Get creative.
Sometimes you need to think outside the box in order to come up with the best possible marketing strategies for your business. Think about the possibility of expanding your business by marketing to a different demographic or a different industry. Maybe you need a new look or promote from a new angle. Read these creative suggestions to find a suitable strategy.
29. Never stop marketing.
You may feel it makes sense to cut back on marketing and relationship building once work starts pouring in regularly, but that’s a huge mistake. You must continue marketing to maintain a regular flow of work.
Conclusion
It takes a lot of time and effort to develop a successful marketing strategy that resonates with your target audience. As a strategic marketer, you should always search and renew effective marketing methods and strive to gain a competitive advantage that keeps you in the market. We advise you to review the marketing strategies we shared with you above, and try out what works for your business.