With the development of technology, there are new possibilities appearing every day in every aspect of our lives, and marketing is not an exception, which is not an entirely good or bad thing. Of course, it offers entrepreneurs the whole range of promoting opportunities, but it also makes gaining new clients a bit more complicated. Having a good business and simply advertising may not be enough anymore, especially in a world when basically everyone can become a business owner. So it is crucial to somehow distinguish your marketing strategy from the one of the others. In order to do so efficiently, you have to consider your local market, target customers or your industry, but there are some ideas that might help get you started. So how can you promote your business in a non-traditional way?
Google Adwords
While reading about something as specific as how to generate roofing leads, you’re going to find out that you actually can apply this to generating any kind of leads for yourself. It is important to remember that it’s (almost) all about keywords – right kind of keywords as they can’t be too broad. The same with your ad – you have only 80 characters so it’s better not to be too general – and your website – the less, the better. Also, keep in mind to set your location to the one you actually operate in.
Go beyond Google
Google may be the dominant search engine, but it’s not the only one. When most of the companies focus on promoting themselves there, maybe it’s worth a try to give it a go someplace less busy. Bing and Yahoo are not as crowded with ads like Google, but they still have their users. Why shouldn’t they be targeted as potential customers? There are two ways in order to do so: the free way (using keywords on your website) or the paid way (Bing Ads campaign, something very similar to Google Adwords).
Make friends with social media
Everybody knows how important it is to have a transparent, good-looking website or updated Facebook profile, but it’s not so obvious that in today’s world, especially when we want to reach out to younger people, we should do more. Daily or weekly updates spark interest, especially when, apart from promoting your product or services, you post beautiful photos and write something interesting (for example, if you have an Italian restaurant, post tasty looking pictures of your food with short interesting facts from the history of cooking or Italy). Also, think about doing some regular things via Facebook Live or on your Instagram Story – this will help you build your brand’s image and a relationship with your potential customers. People like what they know, because they think they can trust it.
- Create an app
Many non-IT-related companies don’t have their developers but you can always outsource this kind of work. This may sound excessive, but it really isn’t. It’s not only an easy way for people to get to know you at their own pace without any impression that something is being sold to them all the time but it’s also a great way to keep customers updated and loyal to you. The content of the app would depend on what you do but it would be great to diversify it with some posts, contests or maybe newsletters for the members.
- Reach out to bloggers/influencers
You don’t have to call Lady Gaga. You don’t have to be Nike or Gucci. If your business is local, act locally. Just remember about the image – if you’re selling hats, try reaching out to bloggers who write about fashion. Sometimes you will have to pay someone to work with them, next time you’ll just need to send them samples of your products with a kind request. Either way, it’s one of the best methods for spreading the word. You will get noticed because that’s what followers do – they follow.
- Think outside the box
As long as you’re not making it creepy or disturbing, people like weird. They remember weird. A couple of years ago there was a blender company who gained thousands of customers with their videos in which they were testing their products while blending all kinds of things – from rocks to phones. Even when someone was not looking for a blender at the moment, they would share the videos simply because they were funny. And when the moment came when somebody actually was looking for a blender – they remembered the name of the company.
- Be creative
It’s getting harder and harder to stand out when it comes to your marketing strategy, but it’s not impossible. It doesn’t matter if you own a small restaurant, e-commerce or couple of stores – you have to think about how your business is different from the others and how you could use it to gain customers. Make friends with technology and engage. Don’t be left behind.