Marketing and advertising can easily become tethered to one method without thought on how many options you really have. There are so many ways to market that you can easily find what works for you and create your own special cocktail in your marketing plan. Let’s take a look at a few options you have that you may not have considered.
Promotional Items
Ever see people wearing t-shirts from a far-off city? Or those pens that have a business name and address? Promotional items are a fantastic advertising tool that doesn’t make a lot of top ten lists anymore. With t-shirt blanks combined with your logo and/or tagline, you can embed into the brains of everyone who sees them your own brand recognition.
Think about your local minor league baseball team. They have companies who buy advertising space along the outfield wall, restaurants that offer free sandwiches if certain scores are obtained in a game, and companies sponsoring jersey night with their company logo included on the jersey. All of those things stay on people’s minds as they go about their daily routine and have a significant impact on your business.
Social Media is a Must
For the best in low budget marketing, social media should be top on your list. It costs very little in comparison to other strategies and has a huge impact. A Facebook Live Q&A with the CEO, product launch announcements on the blog, and contests for free product or service on Instagram reaches a wide market and nurtures relationships with your target market.
Everyone talks about their experiences with companies online. It may be reviews or comments left on a post. The world sees that interaction and if you handle it well, you gain favor in people who may be considering your product/service or someone who will now consider it. All it will take you is a little bit of time each day and if you don’t have the time, you can hire someone who can take that on.
Radio Ads Aren’t a Bad Idea
If you think radio ads are a waste of time, think again. Although we don’t digest the radio in the same way we did before television came along, we still listen to the radio. The biggest radio use is during commuting hours to take our minds off the stressful traffic we are stuck in. Radio tends to keep us actively listening, rather than having passive noise in the background. That means that we retain more when we hear it on the radio than any other time.
Think about it, you’re sitting in traffic and you might be thinking about what you really want to do over the weekend to de-stress. An ad for a local arts festival comes on and that is now in the forefront of your mind. You have a higher likelihood of going because you heard about it then had you seen an ad in the local paper.
Create a Sense of Loyalty
Brand loyalty is a really good thing to have! Not only do you want new customers to come along, you want to keep the ones who have been coming along. Loyalty rewards are a great way to keep people coming back time and time again, especially combined with great service. Grocery stores have certainly seen how well the rewards programs work in their favor. Maybe you are obtaining gas points to save on rising gas prices, spending just enough to earn a free turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, or taking advantage of special sales for rewards cards holders. People love getting discounts and freebies and rewards programs fill those people with satisfaction for obtaining those discounts and freebies.
Marketing will always be a major part of our society. It changes as we change. What works well for you today may not work so well in ten years. Then again some things, like printed t-shirts, never change in terms of their effectiveness. The key to a successful marketing program is the ability to go with the flow and make it work for you!
What do you think is the most effective way to market today?
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