One of the most common marketing mistakes is choosing a marketing opportunity based on its popularity, assuming that what works for other businesses is the best option for you. Yet, oftentimes, it’s the uncontested or non-traditional opportunities that have the greatest potential to help you stand out from the crowd and catch people’s attention in a new or unexpected way.
So, the goal of this blog is to broaden our horizons by considering 33 proven marketing tips that can help you get more customers or attract more clients. I will also share with you a powerful method to help you better select which strategy is best for your specific business.
Let’s explore 33 proven marketing tips that you can use to get more customers or attract more clients. And closer to the end of the blog, we’ll address how to select the best marketing opportunity for your specific business.
Now, this list is organized into three categories.
- Organic strategies,
- Paid strategies
- Social strategies.
Organic Strategies
These options are probably best known for the fact that they are free in that, unlike paid advertising, they don’t require money upfront to get started. But what they do require is a willingness to invest a considerable amount of time and effort, with no guarantee of success. Now, what we love most about organic strategies is that once you build momentum and get them working, they tend to pay off in a really big way.
Oftentimes, you deliver a steady and reliable stream of new customers to your business for years or even decades to come, in some cases with very little need for ongoing time and effort to maintain these different marketing options. Now, we’re going to go through this list quite quickly, but if you’re interested in any of these options being covered in more detail, post a comment to let us know, and we’ll consider creating a follow-up blog for some of the more popular options.
1. Content marketing.
This involves creating high-quality content that people want to consume and then leveraging that content to raise awareness about your products, services, or business brand. Now, typical examples of the kinds of formats you might consider Examples of this kind of content include videos, articles, case studies, how-to guides, podcasts, or even infographics.
2. Search engine optimization, or SEO.
This is all about getting your website to rank very well in search engines like Google or Bing for keywords or keyword phrases that relate to your business. For example, if you happen to offer piano lessons in Townsville, Australia, of course it’s very valuable to have your website rank very highly in the search engines. When someone conducts a search for something like piano lessons in Townsville,.
3. Media coverage.
This involves getting free publicity by working with media outlets such as traditional news media or even industry publications. Now, the key to success in this area is understanding what makes for a great story and then crafting a narrative that is likely to resonate with people so that media outlets are interested in sharing it with their audience.
4. Content partnerships.
The idea here is to team up with other businesses or other brands to increase the overall exposure of your message. So, for example, you can write guest posts for another blog. You can participate as a guest on other podcasts or even trade audiences by co-creating or co-publishing content together.
5. Existing Platforms.
A great way to spread the word about your product or service is to capitalize on the momentum of existing platforms such as Amazon, YouTube, Medium, or even the Apple App Store. These kinds of platforms tend to have large, established audiences that you can reach through some of their built-in features, such as a search engine, a recommendation algorithm, or other social sharing tools.
6. Book publishing.
This is a form of content marketing, but it’s one that’s so distinct that it really does deserve to be treated as its own category. And that is in part due to the fact that a book is not just content; it is in and of itself a product. And as a result, it can be marketed to prospects, gifted to potential customers, or even serve as a bonus for your primary product.
7. Tools and widgets.
The idea here is to create free online tools that help people solve simple problems. For example, HubSpot, the very popular inbound marketing platform, offers tools such as their blog idea generator website, SSL checker, and email signature generator. These are completely free tools, but they help to attract visitors to the HubSpot website.
8. Freemium Model.
This is a very popular approach in the tech space, where businesses like Dropbox, Slack, Figma, and many others offer a completely free tier to their core service so that they can attract a huge number of users to their platform. And in doing so, they often become the most popular brand in their product category. The key to making this strategy work is to ensure that the free tier fully showcases the core value of the product or service, while at the same time making sure that you’re offering a compelling reason for power users to consider a premium paid tier.
So, for example, when it comes to Dropbox, the core functionality of sharing files through cloud storage is completely free. But if you want increased file storage to better make use of that core functional tie, that is where they charge. Now, when it comes to offline businesses, we think the offline alternative to this approach is to offer free samples. And this, of course, is very popular and common when it comes to consumable products.
9. Tripwire offers.
The idea here is to make an exceptionally compelling offer at an unusually low price, something that is so attractive that it converts people who wouldn’t normally consider buying your primary product. This approach leads to two great outcomes. First, it creates an opportunity for you to upsell your primary product on the back end. And number two, it creates an important psychological shift in the minds of the customers who take advantage of your tripwire offer, because now they no longer think of your business and some brand that they’ve never dealt with. They’ve now purchased from you, which means they have an increased level of trust in you.
And as a result of this one interaction or this one transaction, they now think of your brand differently and are far more likely to buy from you again in the future.
10. Community Building.
This is a powerful way to connect with industry leaders and highly engaged prospects. And, of course, there are many ways to do this. You can create an online discussion forum. You can start a Slack channel, invite people to a Facebook group, or host in-person events. There are all kinds of ways that you can bring people together, and once you do, you can then facilitate interesting conversations, answer member questions, and establish yourself as an industry expert. And of course, this kind of approach creates all kinds of possibilities for creating relationships or making connections with potential customers or clients.
11. Email Marketing
A list of loyal email subscribers is one of the most valuable assets that you can build for your business because it creates the opportunity for you to immediately direct attention to new products or new services, or, for example, content that you’ve recently published or even just offers for existing products and services.
Now, of course, there are other ways to stay in touch with customers, including things like social media, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. There are all kinds of ways to reach an existing audience. But to this day, email marketing is still the most direct way to stay in touch with prospects and customers alike. Now, the one challenge here, of course, is that it does take time to build a loyal following of email subscribers.
And there’s a lot of effort involved in creating great content for these subscribers so that they’re eager to check out your latest email, and they continue to open it and click on various links and things like that. So it’s not easy, but it’s one of the most valuable things that you can do for your business.
12. Lead Magnets.
This tends to go hand in hand with email marketing because it involves creating something valuable and then offering it to people to attract new subscribers. To your email list. So, for example, you might create a PDF report, a how-to guide, or a short video tutorial and offer that to people for free in exchange for their email address. The key to making this strategy work is understanding your audience and creating something that offers immediate and practical value to them. That way, not only are you attracting people to your email list, but you’re also creating a very strong first impression with them.
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Paid strategies.
These options require money upfront, but they tend to create results much faster, and typically, they’re much easier to track when it comes to return on investment. Now, once again, we are going to be going through this list quite quickly. So if you’re interested in a follow-up blog covering any of the options in more detail, post a comment down below to let us know.
13. Search advertising.
The idea here is simple. You place ads on search engines like Google to get in front of people who are already searching for keywords that relate to your business. Now, Google ads are easily the most popular option, but you can also advertise on search engines like Bing, YouTube, or even platforms like Amazon.
14. Social advertising.
This involves buying ads on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, or even Twitter. Typically, these ads are seen in the newsfeed, but depending on the social network, you can advertise in other places as well. The great advantage of this method is that even if people aren’t actively searching Google for keywords that relate to your business, you can target them on social media platforms based on demographic data such as age, gender, and location or personal interests.
15. Content advertising.
This involves reaching out to content creators to place ads on their articles, videos, or perhaps podcasts. Now, in some cases, you can reach out to larger ad networks and have your ads placed across multiple creators at the same time. But of course, the key behind this strategy is finding content creators that are relevant when it comes to reaching your target audience.
16. Offline advertising.
This involves making use of traditional options like print ads, billboards, television ads, magazine ads, and even radio ads. Now, the one issue with these options is that they tend to be harder to track because, of course, you can’t track the number of people that click on a billboard. But what you can do is use this for brand marketing. And this is really geared towards simply keeping your brand in the minds of your prospects for when they might be interested in buying. Now, of course, when it comes to direct marketing, it’s much more effective to use online advertising options so that you can track the entire process.
17. Influencer campaigns.
This strategy involves identifying influencers that hold sway over your target audience and then paying them to promote or endorse your product or service. And this is a really powerful way to build credibility because you’re effectively leveraging the reputation that they have with their audience and using it to enhance the reputation of your brand.
18. Celebrity collaborations.
This is different from an influencer campaign because it involves bringing in a celebrity or an influencer into the process much earlier. And rather than just paying them to endorse or promote a product, they’re actually part of the product’s development process. And oftentimes, it can even be built around their brand, rather than paying them a one-time fee to promote the product. This often involves offering them a royalty or even a stake in the venture.
19. promoted content.
This is a great strategy to use in combination with content marketing because, rather than just waiting for people to discover your content on their own, you can actually pay services like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and others to promote your content directly to a larger audience. And in doing so, that content can build momentum much faster than it might on its own. And as a result, more people will see it, more people can share it, and a larger, larger number of people will discover that content, which, of course, helps you build leverage to promote your products and services.
20. Audience Retargeting.
The idea here is to track when people visit specific pages on your website and then display ads to those people across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and the Google Display Ad Network. And in doing so, you have the opportunity to bring people back to your website who might not actually return on their own. If you’ve ever visited a product page on Amazon only to suddenly start seeing ads for that product across the web, then you have experienced audience retargeting. Now, it’s also worth noting that this isn’t limited to product pages. For example, you might run a blog on your website with some content that has high commercial intent.
In other words, you have content that specifically relates to things such as purchasing your products or discovering if your products are right for people. And as a result, you might determine that if someone visits that kind of article, they’re likely to buy, so you can track that behavior and start displaying ads for the relevant products and services to that audience.
21. Affiliate Marketing.
This involves offering some kind of incentive to existing customers or two independent businesses to promote your products or services. Now, typically, this involves paying some kind of commission for every sale that they generate. But this can also involve paying for leads, paying for email signups, or even paying for free trial registrations. You can work with a major affiliate network like ClickBank or Share A Sale, or alternatively, you can work directly with your own affiliates by creating a custom program.
Social Strategies.
As the name implies, these strategies are built around social connections. And what we love most about these strategies is that they tend to scale well with the growth of the business. So while other strategies often hit a plateau or a point of diminishing returns, These strategies tend to continue to grow as your business grows, as you get more customers, and as you reach a larger audience. These are the kinds of strategies you can leverage to take advantage of that growth and continue to reach new customers.
22. Mouth Referral.
This is easily one of the most important marketing strategies for most businesses. It involves taking on your existing customers. People who already buy from you already like your products; they already trust you. And leveraging the relationship that they have with other potential customers to promote your products and services in a way that is more effective. And you could promote your own stuff directly to that audience. Now, when it comes to word-of-mouth referral, many people tend to think of this as something that either happens organically or doesn’t happen at all.
But the more you dive into the subject, the more you’ll discover that there are all kinds of strategies and tactics that you can use to not only make it more likely that people will think to promote your product or your service to other people, but also so that they will do so more effectively.
23. Joint Ventures.
This involves identifying other noncompetitive businesses that serve your ideal customer and then looking for opportunities to work with that business to promote your own products and services. Now, typically, this process starts by asking questions like,
- What other products or services do my customers buy?
- Who do they buy them from?
- Can we partner with that business?
You can opt for a formal arrangement where you’re offering some kind of finder’s fee, or you can come up with more creative options, such as offering that business the opportunity to give their customers free gift cards, product samples, or other things like that that not only create value for that business and their customers but also at the same time end up promoting your business and your products.
24. Brand merchandise.
Having customers wear or display your brand name in public is a powerful way to attract the attention of other potential customers. And not only is this a way to simply get your logo out there, but there’s a certain element of social
proof that comes along with this. Because when a friend or family member sees that you’re wearing a brand logo, they understand that you must trust that brand and that you consider that brand to be credible. And as a result, they’re more likely to trust it and they’re more likely to be interested in that brand’s products and services as well.
25. public speaking.
This is a great way to reach a large audience and build a deeper sense of trust with that audience. And that’s because great speakers have the ability to create a sense of connection with their audience in a way that a sales page or a sales video simply cannot. And of course, if you record that talk or that presentation and publish it on a platform like YouTube,you can reach an even larger audience,especially if the talk took place at a prestigious event such as a TED Talk.
26. Hosting Events.
The idea here is to host anything from a small gathering to a huge conference. You can start with a small, informal local meetup group and eventually work your way up to hosting multiple speakers and putting on a major production. This approach allows you to strengthen your brand, position yourself as a leader in this space, and create valuable, long-term relationships with potential customers.
27. Viral Content.
The idea here is to create highly shareable articles, videos, social posts,or other content that is specifically engineered to spread socially. So. Whereas, traditional content marketing typically involves creating content that is more or less timeless and is typically discovered through keyword searches or perhaps through subscribing to a blog or to a specific creator. Viral content is engineered to spread socially through things like social networks or, in some cases,through instant messaging services.
28. Live streaming.
This is another great way to make a deeper connection with an audience by speaking live to them. In this case, over the Internet, this is something that has grown in popularity as mainstream services like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube have incorporated this functionality into their platforms and made it easier than ever. And unlike public speaking, Using this approach allows you to reach a global audience in real time. And of course, you still have the option of recording your talk or your presentation to allow other people to view it later on an on-demand basis.
29. Referral Programs.
The idea here is to reward existing customers who recommend your product or service to other potential customers. Now, the key difference between a referral program and an affiliate program is that referral programs focus exclusively on your existing customers rather than offering them a monetary reward. Typically, you want to reward them with something that relates back to your core product. So, for example, when it comes to Dropbox,when someone recommends Dropbox to a new user, they’re rewarded with increased file storage. So the key idea here is to think about your product. Think about why people value your product and find some way to reward them. That relates back to what it was that they purchased from you.
30. Platform Integrations.
When two or more products integrate with each other, it is much more likely that people who use one product will consider using the other. So, for example, if you run an online SAS platform and you integrate your service with Dropbox, Zapier, or Slack, people who already use those services are more likely to discover and consider using your particular service.
Now, there are many different ways that you can apply this concept, including physical products, for example. TV manufacturers often work with Netflix to add a Netflix button to their TV remotes. So if you’re already a Netflix subscriber and you see a TV package that shows the Netflix button on the remote, you’re more likely to consider buying that TV. And likewise, once you buy that TV, if you weren’t already a Netflix subscriber, you’re more likely to consider the service.
31. Crowdfunding Platforms
such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo make it really easy to raise money for a new product or service that you’re planning to build. But even beyond this, using these services is a very powerful way to evaluate a business opportunity, generate initial interest, collect money upfront, and motivate early customers to help spread the word. So for all these reasons, smarter entrepreneurs often turn to crowdfunding platforms, even when they don’t actually need to raise money, because it’s a very powerful way to attract attention to a new project and increase the likelihood of social sharing.
32. Storytelling.
People love to hear unique stories, and they love to share unique stories. The idea here is to craft compelling stories that relate back to your product or your brand. These can be customer success stories, brand founding stories, or a behind-the-scenes look at how you do business. The goal is to craft these things into relatable stories that people are inspired to share.
33. News Jacking.
The idea here is to find creative ways to link your brand with trending topics or trending news items. For example, when the Tesla Cybertruck was originally announced and everybody was talking about its distinctive design, suddenly there were images online of a Lego-based cybertruck and whether Lego put these out on their own or whether it was a fan. The point is that Lego benefited from attaching itself to a story that already had incredible momentum.
Conclusion
So look for opportunities to link your business or your brand to a story or to a trend that already has incredible momentum. Because in doing so, you can gain momentum for your own brand as well. Okay, so we’ve covered 33 proven marketing tips. Now it’s time to identify the best marketing opportunity for your specific business. And to do that,.