A successful marketing strategy will help you achieve business success. It can be difficult to know which marketing strategies are most likely to grow your business. We can help.
Let’s first debunk this myth that marketing is an event or campaign. It is not one, fleeting event but an intricate dance with many moving parts. Each of these plays a role at various stages of the customer journey. From long before any transaction occurs, to the final conversion of your customer and all that is required after purchase.
You need to know your audience well and provide them with something valuable. You need to do this at the correct time, the right place and the right way to grow your business. The activities that are used will differ depending on the business or industry. However, to maximize your marketing efforts and reach a large audience, you should test and consider a variety of strategies.
1. Social media
Yes, it’s an obvious one, but it can’t be ignored considering the majority of people are on social media – 63.7%, to be precise. Businesses can use social media marketing to reach their target audience directly and attract new customers. You can expect your existing customers to also be on social media, whether you’re answering their questions or showing them who you are. Social media is used by more people than ever as a search engine.
Did you know that YouTube, the second-largest search engine with more than 2.5 billion users logged in per month is the largest.
You need to determine which social media platforms are best for you before you start using them. Find out where your audience is. Are they on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or LinkedIn? You can then research what type of content is best to share on each platform. Posts about company culture may work well on LinkedIn while product-focused posts might be better suited for Instagram. A dashboard with analytics is an excellent way to achieve this.
How to grow your business using social media
Humanize your brand
It can be tempting, with the advent of AI tools, to create a social media calendar by using chat GPT. This can lead to you sounding impersonal and robotic. Social media is all about being social, as the name suggests. So make your brand seem authentic and relatable by injecting personality in your posts and comments.
Use social media to share useful information, not as a channel for sales
No one wants to be sold constantly. You can still post your product-focused content and special offers, but don’t bombard people with sales. Social media can be a great place to increase brand awareness. But this does not happen by pushing your product into people’s faces. Share valuable, relatable, and relevant content with your target audience. You want to attract potential customers with helpful resources rather than bombarding them with posts that shout “sell, sale, sell”.
Consistency is key
Consistency is the key to social algorithms, according to research. People who have interacted with your content or followed you in the past are more likely than others to see your content. By maintaining a regular posting schedule, you can increase your engagement and followers. This will lead to an increased reach for your content.
2. Email marketing: How to get the most from it
Email marketing remains one of most effective methods to reach out to customers and generate sales. To make the most out of email marketing you must first have a list to email.
How to grow your email list:
- Make sign-up easy – Make sure there are clear CTAs in your email, landing page, and social media channels.
- Give an incentive. People will sign up to your emails more readily if you offer them something valuable in return. As a sign-up reward, consider offering discounts, coupons, ebooks, or downloadable guides.
- Don’t be pushy when it comes to sales – As we have mentioned in the social media section, don’t bombard people with constant sales emails. Share useful information in your emails. Include top tips, how tos, industry updates, and any other content that may be of interest.
- Segment lists- Create lists according to a variety of criteria, such as interests, behavior or demographic data and send emails for each list. You could, for example, create a list of customers who have bought a certain product and then send them an email recommending another product they may be interested in. It is not necessary to send this email to all the people on your list. This email will only apply to a subset of those who are included in your list. If someone clicks a link, it’s clear that they are interested in something. Mark them as subscribers so that you can market to them in the future. Mark them as a purchaser if they make a purchase. It is important to identify your subscribers and buyers’ interests for segmentation.
- Automate your email – A good email service provider will be able to create automated workflows, and sequences. These will help you build strong relationships with your subscribers. You can set up welcome emails to new subscribers, reengagement emails to those who hadn’t opened the email in a while, winback emails to those who had not bought anything from you for a period of time or even feedback emails to those who bought something from you. These emails are automated but they should sound like human beings and contain personalisations such as the first name of your company or your name.
- CTAs – Make sure that each campaign includes a compelling CTA. It doesn’t have to be a purchase, but it could be something as simple as a website click, an ebook download, a social media follow, or a read more button. Encourage people to click CTAs in your emails to increase engagement. This will keep potential customers interested, and more likely to open your emails again.
- A/B Testing – Split Test everything, because you will never know which is the most effective unless you test it. This will help you understand how your audience reacts, which can allow you to better communicate and sell your products.
3. Co-branding, affinity marketing, and cause-marketing are all effective ways to market your business.
What is cobranding?
What is cobranding?
Co-branding, or co-marketing, is a strategy in which two or more companies work together to market and sell a product or service. Consumers are willing to pay more because of the credibility that the brands provide.
The other brand’s existing customer base can also be used to grow your market share. This allows you to gain new customers from new regions and locations. When the costs of co-branding are shared between both brands, this strategy can help you grow your business. Double your resources and you’ll have twice the amount of knowledge to grow both businesses.
What is affinity Marketing?
Affinity marketing is the opposite. It involves a collaboration of complementary brands and businesses that brings people together who have similar interests. Some examples include coffee shops selling goods from a local baker, car repair shops offering a discount to local insurance companies or airline companies partnering with hotels to offer package deals.
Red Bull and GoPro both have high-adrenaline adventure as their common theme, so it makes sense that they would partner up. GoPro gains access to over 1800 Red Bull events in more than 100 different countries, including content production, distribution and cross-promotion. Both brands have similar interests in extreme sports and high-energy activities, so the partnership is a good fit for both of them as well as their respective target audiences.
What is Cause Marketing?
Cause marketing is the partnership of a for-profit business and a not-for-profit organization. It is a way to benefit from social causes and charity, while leveraging your brand and improving its reputation. Both parties can benefit from this partnership. It increases brand loyalty and builds trust with customers. These marketing relationships give customers the impression that you are on the same page as them in terms of making the world better.
Fridays are a good example of cause-marketing. Bandcamp, an online music distributor, waives artist fees on designated Fridays to support independent artists.
4. Blog for your business
“Is blogging dead?”
According to Social Media Today, 77% of internet users still read blogs. According to Social Media Today 77% still read blogs.
Where do you start? You can blog for free, but if you want to do it well (especially if you are a business), you need to be careful. You should also consider adding value to your customers, similar to what we have said about social media. Business blogs aren’t about selling. They’re more about providing valuable content that positions you as a leader in your field. This is a very effective way to market your company. It has many benefits.
Benefits of launching a blog for your company
Traffic to your website
You can increase the number of visitors to your site by regularly updating and posting relevant content on your blog. You must create relevant content for your audience, and use SEO techniques to get your blog in front of them. It is important to choose keywords that have a large search volume, but are not overly competitive. This will help your content rank higher on the search engine result pages (SERPs). Blogging can lead to 55% higher website traffic.
Lead generation
You can capture leads once you have successfully attracted visitors to your site. You can collect basic information such as names and emails of your audience by adding pop-ups, gated content or downloadable guides or ebooks.
Reusable Content
Your blogs can be repurposed as valuable content that you can share with your audience on social media and via email campaigns. Cost effective marketing
Inbound marketing is relatively cheap when compared with other marketing methods. Once published, blogs can be updated, allowing for long-term value.
Establish authority
You can demonstrate your expertise and establish credibility by posting high-quality content that is useful, educational, and of high quality on specific topics in your industry. It helps you build trust with your audience. To reach as many people, share your articles across networks such as Medium, Quora and LinkedIn.
5. Videos as Marketing Tools
Video is an effective and quick way to communicate with your audience. 86% marketing professionalsreported using video as a tool for marketing, and 78% said that video directly increased sales. 86% of marketers said that videos increased traffic to their websites. It’s a great tool to show your customers how you can help them. The adage “show, do not tell” is very effective when it comes to brands that have complex concepts, ideas or product features. Make entertaining videos that are both informative and entertaining. How-to videos, product reviews, behind the scenes, tutorial style videos, or even animated videos.
It is important to consider where you will host your videos. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. You cannot ignore its visibility and reach. YouTube is similar to Google in that people use it for searching solutions and answers. Your videos can answer these questions, by providing valuable and useful information to your audience, or solving a specific problem. You will increase your visibility and sales faster if you offer more value. This will not only help to establish your social presence and market your business, but it will also help you make money on YouTube. After you have started this strategy, diversify and add more content to other platforms. This will allow you to market and monetize videos without YouTube.
Your videos can also be embedded in your blogs to boost their visibility.
Video production does not have to be expensive. You only need an idea, a video camera, and an online editor to put it all together. Video marketing is not limited to YouTube. You should consider TikTok if you haven’t already. There’s a good chance that the people who are watching your channel use TikTok. In 2022, TikTok ranked as the second most popular app in the world. Check out our blog on how to start a TikTok company channel .
6. Start a podcast
Podcasts can be a great marketing tool, as they’re a cost-effective way to engage customers, reach out to new audiences and establish brand authority. You can use them to establish your company as an industry leader and spread information about your product.
Brand storytelling is a proven way to connect with customers on an emotional level. Storytelling allows you to share a compelling narrative about your company, its values, your role as a leader and your engagement with your community. It also helps you solve problems and resolve issues. This human touch will help your audience connect with your brand.
Podcasting is a more personal way of engaging with your audience. After hearing someone’s story, they often feel closer to them. Podcasts are a great way to build a base of loyal listeners who will trust your brand and spread the word about it. Remember to produce engaging, high-quality content that will interest your audience. Create content that addresses their needs, goals and interests.
Podcasting can also be a success with collaboration. You can reach a new audience by collaborating with brands and inviting guests to your podcast. You can even host and create collaborative podcasts virtually without compromising HD quality. Your guest speaker’s fans are likely to listen to your podcast. This is similar to the affinity marketing mentioned previously.
7. SEO: The power of SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO), while intimidating, can be very effective. When you master SEO or have the assistance of an SEO agency you can achieve anything.
What is SEO?
The process of SEO involves improving your website to perform better on search engines such as Google and Bing. It is believed that the more visible or ranked you are on search engines like Google and Bing, the higher your website traffic will be.
SEO can be classified into two main types:
- Technical SEOThis involves optimising technical aspects such as load time and URL structure.
- Onsite SEO: This refers to your website’s content. Consider keywords and blog posts.
The shady past of some SEO techniques is one of the main reasons why people hesitate to get involved with SEO. Some companies used to try to “trick Google” with private blog networks (PBNs are websites created solely to provide links). Black-hat SEO techniques are used to achieve short-term gains, but they can get you into trouble in the end. These strategies could get you banned by Google and ruin any SEO opportunities you might have. It’s also not an easy thing to fix.
How do you implement a SEO strategy?
Prioritise your audience. Google has changed its algorithm in order to give priority to helpful content. So, make sure that you publish quality content. Don’t use too many keywords. This is a common mistake. It’s important to use keywords, but it is more important that you create content which is readable. Create material that is both search engine and human-friendly. It is particularly important to do this in the world of AI generative. Google will not punish you specifically for using AI but human-centric content tends to be viewed as superior. What’s most important is that your content should be entertaining, unique, and informative.
Search engines will send your content directly to the user’s result page when you optimize your content on your blog, YouTube channel, or website. SEO can help you increase traffic to your site and improve its ranking in the search engine results.
9. Embrace AI
If you haven’t been living under rock, then you know that AI is more popular than ever. This is because when it’s used correctly, AI can be a powerful tool for businesses to grow. 83% say AI has a high priority in business plans. It may seem difficult to integrate AI into your business strategy, but it has many benefits that can help you grow. A tool that integrates AI to help marketers make better decisions.
AI can be used to improve a variety of business processes, allowing you to spend more time and money on the growth of your company.
AI in marketing: Benefits
AI algorithms can process and analyze large volumes of data much faster than humans. Business leaders can make quick data-backed decision, increasing operational efficiency while minimising inactivity.
Personalisation is possible: AI analyses customer data to better understand their preferences and behaviour, and suggests the best products and offers. This leads to increased engagement and conversion.
AI-powered chatbots provide enhanced customer service. They can answer frequently asked questions and guide users to make a purchase, while reducing waiting times and improving the overall customer experience. It improves the customer experience, reduces wait times and allows your customer service team to spend more time on complex or challenging customer support queries.
AI can be used to generate content for your emails, blog posts and social media captions. It’s important to remember that completely relying on AI for content creation can be risky. It may not always be able to understand the context you provide and make your brand seem robotic. Proofread and edit AI-generated content to make sure it fits your brand.
AI models are able to analyse historical data on sales, market trends and external factors in order to forecast demand accurately. Businesses can reduce their costs by reducing unused inventory and minimizing the risk of overstock or stockouts by accurately predicting future demand.
10. Referral marketing
You are more likely to buy from a friend who has recommended a particular brand than you would be if you simply saw an advertisement for the brand. Referral marketing is based on this assumption. Referral marketing involves existing customers recommending your business to friends and family. The goal is to generate new customers.
Surveys show that 84 percent of people are more likely to trust the recommendations of people they know than advertising.
Incentives are a great way to encourage referrals. Dropbox, an online cloud storage service, rewards its customers with 1GB extra storage when they refer someone else.
Referral marketing incentives are available in many forms.
- Cash Back
- Gift Cards
- Discounts
- Branded merchandise
- Credit for Stores or Accounts
- Add-on features
- Charitable donations
Conclusion
For sustainable growth, it is essential to master effective strategies. The strategies in this blog will help you get started, whether it’s by embracing AI-driven campaigns or harnessing social media. By adapting the strategies to your industry and goals, you can build a strong brand, develop meaningful relationships with customers, and expand your business. The key is to keep adapting, experimenting, and analyzing your results. You can improve your marketing strategies by using the data you gather from tracking, analysing and measuring. You will be able to measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. Dashboard is one of the best tools to help you track your marketing ROI. Start your free trial now.
