Alternative Marketing Strategies Your Business Needs to Try
In our online world, it’s hard to come up with a marketing strategy or campaign that doesn’t smack of ‘been there, done that’, and often you run the risk of being a copycat in what is undoubtedly a competitive market, whatever industry you’re in. While you might not be able to do something original, you can at least make your marketing efforts unique to your brand, by employing a range of the tactics we’re going to talk about in this article.
By the end, you may have a seed of an idea that could bloom into an avenue of marketing that your brand may not have tried before.
Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing does what it says on the tin - uses influential figures to market a business. By harnessing the power of a following that one person has organically grown on social media platforms such TikTok and Instagram, brands can target particular demographics by paying the influencer a fee for featuring their product or service.
Content marketing
Providing value to users online gives you a fighting chance of converting them into customers, by earning trust, and demonstrating expertise, getting the word out there amongst your target audience.
By creating useful content for platforms that your ideal customers hang out on, you can win them over without a big sell. This includes:
Blogging and guest posts: Yes, blogging is still a thing, and by providing value that users can refer back to will make you synonymous with trustworthy advice, whether it’s on your own platform, or one managed by a reputable and popular figure in your industry.
Video content: Video is King right now, and if you’re not creating engaging video content on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, you’re missing out. Marketing app Dash recently reported that 88% of marketers say video is an important part of their marketing strategy. Use it to inform, entertain, and inspire, getting your name out there in the process.
Webinars and online workshops: It’s time to channel your inner TED talk: hosting webinars can really help position your business as an industry leader. Easy to attend and packed full of useful tidbits if you approach it properly, and your brand could make a name for itself as an authority to trust.
Experiential marketing
Experiential marketing involves creating an experience for your customer, or potential customer, without getting up in their face about your products and/or services. This could be through pop-up stores, or virtual or in-person events; basically, anything that creates a positive memory for anyone that gets to ‘experience’ what you’re offering.
Examples of experiential marketing campaigns that have gone down a storm in the past include the IKEA sleepover, where IKEA organized a sleepover event for 100 fans in their Essex showroom, Coca-Cola’s ‘Share a Coke’ campaign, where Coca-Cola replaced its iconic logo with 250 of the most common names on its bottles, and Heineken's ‘Departure Roulette’ where, at JFK Airport, Heineken offered travellers a chance to drop their plans and fly to a surprise destination.
Promotional branded products
Ads are a flash in the pan, but a branded promotional product can far outlast them; as a marketing tool, the likes of mugs, t-shirts, tote bags, and eco-friendly promotional products like reusable drinks bottles, notebooks, and bamboo items are very effective. A branded hoody, for example, could be seen by hundreds during a week of commuting - talk about cost effective!
The best way to distribute promotional branded products are through giveaways, staff rewards, or corporate gifting, and ensuring that the products themselves are desirable, top quality, and in line with your brand ethos.
Social media challenges and contests
It’s hard to believe that the use of social media for marketing is no longer considered new and innovative. However, it is still considered highly effective, and if you’re looking to boost your organic engagement, it is still possible, even in the world of paid-for ads that appear on your feed. By working on some exciting challenges and contests, you can promote the sharing of your posts, encouraging that coveted brand awareness. Just make sure the prizes are worth entering for!
To conclude
No two brand’s marketing strategies will be quite the same; it all depends on your budget, your ethos, and your target customer. Much of it will be trial and error, but that’s all part of the fun. The key, however, is to ensure that you track progress through tools such as Google Analytics, to prevent you from working blind and wasting money in the process.
