In this day and age, looking for a product or service that will suffice our needs and wants could have never been easier, no matter if you are on the internet or not. Sometimes, we feel that the products/services can already present themselves to us even if we did not know we need them yet!
That’s the beauty of marketing. Its aim is not only to sell but to help leads get a step closer to something that will aid their pain.
Now, if you have your own enterprise, you know how acquiring new leads can be tricky. There are countless marketing strategies out there (most of which – you may find frustrating to do and are afraid to try) and the big problem to solve here is experience: which strategies are the easiest to implement with the biggest gains? (think of the cheap, fast, and good matrix, you can have it all if you play your cards right).
This guide will give you a good overview of the most effective marketing strategies and channels that your business can practice.
Offline Marketing
Offline marketing, or as others might call it, traditional marketing, is the classic marketing strategy to which all of us grew accustomed to. Basically, it’s advertising without the use of the internet.
The history of traditional marketing goes back just a few years ago, just about 12,000 years or so! Ha!
You might ask yourself what the heck did Stone Age people had to advertise back in 10,000 BC? Well, I want to theorize that they sold various made and models of the Flintmobile, but history says otherwise (unfortunately). Stone Age people or Paleolithic humans would often make cave paintings about their great hunting skills. Their target audience? Women!
We might not know what these playboy’s names were, but what they did eventually made way for the most popular and effective marketing channels as of today. Let’s look at a few of them, shall we?
Direct Mail Marketing
Who doesn’t get excited opening their letterboxes? It’s like a magic box that refills itself every night with treats for you to open in the morning. If you do not have letterboxes, mails can go running down your letter plates Harry Potter style.
These things became a tool for a lot of businesses to create brand awareness and develop a strong relationship with customers, ultimately making sales. This includes using coupons, catalogs, brochures, postcards, and of course, letters.
These channels have made billions of sales for the past few decades. Although not as widely used as before, direct mail marketing had already proven how effective it is in both making new leads and turning them into loyal customers.
Hand-Outs
Many businesses have made it to where they are through hand-outs. Just like the former marketing strategy, hand-outs like flyers, calling cards, and brochures are essential ways in forming great product/service awareness for the target market. We can also say that it creates a stronger relationship with customers since they are handed out personally to people.
Print Ads
Billboards, magazines, posters, newspapers, and signages are no doubt effective in advertising. Why? Because they are designed to catch your attention. Figuratively, (and literally), we tend to look upon those models on billboards and magazines, looking for information from trending clothes to stocks to invest in.
Broadcast
Nothing beats a good commercial. We all know that – and we have our favorites. As I think about it, TV and Radio ads are very effective because they are not tangible.
Let me explain: When you’re watching TV or listening to the radio, you get entertained even if you’re not doing anything physically. Unlike the previous marketing means we mentioned where you need to put (very minimal) effort and spend time to understand the product. This means that broadcasts can touch more people and get their attention even if they are doing other things that they think are more important. Like cooking, driving, or even taking a rest.
Face to Face Marketing
Network is Networth. This is especially true in the marketing world. Face-to-face and personal interactions are the most engaging way to turn leads into sales. It’s the easiest way to build relationships as you are physically present. Live events, conferences, and product demonstrations are great opportunities to convert whoever is there in the room to clients and customers.
Online Marketing
In the 1990s, when the internet was introduced to the masses, almost everything changed, and marketing strategies have kept up. When people migrated most of their work or even personal tasks online, their buying behavior also shifted and digital marketing was born.
Simply put, marketing happens where people spend their time. Before the internet, people were outside, roaming around malls and other shops. But now, people do most of their tasks online and spend hours of their day connected to the World Wide Web, which marketers have impressively penetrated.
You might think that because the internet makes it very easy for everyone to stay connected, digital marketing would be easy. Some part of that might be true, but it needs as much (if not, even more) effort to advertise. Here are the most common digital marketing channels:
Websites
For most of us, when we want to know something about a brand, we automatically go to their website. This explains how effective and necessary websites are for brands. It acts as a platform that is dedicated to showcasing your products and services. Of course, websites also make it easy for brands to provide additional information about themselves, their mission, and sometimes they even show feedbacks from past clients or customers.
With just a click of a mouse, your brands can be advertised even from the other side of the world.
Search Engine Optimization
If you need information, Google it! Search Engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo are encyclopedias on our phones.
However, we have to remember that they are just ‘engines’ or tools that help us find the right information through the keywords that we input. Google does not provide every data that they show, other people do.
And so, if Google had loaded its results if you type in ‘cat food’, which result would you click first? Ahh, of course, the one on the top of the first page!
This is where SEO kicks in. The perfect combination of keyword research, blog post optimization, and linkable content creation will get your website climb the results ladder.
Email Marketing
Email Marketing was one of the pioneer digital marketing strategies and is still highly effective up until now. In just a few clicks, brands can inform leads about their new products, ongoing promos, discounts, and many more. It may sound very basic but each sentence in the email is constructed carefully, even the subject line!
Social Media
Among these digital marketing channels, social media is the most popular and widely used. Who’s not on Social Media nowadays? Even younger and older generations are sharing, tweeting, and hashtagging.
For brands, social media platforms are the most efficient way of creating customer engagement with a wider audience range. From having your own pages to working with influencers through projects, creating hype for your brand is much more possible than before.
Takeaway
As we laid these marketing strategies to you one by one, you might find yourself gravitating to one other than the rest. Don’t assume that either offline or online is better than the other, there’s a reason why you still see Airbnb billboards and clipboard employees around.
They compliment each other and multiply your visibility and opportunities to win new business.
For sure, we will see more marketing strategies that will be born in the future, but it doesn’t mean that we have to completely forget the rest and focus on the newest strategies. They just offer us more ways of turning leads into sales!
