5 Overlooked Marketing Strategies to Create a Winning Business
Every marketer is familiar with that sinking feeling when they know they are doing everything right, marketing their product/service on all the right channels, and even going the extra mile by offering the leads some freebies but the growth isn’t as expected. Whether your goal is to enhance engagement, encourage visitors on your site to download your product or increase the sales of your business, at one point of time you may feel like you are just unable to get enough leads into your sales funnel. But, have you ever paused and really thought why these channels aren’t producing the results you want? The same channels have been profitable in the past and are still bringing profits to your competitors, so what happened now? Before you go into a complete panic mode, you need to understand that you are not alone in this. Just like you, 63% of marketers claim to have trouble generating leads and traffic, while 38% of salespeople say getting a response from their prospects is a challenge. To make things easier for you, here is a list of some strategies that are often overlooked by the marketing team. Check them out and see which ones can you implement in your sales effort for more success.
Interactive content
In the age of the smartphone, merely creating quality content and adding a few images is not enough. Did you know that 4 X as many consumers prefer watching a video of a certain product rather than reading its description? Studies also show that internet readers pay more attention to information-carrying images rather than the text itself. In fact, infographics are shared three times more than any other content on social media platforms. The audience of today wants more than content. Thus, infographics, charts, graphs, videos, and slides are an excellent way to enhance engagement with your customers and these are also bound to increase your sales. Simply using the word ‘video’ in the email subject line of your newsletter is said to improve open-rates by 19% while click-through rates is said to increase by 65%.
Find your audience
If you want to meet fitness freaks, hit the gym. If you want to hang out with swimmers, go to a fitness center or a club with a swimming pool. It’s simple; you have to go where your brand’s target audience is found. Let’s suppose you are selling lawn mowers. Would it benefit you to market them to college-going young adults? Obviously not! However, adult homeowners are likely to be interested in such a product, and you too can take advantage of it by promoting it to that specific group. Marketing to every other person will not only waste your time and money but also your marketing effort. Instead, create a targeted marketing plan that ensures promotional messages and advertisements are sent specifically to the interested audiences. Take the company Glaceau, for example, which specializes in producing vitamin-rich water. After a thorough research, they targeted their marketing efforts to men and women between the ages of 18 and 49 which ultimately led the company to grow by 28 percent in less than a year. Another study showed that different kinds of cereal companies usually show advertisements of their product during cartoon commercials, while displays of the same product are always kept at eye level of children in physical stores. By following a targeted marketing protocol, companies can benefit from a surge in their revenue and also increase their brand awareness as well as loyalty.
Don’t limit yourself
“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”. We have all heard this piece of advice numerous times and let’s admit it; the quote has helped us on more than one occasion. Well, the saying holds true in our marketing efforts as well. Today, marketers are not limited to billboards or television ads. They have a whole array of opportunities available ranging from websites to social media platforms, mobile apps, email newsletters, and so much more. The possibilities of reaching out to customers are endless, and as a smart marketer, you should avail all the right ones to grow your business.
Participate
Joining discussions in groups and online communities is another excellent way to increase brand engagement and loyalty. Facebook and LinkedIn groups are a good place to start. Join the communities that cater to your prospective clients. Additionally, take feedback from existing customers to improve your service/product. Take Starbucks Coffee for example that does an excellent job of the community market. The company not only holds a strong online presence but has also added an extra Twitter handle where customers can share their ideas to improve their coffee experience.
Share
Preschoolers are always taught “sharing is caring”. We shared in grade school too, so why stop now? Sharing is the most important part of creating content. Simply developing content and posting it once on different social media accounts won’t get you anywhere. If you don’t share your content on the right places, it will simply fail to reach the right audience. Articles, videos, and images don’t go viral just because they are there! They go viral because they have been shared over and over again on different platforms. Sharing is not an easy task. In fact, sharing takes the same amount of time and effort as creating a quality content marketing strategy does. Therefore, take your time. Share your content continuously for days, weeks, and even months after developing it. Once the content reaches the targeted audience, there will be no stopping it from becoming viral.
Conclusion
With some of the ideas mentioned above, we are rest assured that you will be able to improve your marketing efforts and be successful in getting more sales in your pipeline. Marketing channels are changing rapidly, and marketers should continuously reassess their tools/tactics and update them as needed. Give it a try and let us know how these tips improved your marketing process.
