Like any business owner, you know all the basics of marketing. A well-managed website, a strong social media platform, and good SEO practices go without saying. However, your marketing shouldn’t stop there! A range of alternative marketing tactics will make your business stand out and get more people talking about you. Here are some great ideas you should consider.
First of all, putting a spin on traditional marketing techniques. Any time your customers use the internet or a social network, they will be bombarded with several different ads. Many of these will be from your competitors. If there’s one sure-fire way to make your company stand out, it’s getting away from the web! You could opt for a billboard, but there are ways to shake it up even more. Ikea famously commissioned the street artist Banksy to paint some street murals for them. You could have some funny bumper stickers made up and given out at an event. Some businesses even set up public scavenger hunts.
Another great marketing tactic is making your company out as heroes. Many new business owners think charitable donations are only for large multinational corporations. This doesn’t seem right. No matter what kind of business you’re running, donating to or sponsoring a charity is a brilliant way to make your brand more visible. Aside from that, you’ll be able to give something back to your community at large. In addition, there’ll usually be some way to tie the charity into what your business is all about. For example, if you’re running a bed showroom, you could donate a shipment of mattresses to a homeless shelter. Donate some of your stock to a local youth center if you sell leisure equipment. The possibilities are endless, so start thinking of some causes you can support.
Another tactic you may need to pay attention to is incentivizing word-of-mouth marketing. By now, you should be well aware of how powerful word-of-mouth marketing can be, especially when it comes to social media. You can stimulate this marketing by making it more fun for your customers. One Karl Lagerfeld store in the Netherlands hit the nail on the head in 2013. Here, the store’s dressing rooms had iPads mounted to the walls, with a camera and several Instagram-style filters. When customers started coming in, the inevitable happened. Thousands of people took selfies of their new look and shared them across social media while advertising the company. Pretty soon, friends were popping into the shop just because they’d heard about the changing rooms. While something like this may not be practical for your business, you can use the same principle. Incentivize your customer base to talk about you, and you’ll certainly see the difference!
These suggestions have helped your marketing team break the mold. Of course, conventional marketing is conventional for a reason, but don’t limit yourself to a few dull tactics!
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