Today, we will discuss five of the best ways to market your business and the different platforms you can utilize to make the process easier.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing has become more important than ever as many products and services switch to online platforms. There are many types of social media platforms. The most common and perhaps the most important are Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly called Twitter), YouTube, and TikTok. It’s important to research which platform your target audience gravitates to the most, but having a presence on most of these platforms helps your visibility and decreases the chances of potential customers thinking you are a scam. Also, ensure you do research on your industry as there are many platforms that can be tailored for your industry. For example, those in the photography industry could utilize sites such as Tumblr or Pinterest as additional platforms to showcase their work. According to Statista, 69% of Pinterest users are female, so those in the photography industry would be wise to spend some time putting their work on this platform since most of the users are their target market.
Email Marketing
While many people have their emails flooded with content because of all the websites they subscribe to, email marketing is still a very important form of marketing. According to OptinMonster, 59% of consumers say an email encourages them to make decisions on purchases, and half of them make at least one purchase from an email at least once a month. While there are many platforms that can be utilized for email marketing, a few low-cost platforms to consider are Mailchimp, Zoho, Constant Contact, and HubSpot.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is the process of paying another company or party money to promote your products or services. Have you ever followed a popular YouTube channel and somewhere in the video they randomly start talking about a company’s product or service? You guessed it—that’s affiliate marketing. Blogs from other parties are also considered affiliate marketing. There are many different ways to utilize third parties to market your business for you. When it comes to affiliate marketing, you should first start with a budget you are comfortable spending for 3-6 months because, with any form of marketing, it’s hard to measure how successful it is without the strategy being implemented for a consistent amount of time. A cost-effective way for those on a tight budget to utilize affiliate marketing is to find another company that has a similar following and offer to market each other’s products to their followers for no cost or essentially a 1-for-1.
Word of Mouth/Referral
While we are in the digital age, word of mouth is still one of the most, if not the most, impactful forms of marketing. According to Businesswire, 77% of respondents said that word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family were the most persuasive way to get information on something new. Utilizing friends, family, and previous customers are some easy ways to capitalize on word-of-mouth marketing. Also, you can create a referral system by offering discounts on products or cash to customers every time they refer someone who makes a purchase from your business.
Direct Marketing
While direct marketing is vast in its meaning and some of the other categories mentioned in this blog can be considered direct marketing, we will focus on the traditional forms of direct marketing. With any form of marketing, identify your target market to ensure you dedicate your time and money towards areas where your audience will see your company. Direct mail, cold calling, and direct selling are some of the most common forms of traditional marketing. Direct mail involves finding your target market and creating mail to send to the addresses of the target customers to advertise your business. This form of marketing can be impactful but is also costly as you have to pay for the creation of the ad you are mailing along with the cost to send it to each individual address. Next is cold calling. While cold calling is seen as a lost art, it is still a low-cost form of marketing. However, make sure you do not make cold calls to those who have not given you consent to contact them. Also, some people put themselves on the Do Not Contact registry, so it’s best to scrub your list against that as well. Finally, you have direct selling. This can be door-to-door or standing in a populated area and trying to advertise your company. Have you ever gone to a store and seen someone from a phone company trying to convince you to switch to them for your mobile phone services? That is an example of direct selling.
Conclusion
In conclusion, identifying your market to determine which marketing avenues fit your business the best is your first step. There are many forms of marketing, so don’t feel overwhelmed and do not be afraid to test different strategies. No form of marketing will work without consistency, so ensure whatever strategy you utilize, you keep it up for 3-6 months and use metrics to determine if it is impactful or if your time and money would be better spent elsewhere.
