Marketing is vital. As businesses work within an increasingly competitive global market, strong marketing is essential in order to stand out and win those precious customers and sales. However, if you follow the same old tired marketing strategies, you’ll never be able to make your mark and capture attention.
In order to take your business to the next level, you need to get innovative. Here are some excellent and creative marketing tactics that will let you stand out from your competition and grow your business.
Target Your Customer
Particularly when employing creative marketing strategies, it is essential that they be perfect for your target market. You can’t please everyone, especially when you’re trying something different. Therefore, it’s important that you please your target market, and to do that you need to know how that is.
If you haven’t yet narrowed down your niche, now is the time to do this! Define who your business serves as narrowly as you can. Trying to go broad and capture as many people as possible can be disastrous, and you’ll likely end up capturing no one at all.
Be Honest
It may be a sad reflection on the world we live in, but honesty is a highly refreshing tactic in marketing. Be as honest and straight forward as you can in your communications and your customers will love you for it. Skip the marketing spin and instead talk to your customers as people: this will help you build trust and credibility, not to mention making you stand out from your competitors.
This includes admitting when you’ve made a mistake. Brands are human, and can mess up from time to time, but some think that admitting when they’ve made a mistake is the worst things they can do. On the contrary, coming out and simply admitting you were wrong is one of the best ways to build credibility.
Use the Element of Surprise
Another refreshing and powerful marketing strategy is simply using the element of surprise. Surprising your customers with an unexpected piece of content or type of contact can be a very powerful way to stand out. Rather than following the current marketing trends in your industry, do the exact opposite.
This is also a great opportunity to show your brand’s personality and relate to your customers on a human level. Your customers are people, and so are the people that make up your business. Break down the barriers of formal marketing tactics and speak to your customers on a human level: you’ll be surprised by the results.
Become a Social Business
Corporate responsibility translates very well with customers, and becoming a social business takes this to the next level. Ethical businesses that are founded on the principles of helping the community and/or the environment have a particular draw card with consumers. More and more people are choosing to shop ethically, and will pay more for products of this nature.
Of course, you cannot simply adopt this as a marketing tactic without making real changes to your business. If you wish to take this approach, you need to make real, foundational changes to ensure your business is operating socially and environmentally responsibly, and then you can use this to position your brand.
Design a Creative Logo
Your logo is not something that you should gloss over as you hurry to set up your business. Take the time to design a logo that speaks to how you are, while being creative and attention-grabbing. If you already have a logo that’s not serving you, it’s time to consider redesigning it.
Once you have an exceptional logo that represents your brand, make sure you use it to best effect. Put it all over your social media from Facebook to Youtube, place it on signage, put it on invoices and forms, and have some Stickerit custom stickers designed in the shape of your logo. This is key for building brand awareness and growing your customer base.
Have Exceptional Customer Service
Never underestimate the power of customer service. If you provide market-leading levels of service to your clients, they will tell everyone they know about your company, and there are few more effective marketing strategies than word of mouth.
It is important to note here that it is not enough to simply meet the industry standards for customer service, you need to exceed them for this strategy to be effective. Your service must frankly be better than any of your competitors. This is an excellent way to set yourself apart, build a fiercely loyal customer base, and let that base bring you more customers.
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