You know that marketing is important when it comes to finding leads, growing your business as well as your mailing list or email list, and achieving your sales goals. However, that doesn’t make getting it done any easier. After all, it may not be your specialty.
Maybe you share your message in one or two places—but don’t see a lot of engagement from it. When that happens repeatedly, you may start to feel frustrated or even like you should throw in the towel and close up shop.
The good news is that there are a variety of ways to market your business well and find leads. The key is to decide what tactics are most likely to connect with your target audience and then use them consistently. By doing so, you can create ongoing marketing campaigns that inspire your audience, keep you top of mind, and help increase your sales over time.
Opportunities to market yourself
Today there are a variety of combinations you can use to create solid marketing campaigns, including:
Blogs
Long or short, articles and blogs are an excellent way to share your expertise in an area with followers. While you may not consider your proficiency on a particular topic to be vast, you’d be surprised at what your audience doesn’t already know! Don’t dismiss your hard-earned wisdom as common knowledge—write it down, then post it to your website.
Social media
No matter your creative gifts—writing, recording videos, or posting images—there is a social media platform your business can use. The biggest mistake business owners make with social media is thinking they need to be everywhere. Often, this results in posting a few times before ultimately leaving their audience hanging. So choose one or two platforms you enjoy, then build a cadence that works for you while also showing your audience that your business is active.
Direct mail
With more businesses leaning into email marketing, this is a fantastic opportunity to reach your audience in an unconventional way. Exceptional postcards and well-designed envelopes containing personalized letters still gather attention and interest from leads. Due to the increased popularity of email campaigns, less businesses are utilizing direct mail services, increasing the likelihood your piece will receive notice by your target audience.
Online advertising
Your behavior online is often a driving force behind the ads and content that you see. With online advertising you can put your product or service in front of individuals who are already looking for it—and potentially ready to purchase it, too!
As recently as 2019, there were an estimated 3.8 billion email accounts on file. And that number is only going to increase according to experts. But while you may worry that email marketing is a lost cause due to the amount of competition, the reality is that customers interested in your products and services want to hear from you. It’s important to reach out to your leads with good, quality content that caters to their specific needs.
Lists
When you partner with a reputable right company, your list—be it a mailing list or an email list—has been responsibly sourced. So, you’re not only connecting to real people who meet specific criteria, you can also create a mailing list or an email list based on characteristics your ideal customer might have. Households with pets, retirees, or businesses within a certain ZIP Code are all perfect examples of how you might discover new leads.
Form healthy marketing habits
By definition, marketing campaigns promote products through different types of media. So, you may already be using them for your business—you just didn’t know it.
And while you may have already tried all the avenues listed above (or maybe you’ve only tried one or two) if you’re not getting your desired results, it can be easy to dismiss these channels. But keep in mind that marketing is an essential yet dynamic component to your overall success and will shift and change as your business goals do. Here are some ways to establish healthy marketing habits—and ultimately see marketing campaigns success— in your business.
- Maintain consistent visibility: Make a habit out of marketing your business with a consistent cadence and frequency. When your target audience knows to expect communication from you, they begin to look forward to it.
- Create a content bank: You forgot to write that social media post today. You didn’t get around to creating that email. You don’t have time to type up a new blog. Or maybe you just don’t feel like it! Sometimes life—or business—happens and the content doesn’t get done. But when you don’t have content, you can’t maintain consistent visibility with your leads. Get ahead of the curve by creating extra content that you can post whenever you don’t have something fresh that day or week.
- Combine your efforts: Many business owners will use one or two channels to advertise a sale or a new product or service. But what if you used three, four, or even five channels to promote your message? This is how you create marketing campaigns. So, the next time you send out an email about your latest product, be sure to promote it on social media channels, too. Also, did you create a blog? On average it takes six to eight “touches” before an individual considers purchasing from you. So, use multiple resources to ensure your message is seen.
- Don’t stop at one: When you send your mailing list an email offer and aren’t hit with an overwhelming response, you might feel perplexed. You know people want what you’re selling. So, why is no one buying? Remember, you need to get your message in front of individual prospective customers multiple times before they consider buying. And not everyone can be reached the first time. Your target audience controls when and how they consume information. So don’t be afraid to share the same (or a slightly altered) message on the same channels several times.
There are so many ways to market your business. However, that doesn’t mean you have to try all of them all at once. Choose one or two marketing solutions based on your target audience and start there. Once you begin finding success, add another channel to your plate to form more robust marketing campaigns.
