The world of business is cut throat and ultra-competitive. It’s an arena where only the strongest ideas and the hardest working people can really succeed. To get by in this often harsh and unrelenting climate, you have to think differently and work creatively. This is particularly true when it comes to marketing, as the way you choose to advertise your business to a target audience can have a massive effect on your success as a company.
Coming up with fresh new creative strategies can become a headache, so here are some examples of marketing strategies which operate outside of the box and have been shown to drive results.
Think Creatively to Expand Your Customer Base
Think creatively and you’ll be surprised by how far you can expand your customer base. Take the stationery business All Colour Envelopes for example. Recently they executed a scheme where they sent samples of their patterned envelopes to an independent craft blogger, who found a way to fashion them into attractive artisan gift bags and posted a tutorial for her creations online, including a giveaway of the spares for her readers.
The post was a great success, with large numbers of craft bloggers commenting to say how impressed they were with the technique and the envelopes themselves, and how much they were enjoying browsing the range on All Colour Envelopes’ website. The popularity of the post shows that this exercise was a PR success story: as well as being an excellent advertisement showing the base product in use, targeting a specific niche and demonstrating a different use for the product has worked to draw in an alternative market as well.
Sponsor a Local Cause
Particularly for small businesses, being a valued part of the local community is an essential step towards financial stability. If the locals in your area don’t feel that you’re ‘doing your bit’, you won’t have their support: they won’t feel proud of their local industry, nor will they be disposed to recommend your services. If they feel that you’re giving something back to the community, however, you’ll have their undying loyalty. A great way to do just this is to sponsor a local cause such as a charity, a community project or even a sports team. As well as being a demonstrable show of support for your local area, it’ll also get your company name and logo circulating.
Run Free Workshops and Seminars
Nothing spells community spirit like giving something out for free. Share your knowledge and expertise with the locals through community involvement drives such as free workshops and seminars: it’s a very simple but incredibly effective way to get good publicity and put your name out there as leading experts in your field.
Bold, Different and Creative
For all small businesses, marketing is an unavoidable essential which could spell the difference between the success and failure of your company. They key to success? Don’t just follow the well-trodden path of bland online promotion. Be bold, different, and creative.
Photo credit: smi23le / Flickr
