Marketing formulas look vastly different from industry to industry. If you Google “good marketing strategies,” you will find all sorts of educational content presenting various tactics. But will these approaches work for your business specifically? Maybe. Maybe not.
Just because one business saw tons of success with Facebook Ads doesn’t mean yours will.
The most important thing to know about marketing is that a good strategy for ANY business starts with a series of questions. The goal is to dive into the specifics of your niche and how to reach potential customers. Ultimately, the better you understand your industry and what motivates the people within it, the higher your chances of success.
Start by asking yourself, “What is the most important goal(s) of my marketing strategy?”
- Boost organic search presence?
- Increase web traffic?
- Educate potential customers?
- Generate leads?
- Improve customer satisfaction?
- Boost sales?
- All of the above?
The next line of questioning revolves around your target customers.
- What demographics make up your customer base?
- Where do they hang out on the internet? (Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, LinkedIn, certain blogs, etc.)
- How do they typically discover content on the web?
- Who are some of the influencers they listen to within your industry?
- What are their most persuasive forms of content?
The next part is about self-reflection.
The purpose is to figure out how you will present your messaging and brand voice. If you haven’t nailed down your brand persona yet, there are 12 common archetypes to consider when developing a marketing strategy.
1. The Innocent: Soft-spoken. Has strong values rooted in the greater good. Examples: Coca-Cola, Dove.
2. The Hero: Bold and courageous, wants to make a strong mark on the world. Examples: Nike, Duracell.
3. The Outlaw: Rebellious and set on individuality. Examples: Harley Davidson, Virgin.
4. The Everyday Person: Down-to-earth, easy to relate to. Examples: eBay, Home Depot.
5. The Creator: Imaginative, strong visionary set on helping others achieve their best. Examples: Lego, Crayola.
6. The Explorer: Risk-taking, exciting, strives to be different. Examples: Red Bull, Jeep.
7. The Ruler: Authoritative, aims to create a better status quo. Examples: Microsoft, Mercedes.
8. The Magician: Innovative, works to inspire mass change. Examples: Apple, Tesla.
9. The Caregiver: Compassionate, nurturing, set on helping people take care of themselves. Examples: Johnson & Johnson, Campbell’s Soup.
10. The Jester: Witty, spirit-lifting, not afraid to take risks. Examples: Wendy’s, Ben & Jerry’s.
11. The Sage: Wise, insightful, wants to help people better understand the world around them. Examples: BBC, National Geographic.
Ask yourself which one your brand identifies with most. Keep in mind, these archetypes do not have to be mutually exclusive. You can identify with more than one. Answers to these sets of questions will serve as the launching points for your marketing strategy.
Consumerism these days is fueled by customer sentiment. Regardless of how awesome your marketing messages might be, a detailed review from an unbiased customer is going to hold a massive amount of weight.
Studies have found that 97% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase. That said, you need to get your business listed on the major review platforms and social networks (Yelp, Trustpilot, Facebook, Google My Business, etc.)
When you get a review, you need to make it a point to interact with it. In fact, Google has confirmed that responding to reviews helps to improve local search presence. Moreover, it works to build trust in a public arena, which is a marketing strategy in and of itself.
Always remember, the way you respond to a review says much more about your business than the review itself. This is a common reality behind any marketing strategy.
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s dive into a handful of the most common marketing strategies that almost all businesses use in some capacity.
Content Marketing
If you’ve looked into marketing at some point in the last five to ten years, you’ve probably heard something about content marketing and how important it is.
Now, content marketing is perhaps the most diverse and multifaceted concept in the marketing world. Every business’s tactics will look a little different. This is where you really need to go back to the initial questions we talked about earlier to figure out the best approach.
Content marketing can involve writing blog posts, creating videos, podcasts, webinars, case studies, social posts, and just about any other form of online messaging you can imagine. Red Bull is one of the greatest examples of how a brand can use content marketing to bring their presence to new heights.
The underlying purpose of content marketing is to show the world how you are one-of-a-kind and offer something that no one else does. The only limits here are your own creativity.
Organic Social Media
Social media marketing is unavoidable these days. Generally speaking, if people can’t find you on at least one of the major networks, they will find one of your competitors.
A good social media strategy is about much more than just being active on your accounts. It’s about how much time and resources you are willing to invest to grow your following.
The key is understanding which networks are going to be most worthwhile. When looking at the major platforms from an overview perspective, B2C marketing typically works the best on Facebook and Instagram, whereas B2B strategies tend to do better on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Social media marketing strategies are different for every industry. For example, if you are a fashion or food-related business, building a visual presence on Instagram is going to be crucial.
But why Instagram?
Think about which industry you are in. How much of the customer experience revolves around presentation? The food, fashion, and art industry (to name a few) are hugely dependent on visual presentation - which is the core aspect of Instagram.
On the B2B side, showcasing thought leadership on Twitter and LinkedIn is extremely important to build up a brand presence, as well as consumer trust.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
More than 90% of online experiences start with a search engine. Regardless of what you do, building up a presence on Google is non-negotiable.
SEO goes hand-in-hand with content marketing. It is the process of utilizing trending keywords relevant to your industry within your business content. The goal is to appear on the organic search engine results pages when people enter those keywords into a search. Most Google searches never go past page one, so the constant goal is to get your content placed accordingly.
One of your primary goals in a marketing strategy should be to stand above the crowd on the major search engines. Chances are, there are hundreds - maybe thousands - of websites that offer similar products/services as you.
Email Marketing
Nearly every business these days uses email to promote its messaging. Whether it be newsletters, promotions, tips, etc., email has been a longstanding marketing strategy that historically results in fantastic ROI.
The key to successful email marketing is knowing when to send the right content to the right people. Someone who just gave you their email address would likely be interested in different content than a long-time customer. The better you are at segmenting your lists, the more success you will have.
Paid Search Marketing
Paid search, also referred to as Pay-Per-Click (PPC) or Search Engine Marketing (SEM), is a marketing model used to quickly drive traffic to your website.
You’ve definitely seen examples of this on Google searches. With this strategy, you bid on certain keywords for which your ad will appear high up on the search results. When someone clicks on your ad, you are charged in return for a user navigating to your website - hence the name Pay-Per-Click. The more searches the keyword gets, the more it will cost every time someone clicks on your ad.
For many small businesses, paid search marketing is almost required to build up a web presence and get traction early on. Gaining organic traffic through SEO takes time - especially if you work in a crowded industry. Paid search marketing is a great strategy for bringing interested users to your website in the meantime.
The Wrap
To bring it all together, these are the most common types of marketing strategies small businesses use. However, the granular details of each will look quite a bit different for every campaign.
As long as you have good, detailed answers to the questions about your goals, customers, and company messaging, as well as make it a point to actively engage with customers online, these strategies can work wonders!
Written By: @Deepansh
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