Whether you’ve just started a new business or are a seasoned Marketing Professional working in a global organization, we all need creative ideas to bring our brand closer to its audiences and increase our sales.
So I thought I’d list some marketing ideas for building a brand, generating contacts, progressing leads through the marketing cycle and nurturing existing customers. Some will mean reaching into your pocket, but there are some free ones too. They won’t all be relevant to you, but hopefully one or two will give you some inspiration…
Brand Building and Awareness
1. Include banner ads in your email signatures
2. Add your business to Google places
3. Promote your business on Google Adwords
4. Advertise on a website/publication which your audience visit/read
5. Sponsor a local event e.g. a half marathon, football team
6. Become a walking billboard e.g. get a classy t-shirt printed or car sticker made
7. Hand out some cool ‘freebies’ e.g. pens, phone cases, water bottles etc.
8. Place your business cards in local shops, library’s and meeting places
9. Put up some posters in the local shops and surrounding area
10. Put a billboard up outside your shop
11. Sponsor a local round-a-bout
12. Hire a PR agency e.g. run a guerrilla campaign and get some press coverage
13. Offer yourself to the press and other websites for topical interviews
14. Raise money for charity through some wacky activities
15. Do some local community work
16. Run a Social Media campaign were for each follower you get you’ll donate money to charity
17. Run a competition through Social Media e.g. Like our page and get entered into a prize draw
18. Get active on Social Media groups – get your opinion out there
19. Attend network sessions and breakfast meetings
20. Write an e-book
21. Publish some free white papers and opinion pieces
22. Conduct some industry research and surveys
23. Co-brand a book e.g. the ‘For Dummy’s’ range
24. Publish some content on sites like Slideshare
25. Regularly post insightful links through the major Social Media tools
26. Write guest blogs for other websites
27. Create an insightful video. Viral videos tend to be funny, shocking, or ground breaking
28. Affiliate yourself with other businesses
29. Have your product reviewed by an independent body (online site, individual, local paper)
30. Enter your business into competitions e.g. Times 100 greatest companies
31. Put your product forward for an award
32. Run a graduate job scheme and hire local people
33. Check what your competitors are doing…and do it better
34. Tell your friends and family about your business
Lead Generation and Increasing sales
35. Make sure what you’re offering meets people’s needs and is competitively priced
36. Increase your brand exposure/reach (see above)
37. Bring out a new product…
38. Run a promotion e.g. Buy one get one free, 25% off etc.
39. Develop your ‘Augmented Product’ i.e. add some more value e.g. 6 months interest free credit
40. Offer a free trial of your product
41. Develop your product’s ‘Physical Evidence’ e.g. give your shop a face lift or get some testimonials
42. Offer a free white paper, newsletter, video, freebie in exchange for someone’s contact details
43. Advertise on the local radio – use a promo code e.g. Radio123 to track the response
44. Run a TV campaign
45. Run a lead gen campaign through a third party e.g. sponsor someone’s newsletter
46. Associate your brand with a mainstream film, celebrity
47. Sponsor/endorse a public figure/athlete
48. Get some product placement in photos, adverts and TV shows
49. Hire an SEO agency and build your website traffic
50. Hire a Pay Per Click agency
51. Give away free stuff on your website
52. Put more of your content behind a data capture screen or the exact opposite!
53. Write interesting, regular blog material
54. Optimise your website to load quickly and be easy to navigate around
55. Add more video to your site
56. Develop a distribution channel and partner network
57. Sell your products through a third party/website
58. Expand your market into other geographical areas
59. Sell online, open up a shop and/or sell at trade shows
60. Showcase your product/brand at an exhibition
61. Give away tasters and freebies on the street
62. Hire some more sales staff (or train up your existing ones)
63. Invest more into Marketing!
Progressing leads & Nurturing existing customers
64. Send out a monthly newsletter to all of your prospects
65. Offer monthly webinars on interesting and insightful topics
66. Make timely Telemarketing calls
67. Offer ‘Special Pricing’ for one month only for example
68. Create a loyalty scheme
69. Offer a discount to customers who refer a friend
70. Hold a promotional event – somewhere memorable
Whatever you’re trying to achieve, it’s important that you’re clear on your objectives and understand your audience and what constitutes value to them. This foundation will give you the best chance of increasing your sales. Regardless of how creative or innovative you are, in my opinion, understanding comes first!
I hope these marketing ideas have given you some food for thought, please feel free to leave some comments below and share your ideas with the world!