Marketing is an integral part of bringing success to any business. With a vast number of strategies to choose from, it can be overwhelming to take on the challenge. Luckily, we’ve narrowed down some of the most creative approaches to marketing your own unique brand, in order to set yourself apart from the competition. Here are 3 inventive ways to grab the attention of potential clients and really wow your audience.
Create a Podcast
Podcasts are an amazing way for your audience and potential clients to get to know you more personally. It makes you relatable and allows listeners to feel more connected to you. It’s also an easy way to adroitly market your brand or mission. By covering topics relevant to your business, you not only inform listeners about your services, you also go a step further and educate them more thoroughly on a topic that may be foreign to them.
Podcasts also leave a lot of space for creativity, especially regarding the tone you convey your ideas through. Are you going for something funny and entertaining, to show listeners you’re not taking yourself too seriously? Or, do you want to deliver a more serious sounding podcast, in which case you’ll need to be more professional and less conversational? Are you creating this podcast primarily for product or customer reviews? Is this more about the owners of the company than the company itself? Decide your angle before making your podcast public, but don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Podcasts are a great way for anyone to talk about the things they love, so why not open that platform to your business as well?
Contests
Who doesn’t love an exciting contest? One of the best things about contests is that, aside from the broad range of contests you can come up with, it encourages enormous direct engagement with potential clients. Photo or caption contests are favorites on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook because they’re easy to enter (all you need is a camera) and they essentially create their own content that can be used later and featured on your website. Make sure you use hashtags that are trending on social media and also relevant to your company, and encourage participants to use them in order to qualify for the contest.
Video contests bring to mind YouTube or Vine, which can also be creative ways to increase engagement. Typically you’ll have to be fairly specific about guidelines here, but you’ll get some often hilarious and clever, original content. Remind participants to share the contest opportunity on their social media channels as a way to further market your business in a fun, engaging way.
Giveaways and Groupon
Similar to contests, giveaways are an entertaining and interactive way to increase engagement with potential clients. Everyone loves free stuff, so giveaways are typically a slam-dunk. Your giveaway will, of course, largely depend on your budget. If you’re just starting out, it’s probably unrealistic to assume that you’re going to be able to rival one of HGTV’s dream home giveaways or iHeartRadio’s all-inclusive trip to Las Vegas. Start small and go from there. It can be as simple as fun knick-knacks like t-shirts, coasters, or keychains made from wine corks Consider your target audience and use your imagination.
You can also use various platforms that offer discounts or deals. Take advantage of Groupon, a high traffic site that promotes various businesses via deals on services rendered or products offered by your company. I’ve visited new restaurants or spas simply because I found a great deal on Groupon, so never underestimate the power of advertising a discount, as it will serve to bring you more business in the long run.
Although these are three creative ways we love for marketing your business, marketing can be done differently depending on the person. It’s important to keep this in mind to avoid getting stuck in a rut. There is enormous space for creativity and experimentation when it comes to what works and what doesn’t, and since every business is different, give these ideas a try and experiment with others for yourself!