When promoting a business, utilizing the newest and most innovative marketing strategies – such as content marketing – is always appealing. After all, the reach and level of engagement afforded by digital marketing strategies are both powerful and cost-effective. However, when creating a marketing strategy it’s all too easy to overlook more low-tech approaches and principles that, while less technical, are still quite effective. Often, it’s a case of using a mix of both the newest, most cutting-edge techniques as well as basic marketing and branding principles to ensure your brand is strengthened and audiences are reached.
Branded merchandise
Branded merchandise goes a long way and its effectiveness is two-pronged. Not only is it an opportunity to provide your customers with something useful, it’s also an ideal way of perpetuating a brand by marketing it on something functional and long-lasting that can be seen and used by many people. This can even include chairs and tents when at events where gastronomy printing is necessary, as well as pens and mugs at trade shows, and t-shirts and other apparel at sports days. While the cost of branding merchandise can be high, it usually recoups its cost in the long run because of the brand awareness that it creates.
The use of visuals
When creating a marketing strategy, designing a website or putting together any sort of campaign, it’s important to remember that human beings are visual creatures – that is, they respond to visual imagery very well. So well, in fact, that they can process it up to 60,000 times faster than text. This means that using visual stimuli should be an imperative and included in any sort of marketing effort. This could mean infographics, beautiful photos or even a comic strip. Regardless, the repackaging of simple text into a visual format could be the difference between a potential customer being engaged, or simply scrolling by an indifferent and seemingly impenetrable wall of plain text.
Empowering employees to be brand ambassadors
Perhaps the most powerful branding and marketing force available to any business is their employees. Instead of costly endorsements of celebrities and other public figures, transforming employees into brand advocates is a low-cost and effective grassroots method of promoting the desired brand image.
It’s important that employees are enthusiastic about their work and the company they are working for. The challenge is fostering that enthusiasm, but once it’s there, employees should be encouraged to share their passion for the job and company outside of professional settings. Much like word-of-mouth tactics, this is a valuable way of exposing potential customers to reviews and opinions from trusted sources, thereby building a positive brand image.
