Business owners who have difficulty with attracting members of their target audience, increasing foot traffic and reaching sales goals usually have a marketing problem. Marketing is a lot like chess and other strategy-style board games. You must observe your opponent and all of the available moves, anticipate your opponent’s next couple of moves and then make and implement a flexible plan of attack that benefits you throughout the game.
You have probably already used many different traditional advertising and promotional strategies. Here are four modern alternative moves that can help you win:
Set Up Partner Referrals
Word of mouth referrals by customers are not the only type of referrals that exist. Speak with local business and non-profit leaders outside of your industry who sell products and services to customers from your target market. Discuss with them partner referrals where you refer customers to them and they do the same for you.
Invest in Package Inserts
In another type of reciprocal strategy, share printed promotional materials in shipping packages sent to customers of other businesses who have a similar target market as your own. You might pay for this service through a marketing firm that offers an experienced package insert team that connects businesses in this way or work directly with local business leaders.
Select Responsive Design Plans
Business website visitors typically respond positively to user interface designs that work correctly and match with similar elements, such as images and graphics, colors and text, across devices. Positive brand recognition requires “responsive UI designs” that allow for optimal usage across desktops, laptops, tablets and smart phones by auto-adjusting to user devices. If you have any elements that look drastically different, fail to work correctly or disappear off the edge of a screen on certain types of devices, select more flexible custom layouts and elements that auto-adjust.
Use Business Branded Vehicles
Some business owners forget that their vehicles are free moving billboard space. The vehicles that you use should always promote your business with positive brand imagery and text. Consider using fleet vehicles, like those found at Woody Sander Ford, that you can add your custom brand design to it. This will help save you money while effectively providing creative customer outreach for your business.
Although these are only four of many moves you can use to win, they represent a solid foundation for strong marketing campaigns. Try them out today.
