These days marketing encompasses a wide range of different techniques which are also constantly evolving, so it can be difficult to choose which would be the best for your business. If in doubt, it’s always best to start out with the most direct forms of communication, including direct mail, text marketing, and social media marketing to give you a good head start in increasing awareness of your brand.
Direct Mail
Being able to send direct mail to people relies on you having a database of potential customers and their addresses, so you need to start by building this up. Some companies purchase contact details in bulk in order to do this.
Another method is to simply target the areas that your ideal customer would be likely to live, and post leaflets through every door there. If you’re taking the direct mail route, it’s important to make sure your publications stand out so that they are not immediately cast aside as junk mail by the occupier.
Text Marketing
Text marketing consists of sending text messages to those on your customer contact list. The average person spends at least four hours a day on their phone, so text marketing is a fantastic way of getting their attention. Similar to direct mail, you need to make sure that the texts you send don’t give off an immediate impression of being spam; customers need to be enticed by the content so that they open the message rather than simply deleting it.
Depending on the type of business you have, it’s best to make the messages as helpful as possible, for example, reminders about events and sales so that they see them as a positive influx of information. Personalizing who the message is addressed to is another way to create a connection between the message and the customer, in order to decrease the likelihood of them deleting it.
Social Media Marketing
Social media is one of the most powerful platforms nowadays; creating new celebrities, entrepreneurs, and marketing channels. Social media influencers are users who have large follower counts, therefore, using them to advertise your business ensures significant exposure and plenty of potential new customers, especially when chosen wisely based on the kind of audience they are trying to appeal to.
As of 2017, the total number of social media users worldwide reached 2.5 billion, showing just how valuable this form of direct marketing could be. Browsing social media is part of the majority of people’s daily routine, therefore placing an ad on a site like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram is a great way to exhibit what your company has to offer with a guaranteed audience.
A lot of marketing campaigns rely on the hope that the advertisements will reach the right audience, for example newspaper adverts rely on the right people buying the newspapers, and those people reading them thoroughly enough to notice the ad. More direct forms of marketing ensure that your campaign will get exposure in the right circles and response rates are therefore greater. Having a reliable value to what you’re putting out allows you to use it to build brand loyalty. For more business tips you could take a look at corporatedad.co.uk, for example their article on alternative business finance for a growing business is really helpful if you’re just starting out on your first entrepreneurial venture.
