Just like creating a website, coming up with profound marketing ideas is essential to a successful business in today's day and age. Think about it, you may offer certain products at low prices, or provide the best customer service, but the ability to attract new customers solely comes down to how you deliver your message and impress your customers.
Coming up with your own creative marketing ideas is what will give you that competitive edge you need to stand out. To help you get the most out of your marketing efforts, we’ve put together a comprehensive list of the best marketing ideas for all businesses, especially shiny new ones.
We've broken down our list into 4 categories: Content marketing, social media marketing, marketing using lead magnets and our customer favourite marketing ideas. Check it out!
Content marketing ideas
1. Write engaging blog posts
By now, you know we are big fans of having a blog section on a website. Why? Because it's a great way to offer extra value to an audience. Check out our blog that covers the top 6 Benefits of Having a Blog on Your Website and learn how a blog section on your site can engage new readers, build your brand’s authority, improve your website’s SEO, and bring more organic traffic to your business.
Also, click HERE if you want to learn how to create a blog post on your website and impress your customers like never before. There we walk you through the whole process, from brainstorming the content ideas to executing the write up of the blogs your audience will love.
2. Produce videos
Videos are great pieces of visual content you can share with your audience. And the possibilities are endless when it comes to creating videos. Businesses often choose to produce videos to promote new products/offers, improve brand recognition and drive traffic to a landing page/ website. Don’t shy away from letting your creativity take over with video creation. Here are some questions to answer when filming and posting video content:
- What is the aim/message of the video?
- Is it relatable to your audience?
- Does it follow your branding?
- Is it suitable for your website, social media, adverts etc?
3. Create memes
We all love a good meme... we send them to our friends, family and colleagues on a regular basis. But have you thought about creating your own and including them in your marketing efforts? If you can craft a thought-provoking and/funny meme, you have marketing gold right there. Choose to create memes that relate to your industry or simply provide funny commentary on life, whilst representing your brand and your business' values. Definitely something to consider.
4. Start a podcast
Podcasts are extremely popular these days - according to Earth Web, there are currently over 2 million active podcasts worldwide. This number represents the number of existing podcasts worldwide, but not the number that have ever existed. For a list of the most popular/ most listened to podcasts out there right now, click HERE.
You’ll be able to tap into this media by producing your own branded podcast. After all, you're an expert in your field so you can discuss trends/ issues related to your industry or interview people your audience will find interesting. Furthermore, starting a podcast of your own is great for brand building and can help you form a community around your business. Here's a step-by-step guide to starting a successful podcast.
Social media marketing ideas
5. Open a community group
Building a community around your business promotes a loyal customer base and can give you a method to communicate with them directly. You can simply do this by starting your own online community on Facebook group, like we have - check it out HERE.
To use Facebook Group to build your own community, we recommend heading over to Facebook's resources. We found the best one so click HERE to be redirected to it.
6. Give an inside look
People are nosey, and like to see the goings on of things. That's why using social media stories, like on Instagram, to show followers what day- to-day life looks like is an awesome marketing strategy. Showing the human side of your business will encourage people to learn more and eventually work with you/ buy your products and services. Show your audience that you're the every day person - be relatable, funny, and provide an inside scoop to the goings on in your industry/business
7. Write compelling posts
While you shouldn’t rely on social media posts alone to generate buzz (hence why we're providing so many other ideas), they’re often the easiest and fastest way to engage with your audience. It is estimated that 4.62 billion people around the world now use social media, and 424 million new users have come online within the last 12 months alone. How crazy is that?! So creating great copy for posts is one of the basics of social media marketing and is without a doubt a simple way to communicate with your customers and promote your business.
8. Use hashtags
It's important to know hashtags differ from platform to platform. On LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, hashtags are critical to gaining exposure, especially if you don’t have a large following yet. Whereas Facebook, it's not as important but still has the potential to boost your content when used correctly. The main rue to using hashtags is only using the ones relevant to your business and industry to increase your posts’ overall reach. If you don’t know how to use them or which ones to use, check out our blog on how to use them HERE whilst also taking a look at your competitors’ profiles to find some inspiration.
9. Create your own hashtags
Branded hashtags are a great way to set yourself apart from your competition and create a virtual space where your brand sets a tone. So don’t just use whichever hashtags are popular in your industry - yes use industry-relevant hashtags in your posts, but pick them wisely and don't solely rely on them. Take initiative and start your own branded hashtags. Eventually people will catch on and use them for themselves.
10. Comment on other people's content
A great way to increase your social media reach, and promote your business, is to publicly interacting with other people and brands in the same or similar industries as you. This can be as simple as commenting on and sharing content by others, and in return you will ensure more people notice your business and what you have to offer.
11. Collaborate with other brands
Another great way to quickly increase your exposure is by working with another brand on a collaborative marketing effort. If both brands have a decent following, and a common target audience, you can potentially double your exposure overnight. Pick a business that equally benefits you as it does them, and get to work on posts and projects together to promote one another. For the top tips on collaborating with one or more businesses to improve your exposure, click HERE.
Marketing using lead magnets
12. Give away freebies
We all love free stuff... and it’s a great way to get potential customers to give you a little information in return. To offer something for free, you can:
- Give something special with each purchase a customer makes
- Give promotional items like branded pens, notebooks, wristbands at your next event
- Add incentives for new sign-ups to your website or mailing list
- Hand out small samples of new products coming out soon
13. Offer limited-time discounts
Limited-time offers won’t just promote your business in the moment, but they will also offer a changing deal, every week or month, maintaining people’s interest over time. They add that little urgency some customers need to take action and buy a product/service. So from time to time, add limited offers like "10% off this weekend only" or "25% before 7pm tonight" to spruce up your marketing efforts and add a little excitement for you and your customers.
14. Run competitions
Running a social media competition is a brilliant way to attract and engage audiences, grow awareness of a product and increase purchase intent from potential customers. They can also be used to build an email list, drive traffic to your website or simply to reward your customers. Keep in mind that if you're only going to give out a limited number of prizes, make sure they are worth people’s time. Get your audience excited and involved!
Our customer favourite marketing ideas
15. Host an event
Events are an excellent way to maintain relationships and tighten ties with the people that matter to your business. And it’s all about marketing yourself. So when you can, brainstorm an event to interact with those that matter to your business and its growth. Here are some event suggestions to think about:
- Workshops
- Fundraisers
- Conferences
- Networking
- Webinars
- Reunions
- Themed party
16. Collaborate on a product
If you want to create a buzz around your business and a new product, collaborate with another brand and manufacture something together that your audiences will love/appreciate. People love it when two brands they admire put out a product together. When you issue some as limited editions, you’ll have a highly marketable product.
17. Work with local businesses
You can instantly market your business to a local crowd by collaborating with another well-known local brand. It’s a good idea to join forces in any form, be it a product, social media content, or a one time special offer. So think about the bigger businesses in your local area and see if there is some magic you can spell up there.
18. Partner up with influencers
If you’re looking for a more modern way to spend your marketing money, you can get influencers to use their social media platforms to push your products. With this type of marketing (influencer marketing), you need to find people that have a large following of people who may find interest in your business, products and/or services. Contact them and strike a deal - whether you offer payment or sponsorship of some kind, you get in return product placements and endorsements.
19. Place ads online
Gaining organic traffic is incredibly important, but it’s not always enough to grow your business at the rate you want. If you can, don’t hesitate to place ads online, wherever it can help you reach potential customers. Many websites operate on an ad revenue model, so there’s no shortage of places to advertise. Click HERE for a list of places to advert online.
20. Perfect your elevator pitch
First things first, what is an elevator pitch? An elevator pitch—also known as an elevator speech—is a quick synopsis of your background and experience. The reason it's called an elevator pitch is that it should be short enough to present during a brief elevator ride. It's important for you to know that a pitch isn’t just for investors. It’s the way you present yourself and your business to the world, whether its to customers or potential partners. Being able to explain what your business does and summarise it in just a few sentences may be the most effective marketing tool you have. So get to work on it RIGHT NOW!
21. Get seasonal with your marketing efforts
We firmly believe everything is a marketing opportunity. So don’t waste opportunities by letting seasonal events like Easter, summer, Christmas go by without a custom marketing campaign. But it's not just about holiday marketing tactics. Any major event can be used as a marketing opportunity, for example the Superbowl, Olympics, even Eurovision. You can put a clever spin on any season/event to work for your business' marketing.
22. Simplify your marketing funnel
A marketing funnel is simply a every step a customer goes through before they purchase your product and/or service. It charts their way from an initial point of contact, such as an ad, all the way to closing the deal. Thus, understanding your marketing funnel is crucial to making smart marketing decisions. So the fewer steps customers need to make, the better it is for you and them.
