Every year, more than 627,000 new businesses open in the US.
One of the most important aspects of business ownership is marketing. Without an effective marketing strategy, you’ll struggle to stand up to the competition. This could lead to your business failing, so it’s important to know what marketing methods are at your disposal.
For a rundown of some key types of marketing, keep reading.
Outbound Marketing
This is a traditional form of marketing that involves getting your message out into the world. One of the most common examples of this is billboards.
You can promote your company and its values, specific products, special offers, and more.
Partner Marketing
This can be ideal for a small business owner. You can partner up with another business to help each other using a single message, and it often involves one company sponsoring something at another.
A typical example would be to allow people free wi-fi access at your business, courtesy of a provider such as Google.
Cause Marketing
Cause marketing can show that your company cares about more than just making money. You can back a cause, such as a charity, providing some sort of assistance.
Committing to giving a small portion of your profits to supporting clean energy, for example, will show people that your brand is trying to reduce its carbon footprint.
SEO
Online marketing efforts can be crucial to increasing foot traffic in your store. Strong SEO (search engine optimization) and killer content can go a long way to strengthening your brand’s online presence. You can find out more about how to do this from The HOTH.
Word of Moth Marketing
Your customers can prove to be a very effective form of marketing. If they tell their friends and family about your brand, it could bring in a lot of new customers. While this strategy can be very useful, it depends on your customers for it to work, so you don’t have much control over it.
Social Media Marketing
There’s a range of social media platforms that you can use to promote your business. This means you can use innovative marketing techniques to reach various audiences.
Social media marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to promote your brand, as well as one of the most useful. With over 4.7 billion people using social medial, this isn’t something you should leave out.
The Best Types of Marketing for Your Business
With all the different types of marketing available, it can be hard to choose which ones are best. The most suitable ones will depend on the nature of your business and your target audience. You should also factor in things like your resources and your budget, as some cost more than others.
Social media marketing and SEO are good places to start as they’re very cost-effective. As your business grows you can try out different types to see what works best for your brand.
For more business articles, check out some of our other blog posts.