It is almost pointless to be a business owner if you cannot market your products in the market.
It is no brainer that if you don’t market, no one will know about your products, and no one will buy from you.
The fact that you are reading this article means you have already tried a few marketing tips with no success – or you are just scared you will launch a product that no one will know exists.
This article will teach you how to market your products successfully.
Gift Guides
It is your best friend’s birthday, and you have no slight idea of what to get her. You have basically exhausted your list, or she is too picky, and you want to impress her. What do you do? You run to Google and search for “Best birthday gift for my best friend.”
Screenshot from Dudoburd.
There are very many occasions in which people are in this position. Find bloggers making the lists and make an effort to make your product/service included in the gift guide.
Before you approach the author, make sure you have an idea on how to benefit them. Also, ensure your service/product benefits the user.
Email Marketing
If you are still skeptical about email marketing, the findings of EmailMonday will change your perception. They found out that for every $1 spend in email marketing; a firm has the potential of earning $38!
No wonder even the giants of the economy such as BuzzFeedare still using the strategy.
Screenshot from Buzzfeed.
Email marketing may help you gain new consumers by offering them an incentive like in the case of BuzzFeed, emailing your subscribers about a sale before making one, contacting customers who abandoned the cart to complete the process etc.
To ease the process, you may consider using email and SMS software. For example, SecondCRM,’s email marketing software helps you in managing bulk emails and creating email marketing templates for a successful email campaign.
Try Affiliate Programs
If you are still not making any sales, you may consider trying affiliate programs. In this case, other writers include the URL of your products on their articles, and you pay them a little percent of the sale after purchasing through the link.
In the case of Amazon the authors earn 10% of the advertising fee for any sale made.
Affiliate marketing helps create more awareness of your brand.
Get to the Press
For this one, you will have to leave your ego at the door. Having your business published or in a national press Radio and TV may be a great idea. However, it may not reach the purpose of increasing sales, for instance.
This is why you need to contact local presses for publication. Try to send a personal email to publishers before sending them a sample.
Courtesy can go a long way in getting you what you need.
See Forbes Ideas on getting free press for your business.
Use Pinterest & Other Social Media Platforms
It’s hard to ignore the influence of Pinterest while it has over 250 million users every month! According to Business Insider, Millennials are using the platform as much as Instagram.
Source: Smart Insights
Your pins may help you gain subscribers and buyers months after you pinned them. Use the right keywords for your post, and try posting when your target audience is online.
Billions of people are also using Facebook as an advertising platform as it is easier to reach the right audiences using the platform.
Consider talking to well-known youtubers to advertise your products in their channels (Most of them will mention your product & leave the link in their description). Again, this is a long-term advertisement.
An Omni Channel Retailing Systemcan help you stay organized and know the activities across all platforms.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
This is a long term type of advertisement. Although it takes a while to bring to fruition, it is effective, and once it picks up, it brings potential leads to your site very easily.
SEO requires thorough keyword research, great content that is useful to the user, and optimization for your site.
SEO statistics, however, show that the struggle is worthwhile.
You may consider hiring an expert to do that bit for you if you are not well accustomed to the field.
Referral marketing
This is one of the most effective types of marketing. It is considered as the most authentic type of advertisement.
This is because the referral is made by an individual who has zero gain in the sale.
When your clients start referring you to their friends and relatives – they don’t only suggest you but push their loved ones to shop with you.
Ensure your products and services satisfy the needs of your clients, and you will reap huge returns from referral marketing.
Always invest in maximizing the customer’s experience. Remember, the customer is always right.
Source: Buyapowa
Blogger Outreach
The hardest part of starting a business is creating an audience that trusts you. As a beginner, you have to pay to improve your traffic or tap another person’s audience.
One way to do this is to talk to bloggers who have a community that trusts them and request them to review your product.
This will help you get you off started as you build a name for your brand.
Pop-up shops
If you don’t have a mortal shop, you don’t have to worry about walk-offs sales. You may still enjoy the benefits by taking advantage of pop-up shops.
Find a free area in your local area and set up a shop for a weekend or even a week. People will enjoy you bringing the products near them.
You may also use pop-up shops to sell seasonal products to customers around your country.
It is also an excellent opportunity to interact with your customer’s one on one.
Learn What’s Working
Not everything you try out will work out for your business. As much as persistence and viewing the glass as half full is vital for every business person – it is also important that you weigh both sides.
Evaluate and categorize your marketing methods to these three categories;
What is working perfectly?
What is not working?
With the two answers, you can proceed to the last question of what do I need to do?
If you are convinced, you have done everything possible to make a certain program with no success – direct the energy, money, and focus on what is really working.
Repeat or Repeat
There is no alternative when it comes to hitting the repeat button. You cannot write one SEO article or post once in social media and expect to go viral.
You need to be constant in your postings to ensure your followers do not forget you.
You may be interested in some social media marketing tipsto know what is too much and what is enough.
Get Ready and Go!
There is no business owner who ever said that they woke up one day, and all their products were selling themselves.
People will only buy products if they know you. You can start with one of the marketing strategies mentioned above and proceed as you grow.
All the best!