Choosing an Effective Marketing Strategy
Effective marketing is the lifeblood of any successful company, business or enterprise. Creative and alluring brand awareness gives your business an immense boost in terms of reach and total sales. Since there has been a shift towards digital marketing, the conventional marketing methods are seen as a relics of the past and are being exploited less by businesses.
Businesses are now after posts that are going viral on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. These viral posts create a ton of leads for the company or even small businesses who posted the content online. The easiness with which digital marketing can be done is the reason why most businesses today flock towards digital marketing methods. The long chain of shares makes a post reach thousands in just a matter of minutes which is faster than old-school conventional methods of marketing.
Get To Know the “Old-School” Marketing Methods
Before the digital era, there were other marketing methods that have catapulted many companies to great heights all on their own. But has the magic of the old school ways faded? We must not underestimate the fact that these methods are tried and tested through years.
The common misconception people have today is that there isn’t adequate reach for old-school marketing methods like newspaper, Radio and TV ads. But the fact is that relying solely on online marketing medium isn’t a good move if you are promoting your company. What you need is maximum exposure, and that can’t be achieved by just putting ads on social media sites or paid online promotions.
Online ads and viral posts tend to fade out faster, they are the definition of easy come easy go. While for the old-school ads like Newspapers and yellow pages they tend to be around for a while. We can still pick up old newspapers from 20 years back and see adverts without the advertiser paying the publishers anything yet the ad is still effective.
The internet is also full of distractions when compared to the old methods of advertising methods. Websites that serve content tend to have side widgets, pop-ups, etc that distract an individual from the main content. Also, devices that the content is accessible on like smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc tend to distract the individual with notifications. All these distractions can reduce the effectiveness of the advert. The old conventional methods of advertising have fewer distractions and tend to be more focused.
Know Your Audience when choosing an advert method
You must be wondering why one would say online marketing methods aren’t completely effective. The reason for such is due to the various age groups that access the web every single day. The age groups can be roughly divided into six:
· Between 18 to 24
· Between 25 to 34
· Between 35 to 44
· Between 45 to 55
· Between 55 to 64
· Above 65
Different age groups handle social media in different ways. You can’t expect an individual belonging to the age group of “55 to 64” to use social media at the same rate as a youth belonging to the group “18 to 24”. The general trend is that people belonging to middle age or higher rely on newspapers and hard copies to get their daily feed rather than social media or other online sources. So if you think that posting an ad on social media would take care of all your marketing needs, then you couldn’t be any more wrong!
Now the old school methods don’t look too shabby, doesn’t it?! This is the reason why many conglomerates never leave the idea of posting their ads in newspapers and other physical forms of adverts. The combination of the two will give you an edge over your competitors.
The King of Trust-Based Marketing – Word Of Mouth!
Another effective method to get your brand or venture a loyal fan following is by yet another old school method–Word Of Mouth! Now Word of mouth method of advertising can be called the oldest and the most effective means of advertisement. Nothing beats the motivation that you get in buying a product when it’s your friend or close acquaintance who is the one suggesting it.
Word of mouth gives you an assurance that a person who used the product or service in real life is suggesting you that product. There is no gimmicky animations or paid actors. The catch is getting the wheels in motion in the first place. Being the most effective means of marketing has a catch, it is a slow process!
Increased Loyalty = More User Promotions
You need to inspire and capture the minds of the customers to help you fast pace the marketing process. If the service or product you offer has the edge over its competition, then it’s rather quite easy to get people talking! But once you get a fan base for your product, the web of marketing will expand indefinitely.
If you think the method is not feasible, or not possible in current times, then there are companies who proved otherwise. By providing invites and fan meetings, many tech companies have raised to fame with no social or paid marketing at all. This method is the most reliable method to create a loyal fan base.
“Old-school” is back!
Also, think about this, if you are to hear about two different products that do the exact same thing from a social media page and your close friend whom you trust, which one will you choose? Your friend right! That’s the power of word-of-mouth marketing, among the thousands of shares and retweets online, this old-school marketing method still reigns as one of the most formidable marketing tactics.
If you own a business or an idea who want to get to millions in a short period, now you know the best way to do it. Just relying on online marketing methods will not garner you customers from the broad spectrum of individuals out there. In the midst of digital medium don’t for to go Viral the old school way!
Keep in mind you cannot just copy and paste a marketing strategy and expect it to be effective for your business because it was effective for another business. Contact me for a customized marketing strategy be it New-School or Old-School.