Marketing for business: what you need to do to make your brand visible everywhere

Developing a successful marketing strategy is crucial to the overall success of any business. But how do you create a plan that will help your brand shine brighter than the rest? I know from experience that it can be difficult.

The key to success is a deep understanding of your audience. Who are they? What are they interested in? What are they looking for? Once you have the answers to these questions, you need to offer it at the right time, in the right places and in the right way.

Of course, the effective actions used to do this will vary from business to business and industry to industry, but to get the most out of your marketing and reach a wide audience, it’s essential to consider and test a number of different strategies.

Business marketing starts with social media

Today, most people use social media – 60.6% to be exact. Social media marketing gives you the opportunity to showcase your product or service to your target audience and find new customers. Loyal customers also need your social presence to answer their questions and showcase what kind of brand you are. Now more than ever, people are using social media as a search engine.

And first of all, you need to figure out which channels are best to use. Do a little research and find out where your target audience hangs out. Is it on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn? Knowing this, you can research the best types of content to post on each of them. Product information, customer testimonials, behind-the-scenes information, company culture, or industry news – be sure to regularly analyse what content is performing well and what isn’t.

Not just sales channels

Use social media as a useful resource, not a sales channel. No one wants to be sold something all the time. While it’s good to post some special offers and product-related content, make sure you don’t overwhelm people with constant sales and pushy offers. Social media is a great place to build brand awareness, but it’s not done by shoving your product in people’s faces. It happens by sharing valuable, interesting and relevant content that resonates with your target audience. Your social media channels are the first point of contact for many potential customers, so engage them with useful resources, not dozens of posts shouting ‘buy, buy, buy’.

Get the most out of your email marketing

Email marketing is another powerful tool for generating and converting leads, and it continues to be one of the most effective ways to attract customers and generate revenue. To get the most out of email marketing, you need to first make sure you have a list of potential customers to send emails to.

Marketing strategy: Co-branding

Don’t pull it out alone, unite!

Co-branding is a marketing strategy where two or more companies collaborate to promote and sell a new product or service. As a result, consumers are often willing to spend extra money because the brands provide collective credibility to create an impression of the value of the product or service.

A great example is BMW’s collaboration with Louis Vuitton to develop an exclusive four-piece suitcase set that fits perfectly into the back of the BMW i8 sports car.

Or use affinity marketing, which is a collaboration between complementary brands and businesses that brings people together who share similar interests. For example, cafes that sell products from a local bakery, car repair shops that offer discounts to local car insurance companies, or an airline that partners with a hotel to offer package deals.

Another option is charity marketing. This is a partnership between a for-profit company and a non-profit organisation. The goal is to promote and benefit social and other charitable projects by leveraging and improving the brand’s reputation. Such cooperation guarantees both parties a number of benefits, including increased brand loyalty, positive PR, staying ahead of the competition and building trust with customers. Such marketing relationships give customers the feeling that you share their goal of making the world a better place.

Marketing strategy: Blog

Anyone can start blogging, but if you’re going to start writing (especially as a business), make sure you do it effectively. Similar to what I said about social media, you should think about how you can add value to your customers. The goal of business blogs is not to sell, but to provide useful content that will make you a thought leader.

Benefits:

• Drive traffic to your website

By regularly publishing and updating relevant content on your blog, you can drive more visitors to your website. However, it is very important to create content that appeals to your target audience and use SEO techniques to ensure that your blogs are visible to the right people.

• Lead generation.

Once your blog gets visitors, you can use this opportunity to engage them as leads. By adding pop-ups or gated content, such as downloadable eBooks or guides, you can collect basic information such as names and email addresses of your target audience in exchange for free content.

• Reusable content

You can turn your blogs into a valuable source of content that can be shared on social media and email campaigns, creating a valuable opportunity to engage with your target audience.

• Cost-effective marketing

Blogging is a relatively inexpensive method of inbound marketing compared to some other forms of marketing, and once published, it can always be updated and used in the future, providing long-term marketing value.

• Establish authority

If you consistently publish high quality, useful and educational content on a number of topics in your industry, you can build credibility and demonstrate your expertise. This helps to build trust with your audience. Share your articles on networks such as Medium, Quora, Reddit, and LinkedIn to reach as many people as possible.

Use video as a marketing tool

Video is a quick and effective way to get your message across. It’s a great way to show your customers exactly how you can solve their problems. Video is also extremely effective for brands with complex ideas, concepts, or product features. The adage ‘show, don’t tell’ comes to mind here.

However, not every video has to promote your product. Think outside the box and create entertaining videos that inform and entertain at the same time, such as how-to videos, customer testimonials, tutorials, or even animated videos.

Where you host your videos is also important. You can’t ignore YouTube’s popularity and reach – it’s the second largest search engine in the world. Use your videos to solve your audience’s problems. The more value you provide, the faster you can increase your visibility and, as a result, your sales. And take a closer look at TikTok. In 2022  it was the second most popular app in the world, so the likelihood of your audience using TikTok is quite high. 

Video production doesn’t have to be expensive. All you need is an idea, a camera and an online video editor to help you put it all together.

Small business promotion starts with SEO

Search engine optimisation (SEO) can be intimidating, but it is extremely effective. SEO is the process of improving your website so that it performs perfectly on search engines like Google and Bing. The idea is this: the better your visibility or ranking on these search engines, the better your site’s overall traffic will be.

How to implement SEO correctly?

Prioritise your audience. Google has specifically updated its algorithm to prioritise useful content, so make sure you’re publishing quality content. And don’t overuse keywords – this is one of the most common mistakes people make. While they are important, it is even more important to create readable content that is not filled with repetitive words and phrases. In addition, create content that is both human- and search engine-friendly.

Remember that search engines will send your content to the user’s search results page if you optimise the content you offer on your website, blog, or YouTube channel. SEO allows you to increase organic traffic to your website and improve its ranking in search results.

Marketing strategies are worthless without AI

Only the lazy are not using artificial intelligence in their business today. And while integrating AI into your strategy may seem like a daunting task, it will provide a number of benefits that will help your business grow. Here are just a few of the ways AI can improve various business processes, freeing up valuable time and resources to focus on growing your company.

What is the result?

In the fast-paced, ever-changing world of business, mastering effective marketing strategies is key to sustainable growth. The strategies we’ve covered in this article offer you a range of tools to get you started, from maximising the effectiveness of social media to personalised campaigns using artificial intelligence.

Tailor these approaches to your unique goals and the specifics of your industry, and you’ll be able to create a compelling brand presence, build strong customer relationships, and seize opportunities to expand your business.

Remember that success is about constant adaptation, experimentation and analysis of results. All the information you gain from analysing, tracking and measuring will help you identify areas for improvement and understand the return on your marketing investment. In business, as in life, success comes to those who are not afraid of change and are ready for continuous improvement!