What are some marketing tactics for startups that will help you stand out amongst the crowd?
Now I certainly am not claiming to have the 5 magic bullets that will allow you to dominate the market overnight, but I want to share a few tactics that I have personally seen help companies be heard amongst all the noise.
The list share just a few marketing tactics and is not meant to be a definitive list by any means, as this article is written by a silly college kid who aspires to be an entrepreneur, so none of this is from my own experience.
Feel free to add any other tactics that you have seen help companies stand out in the comments below, but for now, let’s dive right into the list!
1. “Old-School” Strategies
In the digital age that we live in currently, the public’s attention span has drastically decreased.
People want quick and concise content that they can easily vet within a matter of minutes.
Because of this, companies are running to create engaging video content that captures’ their audiences’ attention.
This is a fantastic approach as consumers can be educated quicker, but as we evolve into more digitized content marketing, companies leave the “old-school” marketing strategies open for you to take advantage of.
For example, if you have a few accounts in the b2b space that you know would be a great fit for your offering, sending hand-written letters will definitely catch them off-guard.
With the easy access to automated email tools that most companies have, a letter to your prospective account shows that you are deeply invested in their company and are highly confident that your offering would benefit them.
When a prospect receives a letter, they immediately recognize that you had to go out of your day to get an envelope, write a few sentences, and then drive to the post office to ship the letter out. Talk about going the extra mile.
Try taking advantage of as many in-person strategies as you can as the world continues to digitize.
Although we now do a large portion of our communicating over the internet, there is a general consensus amongst the public that interaction face-to-face are more meaningful then on a computer.
To promote your business, try throwing creative activities/ events in highly-populated areas.
This could be:
- Barbecues for the public where you give out hot-dogs/hamburgers to anyone who learns about your company and offers a referral.
- Placing stickers in noticeable areas so that people ask about your company.
- Giving goodie bags to strangers in exchange for a referral or meeting.
- Giving free tickets out to strangers to test or view your product in exchange for something else.
And the list goes on!
All-in-all, be creative outside the digital space to truly stand out in your marketing efforts!
2. Personalize Your Promo
If you want people to remember your company, try to put a face to the name.
Most companies will use generic content to promote their goods/services that typically include screen recording of software, or animation videos of how their service works.
While these videos are often great explanations for a company’s offering, it does little to intrigue buyers emotionally.
Give your audience a reason to engage with your brand, by creating a story behind it.
People will get behind your message if they know who you are on a personal level.
If you really want this to work, share your story online including the ups and downs of your journey to show a more authentic side of you.
People are more likely to help someone they feel like they can relate with than just a random company online.
3. Collaboration with Others
Although we live in a very competitive, “dog eat dog” world, your “competitors” don’t have to be your enemies.
If you can identify other people/companies in your space that are trying to achieve similar results as you, it may be mutually beneficial to team up and cross-promote to your existing audiences.
This is done all the time in the YouTube world, as well as in the music industry, as featured artists or content creators will often receive a massive influx of new followers after they appear in someone else’s content.
4. The “High School Party Rule”
Coined by the one-and-only Gary Vee, the high school party rule is the idea that if you are the one to host events, meetings, or gatherings, you will gain points as a the cool kid.
He named it the “high school party rule” because although some student might not be the stereotypical “cool kid” in school, they can be if they are the ones to host the high school parties.
Gary applies this idea to his own podcasts by inviting guests from different business backgrounds and industries to share their story on his show.
This not only attracts new eyes to Gary’s show, but also to his brand in general, which in turn brings more guests to want to be featured on the show.
Gary suggests to be the industry “cool-kid” and create a hotspot that attracts industry leaders, companies, and customers to want to share their thoughts on your platform.
This could be in the form of a youtube channel, podcast, blog, or any platform that establishes you as the go-to resource in your industry.
5. Re-Purpose Your Existing Content
This is a strategy that the company I work for currently is trying to tackle.
We have hundreds of videos on various platforms that show different areas of our product, but some videos are too long or the real “nuggets” in the content don’t happen until the very end of the video.
Instead of creating a batch of brand-new content, our team is simply optimizing our videos for different channels by creating what are essentially “highlight reels” of our videos.
This is seen all the time now with podcasts on YouTube.
Look at Joe Rogan’s podcast for example.
Joe has his main channel where he posts long-form podcasts that are multiple hours in length, and from one podcast he will cut up segments and create videos to place on the Joe Rogan clips channel.
This is essential when promoting content on multiple platforms as algrotihms work differently, and thus users respond to content differently.
For example, you can post longer content on YouTube, short and engaging content on Instagram or TikTok, and post blog articles or informative reports on LinkedIn that all stem from one original video.
Conclusion
Did I miss any marketing strategies that you would add?
I’d love to hear it in the comments below.
As stated in the introduction, these are just five marketing strategies that I have seen work and have left a lasting impression on me.
There are hundreds of tactics out there to choose from, so maybe I will add on to this list in a future article!
Thanks for reading!
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