I saw this quote recently and was reminded of it when I saw this question. “There was life before social media.”
For today’s younger generation who have grown up taking FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter and the various other social media platforms for granted, this might be hard to believe, but it’s true. So how and where did businesses advertise and sell their products before the advent of social media, and how might we use those same methods to promote TripleClicks products?
Professional website and / or blog – this is pretty much mandatory in today’s marketing world whether you’re selling online or have a bricks and mortar business. Create, or have created for you, a quality, professional looking website / blog. You can use one of the free website platforms but be aware that many of these now discourage or delete marketing websites so there’s not much point in creating an awesome site or blog only to have it taken down without notice. Platforms like Wordpress are much easier to get along with and also provide a much more professional looking product and they have plenty of plug ins to help. Then provide quality GENUINE TC product reviews (give the negatives as well as the positives) and create a relationship with your audience.
Email marketing – this tool has been swept under the carpet somewhat in recent years but it’s still an extremely valuable way of advertising products and services. If an email newsletter (ezine) for instance is appealing and exciting enough for the reader to open, many will scan through it looking for special offers or interesting products / information. Provide those – valuable information, great advice, relevant products and so on. You can use safe lists and various other free and paid advertising platforms to circulate your emails but your best option is to build your own email list by providing valuable content on your website or blog and getting your readers to subscribe to your newsletter. Word of caution - DO NOT SPAM or include content that is worded like spam.
Traffic exchanges, pay to click, solo ads, banner exchanges, text exchanges etc – some of the first places most people think of when looking for advertising alternatives to social media. They do work but be prepared to spend a lot of time looking at other people’s sites and opportunities in return for being able to present your TC products to them. Or else pay to upgrade your membership in some of them.
Media marketing – this is a very good way of creating awareness and advertising TC products but some methods will require having the funds available to invest. Places to advertise include:
§ online classified ads – there are hundreds of these sites available for both free and paid advertising.
§ paid classifieds in your local newspaper – this could be either a print or an online publication or both.
§ circulars and newsletters belonging to groups associated with the types of products you are promoting. For example – a pet owners club may allow you to advertise pet care products if they put out a newsletter, a mothers group circular would be a great place to advertise infant and young children’s products, an athletics or sporting group news bulletin is a good place to promote health and sporting equipment and so on. This would work especially well if you’re a member of the group or club concerned.
§ magazines and periodicals related to your product’s target market – again, paid classifieds
§ television advertising – great way to promote if you have the budget to do it
§ radio advertising – as for television advertising
§ press releases
§ article marketing – be careful with this one because most article places will not accept marketing pieces so you’ll need to actually provide value first and foremost
§ have a brochure or flier made up (use the TC Collections function) and pay to have it circulated in local newspapers or non-profit organization / interest group circulars and newsletters or popped into people’s mail boxes (country postal regulations permitting). This is what many big retailers do and it obviously works or they wouldn’t keep doing it.
Host a product event – sure, this will likely only give you limited exposure but it will provide you with invaluable face to face contact with your potential customers in order to get feed back and do some personal one on one marketing. Also consider teaming up with other businesses in your local area to run something like this. This would work particularly well for an ECA. Promote the event on your website / blog and via your ezines.
Hire someone to hand out brochures or fliers promoting your selected TC products in public places (there are people on places like Fiverr that will do this for a few $$s). Or hand them out yourself. Leave them at restaurants, on public transport, in rest rooms, on notice boards where permitted and so on. Put a flier in or on your car in a prominent location when it’s parked where lots of people will see it. Just use your imagination – you’ll find plenty of places for this type of advertising.
Mobile apps, text messaging etc - mobile phones provide one of the best ways to reach people because nearly everyone in developed countries has one and most keep them switched on and within easy reach 24/7. You can send very targeted messages via texting - statistics indicate that most people will read at least part of most text messages they receive. Just be sure to make the messages interesting, informative and worth their while reading.
Good old word of mouth – still the greatest and most effective advertising method there is. Get your customers talking positively about products, provide them with memorable phrases with which to describe your products (a catchy byline or jingle for instance) and encourage them to be your mouthpiece.
And always keep your eyes open for possibilities and places to promote. Think outside the square. Go where no marketers have gone before!
Of course all the advertising in the world won’t do you much good if you haven’t done your market research first, identified a niche and a need and selected products that will solve that need….
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