For sales and marketing people looking to get more leads for their business, the Internet offers great opportunity wrapped up in some interesting challenges.
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3 creative marketing ideas for creative companies
If you're in the business of making and selling unique stuff then the marketing strategies you use should reflect the creativity of your products in order to reach out to the right people.
Fortunately the Internet is full of the "right people" just waiting to place an order. But your message has to find them in the right place in the right way.
That's why it pays to think creatively about marketing instead of following the pack and doing the same old "tried and tested" things.
That's not to say that "tried and tested" won't work. Think of this list as a booster on top of your existing advertising and promotions that will kick-start sales and get people talking about your company.
1. Do something amazing
The Internet is always thirsty for anything out of the ordinary - whether it is just downright weird, extraordinarily beautiful, amazingly difficult, and so on.
If there is some aspect of your business that is completely unique then spend some time finding a popular blog or site that covers things like that, and create an article or video clip for them.
Here's a great example of how (at least in my opinion) the most beautifully designed furniture found an unbelievable promotional platform on a site called Bored Panda:
Glass Rivers And Lakes Flow Across Beautiful Tables By Furniture Maker Greg Klassen
This is a fantastic example of how doing something amazing is its own marketing campaign. Without having to do any pushy sales, the inherent beauty of this guy's products led to over 77 000 Facebook likes.
That's publicity you can't buy! And, if I was even in the same hemisphere as this guy, I would have ordered one of these tables. I'm sure he must have received plenty of new business as a result of this exposure already.
2. Do something others can't
Another good way to catch the attention of potential clients is to actually show them what can be done with your product/service - this only works if what you offer is something they don't currently have.
A good example is how a company I work with, called RT500 Enterprise, tracked the sales performance (on Amazon) of a selection of books in a specific niche, and then used this unique information (that no-one else in the world had) to show certain publishers how and why some of their titles were outperforming others.
This information not only appealed to the publishers involved, but when shared on social media platforms like Twitter, ended up attracting attention from wholesalers and retailers who were interested in understanding how other products in their own particular niche markets competed.
The point being that simply advertising the service wasn't enough to convince people to use it. After all, telling someone a service is great is not the same as demonstrating it.
But once potential client companies could see the data and the value of it, many adopted the service straight away.
3. Give & lock
Another great way to convince clients to take the plunge and part with cash is to be hugely generous with your offering (perhaps even completely free) at the outset, but find a way to ensure that there is some form of "lock in" to keep them there once normal pricing resumes.
A good example of this is given by a company (again one I have contributed to) called ZAPlayGround that offers corporate Intranet solutions.
Because many companies want to maintain a secure network and discourage employees from wasting time on social networks, they tend to prevent access to sites like Facebook.
ZAPlayGround offers a really cheap corporate alternative to Facebook that companies can keep on their own Intranet. They can then manage human resources, organize and faciliate communications within and across departments (i.e. having a finance sub-group, sales sub-group, executive sub-group, etc).
It's fast and costs next to nothing to have the system setup, installed and running. The risk to companies testing the waters with this system is essentially zero.
After 6 months, normal monthly rates apply (which are still very reasonable), and the client is essentially locked in as all their corporate communications for the previous half year are now contained within the system.
So those are just 3 creative marketing strategies to help unique small businesses find and convert new clients and customers.
What other techniques do you use to increase revenue and profits for your company? Share your ideas in the comments.
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