Did you know that only 64% of small businesses have their own website? To say that a website is a must-have for any business in 2020 is a massive understatement, as it should be the center of all of your online marketing efforts.
With that in mind, having a website isn’t the only advertising technique you need to use in order to grow your brand. This is especially true if you run a local business that requires people in your area to come into your building to make purchases.
Not sure exactly how to market your business? Want to know which advertising strategies work the best? You’ve come to the right place.
In this article, we’ll give you 7 tips and tricks you can use to better promote your brand. We’ll also tell you about a few common mistakes to avoid, too, so you can stop wasting money on advertising strategies that don’t work.
1. Be Informative and Engaging
People are always on the hunt for new information. And thanks to the invention of smartphones, the answer to almost any question you could have is right in your back pocket.
Because of this, advertisers have found that promoting a brand by being informative is an effective advertising technique. Creating a banner with useful information, or a blog post that answers a common question, is also easy to do, which is a nice bonus.
2. Create a Unique Mascot for Your Brand
One of the best and most effective advertising strategies is Geico’s use of their gecko mascot. It’s a memorable and creative way to help people remember Geico and what their company is all about.
Even if you don’t have Geico’s 2 billion-dollar advertising budget, you can still come up with a unique mascot for your brand and get great results. And if your mascot sticks, you have something to build all future advertising campaigns around. That can be helpful if brainstorming new ideas isn’t your strong suit.
3. Go the Minimalistic Route
When you’re trying to stand out in a crowded market, it can be tempting to try and go loud and bold with your advertising campaigns. While this can be effective if it fits your brand’s identity, it’s often not the best way to go in 2020.
People love minimalism. And crafting minimalistic branding materials is easier than coming up with something that is a bit more intricate.
The best part? By going minimalistic, you let your product or service do most of the heavy lifting. That can be quite helpful if you bring something to the market that others in your niche don’t.
4. Start Blogging on Your Website
We touched on being informative, and how helpful that can be to your marketing efforts, earlier in this article. One of the best tools you can use to spread information on the web is blogging.
Blogging does take a lot of hard work on your part to pull off successfully. You’ll need to dedicate time to get a blog off the ground, as well as have someone on your team who is a solid writer.
But a blog can help you drive tons of traffic to your website, all while establishing credibility with your target audience. You can also monetize a blog, should it become successful. That extra revenue stream can help you get your brand off the ground, or even grow and expand it.
5. Go Mobile
Over 50% of all web traffic comes from mobile devices. That number is only going to continue to rise each year, which is why you need to make sure your marketing efforts are mobile-friendly.
Not sure how to improve your brand’s mobile-friendliness? Having a website that is mobile-friendly is a great place to start. This is quite important if you have a blog, and thus, need to get as much traffic via search engines as you possibly can.
6. Utilize Social Media Marketing
More than half of the world uses social media websites. Because of this, every major brand in the world is extremely active on social media apps and websites.
If you’re new to social media, don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to have a presence on every social media website that is out there. Figure out where your audience is the most active, and then only advertise on those 2 or 3 social media sites.
Trying to do much more than that will only make growing your social media presence that much harder, especially early on, which isn’t what you want.
7. Get Outside and Be Seen
If you’re new to marketing, it can be very easy to focus too much of your advertising efforts on internet advertising strategies. Because while having a strong presence online is a must nowadays, it’s still equally as important to get outside and be seen in your community.
Things like flyers or posters are still very much effective, and affordable, too, which is nice if your advertising budget is rather small. Sometimes literally getting outside and using a sign flipper can help drive traffic through your door, which is important if you rely heavily on in-store traffic to keep your business open.
Picking the Right Advertising Technique for Your Brand
Well, there you have it! Those are 7 advertising strategies that you can use to help take your brand to the next level. So, as long as you stick to an advertising technique on this list, and you do your homework, you should get the results that you’re looking for.
Remember, don’t be afraid to keep things simple and go the minimalistic route. That, combined with being informative, can be a very effective (and affordable) way to promote your brand.
Looking for more advertising tips and tricks? Check out our blog!