Marketing tools and techniques are resources and strategies that help companies promote their products and/or services in the most effective way. Here are five marketing tools and techniques to learn and implement for your business success.
#1: Affiliate/Influencer Marketing
Affiliate and influencer marketing are relatively new marketing techniques that allow your most loyal customers/customers to promote your products/services to their friends, family and social media followers. Influencers are those who have a large number of followers on social media and their large reach can increase brand awareness. Affiliates (which can also include influencers) may or may not have a large following on social media, but they are passionate about your business and want to share your products/services with the people in their lives. Your affiliates are usually rewarded with a small (they’re big) commission every time they refer someone to your business.
#2: Customer relationship management
Customer relationship management (CRM) is the process of cultivating a positive relationship between your business and your customer base or clientele. This is a key piece of business software that can give you a better understanding of how your customers interact with your business. CRM tools give you valuable information about your customers, such as their purchase history and trends, and also their personal information (which they have chosen to share), such as their home address and email address, and this is where email marketing can come in handy. Email marketing allows you to promote your products and/or services to specific customers, such as advertising sales to frequent buyers.
#3: Promotional and event marketing
Event marketing is the process of hosting or attending an event (either virtually or in person) for businesses. They can be pop-up shops, seminars, conferences or trade fairs. This is a great way to engage with other businesses and your customer base, as well as increase awareness of your brand.
One of the best ways to increase brand awareness at these types of events is to invest in promotional marketing by selling or giving away (whichever is more appropriate for the occasion) promotional items. Promotional items are everyday items such as key chains, pens, visors/caps and t-shirts that bear your company name and logo. The idea behind promotional marketing is to create more brand awareness when people wear or use your promotional items. For best results, choose everyday items or items specific to your business, such as promotional golf accessories if you are in the sports industry, or bottle openers and promotional kitchenware if you are in the food and beverage industry.
#4: Social media marketing
Social media marketing is one of the most used digital marketing strategies because it is one of the most effective. With around 25% of the world’s population active on social media, you have a huge audience of people to market to. Almost all social media platforms have evolved to allow businesses to market and sell their products, a change that became more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic when out-of-home shopping was limited. Some of the most popular social media platforms today include:
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp Twitter LinkedIn (both a job search site and a social media platform) YouTube TikTok
Also, engaging with your customers on social media helps build trust. This will increase the chances that they will choose your company over a competitor and spread the word about your company.
#5: Website design
First and foremost, every business should have a website because it acts as a destination point for all of your business information. Even if you don’t sell products or schedule online consultations, having a website will increase brand awareness through search engine optimization (SEO). SEO techniques use keywords on your website to help it rank higher in search engines when people search for words related to your business. This drives more organic traffic to your website.
Having a blog on your website also helps a lot with SEO, but it’s not always necessary. However, your website should include an About page, a Contact page, and a page listing your products and/or services. Also, try to limit the number of pop-ups on your page so that visitors are not tempted to click.
These five marketing techniques rely heavily on the Internet and technology, but that’s the world we live in today. Therefore, it is time to take advantage of these tools and techniques to ensure the success of your business.
