Studies have proven during difficult economic times, those companies who maintain their advertising presence will come out on top in their category when the economy lifts. However, being top-of-mind does not have to equate to multi-million dollar marketing budgets.
Think strategic marketing tactics. Utilizing a grassroots marketing approach and seeking community outreach tactics, can be just as effective and more cost efficient than traditional advertising.
By seeking the untapped audience right in your neighborhood, any company can remain on the radar amongst their target market with a minimal investment.
Such strategic marketing tactics include:
- Geo-targeting your advertising initiatives within a 5 – 7 mile radius of your location will make for less waste coverage.
- Be nontraditional. There are so many mediums beside expensive TV to penetrate the market. Consider ideas such as shopping plaza signage, movie theater advertising, buying an ad in a zone of a publication rather than the whole county or even sponsoring youth sports for in-field signage opportunities.
- Sponsor local associations or industry trade groups. Offer to be a speaker or sponsor an event in trade for an ad in their newsletter or access to their e-blast list.
- Build your opt-in database. Your website is the main portal for prospective clients to find information. Be sure you have a response form on your site with an offer to obtain email address information for future communication like our Mad 4 e-newsletter.
Lastly, measure your results. Any good advertising effort should have some type of measurement metric in place. Create a unique url or phone number as a call-to-action, develop a tracking spreadsheet by medium for when prospects inquire and install Google analytics on your website or landing page. If you don’t know what’s working or not, you’re not being strategic with your marketing tactics.
