Marketing 101: Tips for Effective Marketing

Any business that hopes to take off must have a sound marketing strategy in place. A good marketing strategy in 2021 covers email marketing, social media, video marketing, inbound marketing, content marketing and site optimization. 

We had business experts explain and map out some key practical marketing tips every entrepreneur should know. Work on these sound marketing strategies and your business can hit the ground running.

Organize Face-to-Face or Online Events

“Not only are events a fantastic way to connect with consumers and humanize your business, but they also provide tangible value to your company. In an increasingly digital environment, over 90% of marketers believe that hosting events is an effective practice for forming in-person relationships and interactions. Clients are more at ease when they can put a face to a business rather than a voice on the phone or online. If you are unable to host an in-person event, a virtual online event will provide just as much value to your customers. The ability to meet a global audience is one of the main advantages of hosting an online event. Provide unique content, lectures, free samples, or exclusive discounts at events to add even more value.”

Dr. Pooneh Ramezani, CEO & Co-Founder Dr. Brite

Target your Target Audience

“Know your target market. This is crucial for effective marketing. If you are showing your ads to people not interested in your goods or service, your marketing simply won’t work. Be consistent with 1-2 marketing channels before moving onto other ideas. Most people give up on marketing channels before they really even have the right data to evaluate. The key is consistency over a long period of time.”

Doug Hentges, Owner of DH Home Solutions

Prioritize Inbound Marketing

“Inbound marketing focuses on gaining leads by providing useful and appropriate content at each point of the buyer’s journey. Prospective consumers discover your brand through inbound marketing platforms such as blogs, search engines, and social media. The most successful approach is inbound marketing, which includes content marketing (on-site and off), search engine optimization, and social networking. Marketing isn’t magic; it’s just about attracting customers with useful, meaningful content that addresses their pain points and/or needs while still providing value.” 

Veronica Miller, Cybersecurity Expert VPNoverview

Add Storytelling To Your Brand Strategy

“My number # 1 for effective marketing is to add storytelling to your brand strategy. Since each story is special, it’s the ideal place to begin when revealing your company’s passion and intent. Following the creation of your brand’s narrative, it’s critical to identify the brand message: how to make your brand memorable in a single sentence. And what good is a message if it doesn’t have a strategy for getting it to the people? Your business plan’s most important component is your brand strategy. It defines your core values, financial objectives, and the four main brand pillars mentioned below:

“1. Emotional connection: What emotional connection does your brand provide? 2. Purpose: What is the major WHY behind everything you’re doing? 3. Differentiation: What sets the business apart from the competition? 4. Effectiveness: How can the brand assist others? Your brand strategy is a map for building a successful and motivating business. All of your properties, including your logo, website, business cards, conferences, videos, tweets, and speeches, will be driven by your brand strategy. You’ll know exactly where you’re going and how to get there in an original way!”

Lacy Summers (PMP), Chief Marketing Officer Crush the PM Exam

Customer Survey

“A clear and concise understanding of the demographics and habits of your clients is one of the most useful resources a marketer can have. Most of a company’s awareness of the demographics and backgrounds of its customers is dependent on guesswork up to a certain point. You will obtain useful insights into how to craft the most successful marketing plans possible by creating a detailed survey and incentivizing consumers to complete it.”

Jason Mitchell, CTO at Smart Billions

Remember: Content Is (Still) King

“Content marketing is marketing, and it’s at an all-time high. Regardless of the business, though, effective writing and generating quality material should become the norm, not the exception. Content marketing has progressed from becoming a component of a marketing campaign to being one of the central tactics. However, doing so in-house can be time-intensive, whereas outsourcing can cost anything from $2,000 to $20,000 per month.” says VPN Analyst; Alex Claro from Credit Donkey. 

Claro advises to delegate in-house whatever possible; “It’s important to figure out what the staff can do and when to get in an expert. If you have a member of your staff who is skilled in graphic design? That should be kept in-house. Do you want copywriting services? Engage the services of a copywriter. Whenever practicable, continue to use time-saving tactics. If you don’t have a lot of content capital, don’t want to create anything from scratch. While creating good content marketing takes time, there are a few tactics that can help speed up the process. You can save time by delegating writing or analysis to capable staff members, running daily columns in the same general structure, and generating new content that complements or improves existing content.”

Optimize Your Site For Search Engine Visibility

“My number # 1 for effective marketing is to* optimize your site for search engine visibility*. You’ve invested time and resources into building an impressive website, but if it’s not accessible in the search engine results pages for the main words your customers are looking for, they won’t be able to find you. SEO (search engine optimization) is the marketing method of optimising your website for search engines such as Google in order to improve search engine result visibility and drive relevant traffic and potential customers to your site. To improve your chances of ranking higher, focus on three factors: technical SEO, on-page SEO, and off-page SEO.”

Andrew Smith, Founder and Editor in Chief CozySeating

Find A Plan That Works For You

“My number # 1 for effective marketing is to find a plan that works for you. In today’s business world, marketing is changed drastically. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution. The key is to develop a marketing plan that is tailored to your company’s needs. If you’ve found a strategy that works, the most important thing is to stick to it. What will help you grow your company is showing up every day and sticking to your strategy. I use a mix of social media and email marketing to promote my company. I map out what I’ll post and email about each week at the beginning of the week, and then develop some eye-catching graphics to help my items stand out. It’s vital to be creative to help you stand out from the pack, but I can’t emphasize enough how crucial it is to be consistent with your messaging to engage your audience and target market.”

Andrew Chornyy, Ideologist and CEO of Plerdy

Build Your Influence

“In my opinion, the most successful marketing strategies are those that help you maximise your return on investment (ROI). You may use other effective marketing tactics once you’ve established your presence. And, with an ROI of $6.50 for every $1 invested on influencer marketing, it’s rapidly becoming one of the most successful marketing tactics for a small company. This is why influencers are increasingly being incorporated into small business social media marketing campaigns. As a CEO, I suggest the following steps to build a fruitful influencer marketing campaign:

1) Choose your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).

2) Concentrate your efforts on the social media platforms where your target market dwells.

3) Locate a reputable influencer.

4) Make a publishing calendar for yourself.

5) Develop and monitor the results on a regular basis.”

Miklos Zoltan, CEO & Cybersecurity Researcher Privacy Affairs

Collaborating with Influencers

“Collaborating with influencers in your industry is one way to extend your brand awareness and gain new audiences. Here, you tap into new audiences by asking the influencers to share your inspirational content.”

Carley, Head Of Social And Customer Care at FriendlyTurtle.com

Email Marketing

“Email marketing is one of the most successful ways to drive business. It is an easy and subtle way to constantly be in contact with your consumers. Successful email campaigns are notably structured and subjected to the goals of the company. What do you want to achieve by creating this email campaign? If you can ask yourself this question and then properly structure your emails based around your end goal, you will be successful (and this term means different things to different types of campaigns). Setting up your email campaigns as if you already know you are going to reach that sales goal, or outreach goal, or educational goal, will help add a level of confidence to your campaigns that will excite your consumers.” 

Lauren Bosworth is the Founder and CEO of Love Wellness