One of the great things about running a small business is the flexibility and agility with which you can make decisions. But that dexterity can be a double-edged sword, because it often leads to shooting from the hip as opposed to developing a predictable and repeatable set of marketing tactics. We recommend that you put together a list of tried-and-true tactics and make it your go-to list every time you need to announce an event, promote a sale or launch a product. That doesn’t mean you have to execute on everything on the list every time, but you should consider each tactic and whether or not it will be effective for each unique situation.
What goes on the list? Start by noting all of the marketing channels that you use, and then list the individual tactics you’ve used for each of these channels in the past that have created a measurable return on investment (ROI) for you. Following is a list of potential marketing channels and a couple of tactics for each to spur your thinking as you create your own go-to marketing launch list:
- Print — newspaper ads, community magazine ads, flyers, brochures
- TV Advertising — local commercials, announcements on local community calendar feature
- Radio Advertising — 30-second radio spots, live on-site radio broadcasts
- Digital Advertising — web banners, retargeting
- Paid Social Advertising — Facebook promotions, LinkedIn ads
- Search Engine Optimization — Keyword research, link-building campaign
- Search Engine Marketing — Google Adwords or Bing pay-per-click ads
- Website Content — home page feature announcement, sharable infographics
- Affiliate Marketing — personal contacts with vendors, incentive program
- Co-Marketing — selling coordinating products/services from another SMB, co-promoting and splitting marketing costs with another SMB
- Video Marketing — product demo videos, video case studies
- Social Media Marketing — campaign of Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/Google+ posts, tracking clicks with a URL shortener
- Mobile Marketing — texting campaign, apps
- Email Marketing — announcement emails, feature in eNewsletter
- Blogging — announcement blogs, guest posts for related blog
- Public Relations — online press releases, video news releases
- Retention Marketing — postcard campaign to installed base of customers, reward/loyalty cards
- Prospect Marketing — direct mail to purchased list, cold calling
This obviously isn’t an exhaustive list of marketing channels and tactics, but hopefully it’s given you the beginnings of a marketing launch checklist that will ensure that each event, sale or product launch is a success.
What marketing distribution channels are we forgetting? Are there other marketing tactics that work well for you? Tell us your story. Comment on our 123Print Facebook wall, tweet us, or leave a message below.
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
1 Comment
kool
October 1, 2013 at 11:49 pmThere is no doubt that announcement of launching a new product or services is essential to get good response from market. Nowadays we are living in digital era where we have bundles of marketing mediums that can help us to enhance our business on the web as well as in local market. If a business man or marketing executive is not using all these mediums of marketing then definitely he/she is wasting the time and money. Mobile marketing, paid marketing, newspaper and email marketing are the most effective sources for sharp or targeted marketing. Search engine optimization is for long term because it is slow processed. Your all shared tips and points have great worth for better advertising and marketing.