{"id":1517,"date":"2015-06-12T14:58:09","date_gmt":"2015-06-12T14:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/?p=1517"},"modified":"2015-10-11T21:22:29","modified_gmt":"2015-10-11T21:22:29","slug":"9-overlooked-ways-to-market-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/9-overlooked-ways-to-market-your-business\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Overlooked Ways to Market Your Business"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nJune 12, 2015<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n

Entrepreneurs typically operate with lean budgets and aggressive goals. So they\u00c2\u00a0should never pass up an opportunity to educate, build awareness or provide an offer to a potential customer. Sales should always be “up front and center.”<\/p>\n

Related:\u00c2\u00a0Further Engage Customers By Creatively Distributing Your Brand<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Knowing this, my clients are always looking for creative ways to capture the\u00c2\u00a0attention of customers<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0but not come across as aggressive. While they appreciate the old model of \u00e2\u0080\u009cpush marketing\u00e2\u0080\u009d (selling, engaging in repetitive advertising and repeatedly\u00c2\u00a0calling customers), their focus today is more on \u00e2\u0080\u009cpull marketing.\u00e2\u0080\u009d This entails positioning and\u00c2\u00a0reputation building<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0(branding) in order to put businesses in front of customers when they are ready to buy.<\/p>\n

Here are nine overlooked ways to market your business:<\/p>\n

1.\u00c2\u00a0Luggage tags and backpacks<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A colleague of mine always appears at business events toting an attractive and functional backpack. Emblazoned on the front pouch is her company logo and tagline. And the strategy works: She tells me she is often stopped by people in airports or office buildings asking what her company does.<\/p>\n

So I\u00e2\u0080\u0099ve started doing the same: attaching branded luggage tags to my purse and carry-on luggage. People ask me what the tagline means and where I work. Free advertising!<\/p>\n

2.\u00c2\u00a0iPad, laptop “skin”\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As someone who regularly gives speeches, I often use my laptop and iPad to house my presentation. Early on I\u00c2\u00a0noticed that the back of my laptop, which faces the audience, advertises \u00e2\u0080\u009cApple\u00e2\u0080\u009d instead of “LIDA360.” So I ordered a custom LIDA360\u00c2\u00a0 laptop \u00e2\u0080\u009cskin\u00e2\u0080\u009d that does the advertising for me — while I\u00e2\u0080\u0099m speaking!<\/p>\n

I also put a skin on my iPad and cell phone, lest anyone miss a chance to know what I do. Because of this, people on airplanes and in airports\u00c2\u00a0have asked me about my business.\u00c2\u00a0What a great conversation starter!<\/p>\n

3.\u00c2\u00a0Desktop screen<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When setting up my speaking presentation, I’m often on my laptop in front of a crowded room. Instead of my desktop screen showing a photo of my kids on vacation or my adorable golden retrievers, I have posted there the cover of my latest book, with a caption. This is what the audience sees as I launch or close my presentation.<\/p>\n

Related:\u00c2\u00a03 Secret PR Weapons To Help Build Your Brand<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

5.\u00c2\u00a0Social media<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube offer a lot of space to say who you are and what you do. Even if you use these social platforms for personal use only, why miss the opportunity to remind your friends and family what you offer? On your profile headers, add photos of you at work, your company logo or your recent book jacket, instead of a photo of your dog or a pretty sunset.<\/p>\n

6.\u00c2\u00a0Social events<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Getting out of your comfort zone sometimes means getting out of your current\u00c2\u00a0networking<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0circles. Attending high-profile events where media and decision-makers are mingling can earn you free publicity and build your profile as someone who is involved in notable areas of influence.<\/p>\n

7.\u00c2\u00a0Giveaways on social media<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Social media<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0offers the opportunity to share information and resources and also sell your services or product. Instead of traditional coupon or sales campaigns, consider giveaways. Yes, free stuff! Offer your product or service for free (for a limited time) to generate awareness. And create a separate landing page or phone number to track the direct response from this campaign. Then repeat as necessary, to keep the momentum going.<\/p>\n

8. Online reviews<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Every review a customer or visitor to your store leaves should be responded to, not just the\u00c2\u00a0negative<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0ones. Responding to positive reviews with genuine appreciation shows you are paying attention to your customers. Responding to negative reviews shows that you care and feel bad for letting a customer down. Don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t use your response as an opportunity to sell; just respond to reinforce your company\u00e2\u0080\u0099s values. This is great marketing!<\/p>\n

9.\u00c2\u00a0Video<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The use of video is growing every minute. In a\u00c2\u00a0recent research study<\/a>, Invodo\u00c2\u00a0found that almost 75 percent\u00c2\u00a0of current online traffic will come from video within the next two years. This means that traditional forms of marketing, such as direct mail and email marketing, will need to focus on video to grab the attention of users online.<\/p>\n

YouTube hosts videos that have\u00c2\u00a0high-production quality and videos that look self-made. With good reason: Companies that are successfully using video to showcase their teams at work and play, highlight product demonstration or\u00c2\u00a0give virtual tours of their offices are seeing\u00c2\u00a0a high ROI.<\/p>\n

High-quality videos certainly have a home on YouTube, but so do the organic\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u0080\u009creal world\u00e2\u0080\u009d videos that cost a lot less and pack a lot of punch.<\/p>\n

In sum, the mantra for all sales used to say, “Always Be Selling.” But, today, savvy businesses focus on\u00c2\u00a0reputation management<\/a>, positioning and marketing to get in front of potential buyers. Along with clever uses of their logos.<\/p>\n

Related:\u00c2\u00a04 Steps to Attracting and Building Better Customers<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June 12, 2015 Entrepreneurs typically operate with lean budgets and aggressive goals. So they\u00c2\u00a0should never pass up an opportunity to educate, build awareness or provide an offer to a potential customer. Sales should always be “up front and center.” Related:\u00c2\u00a0Further Engage Customers By Creatively Distributing Your Brand Knowing this, my clients are always looking for … Continue reading 9 Overlooked Ways to Market Your Business<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marketing","pmpro-has-access"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4MGMb-ot","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1517"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1518,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517\/revisions\/1518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}