Marketing is a vast field of opportunity. In almost every industry, there are time-tested and proven strategies that can help you get more customers. However, one of the biggest problems with modern marketing is how much it can cost to get started. Influencers and bloggers have raised the bar for what is accepted as quality content on social media and with SEO, making it harder for businesses on a budget to break through. As a digital marketing agency that frequently works with businesses on a lower budget, we want to share some creative marketing strategies that are both low-cost and have a lot of potential for success.
Creative Marketing Strategies for Social Media and Organic Search
There are massive opportunities out there for digital marketing and in-person marketing that you might find valuable. In this article, we will be touching on a couple of creative digital marketing strategies and face-to-face marketing strategies that your business should try at least once. For face-to-face strategies, click here.
Make Creative Marketing Memes
Memes are a great way to express the creativity and value of your brand without any ad spending necessary. In the example meme, our time to create was less than 5 minutes, using a template provided by Kapwing, which has a much higher engagement potential than traditional social media posts.
Following the 80/20 rule in marketing, your content should be 80% non-promotional material and 20% promotional content. Memes can fall anywhere in the 80% or in the 20%, so make sure when creating your memes for your social media content, that you have a good balance between educational, valuable, and promotional content. But most of all, make sure to have a good sense of humor! Nobody likes an account that posts jokes but can’t take them.
Make a Prediction of the Future…
One very invaluable branding and marketing tactic is to position yourself as an expert in your field. When customers and prospects view you as a leader, they are more likely to buy from you. But what’s the best way to become an industry thought leader? Predicting the future.
Is it Possible to Predict the Future Using Marketing Data?
You may be surprised to learn that it’s actually very common for marketing data to help you predict the future. This strategy is naturally a bit more risky as you will need to make predictions, stick to them, and be right… so how do you make a prediction about the future and be right?
How Set Fire Creative Predicts the Future Using Analytics and Data
The best way to make a prediction about the future is to have data to back your predictions. At SetFire Creative, we are able to make predictions about where to spend your ad money, how to bring your cost of ad spending down, and where your next marketing strategy will take place all because our team is working with advertising dollars every day. Read about how we were able to get a 12x Return on Ad Spend for Homi Baby here.
We are able to make these kinds of predictions because we are constantly looking at different data sources, methods, and strategies across the most common platforms. We see which businesses do well, what platforms they do well on, and how much they need to spend to see a similar return on their investment.
Data that Every Business Generates
You may not think your business has generated any data points yet, but in our experience, that’s simply not true. Have you had any sales yet? If the answer is yes, then you already have some basic information about your target demographic, how much they are willing to spend, and your best-selling products.
Using even the data from 10 sales can tell you a lot about who you should be marketing to. It can tell you age, sex, budget, and lifestyle. If you are struggling to come up with a target demographic, you can start by interviewing your previous customers and asking them why and how they came to purchase from your business. If you are already past this point, we recommend looking at this article from Zapier discussing how to get started with data collection at your business.
Creative Marketing Strategies That Aren’t Digital or Social Media
Sometimes it seems like the only way to get creative with your digital marketing is to do more and more marketing online, but in our experience, you can get as much value from in-person and face-to-face marketing strategies.
Create Flyers and Posters
Did you know that over 78% of people who pass by a flyer will look at it? For that reason, we think that businesses with a local emphasis have a unique advantage over bigger businesses. Unlike their corporate competitors, they are able to communicate and work with their customers in their day-to-day lives. In many local communities, churches, community centers, universities, and other local businesses often have a bulletin board where you can share what your business does and how to get in touch. With just the simple cost of printing out flyers and a few hours on a Saturday morning, you can get long-term value and mindshare in your community.
Small businesses that see themselves as local business owners end up winning a lot of local mind share, but only if they spend time engaging and working with the community. One great way to get more mind share in your local community is to sponsor or host a local art competition.
Many businesses recognize that the way most customers hear about them is through Word of Mouth. But they often forget that word of mouth can be cultivated by sponsoring local events. We love sponsoring local art competitions because it can be a great way to gain positive publicity, but also because it’s a way to support local artists in your area.
These are some of our favorite creative marketing strategies that can help bring your brand to the next level. If you haven’t tried any of these tactics, it’s worth trying at least once to see if they have potential as a new marketing channel for your business.
Preston is a true Idahoan with a potato addiction. He grew up as the oldest of 5 and had an interest in marketing since he was a kid. He would often notice differences in messaging and imagery between Idaho and Utah when traveling across state boundaries. The marketing fascination eventually took him to Utah Valley University where he is currently going to school for Digital Marketing. He has worked with many small Utah businesses in industries like stormwater, construction, software, web design, and shipping/logistics where he helped in a variety of tasks to help businesses succeed in their marketing endeavors.
