20 Uncommon Marketing Strategies That’ll Kickstart Your Business

Starting a business? The most important step is to avoid spending a lot of money on advertisements that will attract new signups and users.

Instead, you must employ the best marketing strategies that are both innovative and unorthodox. Furthermore, these strategies must be within financial constraints.

You won't waste lakhs of rupees on a 30-second commercial this way, and you'll get much better results.

We’ve listed 20 uncommon marketing strategies that’ll kickstart your business.

Let’s get started!

1. Launch an Exclusive Beta Version

Launching an exclusive beta version of your product will instill a sense of urgency in your audience, as they will want to be the first to experience it. Your business will grow exponentially whenever you decide to introduce your beta version to the broader population.

2. Referral Program

You'll expand your consumer base and create confidence in your customers by using your current users to promote your product. You'll have to give rewards to your existing customers to refer to your product, such as discounts or gifts.

3. Create A Viral Video

If you’re looking to drive tons of traffic to your product, you’ll need to put viral marketing ideas into practical use. An explainer video of your product with humorous content will encourage your audience to share amongst their friends and family.

4. Hold A Contest

Giving your audience the chance to win something in return for taking action is one of the top marketing strategies for accelerating your company's growth. Moreover, social media tools have made it easier to hold such contests.

5. Collaborate With Another Brand

Your small business might not be large enough to gather a large audience, but by joining hands with a brand, you can implement your small business marketing ideas at a broader level. While researching your potential partner brand, choose the one that offers complementary products and doesn’t divert your audience.

6. Leverage Your Product For Social Cause

Utilising your brand or product to support a social cause is a novel way to get people to notice it. This way, the audience would be motivated to engage with your product while also helping to solve a more significant issue.

7. Attend Trade Shows

Attending trade shows is one of the most effective offline marketing strategies you can use. These trade shows and conferences provide you with the opportunity to meet and network with business leaders and influencers. You can therefore use this relationship to promote your product.

8. Publish Top-Notch Content

You'll be able to reach a wide variety of viewers without breaking the bank if you create amazing content that talks about your product and brand. The more content you have on your website, the more likely you will implement content marketing strategies effectively.

9. Give Free T-Shirts

Giving away free t-shirts is more than just a way to entice people to purchase your stuff. It also aids in the promotion of the business's identity. As people walk around wearing your t-shirts, they can serve as walking advertisements for your company while simultaneously increasing brand awareness.

10. Sell Stickers

Although it can seem to be a simple way to promote your company, it can help you stand out from the crowd if done correctly. You'll accomplish two goals by distributing or strategically positioning these stickers. You'll please your customers with a cute little accessory while also raising your brand awareness.

11. Collect Email Addresses

Email marketing is far from dead. Instead, it’s considered one of the best marketing strategies of all time as it’s still the most preferred mode of communication. To implement this strategy, grow your email list and encourage those in your list with incentives like free eBooks or coupons.

12. Connect With Forum Posters

One way of increasing your user base is by connecting with people who are deemed interested in your product. You can find them by researching through the forums related to your product. When people express their pain in these forums, you would’ve got an opportunity to promote your solution to them.

13. Connect With Specific Community

After determining who your ideal customer is, you can kickstart your business by focusing on a particular group of these customers. An incredible piece of content, such as blogs, videos, or even email, should be exclusively devoted to attracting members of this community.

14. Offer Cash To New Customers

You can pay a potential customer directly instead of wasting money on advertising and other costly marketing campaigns. You can make direct payments to them in the form of new app signups or referrals. Even though it is a relatively expensive technique, it can produce good results.

15. Convince Your Competitor’s Users

You can make use of the audience that is already subscribed to your competitor. All you have to do now is figure out what problems they're having with your competitor's product and educate them on how your product solves those issues.

16. Host An Event Or Class

You can unleash one of the most effective tools for generating more leads, increasing brand recognition, and increasing interaction by incorporating webinars into your business. It is not only one of the most cost-effective marketing methods, but it also aids in developing a relationship with your target market.

17. Do A Flash Mob

When a group of people starts dancing together out of nowhere, it creates a fascinating atmosphere and draws the audience's attention. You'll get a lot of overnight traffic on your website if you keep your brand or product at the core of a flash mob and use it as viral video material.

18. Feature In Major Publication

By building a relationship with major publications and featuring in one of them, your business can be on the receiving end of tons of traffic. The power of such publications does wonders for building a solid image of small businesses.

19. Create A Challenge

Apart from creating a viral video, creating a challenge around your product also helps in encouraging your audience to engage with your product.  The key is to maintain a balance between viral content and focus on your product.

20. Host a Podcast

The word “Podcast” has grown significantly in recent years and has already built its own audience. You can use podcasts as one of your small business advertising ideas to spread knowledge about your product.

Conclusion

While the traditional marketing strategies ensure business growth, the cost associated with them may not be favourable to your pocket. Instead, relying on out-of-the-box marketing strategies will give the boost to your business that it requires.

Also Read:

1) Should a Small Business Go Online?
2) How to Promote a Small Business to a Community?
3) How Can I Grow My Online Business?
4) OkCredit: All you need to know about OkCredit & how it works.

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FAQs

Q. What are the benefits of repurposing the old content on the website?

Ans. Repurposing or recycling old content will give it a new life while also saving you time during the content development process. Targeting preferred keywords in your content will help your site rank higher in search engines. You can reach new audiences by distributing content through different mediums.

Q. How to implement an email marketing strategy?

Ans. Here are a few ways that can guide you through implementing an effective email marketing strategy:

• Build a quality mailing list and divide the audience based on various factors such as demographics and interests.
• Personalise the email content by applying all the information you’ve about the user.
• Experiment with your email marketing with the A/B testing technique to see which version works better.

Q. What are the ways to attract an audience to the webinar?

Ans. Here are a few ways that can help you attract a large webinar audience:

• Choose a relevant topic that your audience finds essential to address.
• Promote your webinar through your social media channels and email marketing strategies.
• Ensure that the landing page isn’t too complicated and the registration process is easy.
• Reach out to a guest speaker who can attract a large audience.

Q. What are the benefits of running social media contests?

Ans. If run effectively, social media contests help businesses build a loyal community. When the contest page or post attracts comments, shares, and likes, it increases the engagement between you and your audience. Since you’ve created awareness about your product, people will most likely return to your product.

Q. What are the ways to create a customer referral program?

Ans. Here are some ways that will guide you through creating a customer referral program that works:

• Research your existing referrals and make a list of all the possible referral sources.
• Identify the platforms that you’ll use to create the referral programs.
• Identify the incentive you’re willing to offer your customers and create a promotional plan.
• Set a tracking method to track all the transactions and initiate regular follow-ups.