6 Marketing Tactics that Never Go Out of Style

Marketing is typically something you either love or you hate, but no matter how you feel about it, marketing is essential to growing your business and your brand. There are always different strategies being introduced by marketing gurus and innovators, but sometimes it’s a good idea to focus first on the classics. After all, they became classics for a reason.

Here are six timeless marketing tactics that never go out of style:

Affiliate marketing

Wouldn’t it be great if you could pay people a commission to find customers for you? In fact, that’s exactly what affiliate marketing is. While affiliate marketing was around long before the proliferation of the Internet, there is no question that this timeless marketing strategy has become substantially more popular — and profitable — since E-commerce became mainstream.

Affiliate marketing is great because affiliates only get paid when they drive revenue and customers to you. The downside of course is that you’re giving up some of your profit to someone outside of your company, but it’s important to keep this in perspective. Ask yourself if the cost is greater or less than it would cost you to acquire those customers yourself, and then make a decision using that information.

Referral marketing

One of the best ways to ensure the longevity of your business is to develop a strong referral network. While this is technically a marketing technique, in practice referral marketing is a function of your ability and willingness to provide an excellent product or service, at a great value, to your customers over time. Developing customer loyalty not only increases the likelihood of having a customer for life, but it also significantly improves your chances of getting referrals from that customer. Remember this the next time a customer asks for special treatment.

Simple messaging

One mistake that many companies make with their marketing efforts is trying to offer tons of choices and a flood of information to customers. While it’s important to be transparent in your business practices, and to provide detailed information for those who seek it, marketing assets should be simple. Look at Apple’s marketing techniques over the years for one of the best examples of how minimalism and simplicity can be highly effective as a marketing technique.

Research successful competitors

One of the most cost-effective ways to develop a marketing strategy is to look at what other companies are using successfully and build from that. Chances are your competitors spent lots of time/resources and went through trial and error to get their marketing strategies to a successful point. Take advantage of this research — your competitors certainly will be.

Appeal to a specific niche

When possible, limit marketing campaigns (and potentially even products, when applicable) to a specific niche. A highly targeted message will be much more likely to resonate with your target audience, and should make the selling process easier.

Have the best product

This one is easier said than done, but there’s no better marketing tactic than having the best product, because your customers will do your marketing for you via word of mouth. If you don’t have the best product, highlight features that are better than the competition, and invest resources in improving your product if possible. The benefit to legitimately claiming to be the best can pay for the research and development many times over.

There are lots of new marketing strategies that emerge all the time, but often it’s worthwhile to try the classics first. After all, they didn’t become the classics by being ineffective.

Sources

  • http://www.clickstartdigital.com.au/three-timeless-marketing-tactics/
  • https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242573
  • https://postcron.com/en/blog/10-amazing-marketing-lessons-steve-jobs-taught-us/

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