Thursday, 16 January 2014

Marketing Method Matters (1) Strategies for Continued Growth

Welcome to  the first post in our mini series about marketing. This post will explain why every business should be investing time, and sometimes even money in an effective marketing strategy. By the end of this post, you will also be able to identify some mainstream strategies, the remaining posts in the series will develop your understanding of these strategies.

Whatever your business is about, whatever your sector, whether you work on business to business, retail or service basis your client or customer base needs to know, not only that you exist, but that you are the best at what you do.

This is where marketing strategies come in. Even if you already  have more business than you can poke a stick at, you still need to be looking for your next new client, because your current clients may not be clients in the future because of any one of a whole multitude of reasons, and they will then need to be replaced.

Basically, a good marketing strategy will:

1.    Build  brand awareness. Even if a potential client does not need your service or product now, they may do in the future, you want to be the first company that they think of when they do.
2.    Build relationships with new and existing clients. Clients new and existing want to feel appreciated. Even a vague sense of familiarity breeds confidence in your company.
3.    Increase the sales of your product or service, which in turn boosts your profits. Everybody wants to make at least enough money to have a good life and has hopes for an early retirement!

So, what types of marketing strategies are out there. They will initially fall into two broad categories;  Active and Passive marketing;

Active marketing techniques mean just that. You are making a concerted effort to encourage people to buy in to whatever it is you are selling. Common examples include T.V, radio, telemarketing, (whether they are warm or cold calls.) Direct email campaigns, where you email the same email to a number of recipients, and leafleting.

Passive marketing is more about raising brand awareness. With these techniques, you are often playing the long game as you build relationships, communicate with your clients, provide the highest level of customer service, consider the placement of your business in directories, (traditional or online) and your ranking on Google. Common examples of passive marketing include, search engine optimisation, blogging, public relations, article submissions, (again either online or in newspapers and magazines) and writing white papers.

All at Blue Box Consultancy hope that you have enjoyed reading this post. Should it have raised any questions for  you, please feel free to contact us by phone at 084 3289 3288 or by email at enquiries@blueboxconsultancy.com 



See you at the next post which will cover some active marketing techniques in more detail.

Learn more about Blue Box, our people and the work that we do at www.blueboxconsultancy.com 

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