Marketing has changed in the past decade with digital technology. While traditional marketing is still a popular technique, there are several less-known and unconventional ways to market your business.
In this blog, we have compiled a list of 10 unconventional ways to help you advertise your product or service with ease and minimal effort.
We will be talking about inbound, outbound, influencer, acquisition, guerrilla, stealth, partner, controversial, field, and affiliate marketing.
What is Marketing?
Marketing is the process of promoting and selling a product or service to consumers. It is dedicated to cutting costs and increasing profitability for a business. To market a business, it is necessary to create interest in products or services, communicate their benefits, and convince customers to make a purchase.
Marketing a business can be done in a variety of ways. Television and radio advertising, street signs, billboards, direct mail, and email campaigns are methods companies use to reach their customers and promote their products and services. To reach people with high social capital, some companies adopt word-of-mouth marketing techniques.
There’s also inbound. A business strategy using inbound to attract customers consists of multiple channels such as content marketing, blogs, events, SEO, social media, PPC, and valuable content tailored to your target market.
By using inbound, you can develop meaningful relationships with your customers and help them achieve their goals. Profit margins have been adversely affected in various industries, so marketing is essential to any company.
A strategy is designed to get the message out to customers about the benefits of buying a product or service. Your marketing team will inform your customers about how your product will add value to their lives and why they need it.
Wikipedia defines marketing as
“The process of intentionally stimulating demand for and purchases of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience.”
Outbound marketing
Outbound is the process of generating leads through various forms of advertising.
Outbound has become an essential part of most companies marketing strategies. It’s an effective way for businesses to reach their target audience and develop loyal customers.
Outbound is used by large firms that have dedicated teams that specialise in this type of advertising. It’s also the most commonly used type of advertising by small-to-medium size businesses.
As it’s a long-term strategy, outbound sales can be costly, but it can lead to quick returns on investment if done correctly.
Download Now: The Ultimate Inbound Marketing Guide – Everything You Need Know To Improve Your Marketing Efforts [Free Download]
Inbound marketing
Inbound marketing is a strategy that focuses on capturing and nurturing leads through content and digital channels. It’s a strategy that is driven by user-generated content and conversations online.
Inbound is also referred to as “marketing for people, not places” because it is driven by the interests of real people, not just potential customers.
Inbound marketing helped many companies pivot their business to more profitable efforts by generating leads and increasing customer retention rates.
The rise of inbound has been phenomenal over recent years; with companies such as Hubspot, they have seen an increase in revenue from their inbound strategy.
Benefits of inbound and outbound
Inbound is the process where you attract your audience to your site or blog through content creation. The goal is to build a community of people who are interested in what you have to offer. Outbound is about promoting your business by reaching out to potential customers through advertising campaigns.
Inbound marketing helps companies increase their revenue potential by offering audiences the right content at the right time, getting them closer to purchasing items. Outbound marketing helps companies increase their customer base and create brand awareness.
The benefits of inbound and outbound are just about the same. Still, inbound has a greater reach than the other because it can target a wider audience, which means it costs less money for businesses to advertise with outbound tactics.
What is guerrilla marketing?
Guerrilla marketing involves low-cost unconventional methods used to reach a target market. It is an inventive way of marketing.
Guerrilla marketing is not easy, but it can be done well with good results with the right sense of creativity and spontaneity. Some guerrilla tactics might include:
- Giving out freebies – Products or services that are given for free in order to build goodwill. One of the most popular practices is giving away samples of a company’s products to the public, but the practice can also be applied to services, such as tour guides giving free tours to get publicity.
- Opening up events or store locations to the public is a great way to provide a unique experience for those who may not be privy to the products and services you offer. Giving them a chance to learn more about what they can buy from you is a great way to build relationships and create new customers.
- Giving away prizes to your customers to establish a connection with them. This will allow the company to give something back to their customers. One way to do this is by giving away something like concert tickets, sporting event tickets, giveaways like T-shirts or coffee mugs.
For example, the company may create a memorable and sometimes outlandish event to publicise their product. This can be as simple as sending employees to hand out flyers on a busy street corner or as complex as creating a film and distributing it on the web. Guerrilla marketers rely on tactics such as happenings (a spontaneous event such as a flashmob), street teams (groups of people promoting a product), and illegal marketing (actions such as graffiti) to attract attention to the product.
What is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing that focuses on promoting products or brands through social media personalities with large followings.
An influencer is an individual who has the power to influence the purchasing decisions of others. When it comes to influencing people, they are better at it than you are because they have already achieved this goal in their niche.
The concept of using influencers for marketing purposes was based on word-of-mouth advertising, which has been used since the beginning.
What Is An Influencer?
It’s a person who is well-known and has a large following on social media. The influencer is an essential part of marketing and branding, and they can be utilised to promote products or services.
The word “influencer” was first used in the 1980s. However, it started becoming popular after 2010 as social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube etc., became more popular.
Some of the most famous influencers are actors such as Hugh Jackman and Emma Watson; YouTubers like PewDiePie; musicians like Taylor Swift; fashion designers like Anna Wintour.
Influencers are also called social media personalities or digital celebrities due to their large following on social media networks. They have the power to affect change in society. For example, let’s use PewDiePie; he has over a 110Million subscribers on youtube and gets on average 100+ million views a month.
What is Acquisition Marketing?
Acquisition marketing is also known as lead generation. The acquisition is the initial process of attracting potential customers to buy a product or service. This is done through different channels, such as search engine optimisation, social media advertising, email, and many others.
Acquisition Marketing can be divided into two types, consumer acquisition and business-to-business acquisition. Consumer acquisition includes all the methods for attracting consumers to buy products or services from a given provider. Business-to-business acquisition focuses on getting companies to purchase products or services from a specific provider.
5 Different Types of Acquisition Marketing
1) Inbound
Inbound is a type of marketing where you attract your customers to come to you by providing them with the correct information through content. It’s about engaging your customers so they can find out more about your products and services and take action.
2) Referral
A referral is a type of marketing where people who are happy with your product or service will refer it to others. This could be paid or not, therefore creating word-of-mouth advertising for you.
3) Search Engine
A search engine is a form of internet advertising that helps web pages rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) by using paid ads on search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing ads.
4) Email
Email is a form of digital marketing that uses email messages to communicate your business’s products and services directly with your customers. Contrary to popular belief, email has not waned in recent years but somewhat increased in popularity among marketers.
5) Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)
CRO is the process of analysing a website’s traffic and creating a strategy to optimise a website to increase conversion rate. There are many ways to optimise a website for conversion rates, including testing different layouts, adding videos, creating new web pages, adjusting calls-to-action and more.
What is Stealth Marketing?
Stealth marketing is done in secret. This type of marketing aims to build up the brand to become successful and well-known without the competitors knowing about it.
Marketers usually design campaigns to take advantage of a person’s emotions and give them a positive feeling about their products.
These campaigns are usually done with indirect methods not to realise that they are being marketed to.
This type of marketing differs from traditional types because it doesn’t let people know that they are being marketed. Instead, it creates an impression on them without their knowledge.
5 Examples of Stealth Marketing
The word “stealth” is defined as “the use of careful, cunning, and generally cautious methods to achieve the goal of an operation without detection.” This definition, in turn, can be applied to covert marketing campaigns.
Below are 5 examples in the real world:
1) Mini Cooper is driven in the movie “The Italian Job.”
2) FedEx boxes are opened in “Cast Away” on the beach.
3) Ray-Ban are the icon glasses Tom Cruise wears in “Top Gun.”
4) Apple computer used in the “Night at the museum.”
5) Nokia in the “The Matix.”
What Is Partner Marketing?
Partner is a type of marketing strategy where companies partner with other companies to complement one another.
This is an excellent strategy for startups because they can access the resources and networks they might not have been able to reach on their own.
For example, if you are launching a new product that needs some design work done, you could reach out to a design agency that you would like to work with and see if they would be willing to give a discounted rate in exchange for visibility of the new product launch.
6 Types Of Partner Marketing
There are many types of partner relationships, but here are the top 6 ways you may have heard of:
Affiliate
Affiliate marketing has become a popular internet-based technique that involves websites paying you for bringing in customers. You can earn commissions or rewards from them for promoting their goods and services.
Product placement
The subtle placement of a brand within a media channel. It is deemed a cross-over of sponsorship and advertising that works well with high grossing TV and Film productions.
Content
The purpose of content marketing is to provide customers with relevant and engaging content. In a content partnership, content is created in collaboration with a partner brand and then shared with target audiences. For example, two YouTube influencers work together on a video posted to both of their channels. This would then bring audiences from both sides to the other channel.
Loyalty
Using a loyalty strategy, consumers receive rewards for increasing their usage. A loyalty program adds value by providing offers to consumers that motivate them to stay loyal and continue to purchase.
Sponsorship
Brand recognition and brand reputation are increased by positioning a brand alongside an event, on social media or in many other places such as working with an influencer and displaying the brand as a partner or supporter.
Joint products
When two companies agree to create a new product or alter an existing product to provide additional value, often the product is an amalgamation of both products aimed at mutual target audiences.
For example, when Apple and Nike collaborated on the Nike+ running app, they offered consumers a product that combined their individual strengths to help them reach their goals.
What is Controversial Marketing?
Controversial is any marketing strategy that seeks to create controversy among the public by pushing boundaries or creating shocking content.
The intent behind controversial marketing strategies can vary; some tactics are employed to evoke strong reactions from the audience, while others are created to present an opinion on an issue that is divisive.
The main idea of controversial tactics is to create a stir in the media or public. A campaign might be controversial because it pushes boundaries, the content is shocking, or it has a polarising opinion on some issue.
Tips for Implementing Controversial Marketing Strategies in Your Business
The first step is to establish what your business stands for and what makes it different from other companies out there.
For example, you might say that your company is against the current administration and supports equal rights or supports equal rights but advocates for sustainable living choices. You can also state that your company doesn’t take any political stance. These are just examples of what you can say about your business.
You should then figure out who would be impacted by this controversy and why they would be impacted by it. Survey people within your company and find out which this statement would impact groups of people and why they would care about the statement.
Controversy is a marketing ploy if used the right way. Controversy can provide a competitive edge, but you need to implement it with care.
1) Identify the controversy & the target audience
2) Establish your objective for your brand
3) Establish how you will achieve this goal
4) Develop a strategy that will work in the long run
What is Field Marketing?
Field marketing is a tool that allows you to reach out to customers in person. It is also known as guerrilla, offline marketing, and word-of-mouth advertising.
It can be defined as selling products or services to people without using traditional advertising channels such as TV commercials or online banner ads.
This type of marketing includes personal selling and presentations in stores and at trade shows so that the sales professional can establish rapport with their target market before introducing them to your product or service.
Field Marketing has been used for decades for small business owners who cannot afford traditional advertising campaigns but need sales leads.
Download Now: The Ultimate Inbound Marketing Guide – Everything You Need Know To Improve Your Marketing Efforts [Free Download]
Top 5 Ways To Get More Customers With Your Field Marketing Campaign
Field marketing is a technique where companies meet potential customers in person instead of using a digital medium.
The top 5 ways to get more customers with a field marketing program are by offering something of value, being transparent about your company’s goals, creating an actionable sales funnel, understanding your audience’s needs and using customer referrals.
It is also an effective way for small businesses to grow their customer base. It allows them to connect with the people who are the most likely to buy from them.
Top 5 Ways to Get More Customers with a Field Marketing Program:
- Effective communication
- Engagement
- Video Content Creation & Distribution
- Promotional Items & Giveaways
- Customer Appreciation Programs
What is Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is when advertisers and affiliate marketers agree to be compensated if consumers they refer to a business or website buy a product or service.
With affiliates becoming more popular than ever, it is easy to see how valuable the role of an affiliate marketer is for online businesses.
Affiliate marketing can be very beneficial for both parties – merchants get access to affiliates who are willing to promote their products on their websites, and websites get access to quality traffic to increase their revenue. Affiliates also don’t have any hidden costs like other forms of advertising do.
How does Affiliate Marketing Work?
In the simplest sense, affiliate marketing is when a website owner or blog publisher pays a third party to send traffic to their site, hoping that the visitors will buy products or services.
Many brands can get in touch with a wide range of niche audiences and generate traffic in return with affiliate marketing. It also makes it easier for marketers to find new leads and leads without buying ads.
There are three main types of affiliate campaigns: CPA (Cost Per Action), CPL (Cost Per Lead), and PPC (Pay-Per-Click).
Conclusion
There are hundreds of different marketing methods. It’s just about finding the ones that suit your business and then taking that and optimising it, whether that be finding areas where money or time is being wasted and moving those efforts to places with a better ROI.