4 SIMPLE MARKETING STRATEGIES THAT SAVE TIME AND MAKE MONEY

With so many strategies to chose from and so much conflicting information, it can be a real struggle to know how to make best use of your time when it comes to marketing.

Sometimes I think all these whizzy tech-based techniques are all very well and good, but they distract people from doing the basic things that actually work.

Here are a few misconceptions about marketing:

• It’s expensive
• It doesn’t work
• I can’t do it

The truth is, if you keep it simple and focus on a few key things at a time, marketing can be free, incredibly effective, and literally anyone could do it (sorry to all the marketing bods out there!).

So, here are my Top 4 Simple Marketing Strategies that you can apply to lots of different scenarios, and you can rinse and repeat as needed.

In fact, these are the main 4 strategies I have on a constant cycle in my business, they are always running in the background no matter what else I’m working on or promoting.

1. RESEARCH

Whatever you are thinking of doing, whether it’s launching a new business or product or service, pivoting your existing business, or even starting a new blog or YouTube channel, the first thing do to is research.

It’s a basic step but so many of us overlook it in our rush to get started.

Here are the two key ways I do my research before I go for the launch:

Google

Google really is your friend when it comes to researching. Type anything in that wondrous search engine and you’ll be a bona fide expert on any subject in no time.

I type my topic in a variety of ways and just see what comes up, I let myself fall down the Google rabbit hole.

I read blogs, find interesting statistics, learn about market trends, see what other’s are doing in the area.

Doing this research gives me a few advantages before I launch:

• I understand the need / the market
• I learn loads and pick up useful bits to add to my idea
• I gain inspiration for content

Ask the audience

I ask my social media audience loads of questions, in loads of different ways.

I conduct surveys, polls, and simply ask questions.

I gather their ideas and insights on:

• the problem I’m looking to solve
• how it makes them feel
• what impact it has on their life / business
• what they’ve done about it
• what help they would value to fix it

Your own audience on social media should be full of your ideal client, so understanding the issues etc from their perspective is priceless.

I use the information I’ve gathered to:

• write marketing copy that gets to the heart of the issues and pulls my ideal client to me
• craft my offer to fix the biggest pains and offer the most incredible solutions

2. TEST

Again, this is another one that we often neglect in our rush to get our stuff out there, but testing is a crucial phase to any marketing strategy.

Testing either confirms you’ve got it right, or sends you rapidly back to the drawing board BEFORE you’ve invested too much in the idea.

How you test totally depends on what you are getting ready to launch / promote, but here are a few ways you could incorporate into your testing phase:

Lower price in exchange

Select a few people in your audience who you know would benefit from your offer, and offer it to them at a reduced cost in exchange for detailed feedback.

Don’t hold back though – give them all the bells and whistles – you want this trial run to be the deluxe model so they absolutely love it and tell all their friends about it.

When you get glowing feedback, you’ve got your social proof ready to use when you do launch.

And, if the feedback is less than glowing – you have a detailed list of things to improve before launch.

Focus group

Again, this depends on what your offer is, but a focus group can be used for a variety of tests.

Contact 10-12 people in your audience and ask them if they would join you (either in person or on a zoom video call) to listen to your idea and provide their honest feedback.

Preparation is key when it comes to running an effective focus group – plan exactly how you’ll communicate your idea and the questions you’ll ask throughout.

Make sure your questions are designed to help you gather data that you’ll be able to actually use to improve your idea.

3. BUILD AUTHORITY

Whatever your business, building authority is absolutely key.

If you are a business coach, people want proof that you know your stuff and your advice can be trusted.

If you are a yoga instructor, people want proof that you know your stuff and your instruction can be trusted.

If you sell baked beans, people want proof that you know your stuff and your beans can be trusted.

Get the message?

There are LOADS of ways you can build authority, and here are a few ideas:

Add value

Share really useful information – like this blog post – as often as you can.

Creating content that demonstrates your expertise is often the first bit of evidence your audience has to start building trust.

When it comes to sharing what you know I wouldn’t hold back at all, but share with strategy!

By this I mean share stuff that is directly relevant to what you offer, and that highlights the pain your ideal client may be going through.

Using this blog as an example – you may have been scratching your head wondering how to launch / promote something, and this blog has given you a very easy, practical strategy to use.

If you use is and it works, you may remember that it was me who gave it to you and think

‘Sally clearly knows her stuff, I like her style and trust her advice, we need to work together!’

Speak

Public speaking is one of the most effective ways to build your authority – whether it be on a stage, at a seminar, in a podcast, guest presenting in a membership, or even videos on social media – the power of the spoken word has never been greater!

Seek out and accept every opportunity to speak, as long as you are comfortable with the subject matter.

I wouldn’t necessarily limit myself to speaking about my expert topics either, if someone invited me to speak about burnout, or menopause, or bereavement, or managing stress, I’d speak about those topics too.

As long as you have relevant experience and something of interest to say, say it.

There’s something psychological that happens when we see someone talking in a public setting – we immediately see them as a figure of authority.

Job done.

4. ENGAGE

This really is something that loads of business owners neglect to do, and it always comes back to bite them in the end.

Engagement isn’t a one way street – if we want our audience to know, like and trust us guess what…we need to demonstrate that know, like and trust right back.

I’m talking proactive engagement – where you actually venture out of your own little social media bubble and visit people in your community.

I spend about half an hour a week on proactive engagement and it does wonders for my business and my state of mind.

Again, there are lots of ways you can do this, and here are a few ideas:

Help

I visit individual profiles and relevant groups and get involved in discussions – I comment on posts, share my thoughts, give advice if appropriate. I help with absolutely no expectation.

Share

When visiting people in my community, if I see something that really takes my fancy or gives me some great value, I share it and credit the author – tagging them in.

DM

Treat the DM with care.

Unless you already have an existing relationship, the DM should be a sacred space where you build the relationship – Do Not Sell To Strangers Via DM!

Each week pick a few people from your audience and send them something useful via DM – it could be an article, link to a video or podcast, quote or meme.

Useful is the key word here – don’t send random stuff you’ve no idea if they want or need, spend a little time on their profile, see what they’ve been talking about, and find something really relevant and useful to send.

I also spend quite a bit of time sending voice notes to my community. Again, there’s never any sell – I just say hello, nice to be connected, would be great to get to know each other better, I enjoy reading your stuff….whatever, just nice and casual with no expectation / upsell.