How challenging is it to promote your business in 2019?
Advertising on websites through affiliate marketing has been the in thing for a while. Sadly, these adverts don’t cut it anymore because as reported by Hubspot, Adblocker Plus, a popular ad blocking app, had over 300 million downloads as of 2018.
Why?
A different report by Hubspot revealed that 64% of ad block users use it because they think adverts are intrusive and annoying.
That is not all:
A pop-up ad has a negative effect on your reputation to consumers because 72% of them will have a lower opinion on a brand that subjects them to these ads. Additionally, even when research proves that visual content is a plus in business promotion, 51% of consumers hate brands that use autoplaying video ads.
So,
There seem to be so many things that consumers hate as seen from this array of marketing statistics. Gladly, there are still incredible, unique but effective techniques.
Let’s look at them:
Business Promotion Techniques That Work
Create a lottery
According to easypromosapp, Facebook timeline sweepstakes had a usage increase of 800% this year, compared to the previous year.
Image via Flickr
We can confidently infer that the massive increase in usage can be attributed to the high success rate of lottery tickets as a promotion technique. To drive this point home, we will look at two case studies.
Take a look at AppSumo
AppSumo is popular for selling coolest web apps, and other digitally distributed goods at great deals. For this reason, the business enjoys massive traffic, but this has been made better by sweepstakes.
In just one and a half years, the business increased from 0 to 500,000 customers, which have currently increased even further to over 700,000 newsletter subscribers.
What’s the secret?
AppSumo has used a lottery to increase traffic and get loyal customers. With giveaways such as Macbooks, Dropbox Pro for Life and original Kindle Fire, site visitors are lured in enough to provide the business with their email addresses and any other information.
End-result?
Lead generation in one of the fastest ways possible, and easy advertising!
Two: How Nõa Lihatööstus’s Lottery Challenge Increased Facebook Audience
Nõa Lihatööstus, a local brand in Estonia, selling pre-packaged meat, had a low Facebook presence, with only 31 fans, yet most of its target market was using Facebook.
How would the business increase its reach?
With a desire to reach a minimum of 3000 new fans on Facebook and 1500 emails of prospects in just 3 weeks, Nõa Lihatööstus had to be creative.
Promotion idea:
They ran a lottery challenge by creating an online advent calendar app, where a new calendar would open on a daily basis and participants would view the brand’s Christmas products. By sharing on their wall, joining the mailing list among other activities, a winner would be determined.
Result?
Nõa Lihatööstus got over 6600 new fans on Facebook and more than 3200 email addresses from prospects. Further analysis showed 60% of participants came from user-generated shares, further proving the potential for lotteries.
Mobile Business Promotion
Mobile business promotion is inexpensive with great results- branded cars being a good example.
Let me ask you, when you stuck in traffic and see a Coca-cola truck, what goes on in your mind?
If you are consumer-minded, you’d want a taste of that ice-cold Coke. Conversely, if you are business-minded, then you’d ask what the ROI for branded cars as a marketing tool is.
So, what’s the ROI?
According to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, depending on where you market and the population size, a branded car can generate between 30,000 and 70,000 views per day.
Image via Flickr
This is great ROI considering all you need is applying removable stickers containing your business information and logo on your car, and watch your numbers rise.
Cross-Promotion
Also known as buddy marketing, cross-promotion entails two businesses joining up and pooling resources to promote all their businesses.
How does this work?
Identify a great business that is also interested in your target market, plan a marketing strategy forward. Better yet, you can tag on a trending topic online, and fit your brand into it.
Has it been successful?
Yes! Let’s see how HotWheels, a toy car company creatively used social cross-promotion as a marketing tool.
By taking advantage of the cultural zeitgeist, ‘Back To The Future Day’, HotWheels created a product and holiday around it.
As everyone talked about the holiday via #backtothefutureday, the business served content that fit the need but was relevant to the brand.
End result?
Close to 7500 likes and over 150 comments on Instagram.
Tips:
Play on events, hashtags, nostalgia, excitement or other brands and boost your brand awareness and engagement.
Referral Promotion
Referral promotions run almost like sweepstakes. One of the differences is that participants will only win by the number of people they refer to the product or business.
So, what’s the ROI?
- According to a Wharton study, referred customers generate 16% more in profit. Better yet, 18% are more likely to build relationships with the retailer
- Regarding the value of these relationships, it has been revealed 78% of B2B marketers find that referral marketing produces ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ leads.
More proof?
In the early 2000’s, even without social media, PayPal was able to achieve between 7% and 10% daily growth rate via their referral program. By offering $40 per new user, the company had 100,000 users in the first month.
Dropbox also saw an increase from 100,000 users to 4,000,000 users in just 15 months, via the referral program!
Promotional Products
What is the effectiveness of promotional products in business marketing?
Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) discovered that consumers LOVE promotional products. In fact, 83% of people like receiving a promotional product with an advertising message.
It was further revealed that consumers cherish promotional products, no wonder 90.4% reported either currently owning or possessing a promotional product received within the last 24 months.
So, what promotional products work?
The respondents to PPAI’s survey preferred an MP3 player, coffee mug and tote bag among other promotional products, which can be found at online vendors such as GiftSelection.
So, In A Nutshell
Do you know that 60% of consumers would rather buy products from companies they’ve heard of than those they haven’t? For this reason, it is vital that you invest in effective business promotion techniques.
Invest in promotional products, referral promotion, sweepstakes, cross-promotion, or use your car to run a mobile business promotion. Remember, you need not pick expensive options. You only need to be creative and opportunistic in some instances.
