As an entrepreneur, marketing your product can seem pretty confusing. That’s because you’re indecisive and probably don’t know where to start. Honestly, it isn’t rosy. Especially when there are 101 ways to go about it. You don’t need to try the 101 methods; all you need is to discover what works for your business and stick to it.
Product marketing starts with understanding your target market and seeking ways to reach them. There is plenty of groundwork to do which form a foundation for success. In this guide, you’re going to learn about definitive ways to effectively market your products without issues. Do this well, and you will find your business booming like never before.
1. Know Your Target Market
Knowing your potential customers is key to an effective marketing campaign. When drafting your business plan, you consider your target market, their age, likely occupation, interest, hobbies, and location. The more information you have on your target market, the more effective your plan will be.
In this age, you have to consider the likely websites or social platforms your targets spend time on. Knowing where they are is vital. That way, you can quickly bring your product to them. However, you need to be smart and unique, to set yourself aside from the competition. Most businesses often stand out by building a brand with a formal tone or buy going out of the conventional.
When you know your target market, and where to find them. Getting your products in front of them becomes much more accessible.
2. Targeted Ads
After you’ve discovered your target market, their age, location, where they hang out, and their hobbies. The next step would be to get the product in front of them. One way to do that is to run a targeted ad. Many of your prospects are hanging out on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. These platforms offer advert services that you can utilize.
Facebook, for instance, can help you run targeted ads based on a specific interest, location, or age if you’re running a shoe store for men. The majority of your potential customers will have a massive investment in Football, Fashion, Games, Politics, Gym, etc. They can also be between the age bracket 21 to 41.
The chances of a man between that age bracket, who also loves football and fashion ordering a pair of new shoes are high. When you’re able to understand your market, you will be able to create an efficient ad that converts.
3. Research Your Competitors
Many businesspersons often see competition as a bad sign. Nah, it shouldn’t be. Look at it from a positive light and see the tremendous benefits. First, business competition shows you’re in a lucrative niche. Secondly, you will be able to learn lots of tactics from these so-called competitors. Most of these tactics you will learn from competitors would be very significant, while some will not be.
You should plan to take what works and dump what doesn’t. Here is how you can make that possible.
A simple google search will be able to reveal the search keywords of your competitors. There are lots of amazing tools that you can use to achieve that, like SEMrush. These competitions can be resellers, manufacturers, or suppliers. The fact is, the information you will derive will be beneficial in your marketing campaign.
The marketplace is a battlefield. It is survival of the fittest. To succeed and sell more products, you will have to consider competing and similar products and their price range. If they are higher or lower in price, find out if they are a local or foreign product. Delve further and find out the materials used. It would help you set a better price for your product.
Product reviews are excellent ways to know what works and what doesn’t. Especially the negative reviews. You can use that to your advantage and make your products stand out. If an item is getting hundreds of customer reports each month, that is a sign it is selling well. Compare the number of positive reviews, with negative reviews. Amazon is a great place to start.
4. Incorporate An Emotional Response
One of the tactics that work when it comes to marketing your products is to create a feeling of urgency or scarcity. There is nothing special about diamonds, but a lack of if it makes it unique. Apple understands the rule, which makes the price of their products harder to afford. When a product is very few or hard to get, it creates a psychological effect that compels the individual to take action when the floor is open.
For example, you have thousands of shoes for sale. By creating a countdown on your store, you’re telling your visitors that only a few shoes are remaining. It will emotionally drive your potential customers to take action. This strategy is one that a lot of business owners depend on especially during festive periods and sales season. Create some urgency or scarcity, and you will see sales skyrocket.
5. Guest Blogging
There are lots of blogs on your niche. It could be women’s fashion, sports, politics, etc. By discovering relevant blogs in your niche, you will be able to get your product in front of a new audience. Not just any audience, an audience who already have an interest in what you offer. In other words, this could be called targeted guest blogging.
By guest posting, you’re sharing your niche expertise with others, which also buffs up your expertise status. The benefits of guest posting are tremendous. Through a guest post, you get a backlink to your website, which is very good for SEO. Furthermore, you drive traffic and possibly sales to your store. The numerous benefits are mouth-watering. If you’re serious about marketing your products, then don’t overlook this strategy
6. Use Customer-Generated Contents
One of the companies doing an exceptional job at this is GoPro. Their Instagram, website, and YouTube channel are solely to upload customer’s generated content. When a user produces a video using any of the GoPro action cameras, they do that and also tag the company’s handle. This strategy is beneficial and has double the share size of the company.
When you make a few sales, encourage your customers to share their experience by uploading high-quality pictures. Talking about your product is excellent, but people are more likely to listen when someone unrelated to your business speaks about your product. That way, they feel the person would be more honest.
7. Use Influencers and Ambassadors
There are numerous influencers out there, in diverse niches and followers. You can say the same about an ambassador. Although these two individuals are alike, they also have distinctive differences. But the goal is the same, to help market your products and increase sales and customer base. Influencers would charge you a few bucks to review your products. Ambassadors, on the other hand, don’t mind doing it for free or for token.
Before choosing an influencer, ensure he or she is within your niche for a better result. The more followers the influencer has, the better. An ambassador must know a great deal about your products and business. Like the term purports, they are ambassadors – product representatives. When you use these two key individuals efficiently, you will be able to experience exponential growth in sales and customer base.
8. Long Term Planning
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a press release, ad campaigns on social media, and so on. But while on it, I also plan for the long term. According to Louis Hill, some marketing strategies are your distant players, like your website, social media handles, marketplace listings, and so on. With these essentials, you won’t need to struggle much in the future.
Other marketing strategies are merely short-term sprint tactics. They often spew results for the moment, but not for the long term. A perfect example is social media sponsored ads. When you focus on building your website SEO, email list, and social media followers, your marketing endeavors in the future would be much more comfortable and cheaper.
You shouldn’t overlook the long-term tactics if you want to keep getting consistency sales. Focus on:
When you establish these three channels, you won’t have to sweat again when it comes to marketing. That is the moment you discover that making money is easier than you thought.
9. Create an Affiliate Program
Amazon did it, and they experienced a mind-blowing growth they never envisioned. This strategy is performance-based, where you reward a person or user for promoting your product or services. When you handle this program well, you will be able to market your products online efficiently. You will experience extraordinary growth in sales, signups, website traffic, and brand awareness.
However, ensure the rules are clear and not confusing. The restrictions, conditions, and terms should be crystal clear. A popular trend in the eCommerce industry is the “Get $15” link in the top navigation of the store. Customers get a reward for bringing in another customer. When you work with a reliable affiliate marketing company, you will be able to pull this off.
10. Build A Community
An online community is a remarkable route to take on since it gives you and your potential customers a place to dwell and discuss. In this community, you learn a lot about what your customers love, and don’t like. The more this community grows, you won’t have to spend much money on paid campaigns anymore. It because so easy to promote both old and new products. Through this exciting community, you will be able to identify your most significant supports and even make them ambassadors.
There are numerous ways to go about this. You can create a Facebook group, Instagram group, etc. You can build a self-hosted forum and link it to your store. This idea is very feasible and is one of these strategies that spill result in the long run.
11. Personalize Customers Experience
Customer experience while on your website is crucial and will determine your level of conversion. When you disburse personalized email, there is a much higher chance of increasing sales. One of the ways to do that is to include their names in the email. You can also welcome them to the website like, “Welcome back, John.”
Personalization is not about adding their names at the top of every email; it is making sure that the content is relevant. One company that is excellent at that is Netflix. When the materials are well personalized, with appropriate content, the user is more likely to take action. But they won’t take action when it looks like spam.
12. Giveaways
During holidays or special events, you can market your products by doing giveaways. In which users must complete some specific tasks to qualify. This marketing strategy always works, and often double sales and customer base. Valentine’s Day, Easter, Black Fridays, anniversaries, etc. are special events where you can organize your giveaways and get the most results. Through this particular giveaway, users will be able to promote your business through word of mouth, referrals, and more. When they browse through your store, they will be able to come across a product they like. It’s an effective strategy that always works.
You have plenty of high-effective, budget-friendly online marketing tools and tactics that you can utilize. Once you’re able to tell a story that grabs attention and evolves emotion, then you’re on the path to experiencing enormous sales and growth in your business. When it comes to marketing, it is much easier now compared to years ago. Technology and the internet made marketing easy. However, you still need to master the necessary technicalities if you must succeed. Learn from the big corporations and your competitors. Their marketing tactics would serve as a guide to develop a more effective strategy.