Consumer marketing has been around for as long as there have been consumers. The difference between early marketing efforts and what's available today has to do with the ease of learning which marketing techniques work and which don't. Brands have to understand when their marketing efforts lose effectiveness and how to get back into the game when marketing campaigns go stale.
Tracking the effectiveness of ad campaigns has never been easier or more powerful.
With analytics readily available today for digital advertising and marketing, there is no excuse for not knowing how well a campaign is performing. Simply being digital and multichannel, however, is not enough. Your customers are only human. Here are seven consumer marketing tactics that have a track record of getting good results.
1. Make Emotional Connections.
People remember information better when it connects with their emotions. While on some level people want to know how your product works, most want to know how their lives will be better for having it. In other words, the ad showing the happy family enjoying a birthday dinner at home will resonate more than the ad for the stove and oven that lists all its features.
2. Use Fear of Missing Out (FOMO).
Fear is an emotion, and it gets reactions. However, you do not have to make people fear for their lives. Just the fear of missing out (FOMO) on something good can be powerful. Missing out on your big sale or your new limited-edition product can be an effective focus of your consumer marketing campaign.
3. Promote Exclusivity.
Everyone wants to feel important like they are part of an exclusive group. Advertising that mines this need can be remarkably effective. Promoting your product as the choice of a discerning parent, car owner, or woodworker invites people into a world that is somewhat set apart from the everyday. It makes them feel as if they have "arrived."
4. Partner with Other Brands.
Creative marketing partnerships can be terrific for jump-starting a consumer marketing campaign. A great partnership will generally bring out both parties’ best efforts (out of a sense of competitiveness, if nothing else), while exposing your brand to a new audience. A clothing brand might partner with a musician, while a bakery could partner with a florist during a wedding season.
5. Develop a Strong Social Media Strategy.
Successful social media strategies require diligence, but they can produce outstanding results.
Posting on Facebook and Twitter should not just be an afterthought for your brand. A strong social media strategy can be tremendous for brand building. Choose two or three platforms through which to focus your efforts. Create an editorial schedule for posting and commit to it. Most platforms offer extensive analytics so you can learn what works and who your audience is right away. Knowing your audience will be very important if you do any paid social media advertising due to the powerful targeting tools social media platforms have.
6. Don't Be Afraid to Be Funny or Offbeat.
While some products or services will never be appropriate for humor, others are. Brands that can laugh at themselves along with consumers pick up considerable goodwill from customer bases. Whether it is the Old Spice guy on a horse or cat construction machines playing a game of Jenga, something funny or offbeat can be a welcome distraction for consumers.
7. Pay Attention to Your Existing Customers.
Special promotions to bring in new customers are nothing new, but how long has it been since you've done something special for your loyal customers? Keeping existing customers is less expensive than acquiring new ones. Why not offer your long-term customers $5 discounts or early access to new products? Your competitors would love to draw those loyal customers to their side, and they're probably trying to do so.
With the internet, social media, and mobile devices, consumer marketing has entered a whole new phase. Because it's so easy to collect data with digital advertising, it's also easy to plan consumer marketing campaigns based on sound tactics known to move the needle.
All these tactics are about making connections with consumers and maintaining them. The specifics will vary depending on product, industry, and technology trends. However, when you make a one-on-one connection with a person viewing or otherwise consuming your content, that's when you move toward a healthy return on your consumer marketing investment.
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