FAQ Friday: Tips for Marketing Your Business

Getting a handle over the marketing landscape can seem pretty daunting. Especially if you are new to the marketing wild west, finding current and pertinent research for your business is like grabbing for your alarm early in the morning. You know you need to turn it off and start your day, but you’ll do it in a few minutes.

You can’t however do that with your marketing. The alarm may be the blaring changes that need to happen for your business so that it’s not stuck in the funk of stagnation. So grabbing for it and turning it off is like going out there and finding that research needed to turn things around—starting a brand new day for your business.

Today, we got you covered. Think of us as the wake up call(s) you receive at hotels—giving you the "wake up" that you need with the convenience of an on-call dedication to your needs. Because in today’s FAQ Friday, we are providing the answers to your unanswered questions on the topic of how to market your business.

What types of marketing methods should I utilize?

There are definitely multiple lists of different types of marketing methods out there. But through experimentation from other businesses, the following is a list of methods that are universally being recognized for their effectiveness and growth.

Content Marketing

“Content is king” is a popular quote used in marketing ever since Bill Gates entitled his article with the same name in the late 1990s. But in relation to that quote, content has yet to lose its reign.

However, content marketing in this landscape has shifted from predominantly business focused language to customer focused language. Meaning that business focused language incorporated more salesy, product or service blasting verbiage than customer focused language—which is more focused on the customer’s journey from their initial attraction to your brand all the way to the purchasing of your products or services. This new focus helps to build an intimate relationship with your leads and customers using trust and value as the main focus than solely focusing on the sale.

The key to using content marketing is having an effective content strategy that streamlines your content in relation to quality, value, consistency, and engagement.

What is Content Marketing and Why Use it?

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11 Reasons HubSpot and Content Marketing Work for Startups

Video Marketing

Through the aid of video streaming sites like Netflix, Amazon and YouTube, there is a high demand to start incorporating video in current marketing strategies. However, video marketing is not limited to just creative businesses. Since you provide educational, informational, or entertaining content, then you should utilize video marketing.

The key to using video marketing is being versatile and engaging with both your brand and your audience. Creating video content for your business helps refresh and mix up your static content like blog posts and creates a more engaging experience for your audience—allowing them to see the many different facets of your business.

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Improve Your Video Marketing Strategy Today with These Tips

Social Media Marketing

Social media has shown no signs of slowing down. With the creation of new platforms like Meerkat and Periscope to the extreme growth of other platforms like Facebook and Twitter, if you’re not utilizing social media, not only in your personal life but also in your business, you’re missing out on the conversation.

Social media is built on interaction and being “social”. And if you’re not using these primary necessities as basic social media best practices, then you’re missing out on the main point of social media.

Yes, you can blast your products or services by sharing them through paid ads or posts on Facebook. But which is better? Being told that a product or service is good for you based on one interaction or having conversations about how this product or service over time can solve your problems based on a trusted, timely, and engaged, human-to-human interaction.

The key to utilizing social media marketing is not to be robotic, stagnant, delayed or absent. Social media marketing requires you to be engaged, present and interactive with your audience in order to get them to feel the same way about your brand.

Does Social Media Marketing Work?

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Interactive Marketing

Finally, interactivity is one of the freshest and most experimental marketing concepts that is getting some well deserved attention. For example, if you create infographics and videos, you can expand and experiment with your content by adding interactivity.

Interactivity with static content can include clickable areas on your infographics that link to additional resources you can’t fit on the image itself or incorporating quizzes and chapter breaks in your training videos for more engagement from your audience. Experimentation is what interactive marketing is about. So if you want to take your content to the next level—use interactivity.

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What popular marketing trends are currently successful?

2016 is booming with successful, innovative marketing trends that benefit both big and small businesses. Here is a brief list of trends that your business should look into this year that will freshen up your current marketing strategy.

Video

Due to massive amounts of video consumption from 78% of people watching videos every week and 55% of people watching videos everyday, it should be no surprise that video is on this list of popular marketing trends. In fact, I’m pretty sure you’re one of the 75% that watch work-related videos on a weekly basis. With the help of video streaming websites like YouTube and Vimeo to the use of ambient videos as introductions into a brand’s website and overall brand identity, you have variety when it comes to using video for your business.

Interactive Content

If you don’t know about interactive content, you might want to look into this new and growing trend. Now internet users have a shorter attention span than ever before. And because of that, static content like images and blog posts are in dire need of an upgrade. Your content should be continuously wowing and educating your audience at the same time. So create a better user experience with interactivity.

Thought Leadership Monday Mashup: Inbound Marketing Trends

Thought Leadership Monday Mashup: Video Marketing Trends

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Should I hire a marketing agency for my small business or startup?

That’s up to you and your team’s experience and workload. Depending on your budget and what needs or goals you may need—a marketing agency may be the best bet to help you accomplish this. For inspiration, check out the following articles in order to determine, manage, and build a relationship with an outsourced marketing agency.

How to Determine When You Need a Marketing Agency

Tips for Managing a Relationship with Outsourced Marketing Agencies

Build a Successful Brand with Inbound Marketing Agency Partner

Until next week's FAQ Friday, keep your communication lines open. Don’t know the answer— ASK. If you have questions you would like to see featured in our weekly FAQ Friday, please submit them in the comments below or mention us @DirectImages on Twitter.

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