5 Revolutionary Business Ideas – Marketing Strategies – Pici & Pici Inc

Marketing is a word that people tend to throw around without understanding it’s true meaning.

When we think about marketing, we tend to think in these terms:

• “How do I get my product in as many faces as possible?”

When we should be thinking about marketing these terms:

• “How do I build trust with my potential clients?”
• “Am I representing my product/service in a way potential clients will respond to?”
• “What are my potential clients truly looking to purchase?”

Traditional marketing strategies, such as advertising, are not as effective as they used to be for building a brand and gaining quality clients. Customers are much more skeptical than they were in past generations. This high level of skepticism requires an enhanced level of transparency as well as a higher barrier of trust to overcome. These barriers require non-traditional marketing strategies.

We need revolutionary marketing strategies to build trust and captivate customers!

Businesses that Thrive Have
Revolutionary Marketing Strategies

There are three main types of non-traditional marketing that are highly effective in today’s market.

Content-Based Marketing

Quality content sets you up as the expert in your field.

Great examples of this would be content-rich articles, e-books, how-to videos, etc. This strategy is not a new one. Big companies have been employing this strategy for over 100 years.

This kind of marketing started in 1895. John Deere released a free, content-rich publication called The Furrow. This magazine was full of cutting edge farming techniques and technology as well as business management principles.

Other companies began to continue this trend.

In 1900, Michelin Tires released a 400-page auto maintenance guide.

In 1904, Jell-O circulated free copies of its own cookbook. This strategy was so effective for the brand that in just 2 years, the company saw sales increase to over $1 million annually. This would translate to $25,000,000 today!

In 1966, Nike released a booklet about Jogging. The booklet never even mentioned a Nike shoe.

These are massive, long-standing companies that have not only survived, but dominated the market over the past century. Much of this is due to their relationship with their customers and the strength of their brands, both of which is grown out of a content-based marketing strategy.

But, how does content marketing do this for your brand?

When people see you know what you’re talking about, they trust you and your brand. This trust is what strengthens the brand and keeps customers coming back.

What is this going to look like in the next 5 years?

Experts from the Content Marketing Institute have some interesting visions for how content marketing is going to evolve over the next 5 years.

Video gets the most recognition today as being a major player in future content distribution. High quality videos capture attention and keep audiences more engaged for a long period of time.

However, the experts agree that content-rich articles and ebooks are not to be forgotten. Ebooks of 10,000 words that can be purchased on a platform like Amazon are enormously popular and continuing to be so. Content-rich written articles of 1,200 words or more are also not only great for SEO, but are still a great way to capture audience attention.

Other less familiar platforms such as mobile gaming and augmented reality platforms seem to be a great way to share content as well. These have the potential to be especially effective, as they focus on making the way we ingest the information, the user experience, easier and more engaging.

How often do I need to be putting out this type of content?

All the experts agree that quality > quantity. It is much better to put out a more substantial piece of material once a week than smaller, less substantial pieces three times a week.

But, what about top-of-mind awareness?

Putting content out on social media regularly is important. However, it doesn’t all have to be these substantial pieces of content. Try putting out small, bite-sized quotes and ideas of your own while sharing and curating the content of others. If you share the content of others, they will be more likely to share your content in turn.

Should I really be giving away my intellectual property?

It seems like we’re giving a lot away for free. A lot of time and money is spent on material that often does not result in a direct sale. However, this effort is not wasted. The content and intellectual property you put out is building rapport and establishing credibility with your audience. This is a great way of allowing customers to self-educate and make their own decisions.

What’s so important about self-education?

Do you have someone in your life to whom you give advice? A child, niece, nephew, etc? You give them great advice and then…they ignore you. But then, one day, they hear the SAME ADVICE from someone down the street and suddenly its gospel!

Why does this happen?

Individuals often need to get the information from a source they feel is “objective”. From there, they can form their own decision. If they do the research and read the materials and they feel they come to the conclusion that they need your product/service, they will purchase from you and feel very comfortable trusting your brand.

Interactive Marketing

The second type of non-traditional marketing is Interactive Marketing.

More and more people want to help with product development. According to the Millennial Consumer Report, 42{db95e0fd77ae6d141d4535e2bf7b464d98e4151322120f553d7786be9a7303be} of millennial consumers want to become co-creators for products. This has given consumers today the reputation of being narcissistic and always needing to “Have It Their Way”. However, it may be prudent to see this from a different perspective.

Would you agree that the purpose of a company is to serve the client?
They best way to do this is by listening to them and finding out what they want in the first place.

For decades, companies have been putting out polls and doing research studies to get customer feedback on their products. They have been spending development dollars on finding out how their customers they like their products, what are somethings they can do differently, etc. This market research cost US businesses $15 billion in 2013 alone.

Not every business has the resources to spend on this type of research. However, because of social media, we now have a free way to access this information. Through social media, companies are able to co-create and engage with their customers.

Many big companies have capitalized on the idea of allowing their customers to become co-creators.

A prime example of this is the LAY’S “Do Us a Flavor” Contest. If you aren’t familiar with this promotion, the snack company asks fans to submit their flavor ideas for the next great LAY’S potato chip flavor. Then they choose the best of these flavors, produce them with the help of the customer, and take the finished product around the country. They allow the consumers to vote on which one they want to eat. The winning flavor becomes the new flavor and the winner receives a cash prize.

This campaign was enormously successful! During the campaign, sales of LAY’S potato chips increased by 12{db95e0fd77ae6d141d4535e2bf7b464d98e4151322120f553d7786be9a7303be}!

Listening to the customer and engaging with them is clearly an effective tool. And with social media the way it is today, the barriers between the business and the client is becoming less and less of an obstacle.

Experiential Marketing

We talked at length in our last article about customer experience. Click here to learn about the importance of Revolutionary Customer Experience. However, we will touch on it briefly here again because the customer experience begins with your marketing strategies.

Experiential marketing goes hand in hand with content and interactive marketing. The way your customers respond to your marketing depends entirely on the experience they are having. The experience is what makes the intake of content and the interaction possible. You want to make your interactions with your customers and potential customers as friendly, pleasant, and secure as possible.

Did you find this article valuable? Check the other articles in the Revolutionary Business Ideas series: