5 big business marketing tactics you can steal

You might only have the fraction of a larger business’s marketing budget, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use the same marketing tactics they do. Automation tools and software can level the playing field and give you access to the most effective marketing techniques big businesses use to generate leads and increase sales.

These are 5 of the most effective big business marketing tactics you can use too:

1. Invest in SEO

Most online shoppers don’t look beyond the first page of search results, so if you’re not on the first page of their search, they don’t know you exist. Appearing high on the first page increases brand credibility as well as awareness, and customers arriving to your site via a first place ranking are more ready to buy.

Start by identifying the key terms your business could achieve a high search rank for using content marketing and social media. Highly competitive search terms could be dominated by larger businesses, and more specific keywords tend to be searched by shoppers who are already closer to a purchasing decision. Conduct a keyword report using tools like Moz and SEMRush to identify specific or niche terms with less competition to increase your chances of claiming number one spots on Google.

Directing traffic to your site from your social media profiles will also help your content gain traction and climb search rankings.

2. Targeted marketing

The more specific to each customer your marketing messages can be, the more effective they will be. The average person gets 72 emails a day, so it is vital to stand out by appealing directly to each recipient. Segment and qualify leads for different marketing messages based on where you generated them and previous purchases.  

Doing this allows you to send marketing messages and ads based on the interests, lifestyle and previous purchases of existing customers and new leads. This increases the likelihood of a response by focusing on their needs and interests, and makes recipients feel you are taking more of a personal interest in them instead of sending out generic marketing messages.

Tools such as MailChimp for email and TextMagic for SMS make it easy to manage mailing lists, compose messages and templates, and schedule marketing campaigns.

Opt-in SMS marketing is a great way to deliver high value personalized offers to your most interested leads.  In addition to rewarding qualified leads and existing customers with deals and offers, this method of marketing communication has a much higher open rate than others, and messages are usually read within 5 seconds of being sent. This lets you use time-sensitive offers to incentivize purchasing to avoid missing out on a great deal.

SMS marketing also allows you to set up referral programs to generate new leads through your existing customers.

3. Create a content schedule

Social media is a vital part of any marketing strategy, especially when targeting a younger audience.

Plan a release schedule for your blogs, videos and social media posts weeks if not months in advance. This makes it easier to assign tasks to the ideal content creator or writer, and helps keep your output consistent and well-rounded to provide value to a wide audience.

Facebook offers basic built-in tools for scheduling posts, for Instagram, Twitter and other platforms, services like Hootsuite and TweetDeck make it much easier to schedule posts in advance and manage interactions with users and other pages.

The amount of posts you should put out differs between each of the major social media platforms, and different audiences also have their own preferences when it comes to your posting frequency. Keep track of your engagement and click-through rates on posts, and regularly review these metrics to test improvements.

4. Create an affiliate program

An affiliate program can grant you access to the large existing audiences of brands, social media influencers and Youtube personalities. Joining an affiliate network can often be expensive and you may not have full control over who is representing your brand. Affiliate management software such as Post Affiliate Pro and ReferralSaaSquatch typically has a much lower cost and allows you to manage affiliates and track offers without paying the large costs to access an affiliate network. It also enables you to hand-pick credible affiliates who appeal to your audience and have a genuine interest in your business.

5. Partner up with relevant publications

Guest blogs and videos on relevant websites is another way to expand your reach to new audiences. Get in touch with publications that focus on your industry or relate to your target demographics’ lifestyles to offer free or low-cost articles in exchanges for links back to your own website. If you can provide quality content their readers find valuable, this can increase your brand’s credibility as well as generate clicks through to your business.

Tools like BuzzStream and MozBar make it easy to find potential link-building opportunities and assess their potential to improve your brand awareness and credibility.

Large publications can receive dozens if not hundreds of offers from writers and businesses, so don’t be disheartened if you don’t get any responses immediately. Keep reaching out and searching for new sites to contact, and try to build a relationship with sites who do publish your content.

Conclusion

Don’t let your budget stop you from using the best marketing tactics available. Small investments in automation and scheduling tools can offer big returns. Plan a well-rounded content schedule designed to reach all of your targeted demographics on your own site and social media. In addition, reach out to publications and potential affiliates to appeal to new leads on their sites as well.

There are is a huge variety of tools and techniques you can implement to borrow the marketing tactics of the largest and most successful businesses online.