Five efficient marketing ideas that you can successfully implement

All beginnings are difficult. Are you in the process of founding or expanding your company? An important building block is that you strive for an effective marketing strategy . Small and medium-sized companies, which usually do not have a large budget for unusual marketing activities, especially in the early days, can limit themselves to a few essential marketing ideas.

The good news is that no matter what industry you work in, you don't have to reinvent the wheel from scratch. Sure, the marketing content you choose needs to be tailored to your product or service. But the tools can be used across industries and products alike!

Who are your buyers?

In order to know how to reach and most effectively target your potential customers, you must first define exactly who your target audience is. Create buyer personas relevant to your product, to which you can assign leads, potential and existing customers.

In addition to classic criteria such as age, gender, federal state, level of education and occupation, this important aspect of your marketing efforts also includes elements such as interests, preferences and online behavior.

Based on this data and insights, you can create relevant, personalized marketing content that resonates with recipients and has real added value for them. It is important in this context that your data is up-to-date and complete.

Once a month, the motto should therefore be that you check your database for topicality and errors and, if necessary, clean it up or supplement it. It is not without reason that 72 percent of companies believe that data quality issues are affecting consumer trust and perception. It is also important that you check the stored data for relevance at regular intervals and, if necessary, adapt it to your changing needs.

Content is king

Even if writing isn't your forte, maybe there's someone on your team who can write an article for your company blog on a regular basis? It is important that the content has added value for your target group. Lists of helpful tips, best practice examples, or testimonials from existing customers are a good place to start.

If you can win over a renowned industry expert, guest post or interview them on your blog to gain even more exposure. In general: Make sure that your content is researched in a high-quality manner and supported with suitable image material, infographics, charts or videos.

General criteria your content should have as part of content marketing :

• high-quality
• creative
• SEO optimized
• user friendly
• consistent

Use email marketing

According to Statista, 85 percent of Germans used e-mail as their preferred means of communication in 2018. Therefore, it is more than advisable to use email as one of your most important marketing tools. There are essential criteria that need to be considered when generating newsletters. The aim is that the deliverability of your

e-mails is successful.

Because one thing is certain: high-quality content does not automatically guarantee that the recipient will also open and read your e-mails. So take the following tips to heart:

• From address: Make sure your emails come from a recognizable sender name, preferably a business address.
• Subject line: Be brief and concise about what the reader is expecting. Make him curious, but be serious. This is where the creative minds of your team come into play!
• Design: Is your content optimized for mobile viewing on smartphones? Is your subject line delivering on its promise? Is the newsletter visually appealing and easy to read?
• call to action. What is your call to action (CTA) at the end of the newsletter? Do the recipients know what to do next and is it easy for them to do it?

Use social media

There are now three million companies worldwide that use Facebook to run their marketing ads. Regardless of age, social background or location - your target market can be easily reached via Facebook. Facebook is one of the most effective ways to market your product or service in the modern world today. And the great thing: You determine the budget!

Facebook ads are extremely targeted and effective. You can select an audience based on gender, location, online behavior, occupation, age, and many other factors.

Creating an ad on Facebook is also incredibly easy. All you need is a crisp headline, a brief description of your product or service, an image, and a link. With the Facebook Ads Manager you can manage your ads and check their success.

Integrate sweepstakes, photo competitions, webinars & co

Be creative! The competition never sleeps and if you want to stand out from the crowd, you have to offer consumers advantages that are not only appealing but also useful. For example, start a competition and give away one of your products. Initiate a photo contest that incorporates your product in a fun way. The ideas are almost endless, the aim is to let customers participate in your brand in an interactive way.

You should also take the opportunity to connect with your target group via free webinars, eBooks or manuals. You offer valuable knowledge that you share with potential customers, position yourself as an expert in your field and can actively communicate with consumers.

Answer questions, give advice and keep in touch with important opinion leaders in the industry who act as multipliers for you. In this way, you establish a friendly web presence, build trust in your target group and become a qualified contact person in your specialist area.

Conclusion: Achieve a lot with a small budget

As you can see, you don't need to spend huge amounts on your marketing budget to reach your target audience. But you shouldn't just limit yourself to these ideas - these are suggestions that offer you a solid basis, but can definitely be combined with other marketing activities.

The ideas mentioned here offer you the best conditions for getting your customers talking and generating leads. If you just want to focus on one tool first, email marketing is the way to go. It is an effective tool to be used in a targeted manner and its success rate is easy to check using modern software. Try Act! now 14 days free of charge .