It’s critical to keep marketing activities fresh to stay connected with the market and find new business for you and your joint venture marketing partners. Find initial success it may be tempting to get lazy regarding marketing activities. The following ideas are worth experimenting with depending on the product / service that you are selling. Appealing to a new market or using a new channel can be the best way to quickly grow a new base of clients. The risk is worth the reward to keep part of your marketing budget available for creative and special campaigns.
Reach a New Demographic
Certainly some businesses are very restricted in potential demographics in terms of where their products and/or services have an appeal. However; many businesses and especially consumer focused businesses have several niche demographics they can serve. Find ways to establish your brand into these available niche’s for your business to expand its reach. Adjusting the basic marketing message and approach can result in gaining new business. An observable example of a business that successfully attracted more business through reaching a new demographic are the TV ads on sports channels of male sports stars marketing weight watcher type meal solutions, a product historically advertised for women.
Participate at Major Events
Attending major business and industry events are great places to meet business leaders and decision makers within your industry. While sponsoring the largest of events is often reserved for companies that have significant resources to spend on marketing it does not mean you can’t participate in meaningful ways. Get a booth at a major event and then host an "after event" social gathering at a nice bar or hotel nearby. These are the places to meet potential business partners and people that could be become your next clients.
Start a Conversation
Engage in conversations online on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. While these sites are amazing platforms for reaching customers, be gentle in selling as most people are savvy enough to see the over selling marketing in an online post. Be a true contributor to the conversation and provide value to others that read your posts. The time spent developing credibility on industry focused forums and sites like Reddit will allow you to get away with subtle marketing through your comments, suggestions, and links that may be present in your profile.
Try a Pop Up Sale
If your business is capable of operating a pop up sale, find a few locations that will have a large number of people that fall within your target market and go to the location and set up a presence. This may simply be you in a t shirt and a handful of fliers or a full on booth that is rented from the location that you can operate as a store. Summer can be a great time to plan for a pop up store and sell your products to people that are on vacation or just enjoying the nice weather outside.
Finding a new marketing strategy or establishing a new demographic channel of customers is exciting and should be focused on by every business. Never stop experimenting and innovating with your products and services as well as your marketing strategies.
