With that being said, things get a bit more complicated in practice due to the competition. If you wish to reach the top of the corporate food chain, your approaches to sales and branding have to be more effective than those of your rivals. One way to do things is to pour more resources into sales and branding, provided you have some to spare, which is rarely the case. The other, more cost-effective way is to try and take over the industry through the use of creative marketing tactics. This second approach is our topic for today.
Our guest blogger, Michael Deane from Qeedle, covers 6 novel marketing ideas for boosting sales and brand awareness.
1. Gamify Your Products
Gamification is the process of adding (video) game-like elements to goods and services that have no such features associated with them by default. The purpose of gamification is to generate engagement for a product or a brand in a more natural, consumer-friendly way. There are countless gameplay mechanics you can add to make a product more engaging. For example, you can offer customers the option of collecting points with every purchase to unlock deals, sales, freebies, and other benefits. Another popular way to gamify your product is to host special AR events, where participants are encouraged to interact with your brand through a virtual layer.
2. Elevate Your Brand with Drones
Digital marketing is quickly approaching the point of saturation, so companies are once again looking at offline modes of promotion to stay ahead of the curve. Using drones for branding and marketing is one such example. A drone can be outfitted with a variety of promotional tools, including banners, speakers, LED light arrays, etc., so they can carry out a full marketing campaign on their own. All you have to do is identify crowd gathering spots, fly the drone to an altitude with maximum visibility and coverage, and set off the marketing equipment.
3. Entertain Passersby with a Photo Booth
Don’t underestimate the power of humor for branding. Companies such as Disney, McDonald’s, and Nintendo have built their reputation on two things – a quality product and a commitment to light-hearted humor in their branding. And you can do the same, without relying on popular copyrighted characters. An easy way to leverage the power of laughter for promotion is to design a funny cut out photo booth and place it in a local entertainment district. Come up with a funny situation involving your brand, and let passersby act it out by posing for photos, which they will later share online.
4. Create Branded Smoking Supplies
Social norms change over time, and what was once unacceptable behavior is now the norm in many places in the world. This broadening of the social sphere offers many new opportunities for branding. A great example would be cannabis smoking. As legislation surrounding marijuana loosens worldwide, more and more companies are trying to leverage this popular pastime activity by creating branded smoking supplies. And you can do the same by printing custom rolling paper. Just choose some funny, psychedelic imagery related to your brand, and create a limited run of rolling paper to try and seduce the stoner crowd.
5. Set up a Temporary Tattoo Booth
Aesthetic preferences are also subject to change, and forms of expression that were once associated with specific social groups are now a part of the mainstream. Tattoos are one such example – nowadays you wouldn’t be surprised to find that the granny next door has a gang tattoo on her thigh. One great way to leverage tattoos for branding is to host an outdoor summer event, and set up a tattoo booth. Use your company logo as a baseline for a tattoo design, and give attendees the option to receive a temporary tattoo in exchange for sharing their email address, which you can later use for sales prospecting.
6. Paint Street Art
Giving something back to the community is a great way to generate a positive buzz for your brand. However, you don’t want to be seen as catering to some members of the community over others, which means you have to provide something that everyone can enjoy. And since everyone appreciates art on some level, creating street art can earn you a lot of goodwill from the locals. Hire a local artist or a designer to create a mural or graffiti at a prominent social gathering place, and tag it with a small disclaimer saying ‘powered by: Your Brand Name’.
There are many ways to improve branding and sales, but most of them rely on a brute force approach which only available to larger enterprises. Small companies, on the other hand, have to rely on more creative tactics to spread the word. Fortunately, these tactics frequently offer a better ROI when compared to more standard methods, making them ideal for companies with the courage to brainstorm new ideas. And if you’re planning on doing the same, take our ideas as inspiration to come up with your own.
Michael Deane is one of the editors of Qeedle, a small business magazine. When not blogging (or working), he can usually be spotted on the track, doing his laps, or with his nose deep in the latest John Grisham.
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