The Definitive List: 206 Marketing Ideas For Small Business

79 min readMay 8, 2019

This is the largest collection of marketing ideas for small business on the planet.

Why?

Because there’s too much conflicting information out there.

One “expert” says this, another “guru” says that.

It’s really easy to get lost so I want to make things easy for you.

That’s why I pulled together the most actionable tactics and created the BIGGEST list of small business marketing ideas online. Not every piece of information applies to every business so be sure to pick and choose the ones which make the most sense for your business.

I’ll also be keeping things interesting with helpful links, visuals and quotes from influencers like Steve Jobs, Neil Patel, Sam Ovens and other greats.

Let’s get started!

The content we’ll cover today

Quick note: press “ctrl+f” or “cmd+f” and type in “Section ##” to quickly go down to the section you’re interested in reading.

Section 1: Marketing 101

Section 2: Online Marketing

Section 3: Design

Section 4: Getting Found

Section 5: Content Marketing

Section 6: Social Media

Section 7: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Section 8: Lead Generation

Section 9: Email Marketing

Section 10: Sales

Section 11: Delight Customers

Section 12: Analytics

Section 13: Networking

Section 14: Offline Marketing

SECTION 1: Marketing 101

1. Be sure that you have product/market fit.

Some of the best ideas don’t have a market that can grow and sustain it. Before buckling down, take the time to research your market and competitors to understand if there is an opportunity for yourself and your business. More often than not you might find that you have to make certain tweaks in the product or offering or idea in order to attract the right people.

2. Create a clear positioning for your business.

Be really clear on the solution your business delivers. This is the first step towards extensive understanding of your product and the audience it is for. Without a clear positioning, everything else you do won’t work.

Source: innis maggiore

3. Validate your business idea.

The best way to validate your idea is to make sure people are willing to pay for it. Sure, you can have 100 interested people on your email list, but if no one is willing to pay for it then you might need to go back to the drawing board (revisit number 1).

Here’s an example way to validate your business idea:

Run a targeted ad > Capture someone’s email > Ask them to pre-pay for your product or service.

Related: 11 reasons crowdfunding is the best way to launch your business

4. Know exactly who your customers are by developing customer personas.

According to Neil Patel:

“As time and technology change, so do customer buying habits and challenges. Every day, new businesses attempt to replace you in the marketplace. Maintain your competitive edge by understanding your customers or clients better.”

Customers personas are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers. Personas help you document and internalize the ideal customer you’re trying to attract.

Getting that deep understanding of your buyer persona(s) is essential for content creation, product development, sales and really anything that relates to customer acquisition and retention. With any business decision, just think back to the customer persona(s) and determine if this is what will work for her.

Here’s an example:

Source: Neil Patel

5. Stand out with a powerful unique selling proposition (USP).

When there’s 100 businesses out there that offer the same or similar services as you do, how do you stand out? Every entrepreneur is different, be sure to add your own flair to your brand and offering so that people have a reason to buy from you over the competition.

Your USP can be your stellar reputation in customer service, or a trademarked process, or even your online persona. It’s important to communicate your USP to your audience.

Example: a lot of marketers out there help you launch your product. NAME does it in a brass and in-your-face way that draws a certain type of following. Those who respond well to this leader brand will undoubtedly buy from her over any other launch experts.

6. Correctly price your offering for your audience.

There’s no way a hand-sewn lambskin bag from New Zealand can sell for USD$7,800. However, a lambskin Chanel bag can easily fetch that amount or more. When you’re pricing your offering, make sure that it works with the type of audience you’re looking to target. Don’t unknowingly price out your main audience.

Source: Better Than Sure

Related: Expert Advice to Establish a Landscape Business Pricing Strategy (although the article uses the landscape industry as an example, the information here is still highly useful for other industries)

7. Learn your customers’ lingo by identifying their “trigger phrases”.

You can do this by sourcing other competitors online and reading through their testimonials. What are customers disgruntled about? What “trigger phrases” are they using most? Another method is to go to Amazon and finding popular books and similar products to what you’re offering. There, look at all the 5-star and 1-star reviews to identify “trigger phrases” that people are using.

A trigger phrase is any set of words that clearly describe a pain point or solution the reviewer had with a product. You can use these phrases in your marketing to be the most relatable.

Source: Amazon

8. Borrow ideas from those who are doing it right.

One of the most obvious places to learn how to market your brand is to look to look your most successful competitors.

Reverse engineer their strategies and add your own flair to build up your presence. Research tools like BuiltWith give insights into which tools make up their competitors websites. A tool like SimilarWeb tells you what types of channels they are using for their own online presence and customer acquisition.

9. Build a competitor research folder

Make sure that you have a document somewhere that collates all the competitors that you’ve looked into. It can be incredibly helpful to go back every few months to see what your competitors are doing, what has been working for them (that they continue to do) and what hasn’t been working for them (that they end up removing from their site or offering).

Save all this information from forums, online communities, reviews, feedback, etc. into a folder or area that you can refer to later at any time.

10. Learn how to grow your business with help from your suppliers and vendors.

Having a solid relationship with your vendors and suppliers has many benefits. Specifically, they have deeper insights than most about the workings of your industry.

Having worked with many other sellers, they can help you identify what’s working so you both make more sales.

11. Sign up for online business training to revamp, expand and fine-tune all of your marketable skills.

I always say that learning is a lifelong skill. Be sure that you continue adding to your repertoire of knowledge and tools, both in your own business niche and also beyond its borders. Not only will your clients be grateful for your knowledge and/or your domain expertise (that’s why they pay you!), but also remember that the best innovation and advances come from synthesizing knowledge from multiple realms. As Steve Jobs once said, “stay hungry, stay foolish”.

Related: Marketing Courses on Coursera

12. Use consistent branding across all channels to be memorable.

You will need to have a clear, identifiable brand across all of your channels. This helps your customers immediately recognize you and ensure that your USP is top-of-mind. Without a consistent brand, there is possibility of confusing current customers as they become unsure of what you do and who you are.

I recommend using a tool like Canva to help you create your branding. The tool offers easy-start guides for each social channel and also provides you with useful templates.

Source: Powerhouse

13. Under promise and over deliver.

One of the most basic tenants of marketing is to under promise and over deliver.

Why?

Imagine this scenario: a digital marketer promises you 500 leads for you within 7 days. On day 7, you’re only at 450 leads. Although you’re up 450 leads, the goal anchor of 500 leads still makes you think that you’re at a loss.

However, if this same person promises you 300 leads within 7 days and delivers 450, everyone becomes elated.

So as a business, remember to always under promise and overdeliver.

14. Stay up-to-date by reading industry news, magazines and publications.

It’s critical that you follow relevant news to stay up-to-date and informed. Especially if your customers or clients rely on you and your expertise to make their business work.

As a digital marketer, I’m always on the prowl for the newest tool and tech to help make more money for my clients. Maybe Facebook and Instagram are producing the highest ROI right now, but tomorrow the landscape might be completely different.

15. Get valuable feedback with focus groups.

Focus groups are an extremely effective way of getting feedback before going all in on a new venture, product service offering and more.

Don’t let the word “focus groups” scare you off. It can be as easy as calling up people in your network (who are in your target audience group) to ask them some questions.

Source: Research for Evidence

16. Become the go-to expert in your field.

How many times do you want to choose a so-so doctor over a doctor who is the best in their field?

If you’re not an expert in your field, potential customers will recognize that and choose a competitor. Become an expert by repeatedly being visible and relevant to your audience.

17. Use relevant holidays as a promotional tool to get customers to buy.

It’s no secret that Black Friday and Christmas are huge holidays for businesses. And specific holidays like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day are huge for flower shops! Prom and Homecoming are huge for suit/dress stores.

There’s many combinations of holidays that are good for certain types of business, and some big holidays that are good for everyone. The point is you need to identify those holidays and plan ahead so you know exactly how you plan to leverage that (specials, discounts, free gifts, etc.)

Source: AdEspresso

18. Create a marketing calendar for important dates and milestones.

Similar to holidays, your business likely has a number of other important events and milestones that you need to have documented somewhere obvious so everyone on your team has time to prepare.

If your business sells Mexican ingredients online, be sure to note down different National Burrito Days, International Taco Days and the like. In order for you to capitalize on those events, you’ll need your team to start creating an offer and marketing it at least 30 days in advance. Having it all on a calendar helps your team to stay on top of any marketing activities.

Related: The Ultimate Social Media Holiday Calendar for 2019 [Template] (this link takes you beyond Federal holidays and includes things like National Opposite Day)

19. Get local customers by understanding the demographics of your area.

Local small businesses need to understand the demographics of their city before they choose a location. Local demographics also help you determine what types of promos or offerings you will need to create.

20. Free up your time with the help of a virtual assistant.

Like most entrepreneurs I can be a control freak because I want everything to work “perfectly”. But if your budget allows it, consider using UpWork to find a virtual assistant to take care of menial tasks like email, meeting scheduling, admin work, etc. to free up your time for more important things.

21. Set clear, concise goals with a marketing plan.

You can’t score if you don’t have a goal. It’s true in sports and true in life.

Without a plan in place that has steps towards your business goals, you’re just shooting in the dark.

Without a plan you won’t have recourse when things go wrong or the motivation to persevere without a clear goal and outcome in mind.

22. Get where you want to be faster with a professional marketer and/or consultant.

Smart businesses know when to admit they need some extra help. Hiring a professional marketing consultant to help guide your strategy and implement the tactics can skyrocket your business growth by leaning on their expertise.

If you’re ready to grow your idea, find customers and get paid then click here to see how we can work together.

23. Customers ask, you answer.

Marcus Sheridan from The Sales Lion say:

If a company is obsessed with hearing the questions, concerns, and needs of their clients — they’ll never run out of content ideas. They’ll also stay ahead of their competitors, because when we listen well, the customer shows us where the business model needs to go.

Source: Acquire

SECTION 2: Online Marketing

24. Get a website so your audience can find you.

The single most important aspect of your online marketing strategy to own your own website.

90% of internet users browse or research products online.

Plus, 50% on those people intend on purchasing a product or service.

If you’re not where your customers are looking, which today is the internet, you’ll lose out to the competition.

Source: Bright Pink Agency

25. Monitor every single brand mention online with Google Alerts.

As you build and manage your online presence, it’s crucial that you listen to what people are saying about you and your brand. It’s important to know if other sites are linking to you, quoting you, prompting you or complaining about you.

That’s where Google Alerts comes in handy.

Pro tip: also track your competitors so that you can act accordingly.

Related: How to create Google Alerts

26. Get a domain name that works well for your business.

If you’re in the tech industry, a domain name with .ai or .io or .it is common and works to build your credibility. However, if you’re looking to sell the newest weather-based tea drinks, stay away from the .ai or .io domain name and stick with the .com.

In general, a .com domain name is the most preferable, since a lot of people gobble up “good” domain names in hopes of selling them to the highest bidder, feel free to get as creative as you want with your domain names.

Example: Smartly is a new-age mobile-first MBA program that registered with the domain name smart.ly

27. Reach more people by translating your website into multiple languages.

Sometimes the audience that you’re looking for comes from a country that doesn’t speak English.

Example: That was the case with VR company, FOVE, which found that a large smattering of their audience resides in Japan. The company set out to translate their page and increased conversions from their Japanese audience.

Source: FOVE

28. Convert more traffic with fast loading website.

Want to read an insane statistic? According to Kissmetrics, a 1 second delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in conversions.

How to make your site faster:

Get a good host (I recommend BlueHost)
Reduce image sizes
Use compression
Reduce number of active plugins

29. Keep your site updated to get repeat visitors.

A site that’s not updated gradually loses value over time.

Not only do search engines love frequently updated sites, but a fresh website also:

Gets visitors to check back often for new content and updates

Allows you to feature company news like new products, events, etc.

Gives you a chance to provide more value that generates leads and sales

Make sure to create your website on a platform that lets you easily make changes that immediately deploys to the worldwide web.

Plus, don’t just focus on keeping your blog updated, other parts of your site like the FAQs, new testimonials, new products and other main pages.

30. Get more people on your email list by providing a lead magnet.

A lead magnet is a sampling of free content that delivers tremendous value to your potential customer. It can be an ebook, a how-to video, a 5-day email series or anything else that you want to create in order to get people to give you their emails.

Source: Digital Marketer

31. Get the sales by answering customer inquiries as fast as possible.

It’s important that your website’s contact forms are sending customer submissions to someone who can follow up with them immediately.

According to InsideSales, “50% of buyers choose the vendor that responds first.” The report cites 2007 data from Dr. James Oldroyd which found “the odds of the lead entering the sales process, or becoming qualified, are 21 times greater when contacted within five minutes versus 30 minutes after the lead was submitted.”

32. Let your audience know you care about them by responding to all online feedback (good and bad).

When a customer gives you valuable feedback online, whether it’s through an email, blog comments, Yelp review, etc., regardless of the feedback being positive or negative, you need to respond to those people.

Not only does it show them that you care about their experience, but if the conversation is publish (like on Yelp) it shows other people the same thing. Not to mention all the epic feedback you can get directly from you audience.

Source: Domino’s Pizza Instagram

33. Create your own personal FAQ

Once you start responding to your audience, you’ll find that there are questions that people frequently ask. Start compiling a list of questions/answers into a document so that you can quickly copy and paste answers. In order to not sound like a spammy robot, be sure to tweak some of the sentences and wording each time so that it sounds genuine and like someone is actually typing it out each time.

34. Build relationships and get more traffic by appearing on competitor blogs.

One of the best ways to build relationships with other influential people in your niche, as well as drive some traffic back to your own website/content, is to leave personal, thoughtful comments on relevant blogs or channels in your industry.

Make sure you’re not spamming links, that will NEVER work.

35. Create digital version of your brochure.

Sure your audience might be “old-school” and prefer traditional media like handouts, pamphlets and brochures, but it doesn’t mean that they don’t go online at all. Give them the best of both world by creating a digital PDF of your offline brochure and put it in a relevant place on your website.

This also allows you to be omnipresent for your audience.

36. Develop your personal brand to become an expert and a sought-after influencer.

Like I mentioned earlier, you need to be an expert in your field to gain the credibility needed to get more customers.

Here’s a few ideas:

Get a personal website
Write in an industry publication
Partner with other experts in a related niche
Get featured in a major media outlets
Speak at industry events

37. Bring people back to your website with retargeting ads.

Until recent years, the only way you could communicate on an ongoing basis with your website visitors was if you got them onto your email list. But now, with great development in online marketing tools, you can track people who viewed your website and didn’t convert and bring them back.

And guess what? Visitors who are retargeted with display ads are 70% more likely to convert on your website.

For example, if someone visits an opt-in landing page with an eBook download but did not convert. You can target them on other websites like Facebook with relevant ads to remind them to opt-in and download your eBook.

Related: How does retargeting work?

38. Bring people who are on the fence back to buy with abandoned cart emails.

Sometimes life happens and people stop mid-way through the checkout process. The good news is that you can take the above one step further and bring people back to exactly where they left off while they were checking out.

According to Shopify, “Roughly 60–80% of online shopping carts are abandoned before the customer completes a sale”. That means that your sales numbers may only be one third of what they could potentially be. One of the most effective ways to recover lost customers after they abandon their carts is to use an abandoned cart email which is sent to people who have added products to their cart but failed to check out.

It’s remarkably effective as a sales recovery tactic.

Moosend compiled some statistics for us, too:

More than 40% of cart abandonment emails are opened:

Out of all cart-retention intended emails that our users sent, a staggering 45% of them were opened, almost half of them, that is.

50% of these are clicked on:

Out of the opened emails, 21% of them received click-throughs.

50% of the users who clicked purchased:

Half of the recipients who engaged with the content of the email completed their purchase.

That’s a staggering amount of new sales. If you’re selling online, there’s no excuse for not having a cart abandonment email.

Example: Russell Brunson’s abandoned cart emails is personable and brings you back to exactly where you left off in the checkout process

39. Optimize your website and content for mobile or loose out on potential customers.

In 2014 mobile usage surpassed desktop use.

Ever since the first iPhone was released in 2007, smartphones and tablets have quickly paved the way for a new generation of shoppers.

Source: comScore

That’s why it critical that you optimize your website for mobile devices. This should be done with what’s called “responsive” design. What this means is that your website reorganizes and resizes content based on the screen size of the device your visitor is using.

Additionally, consider you mobile audience when creating content. Focus on visual, large text and simple design to get the best results.

40. Make getting in touch simple and straightforward for customers.

People who visit your site most likely want to work with you. Something about you spurred them into action and now they’re on your site reading more about you.

Make it so that it becomes easy for them to get in touch. This can range from anything like having a contact form on your site, or creating a hyperlink for emailing you directly or putting up your phone number.

41. Attract new people to your store with redeemable check in offers.

Apps like Yelp and FourSquare can access smartphone users’ GPS to track their location. People use apps like Yelp when they’re in search of a particular service within a close radius to their home. You can create a “check-in reward” to drive actual foot traffic and track how many people Yelp is bringing to you. This means that when someone finds you on Yelp and decides to come to see you, they can “check-in” at your location to redeem a certain reward.

The reward is dependent on what business you have and can be anything from 10% off the service offering or a free appetizer at your restaurant.

Furthermore, you can use Yelp to get people to pre-pay for your service. For example, ILoveKickboxing was offering 50% off 3 kickboxing classes if the person clicks through from Yelp and pre-pays immediately.

Source: Yelp

42. Guarantee that your customers see your marketing message with text & SMS campaigns.

Remember when we we said earlier that things are shifting towards mobile? Well, it doesn’t just stop with your website. Most recent statistic says that the average SMS open rate is 99% and the average SMS click-through rate is 35%. That number blows anything else out of the water.

Source: Inc

SECTION 3: Design

43. Get the point across faster by using visuals in your marketing.

The brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than the time it takes for the brain to decode text.

Think about the last infographic you saw. They’re explicitly design to put information into easily-digestible facts for your brain to process.

Plus, content with relevant images gets 94% more views than content without relevant images.

That’s why using visuals in your marketing is the best way to help people understand what you’re selling.

44. Increase perceived value dramatically with great design.

It’s a fact: design is one of the most subtle, yet obvious aspects of your marketing. When you create content, both online and offline, do so in a way that’s aesthetically pleasing and engaging. That can be the difference between someone picking up your brochure or leaving it untouched.

45. Use sites like Fivver and UpWork to find great designers.

Even though you’re filled to the brim with ideas to take your business to the next level, let’s be honest for a second here and all admit it: we aren’t all designers.

That why there are handy online job markets like Fivver and UpWork to find talented designers.

Need some photo touch up?

Maybe a cover and 3D image for your new eBook?

Source: Money Connexion

46. Create premium content using Google Slides / PowerPoint / Keynote.

Once I learned how-to use presentation building software to create content like checklists, eBooks, infographics, spec sheets and everything in between, it changed my business forever. Now, I don’t always have to rely on a designer or freelance worker to make a tweak, edit or create a 3-page lead magnet.

With these tools, I’m always able to create beautiful content with some good photos, typography, layouts and with little effort.

47. Use Canva to create professional graphics with zero skills.

I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s worth mentioning again. Canva is another marketing tool I couldn’t live without.

While I enjoy building my own visuals from scratch, sometimes there simply isn’t enough time. Maybe you just have no design skills at all.

Enter Canva, a powerful design tool with beautiful marketing templates from social media, to email headers, to ebooks, etc.

48. Leverage websites offering free stock photography.

Great design pieces often times include some use of stock photography. Don’t think that you have to spend hundreds or thousands buying these images. Go to sites like Pexels, Unsplash, StockSnap, Burst, ReShot and Pixabay to get started. There are a bunch of other ones so don’t let images deter you from creating great design!

Section 4: Getting Found

49. Create brand advocates by identifying and engaging your “champions”.

The cliche saying, “it’s all about who you know” is true in every aspect of life and business. That’s why it’s important for you to identify people who are willing to promote your brand.

Whether it’s a family member, fellow industry blogger, business partners, happy customers, etc. Arm them with whatever they need to spread the word about your business.

This can be a folder on your personal computer with images, rate sheet and information about your business that you can quickly share with people who are willing to promote your brand.

50. Create a listing in local online directories like Yelp.

Even if you don’t have a physical address. It’s crucial that your business is listed in local directories and search engines. Think about, people go to websites like Google and Yelp when they need something NOW (yes, there’s a bunch of people who do that).

Imagine your washing machine just broke and the dirty laundry is piling up. You need a local handyman ASAP! And if you have a handyman business, but if you’re not listed online in the places that people use to search ( Yelp, Google, Angie’s List, etc.) then they will never see you and they will choose a competitor.

Plus, these platforms allow you to collect positive (and negative) feedback from customers. Because these things are public, some businesses literally die or thrive because of their online reviews.

Related: Add your business to Yelp

51. Put yourself on the map — literally.

As well as creating a profile on local online directories, be sure to add yourself to Google’s expansive Map search network. A lot of people out there just go to Google Map to type in “laundromat near me” and the only way your business will pop up is if you listed yourself on the map.

52. Skyrocket word of mouth by implementing a 2-sided referral campaign.

A 2-sided referral campaign is when you provide someone with an incentive to share your business with another person. Then, the recipient also gets an incentive for signing up.

This trick alone sent Dropbox into the stratosphere. By implementing a 2-sided referral program, they managed get 4 million users in 15 months.

AirBnB also made use of this referral program by rewarding sharers and new users an award for their next trip.

A classic example is “Give $20, get $20”.

This has a viral effect because new people that are referred can earn $20 more for referring another person and so on.

Source: woofbklyn

53. Incentivize people to tell their friends and family with invite based rewards.

Taking the 2-sided referral camping a step further, the razor company Harry’s created a way for people to unlock rewards, based on the number of people they invite.

Harry’s had rewards from basic men’s grooming products to a lifetime supply of razors. All people had to do was get their friends to sign up and that counts towards the points system.

Source: Tim Ferriss

54. Reach more of the right people by developing strategic partnerships.

Don’t try to be a lone wolf. We all need to surround ourselves with people that we can create mutually beneficial relationships with. For example, if you own an interior design firm, partnering with high-end home builders and architects will ensure you have a steady stream of new projects and clients to work on.

55. Give away freebies to spark interest in your brand/products.

Why do you think grocery stores give away samples of food? They know the majority of people will try it and then buy the product, even though they never intended on buying that when they came into the store. I know that for myself, Costco food samples get to me every single time. And according to research, this strategy helped Costco to improve sales by 2,000%.

Similarly, giving away your product (especially to influential people in your industry) is a great way to give people a “taste” of your offerings and if it’s good enough, entice them to purchase the whole thing. If they don’t purchase the whole thing, having them experience this might even mean a shoutout about you and your business in their circle.

Source: The American Genius

56. Cross promote your services with other (local) businesses to expand your reach.

Get noticed by a wider audience group by leveraging the audience from a different business. Go local if your business serves a certain area, but outreach far and wide for cross promotion partners if your offering serves a wider swatch of the population. These businesses already have an audience who knows and loves them. By being on their email list and getting a positive shoutout from said business, you’re already more likely to be viewed favorably by the recipient.

57. Use Groupon to find new customers.

Okay first things first, Groupon is not for everyone. They take a good chunk (30%-60%) of your sales at an already discounted price. It’s a great opportunity if you have a low-cost product that you can use to draw people in before upselling add-ons and upgrades to them later.

For example, you can sell a 30-minute spa appointment on Groupon then offer a discount for skin exfoliation and full body scrub once people step through the door for their appointment.

Don’t bet it all on Groupon, you’ll end up attracting discount seekers who might not want to pay when you ask for full price. Yes, it does get people into your shop, but it doesn’t keep them there.

Source: Groupon

58. Run Pay-Per-Click and Pay-Per-Conversion campaigns.

It’s true that you can grow a massive following organically, but if your budget allows, you can also look to build a steady stream of traffic from advertising campaign. This can be an effective method to bring in qualified leads if you’re doing it right. Paid traffic through Google can connect you with people with very specific search parameters (i.e. organic butter lettuce in San Antonio) while paid traffic through a channel like Facebook or Instagram can get people to discover your brand.

59. Reach hundreds of thousands (even millions) of people by leveraging 3rd party audiences & platforms.

On average, businesses see a 6-to-1 return when they can find and engage people who already have the audience they want, then leverage that audience to build their own.

Find websites, blogs, directories, apps, etc. that already have the audience you want, like Airbnb did by creating an auto-posting option for Craig’slist. It may even be as simple as signing up for the right online communities in your niche.

Another example would be to find influential people in your niche who use your product or pay them to promote it.

60. Use guest blogging to tap into huge niche audiences.

Getting your content published on popular blogs, magazines, industry trade publications and others in your niche gives you instant credibility and puts you in front of your target audience.

61. Press releases get your story to news outlets fast.

In the past PR was more effective because people got all their information through the major press outlets.

But today, everyone gets their information online from social media, blogs, forums, emails, etc. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find success using a tool like PRWeb to get your release published.

62. News jack stories to hop into popular discussions.

Newsjacking refers to the practice of capitalizing on the popularity of a news story to amplify your sales and marketing success.

Audi, Oreo, Cherrios and other brands used the power outage during Super Bowl XLVII in 2013 as an opportunity to capture, entertain and engage people who were sitting around waiting for the game to start again. Tide also made sure to capitalize on the outage with their brilliant ad:

Source: Content Marketing Institute

63. Get 1-to-1 referrals by simply asking when the time is right.

An obvious, but overlooked strategy for getting more customers is to simply ask happy customers, industry partners and other people for referrals.

Don’t sacrifice your personal relationship with people for the sake of a sale, but don’t be afraid to ask for a favor when the time is right.

64. Find endless press opportunities using HARO.

HARO stands for “Help A Reporter Out”

Basically you sign up and get daily emails with a list of reporters who are looking for information on any topics you’d like. Once you find a topic you’re excited to write about (in this case it’d be something that you’re an expert in), respond with your blurb and take it from there.

The benefits include getting published, quoted, build links, etc.

65. Guerrilla marketing: creativity over money.

The main point of guerrilla marketing is that the activities are done exclusively on the streets or other public places, such as shopping centers, parks or beaches with maximum people access so as to attract a big audience at minimal cost.

There are opportunities galore wherever you are to get creative with your marketing.

You can commission a mural

Use a grate on the streets

Post ads on the local bike sharing bikes

Source: Wordstream

Section 5: Content Marketing

“[Content marketing] is a tactic that anyone can leverage… especially those who don’t have a marketing budget. By creating content that educates and helps others eventually you will start getting traffic and then you can work on converting those visitors into customers.” — Neil Patel

66. Stay consistent with a content editorial.

If you’re struggling to stay consistent with your content creation then you need an editorial. Basically a content editorial is a calendar of upcoming content that you plan to publish. Not only does it help keep you on track, you never run out of ideas for things to write because it’s already planned out.

With a little bit of searching you can find a free online template or you can use a digital tool like Trello or CoSchedule.

67. Save time and create content faster by repurposing what you already have.

This is a big one. You’ve already spent the time and resources to create videos, images, presentations, copy, etc. Now you must master the ways to use pieces of that library of resources to create new content more efficiently.

68. Use “value terms” to significantly increase perceived value.

Dramatically increase your opt-in rates by using “value terms” to increase the perceived value of your offers and persuade readers to take action.

For example: free download, featured, limited time, advanced, special offer, secrets, exclusive, access.

69. Move customers through your sales process faster by creating content mapped to your unique buyer journey.

Most people read online that they need to make valuable content, so that’s exactly what they do. Unfortunately, that’s what everyone is doing. Instead, you need to create content for each unique stage of your buyer journey.

For a cold prospect to become a customer they will need to travel through the three stages of the “Buyer Journey”… Awareness, Evaluation, Decision.

A cold prospect cannot evaluate your solution until they are first aware of the problem AND your solution. And conversion is impossible until the prospect has first evaluated the possible courses of action.

To move a prospect through a marketing funnel, they will need content designed to satisfy their needs at each of the three stages.

Source: Uhuru Network

70. Create value for years to come by creating “evergreen” content for prospects & customers.

According to WordStream Evergreen content is SEO content that is continually relevant and stays “fresh” for readers.

Evergreen content has (virtually) no expiration date and ideally will retain its value over the long-term. Updating and adding to the content overtime (I recommend annually) is another great way to keep to value rolling and appease the Google bots checking in on and categorizing your content.

71. Create eBooks and checklists to convert website visitors.

Blogging is great, but if you want to increase leads, then you need to give readers more value. One of the easiest ways to do that is to take written content (just like your blog) and putting it into a PDF eBook or checklist.

I personally use Google Slides to create all my eBooks and checklist.

72. Do a webinar to attract a highly-targeted audience and keep the undivided attention.

Savvy marketers will tell you that webinars are the best way to turn cold traffic into sales. Webinars allow you to build rapport and credibility quickly with viewers and provide tremendous value.

Even better, when you use tools like WebinarJam, you can set up webinar one time and let it run at any frequency you’d like so you can continuously generate leads from just one webinar!

Source: Salesforce

73. Create highly engaging, impactful content with videos.

Video is arguably the most engaging form of content. If a picture is worth a thousand words, what’s a video worth?

Don’t let video scare you (like it did me). You really don’t need to create anything elaborate. Why? Because social media has revolutionized the way online users communicate with each other. We’ve transitioned away from flashy and polished long-form video to short, concise and off-the-cuff content trumping longer forms of content.

Instructional videos on websites like YouTube also get millions of views.

Source: YouTube

74. Leverage customers testimonial videos to enhance social proof.

As an audio product, Pono could not get people to actually test the sound quality before pre-ordering the device. However, Neil Young’s Kickstarter campaign for the music player still raised $6.2 million from more than 18,000 backers because of the sheer amount and quality of the video testimonials that they received.

75. Use infographics to visualize complex ideas and impress readers.

As mentioned before, infographics is a great way to distill difficult information into easily digestible ideas. The images are shareable by nature and they generate a huge amount of traffic in that way.

Source: Visually

76. Get content ideas from the greats.

Study clickbait sites like Upworthy and Buzzfeed. These sites get a ton of clicks and countless shares. It’s true that their audience and subject will be different from yours, but they are both excellent examples on how to create, showcase and distribute content. Take a look at what they’re doing right and determine if you can implement something similar in your own content marketing plan.

77. Curate useful content surrounding your topic.

Stuck on what content to create? One easy way to create killer content is to curate quality content from elsewhere. If done properly, you’ll be able to have a stream of relevant and useful content for your audience, all without the plagiarism.

The best way to effectively curate content is to take the existing content and do something new with it. For example, if you’re looking to educate your audience about different beers from around the world, you can scour the internet for content for the “best” and “most relevant” information and compile it all together to make a Complete Guide to Beers Around the World.

On a final note, always be sure to give credit where credit is due!

78. Save time writing by do a podcast instead.

Not every business would benefit from a podcast. It’s a bit like talk radio and a lot of people listen in their cars while they commute or at the gym while they’re running on the treadmill or even at home while they’re cooking dinner.

The best part?

They are incredibly easy to produce!

All you need to do is talk and record it.

79. Craft a killer content strategy with the 4–1–1 method.

The 4–1–1 concept comes from Andrew Davis, author of Brandscaping. His killer social media sharing strategy dictates that for every six pieces of content shared on social media:

4 should be content from other industry influencers that is relevant to your audience. Sharing thought leadership pieces will demonstrate selflessness and build relationships within the industry.
1 should be your own original, educational content to establish domain expertise.
1 should have a sales aspect (coupon, product news, press release), in order to potentially convert interested, warm leads into a sale.

Related: Brandscaping by Andrew Davis

80. Create value over a set period of time with an email course.

Email courses are great ways to provide value over a set amount of time.

Plus, since your subscribers are expecting these emails, the open and clickthrough rates are usually extremely high.

That means they are a great place to gently pitch relevant products and services as you already have their undivided attention.

81. Help people understand your business in 30 seconds or less with an “explainer video”.

Using videos on landing pages can increase conversion rates by 86% because they keep visitors around longer and help them understand what you do in just a few seconds.

Even though they are typically used for software businesses, they are great for businesses of all kinds.

82. Create Slideshare presentations with impactful takeaways.

Slideshare already has a huge reach. Repurpose old PowerPoint presentations or other content into a Slideshare format to expand your audience reach.

83. Promote your new content.

Yes, you can create new content day in and day out, but none of it will get found without any promotions. So when you’re creating and publishing content, be sure to have a promotion plan in mind: share it with your email subscribers, make sure your social media followers have access to it, ask friends and family to read and forward it to their networks (if relevant), pay a small sum to showcase the content through ads.

Section 6: Social Media

84. Be in right places online by signing up on all relevant social sites.

Don’t be fooled, not every social network is for every business. The only ones I’d argue are a requirement is Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Twitter isn’t a necessity, but it’s a high-touch news platform for a lot of journalists so I’d still build an account there for any future PR strategy.

Beyond those very core social media networks, there are also platforms like like Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc. These, however, are dependent upon your audience. Be sure to be present where your audience is.

85. Remember that social is about relationships not transactions.

While social can (sometimes) be an effective channel for driving sales, you should prioritize relationship building and enhancing the customer experience over sales.

Your goal with your audience here is to grow the number of interested followers (aka potential customers) and educate them on your brand, product and mission. This is a channel to support the sales, not actually convert the sale.

Source: Schneider B Media

86. Get easy-to-remember profile URLs for easy search and brand building.

A vanity URL attaches your brand’s name directly to your profile link, instead of an ugly, long code that’s automatically created. So instead of “Facebook.com/business1234A5H382” you get “Facebook.com/YourBrand”. If you’re not sure how to initiate a certain channel strategy, you can still “park” the name by signing up for an account and reserving the URL.

Pro tip: when you’re creating your channels, be sure that the same name can apply through multiple social channels. You don’t want to be @GreenGardenGnomes on Instagram, but find that it’s been taken on Facebook so you have to use Facebook.com/GardenGnomesThatAreGreen

87. Use Twitter effectively to create immediate ROI.

Mike Kawula from Social Quant says:

Twitter Marketing is by far one of the most powerful marketing strategies that can produce immediate ROI for the savvy entrepreneur. Whether you’re a local business owner, national or international business owner Twitter works!

First get more Twitter followers who are relevant to your business and are interested in what your share. Make sure that you’re sharing good content each hour that drives your Twitter followers back to your website or causes your followers to want to share your content with their audience, further exposing your brand.
Next make sure to be actively listening either on Twitter natively or with a great tool like Mention, around topics that you want to be part of the discussion. For example if you’re a local dog walking business, listen to discussions of people talking about walking their dog in your local area or if you’re a national online retailer listen for discussions about your competition or around your niche. Social listening is highly effective on Twitter and can drive immediate business for almost any type of entrepreneur.
Lastly, make sure that you’re organizing your new Twitter followers into lists. Create Prospect lists (keep those private), customer lists, media lists and engage with those people on those lists.

This process will move a Twitter follower into business dollars overnight.

88. Use Reddit and forums to find highly-engaged people looking for answers to their problems.

Reddit and forums are sleeping giants amongst an endless stream of “selfie” social networks. Basically Reddit is made up of a bunch of “sub-reddits” on just about every category and topic you can imagine, while forums come in all shapes and sizes on every topic you can think of. Reddit and forums are far less about popularity and followers and is more about sharing and talking about interesting content.

89. Use Quora to establish domain expertise

Quora is a question and answer platform on the internet. To most effectively use Quora, you must position yourself as the domain expert in your field. Hone your Quora profile to point at social proof items about yourself and also provide relevant links for people to click on to drive that traffic to your own site.

To get the most out of your Quora sessions, be sure to answer both niche questions about your topic (for me, a lot of it is crowdfunding), but also write answers to questions with a larger audience base to garner additional views (for me, that’s entrepreneurship and marketing). Tell stories and tie information back to your own business and successes in order to get the most views.

Source: Quora

90. Use Facebook live video.

If you’ve got a verified Facebook page, then you can tap into the power of live streaming. It’s the most personal way to engage your audience aside from being in the same room.

91. Amplify your professional network on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is the largest business networking site in the world. People’s mindsets shift when they log into LinkedIn compared to Facebook, Twitter, etc. They mean business!

It’s the perfect place to showcase your portfolio, skills, testimonials and much more with it’s useful tools.

The platform is very much like a living resume. Potential leads often look at my LinkedIn profile a few times during the pitch and sales process to check my professional background.

92. Join groups to find like-minded people and potential customers.

Like Reddit, platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn have thriving niche communities with millions of targeted people to engage with. Be sure you’ve joined those groups and are actively engaged in those conversations.

93. Use “Mention” to track social media mentions of your brand.

Mention is a helpful app that’s basically Google Alerts especially for social media. With Mention, you can track mentions of your brand across different social media sites.

94. Use Pinterest to find epic ideas and inspiration.

Pinterest is a goldmine of inspiration, ideas and awe-inspiring content. People spend copious amounts of time finding and curating very specific and detailed content — from hydro-farming to home decor to how to make the best infographic — so be sure to utilize the visual power of Pinterest to drive your next idea.

Source: Pinterest

95. Get more followers by following your competitors’ social media fans.

A clever way to generate highly-targeted followers quickly, is to follow your competitors’ followers. A percentage of them will follow you back, then you unfollow the people who don’t follow you back. The tool CrowdFire is the perfect solution for social media espionage. Some people have even figured out how to automate large parts of the process.

96. Save time with social media automation tools.

One of the best marketing strategies is social media automation. I’m not saying that you’re supposed to automate your entire social presence, but look to automate certain components of it. This is usually those repetitive, mundane processes. Use automation effectively to free up time and focus on other things that matter to you and your business (I personally recommend MeetEdgar).

What matters usually is the engagement that you drive from social media. Since you are spending less time doing things that suck the life out of you, you can have more time to engage with your audience. Just be sure to balance your social media automation so that you don’t come across as a robot.

97. Get more social shares by finding influencers who shared similar content to yours.

People are always looking for great content to share with their followers. Make their job easier by identifying the people in your niche who share content similar to yours, then send a simple outreach email asking if they’d like to see it.

Source: Twitter

98. Get in front of people faster by purchasing ads.

We are living during a special time. You as a business owner can target your ideal audience with little to no effort using all the data social networks like Facebook has collected.

You and millions of other in the world actively “Like” things on Facebook, which tells them what you’re interested in. Using that information from the Facebook platform, you can find highly specific groups of people and deliver relevant ads.

Other platforms like LinkedIn and Pinterest are worth experimenting with as well.

99. Find more people like your customers by using custom and “lookalike” audiences on Facebook’s ad platform.

There are a number of advanced Facebook ad features that are worth noting.

You can upload a list of emails or phone numbers and Facebook will match those to profiles so you can ID people on your lists.

Plus, you can install a “Pixel” on your site that tracks what people do on your website (outside of Facebook) so you can send them ads based on pages they’ve viewed (even if they didn’t opt-in for your offer).

Finally, you can create a “lookalike” audience in which Facebook takes a custom audience (one you’ve uploaded) and finds other people on Facebook who are very similar, then allows you to show them ads too. This is a powerful tool especially if you have a strong list of paying customers. Facebook will do the legwork and find those on the internet with the characteristics most like your paying customers. The idea here is that those most like your paying customers will more probably also be paying customers in the future.

Section 7: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

100. Supercharge your online presence by knowing the basics of SEO.

93% of online experiences begin with a search engine. When you properly optimize your site and content for search engines, you’ll increase your rankings and get more traffic.

Search engine optimization isn’t that complicated but people like to make it complicated.

Essentially, you want to optimize your online profiles, website and content so that more people looking for businesses like yours, find you first.

SEO will help you position your website properly to be found at critical points in the buying process when people need your what you offer.

This involves a combination of keyword research, content/page optimization, user experience, backlinks and continuous tracking/measuring.

101. Open floodgates of free traffic by getting 1st page rankings.

First page rankings are important because data shows most people never go past it.

Think back to your own use of Google, how often do you go past the first page of results on Google? I’m betting it’s not very often.

There are many different types of first pages rankings. But one of the easiest way to get on the first page, is to use Google Places. Here’s how:

If you own a local business, getting on the first page of Google for relevant keywords is not that hard. You just need to make sure you’ve signed up for Google Places and optimized your profile. That way when people in your area type in things like “plumbers” or “barbershop” or whatever it is you do, your business comes up first in the “local” results.

But that strategy isn’t scalable. If you want to increase your website traffic without buying ads, then you need to create content around relevant, high-volume keywords your customers search for online. That way when some searches things like “how to repair a broken sink” or “best men’s hairstyles” (from the examples above) then your content comes up. That’s a little bit easier said than done.

102. Create a list of relevant keywords to understand what people are searching for.

Another big win for business owners has been Google’s introduction of the “Keyword Planner”. This lets you see exactly how many people search for specific phrases, how difficult it is to get on the first page for that keyword as well as how much commercial intent there is behind a keyword.

Basically you need to identify specific words and phrases your customers use when shopping and searching for content online. Then you work those keywords into your website pages and content. Weaving those keywords into websites and blog posts is both an art and a science that we won’t have enough time to cover in this article. Check out the related link below.

103. Give away so much value with blogging that people feel sorry for not giving you money.

Businesses that blog receive 77% more traffic and 97% more links to their site than those that do not.

That’s because blogging creates value and credibility that attracts your ideal audience.

Blogging is one of the single best ways to get more free traffic to your website. But most people just blog about whatever they think people want to read about. This is a recipe for disaster.

Instead, each blog post should be centered around a specific keyword or phrase you want to rank on the first page of Google for.

104. Use a “Skyscraper Post” to jump to the first page of Google.

One of my favorite ways to achieve first page rankings for myself and clients is to create a “Skyscraper Post“. This is a type of blog post popularized by Brian Dean at Backlinko.

The basic idea is you identify content that ranks on the first page for a keyword you’re targeting. Then you create a piece of content that blows everything on the first page out of the water.

Your content should be:

Longer and more in-depth
Better designed
More up to date
Have more visuals like videos, photos, charts and screenshots

105. Create your own awards with “award bait”.

Another great strategy from Brian Dean is a type of called content “award bait”. It’s perfect for building backlinks if you’re just starting out.

The idea is that you identify the top 50–100 bloggers in your niche, then create a blog post announcing the winners of your award.

Next, you need to create (or hire someone to create) a visually appealing award badge that winners can display on their site.

Finally, you reach out to your “winners” then give them the award badge and a link back to your post. Not everyone will post it, but the ones that do will link to your site.

106. Increase click through rates to your content with “power words”.

Google has a number of different factors that affect ranking, but a big one is click-through rates. Basically, if more people click on your link, you get higher rankings.

That’s why you need to make your page names more exiting with power words like “30% off”, or “lowest price online” to entice people to click on your link over the competition.

107. Make sure your blog and website are on the same domain.

A simple way to increase the authority and rankings of your website and blog it to have them on the same domain.

That means the URL is either “blog.yourdomain.com/article” or “yourdomain.com/blog/article”

Section 8: Lead Generation

108. Grow your number of leads list by collecting emails anyway you can.

It doesn’t matter how you do it, but you need to collect customer information both on and offline anyway you can. Luckily, there are tons of handy tools to increase conversions on your website. For example, OptIn Monster helps to increase on-page opt-ins with an exit intent email capture. HeroBar adds an information bar to attract people to convert. Proof gets people knowing that there are others out there who also want your content.

Offline is a little tricker. Sometimes you can put a sign up sheet near checkout, or offer customers to have their receipt emailed to them through your POS. Maybe you’re hosting an event and people drop their business cards into a bowl for a raffle drawing. Maybe you physically have an iPad setup at your booth to collect emails for further news and updates.

The bottom line is that the size of your email list directly impacts your ability to convert more customers.

Source: Optin Monster

109. Get more leads by creating lead magnets.

A lead magnet is essentially an irresistible bribe that you give to prospects in exchange for their contact information.

Source: Search Engine Journal

In fact, premium content offers like eBooks and email courses generate 3 times as many leads as traditional outbound marketing and costs 62% less.

Face it, your boring “subscribe to our email list” offer isn’t converting anyone. Instead you should be giving away a premium piece of content around a problem your target audience had, then collecting everyone’s email who wants to read it.

When you create a lead magnet around your audiences problems, you know the people who opt-in are the right fit for your product or service.

Not sure what to offer as a free lead magnet? Marketing guru Amy Porterfield suggests: if you’re gut says it’s too much information to offer, then it’s probably the right amount.

110. Direct people exactly where you want them to go with calls-to-action (CTAs).

A call-to-action is a like a road sign in your marketing: incredibly helpful in guiding the way. It tells people what to do and what they get for doing it.

Source: Medium

The whole point of your website is to turn visitors into leads and ultimately sales, right?

But if your visitors show up to your site and don’t know what to do next then you’ve already lost them.

That’s why it crucial that you use visually appealing CTAs with enticing copy that tells people exactly where you want them to go and what you want them to do.

111. Use Proof to get people feeling like they’re part of a larger group.

Imagine you see two taco stands by each other — one overflowing with people and one with barely any customers. Which one will you be more likely to get tacos from?

Yes, the taco stand overflowing with people. This is the power of social proof in marketing.

Proof brings that “full store feeling” online by letting visitors to your site know that others also know and trust your product.

112. Get leads from your videos by creating gated videos in Wistia.

Wistia is a great video hosting platform similar to YouTube, but with much more business-friendly features.

One of those features is to create “gated videos”. What that means is you get to decide at what timestamp you’d like visitors to have to enter an email to continue watching.

This is a great way to tease content and build excitement before asking for their email.

113. Use custom “Thank You” pages.

Make good use of your Thank You pages! It appears after someone has given you their email and is the one place where people who are clearly interested in your product or offering will all see.

Custom Thank You pages offering a free trial or upsell of a product is something that can help generate a lot of leads (and sales) for your business. The basic idea is that once your prospect downloads an ebook/white paper/content upgrade/etc, you can then redirect them to a custom Thank You page that shows them a special offer. It can be a free trial, a discount on the product for today only, or any other promotional offer you can think of.

Example: this Thank You page from Julie Stoian upsells her funnel-building course and templates

114. Buy lists of emails related to your business niche.

This is one that I’d recommend with caution. Buying an email list and emailing them directly goes against digital marketing laws. But if you do come upon an opportunity to buy a very relevant email list there are still very sound ways to use them. For one, you can create lookalike audiences via Facebook advertising to find related audiences who might be interested in your offering. You can even go further to advertise directly to those people from that list (without letting them know that, of course). Since they’re already in your niche and a related audience, the cost to acquire customers from that audience might be much lower than for others.

115. For people who are too busy, make posts available to download.

There’s far too many distractions online for people to focus on one thing for too long.

That’s why it can be a good idea to offer your blog posts in a PDF for people to download and read later.

116. Get more leads from your top pages with “content upgrades”.

The idea behind the “content upgrade” is that you give away a resource that was unique to each blog post.

The resource should include relevant bonus material not found in the post.

It’s the classic, “But wait, there’s more.”

It’s perfect because people have already shown interest in your content by going to that exact article. By giving them more of exactly what they came to your site for, it’s one of the few surefire ways to increase conversions.

You should start with your top viewed posts and work backwards. Plus, on all future content, plan to create a content upgrade as well.

117. Convert people before they leave your website with exit intent pop-up forms.

Some people are hesitant to use pop-up forms on their site because they think it’s tacky or bothersome.

But, they work like a charm to collect visitor emails (as long as the offer is right).

To take that a step further, there are tools that allow you to trigger the popup right as a person is about to leave your page.

Source: Optin Monster

118. Host an online contest/giveaway to get in front of a lot of people at one time.

Online contests are a powerful way for new businesses to collect a large number of emails quickly. But the key is that your giveaway is relevant to your product or service.

That’s because if it’s not relevant, you’ll attract freebie seekers who have zero interest in your offers.

A simple combination of the right prize, attractive visuals, easy opt-ins and the right promotion strategy can help you to quickly build your list.

Source: Gleam

A tool like Gleam is easy to get started with.

119. Amplify your growth with shareable links.

Create easy-to-use share links so that your customers can tell friends and family about your offering. You can attach this to your email signature or even have it be at the end of an article as a final call to action.

Use Share Link Generator or Code Beautify to help you create links.

120. Gamify the sharing process to get more reach.

Gamification is a process where you take the essence of what makes games so “fascinating and irresistible” and integrate them into non-game experiences. When applied to marketing, gamification creates a fun experience for your audience, motivates customers to particular and provides an emotional connection with your customers.

Check out Queue to gamify the sharing process to encourage people to participate in spreading the word about your business.

121. Convert contest entries by sending consolation prizes.

Of course the majority of people will not win your online giveaway. That’s why it’s a smart idea to send a “consolation prize” in the form of a discount or limited-time offer for participating in the contest.

This is a great way to turn contest entrants into real paying customers.

This is especially useful if you were able to attract the right audience to your contest.

Source: Milled

123. Add hundreds of people to your email list with 1-click opt-ins for 3rd party audiences.

1-click opt-ins are used when partnering with someone else to promote their content or products and for other people to promote your content or products.

If you have someone who’s willing to share your content with their email lists, you can use a 1-click opt-in link in the email that instantly captures their email when they click on it.

124. Generate and use social proof in your marketing to earn instant trust.

88% of people trust reviews by other consumers as much as they trust recommendations from personal contacts.

Studies show that 70% of consumers look at product reviews before making a purchase.

What more can you ask for?

Asking customers for reviews at the right time, will create brand advocates that attracts new people.

What kind of social proof:

Testimonials
Number of customers, users, followers, etc.
3rd-party/expert reviews
Media outlets featured in

125. Identify and connect with influencers in your niche to expand your reach.

Influencer marketing has been shown to produce a 6-to-1 return when used effectively.

Connecting with social media influencers, popular YouTube vloggers, bloggers and celebrities give you access to a large number of people. Be sure that you’re approaching them with a “value add” rather than a “value drain” — you’re here to help them add value to their offering and their services (value add) rather than just take their followers (value drain).

You can then capture their email and potential turn them into sales.

126. Get the recognition you deserve by applying for industry awards.

Another great way to receive more recognition and attention from your target audience is to apply for and preferably get nominated and win, relevant industry awards.

That goes a long way in convincing people to do business with you.

Source: LinkedIn

127. Conduct original data/research.

If you want to be viewed as an expert in your field, conducting original research is one of quickest ways to get instant credibility.

Getting real numbers to back a theory gives you indisputable and valuable information that other people will quote and link to, driving more traffic and potential leads to your site.

How do you do this?

Go out in the field and ask strangers to answer your top 2–3 questions. Run a quick online survey with your Facebook friends. Send out an email to your existing email list with a few short questions.

128. Reach ready-to-buy shoppers by getting reviewed by 3rd party experts, blogger, etc.

Not only does this strategy get a large number of eyeballs on your product/service at one time, but it also gives you powerful promotional tools that convert more people who visit your product pages in the future.

These experts and bloggers already have a niche and audience that they’re talking to. If they vouch for your offering, their audience will more likely be to also believe in and love your product. Think about Oprah’s Book Club — she picks a book to feature and all of a sudden thousands of people who follow Oprah buy, read, review and become obsessed with the book.

Case in point: the ZUS Smart Car Charger sold thousands of units after a 3 minute review from Unbox Therapy.

Source: YouTube

129. Capitalize on affiliate marketing to expand your reach.

Affiliate marketing brings a win-win way to leverage 3rd party experts. Rather than just a feature with no return for the expert or blogger, affiliate marketing provides an incentive for the person in the form of a kickback for every successful referral.

130. Maximize word of mouth by making it easy for customers to share their story.

Customers love connecting with brands and they also love talking about themselves (just think about the rise of selfies). Make sure it’s incredibly easy for your customers to spread the world about your business, their experiences, interactions, successes, transformations, through social media!

131. Get customers to create content for you by encouraging user generated content (UGC).

One of the best ways to attract more people while nurturing your fanbase is to encourage people to create content. A company called nonda frequently has calls for UGC by running a random drawing or giveaway. The only way to enter is for their users to post quotes about or pictures of the product in action. With no effort other than to do a random drawing, they are encouraging every single person who uses the product to create shareable content for them.

In this selfie era, all it takes is a little creativity to get your customers talking about themselves. Then, you can easily leverage the content they create in your own channels.

132. Earn trust with a website rating, review tool.

Customer reviews are 12x more trusted than descriptions from sellers. Which is why you need to use tools like BazaarVoice and GIGYA to allow customers to rate specific products, services and content (both digital and physical) on your website for other people to see.

Basically, it’s like Amazon’s reviews, but on your own website. In fact, websites with a ratings/review tool convert 63% more customers than those without one.

Source: Mous

133. Use real numbers in your copy to captivate readers.

Social proof means that people will copy others’ actions, even if it’s the wrong thing to do. It’s a bit like a “herd mentality” and can be incredibly effective in terms of getting new customers to give your business a try.

For example, McDonald’s proudly writes “over 99 billion served” underneath their Golden Arches.

Source: Forbes

134. Get more testimonials by following up with happy customers to ask for reviews.

There’s a fine line between asking for a review too late and asking too early. It all depends on the sales cycle and your customers. It’s up to you to decide when is the appropriate time and if you can automate it, that’s even better.

If you’re a brick and mortar store, focus on getting Yelp and Google reviews. If you’re running an eCommerce businesses, you should get (and show) product reviews. If you’re a service businesses (i.e. consulting), you should get those reviews on LinkedIn.

That way you can use the testimonial in other places and it’s enhancing your online presence.

Section 9: Email Marketing

135. Create a useful and eye catching email signature.

One of the things people see most often from you is your emails. That makes your personal business emails the perfect place to attract more leads and customers. Plus, adding a headshot makes your emails even more memorable and feel more personal.

Here’s an example from my own email signature where I direct people to a useful piece of content they can make use of immediately, ask people to connect with me (and learn more about me and my qualifications), and provide an easy-to-use way for people to start working with me.

136. Create an automated welcome series for new subscribers.

When someone joins your email list, it is a clear signal that they’re interested in your company’s products or services. You want to give them a warm welcome, which means you’ll want to help them get to know you better, share your best recent content with them, and let them know what they can expect to receive from you in the future. This is a really important sequence and you can set it up with your main email marketing tool.

137. Build mutually beneficial relationships with readers by sending a balance of value and promotional emails.

If you’re just beating your prospects over the head with constant “BUY NOW” messages, not only will you annoy the hell out of them, but you’ll lose their trust and likely their business.

That’s why you need to balance both promotional emails and emails that provide value through content.

138. Send emails with interesting content that people will want to open.

Leah Kalamakis of Freelance to Freedom weaves personal stories with business learnings and how-tos (one day she wrote about her Uber driver and what she learned from him). I guarantee to you that her emails receive an incredibly high open rate as people follow in her adventures and also get snippets of learning at the same time. She makes sure to tie in each email to an offering she has, but in a non-salesy way as to not annoy the recipient.

139. Send monthly newsletters for old school readers.

Look, some people are just old school. Yes, they like hearing about your latest content and offers, but they have been conditioned and used to getting their content is a newsletter.

It’s informative, timely and maybe even a little dated, but you need to ask yourself who your target audience is and how they prefer to receive news updates.

140. Save time and make more money by automating lead nurturing campaigns.

Businesses that can successfully automate their lead nurturing process with targeted messages, see a 10% or greater increase in revenue in just 6–9 months.

There’s no right or wrong email sequence as long as you’re giving away value before asking for something in return.

If fact, if you can give your audience so much value that they feel bad for not giving you money, then automate that value via email, you’ll see a significant increase in your sales-ready leads and customers.

141. Segment your email list to send the most targeted content and make the sale.

The biggest hidden strategy to best leverage your email list is to segment it. Figure out what your goals are and what you need to do to get people through your email funnel to that goal. Say person A opens your sales email, but doesn’t click on the link while person B opens your sales email and clicks on the link. From here you can already know that the type of content that they need will be completely different in order to take them through the sales process.

Beyond that, you can also look to segment your email list based on their specific interests and send the most relevant content to people. Segmented email lists mean higher open rates, happier subscribers and more sales!

142. Get valuable feedback and boost backend sales with automated post-purchase email series.

Similar to automating your lead nurturing campaigns, when you create an engaging post-purchase email sequence, you can extract valuable information, increase customer lifetime value and amplify word of mouth.

One example is from a beauty company called BOOM by Cindy Joseph. They have about 15 automated emails they send every customer after a purchase.

First they build excitement for the purchase, then they build rapport with content, then they ask for feedback, a testimonial and user-generated content, then finally they increase sales by showing you similar products and asking you to restock your last purchase when it runs out.

Source: REI

143. Send emails reminding people to restock on your product.

For those selling actual product, make sure you gather data on how long it takes to actually use your product before someone has to make a second (or third, or fourth, or fifth) purchase.

Different products have different lifespans. Some cologne can last for years, while BBQ charcoal might only last a long weekend. Depending on what you’re selling, you need to determine the consumption rate of your product and send timely reminders to customers so they remember to buy more when they run out.

144. Find out the best time to send emails by measuring open and click through rates.

Like product consumption-rates, every business’s audience likes to consume and read content at different times. Home and garden articles are read more on the weekend, while business content is consumed mid-week. The best way to figure out when your audience is most engaged, is to test open and click through rates on your emails by sending them at different times.

For crowdfunding clients, I see the best opens and clicks on Tuesday mornings.

145. Find prospects by cold emailing (the right way).

Randomly emailing people with a sales pitch won’t get you very far. Instead, identify people interested based on their online actions, whether that’s businesses they’ve reviewed or content they’ve shared and commented on.

Once you identify those people, you reach out with a personalized pitch and provide a huge amount value.

146. Discover a huge potential audience with related niches.

Get creative with finding who might want or need your offering.

Examples:

A person wants to find customers for a startup that is the Uber for vets. They can use Yelp to identify locals who reviewed mobile groomers. The idea is that people who have shown interest in mobile pet services should have the disposable income to afford a mobile vet service.
If you’re selling physical products, use Pinterest to see which people saved (pinned) similar products and reach out to those people as they’ve already shown interest in these similar products.

147. Conduct continuous testing to get the highest opens and clicks

One of the coolest things about email marketing is that you get to test so many variables to see what works and what doesn’t work. Existing email tools like Mailchimp or Drip let you run A/B tests to determine which email gets you the most opens and clicks. The higher the opens, the more likely someone will be to see your content and the higher the clicks, the closer someone is to reaching the objective you’ve set out for them (sales, referral, share, etc.).

You can test factors like subject lines, “from” names, call-to-action buttons, colors, length of email… you name it! The world is your oyster when it comes to A/B testing emails.

Source: Zapier

Section 10: Sales

148. Write and practice your elevator pitch.

An elevator pitch or elevator speech is a short overview of your business, products or services. This is typically used in business settings such as face-to-face networking. Since it succinctly delivers the value of your business to others, the elevator pitch is one of the simplest yet most powerful tool when used correctly.

An elevator pitch is meant to be short, and as the name implies, delivered in the time it takes to complete your average elevator ride. The length can vary, but you typically want to be able to present your elevator pitch comfortably without rushing in under one to two minutes.

149. Get more sales by understanding the basics of selling.

The saying goes, “people don’t buy products and services, they buy solutions to their problems.”

That means selling is more about listening to your customers needs and finding them the right solution.

Plus, knowing your USP and why people buy from you is key to closing any deal.

Lastly, people like buying from people they like. That’s why you should focus more on the relationship and less on the transaction.

150. Know your sales numbers.

The most masterful salespeople will tell you that sales all boils down to numbers. You can’t successfully grow your business unless you know your numbers, especially the ones that will lead you to successful sales.

Yes, you can envision $500K in revenue for the end of the year, but in order to reach that goal, you must have each number mapped out and tangible goals that you can reach daily and monthly so that you can reach that annual goal.

For example, if you have an annual sales goal of 30 customers and know that 3 out of 10 calls leads to a paying customer, then simple math has it that you’ll need to talk to 100 customers to hit your sales target.

151. Create a coupon or discount offer.

People love saving money.

That’s why a simple way to get new people in the door is to offer them a coupon or special offer. You need to be careful to use this strategy in moderation as you might end up only attracting freebie seekers who will not come back if they have to pay full price.

Not only does an offer like this bring in new customers, but they also can help reinvigorate a stagnated list of existing customers. A special discount in the middle of the year for existing customers can mean a restock of your product.

Source: Google Images

There’s countless options for promoting your coupons. From local school fundraiser cards to emailing new subscribers with a limited time deal and one-time offer.

152. Increase number of new customers by splintering off a “tripwire” offer.

Another great way to increase the number of new customers you get is to create a “tripwire” offer. Basically, a tripwire is a low-cost, irresistible offer that changes the relationship with leads to customer. The goal of a Tripwire is to get as many customers as possible (not just revenue) because it’s far more likely they will do business with you again.

The best way to create a high-converting Tripwire for your business is to repackage parts of your core offer in a way that delivers value but also “teases” what else is in store if someone chooses to buy more.

There’s a good reason why GoDaddy sells domains for 99 cents and Dominos sells pizza for $5. Because they know they’ll be able to upsell you and get you to come back for more.

153. Offer free “test drives” to show, not tell prospects.

High-ticket items almost always require more research on the buyer’s part. That’s the exact reason car companies let people test drive before they purchase. They want you to get the whole experience to make a more educated decision.

In the same way, you need to offer prospects some kind of “test drive” which can be a free consultation, free course trial, quick done-for-you service, free tool or anything else you can think of that let’s them experience your products and get actionable information to inform their decision.

Sam Ovens, a millionaire consultant, offers a free trial of his high-value consulting course to show people the amount of value they’ll receive just by enrolling in his online course.

Source: Consulting.com

154. Make it easy for customers to say yes by creating sales content.

Content isn’t just for brand awareness. In fact, 61% of people say they are more likely to buy from a company that delivers content. By creating product videos, sales decks, case studies, product demos, spec sheets, FAQs, sales proposals, etc. you’ll make it easier for customers to make a purchasing decision.

155. Use a CRM tool to track leads.

A customer relationship management (CRM) tool can increase revenue by 41% per sales person when used to track and nurture leads.

Source: Zoho Analytics

156. Know which leads are hot and which are cold by scoring them.

Some CRM tools allow you to “score” leads by adding points to their profile based on their actions and characteristics.

This isn’t right for everyone, it all depends on how much information you collect about leads as well as the volume of leads you get. Either way, it will help you prioritize and segment parts of your email list that are the most engaged and most likely to buy.

Source: Zoho Analytics

157. Better align marketing and sales with a service-level-agreement (SLA).

A service-level-agreement puts your marketing and sales teams on the same page by setting expectations for the number of leads and quality of leads that marketing will send sales, and then how frequently the sales team will engage those leads.

The SLA formalizes the measurement and monitoring process for the marketing and sales team to help ensure progress and results. In the long run, it keeps everyone more accountable and attaches tangible numbers to your business goals, not just vague ones like “get more sales”.

158. Use profit maximizers to increase purchase size and purchase frequency.

Upsells, cross-sells, down sells, bundles, high-ticket items and memberships are all ways to increase customer transaction value and lifetime value.

An example of a profit maximizer I see quite often now appears on Amazon. Usually when I browse a product and click into one that I like, Amazon would always tell me what the product is frequently purchased together with the product I chose:

Source: Amazon

Related: Customer Value Optimization: How to Build an Unstoppable Business

159. Call warm-leads on the phone to convert them into customers.

Even though I’m sociable and love being around people, for the longest time, I feared doing any business on the phone. Maybe I thought emailing helped me put all my ideas down before shipping it off to someone. Maybe I was afraid no one would take me seriously. Maybe I was just scared to make a mistake. But in the end, I was paralyzed.

Things did look up: after forcing myself to take more initiative and speak with people directly on the phone, I came to realize that it’s far more effective than email or messaging.

I know from personal experience that it’s easy to hide behind email and social media, but 1-on-1 conversations are so much more powerful and effective for closing sales.

160. Present two options in your service proposals.

If you’re in the service industry and have to draft proposals, be sure to include two options for engagement at different prices. This reframes the mindset of the potential client: they’re not picking between you and a competitor, but rather between service option A and service option B that you can deliver.

161. Present different ways for your potential customer to pay.

With physical products in store, the traditional way of payment is to pay in full and upfront. However, with different customer needs and payment capacities, big retailers are starting to add different programs that help with payment like monthly payment plans. This pushes product, despite the end customer not being able to pay for it in full today.

You can now set this up online for digital experiences too. You can offer single payments or monthly payments for products or courses. You can offer monthly payments to be involved in a certain group. Some clients might like to pay with equity rather than cash.

Provide these options and you’re more likely to capture the sale.

162. Take note of client’s personal preferences and needs.

Personalization is quickly becoming the most profitable way to increase sales online. Even if you don’t have fancy product recommendation software like Amazon, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t document your top customers preferences and needs. That way, when you have something you know they’ll love, they will be ready to buy.

163. Write follow up emails that close the deal.

If you’re a service provider, you’ll need to know how to initiate relationships, nurture them, and close on the sale. There are two ways to get more sales: increase the number of leads you bring on or close more of those leads.

Sure you can continue increasing the number of people you initiate conversations with to get more leads, but you might already be maxed out on how many people you can speak to (time is a large factor). To turn more of those leads into sales, be sure that you’ve perfected the follow up and also learn how to write follow up emails that close the deal.

164. Create and sell premium products (digital or physical) and courses.

Almost everything is business required that we trade time for dollars, even if you’re self-employed. That’s why creating “passive income” has become so wildly popular. But that phrase sounds like it’s easy, but let’s be honest here: it’s not.

But if you can create a useful digital product like an app, course, templates, tool, etc. then you can stop trading time for dollars. It allows you to create something over a few weeks or months, then sell it for years to come.

Source: Dreamhost

There are far too many examples to list, but if this is something you’re considering, stick with digital products as it’s far easier to deliver the product as you scale without worrying about inventory, shipping, returns, etc.

165. Sell affiliate products to make passive income.

You don’t have to run a website that gets millions of hits to sell affiliate products and services, even as a small business there are plenty of complementary businesses in your community that would happily pay a commission for referring new customers, you just need to get a little creative.

There are also online marketplaces like ClickBank that have commission affiliate products and services in a wide array of industries.

166. Optimize your check out pages to increase sales.

According to SamCart, optimizing your checkout page can 4X your sales. As you learned, most people abandon your checkout process. Having a checkout page which includes all the right ingredients can make all the difference.

167. Add a 1-click upsell to maximize each customers’ purchase.

If you’ve ever been to a big box retailer you’ll notice that they all have an assortment of low-cost products in the checkout lines. You didn’t come to their store with the intention of buying any of that stuff, but often it complements your purchase and many people end up adding something to their cart.

A 1-click upsell is the same exact idea, but online. Right after someone has made a purchase, before showing them the order confirmation page, you show them an additional product that they can add to their order in 1-click. This is highly effective because they are already in a “buy” mindset and as the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot.

Source: Sam Cart

Section 11: Delight Customers

168. Provide EPIC customer support that makes customers love you.

Customer support is an indirect form of marketing that produces feed-good feelings for the recipient and excellent word of mouth for you as a company. In fact, 65% of people say they’ve cut ties with a brand over a single poor customer service experience! That’s why creating a stellar customer support system from day one is crucial to the success of your brand.

Chipotle has taken this to heart in their new efforts to move past their food-related mishaps in 2018.

Source: Instagram

169. Increase purchase frequency with reward programs.

It costs 5 times more to get new customers than it does to keep existing ones. Which is why it’s crucial that you reward your loyal customers to keep them coming back for more.

Look at Starbucks, multi-billion dollar business that uses a highly engaging loyalty program to keep customers coming back for more with discounts and special offers. But yours doesn’t have to be that complicated, you could be using simple punch cards.

The point is, it’s an effective way to reward customers and keep them coming back for more.

Source: Starbucks

170. Get more customers coming back to you with personalized offers.

Businesses see an average increase of 20% in sales when they implement personalized experiences and suggestions to give customers the content and products they want.

Amazon is the best example of that in the world with their invention of data-driven recommended products section. They use algorithms to show people exactly what they are interested in based on past search history, purchase history and much more.

Source: Amazon

171. Building communities of raving fans that promote your brand online for you.

53% of people who follow brands on social media are more loyal to those brands. When you build a social community around your brand, you’ll create lifelong customers and fans. Brands like Nixon and Burberry do a great job of this by showcasing customers’ photos from social media and uploaded on their website.

Related: Create Raving Fan Customers

172. Gift & bonuses to make people feel like they are getting more than they paid for.

Everyone likes thoughtful gifts and free bonuses. Think of all the online courses you’ve seen so far. You’ve undoubtedly seen all the “Free Bonuses” that came with it. It adds perceived value and makes customers happier in their purchase because they got more than they actually paid for. In the example below, anyone who registers for this online course gets an additional ebook for free.

Source: Teachable

Different gifts and bonuses work better in different situations, just decide which are most appropriate for your business.

173. Improve your business by tapping into the power of feedback using surveys.

It takes 12 positive customer experiences to make up for only 1 negative experience. Collecting feedback will help eliminate the chance of more bad customer experiences.

Using a simple tool like SurveyMonkey or Typeform you can collect any kind of feedback you’d like so you can make continuous improvements to the customer experience and learn from past mistakes.

Source: Remaze

Also, when you can automate a survey request via email once a customer has made a purchase, it makes collecting feedback that much easier.

174. Send handwritten thank you cards, birthday cards, etc.

This one takes a little longer and is more sentimental, but for customers with whom you have a personal relationship with, nothing says “I care about you” than a handwritten card of any kind.

Source: HelpScout

175. Take care of your employees and they will take care of customers.

If you’ve ever wondered how Southwest Airlines turned a small regional airliner into a world-class company, it was through creating a company culture in which employees were treated extremely well.

Employees that have a high level of job satisfaction treat customers better, plain and simple.

So if you’re not a one man (or woman) show, then you need to understand that how you treat your employees extends through all the way to your customers.

Section 12: Analytics

176. Set up and use analytics to increase marketing effectiveness.

More than 50% of businesses find it difficult to attribute marketing activity directly to revenue results. That’s a bummer for your business since you won’t ever know where you’re sinking money.

That’s where marketing analytics come in.

Analytics tools like Google Analytics allow you to analyze your marketing so you can make adjustments to improve ROI.

Source: freeCodeCamp

With Google Analytics, you can do things like identify your most popular posts, identify pages with a high Bounce Rate, study traffic of those who are highly engaged, track campaigns with annotations and so much more.

There’s never been another time in the history of marketing where we have so much data on the people we are targeting. That’s why it’s important that we use this information to make smart business decisions that better solve our customers problems.

177. Set up goal tracking in Google analytics to measure performance.

The best thing about online business is that you can track how well you’re doing. Let’s say that your goal is to get people to optin to a free eBook on your website. Once they do, they get directed to a /thankyou page. This particular path can be set up as a Goal in Google Analytics so that in the future, you can check to see how many people converted and where they came from (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, other referred site etc).

Source: Online Metrics

178. Set Up Google Search Console to identify and fix website problems.

When Google crawls through your website and finds errors, it reports them in Google search console. Sign up for this to get those notifications and take the next step of fixing it to optimize your site for your end-users.

179. Keep tabs on your website speed.

The speed of your website is very important. A lower speed means a significantly higher bounce rate and reduced conversion rate. Google provides a speed test and rates both desktop and mobile version of your site out of 100%. If Google gives you a low score, you can be sure that they will take this into account in search results.

Related: Google PageSpeed Insights

180. Heat maps & click tracking to understand your visitors.

Understanding how people use your website will give you insights on ways to make improvements. A great tool to do that with is HotJar or CrazyEgg, which allows you to see where the most clicks are going on your website, as well as how people navigate your site.

Basically, if people are clicking and going all over the place, you’ve got a problem. The journey needs to be clear and obvious, heat maps and click tracking enable that.

Source: GoDaddy

181. Use A/B testing to maximize conversions on your website.

This one is a bit on the advanced side, but if you have a decent amount of website traffic, it’s a smart idea that you’re A/B testing campaigns. Basically, you create a variation of a landing page, CTA, email, product page and anything in between, then test each variation to see which performs better.

This is an ongoing process that can have significant improvements on your website conversion rates.

Source: Optimizely

Section 13: Networking

182. Join your local Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber of Commerce in each city is created to provide resources, events, workshops and promote the success of local businesses. Going to events will provide you with a huge pool of people to network with, too. Be sure to find your local branch and get signed up as a member. You’ll have access to a wide variety of resources as well as be listed in its members directory.

183. Attend local events relevant to your industry to network.

Check out lists of events happening in your area and there’s bound to be networking events. This can be happy hour networking for entrepreneurs or breakfast time networking. Going to hear industry-specific events with speakers can also get you to meet many others who are also doing roughly the same thing or are interested in the same topics you are. By doing this, you’ll make connections that open doors to new opportunities.

Look at places like Meetup or Eventbrite to see the most relevant events happening near you. Also check in with your local American Marketing Association chapter to see if they’re holding any events for networking.

184. Introduce yourself to other local business owners.

This one might seem obvious, but is often overlooked by busy business owners. One of the best ways to get better acquainted with your community and get leads is to just be present in your local community. Someone running a related business might be working with a client that needs your exact services. Not only that, but you never know what fruitful partnerships can form.

Section 14: Offline Marketing

185. Merge on and offline experiences to create seamless experiences.

Something as simple as uploading photos you’ve taken of your business to social media can go a long way to show people online, that you do in fact exist in the real world. If you have an engaged community online, you can even tag people in your community that you already know.

186. Host events at your store to attract a large group of people.

It’s no secret that people love events. We are social creatures so we love to gather together for events and enjoy the company of people who share similar interests. If possible, think about how you can tie the event back to your business.

187. Get involved in the community and local events.

Community events are the perfect way to get face to face with your local audience. You might want to steer clear of street fairs and do something more focused.

For example, if you own a restaurant it’s a good idea to get involved in the communities Food & Wine festivals.

188. Direct mail (the right way).

More often than not a lot of what we receive in the mail just goes to recycling. But, if you can reach the right people with the right message, it can be effective. I received a mail advert for pay-per-mile driving insurance Metromile just as I transitioned to work from home. Working from home meant decreasing my monthly mileage by 95%, which works perfectly with the savings offered by Metromile. I switched right then and there.

Be forewarned: without the ability to measure results you’ll never know the real ROI so set up tools and methods to track how many of your clients actually came from direct mail.

Source: Sonic Print

189. Put up tear cards and flyers at coffee shops.

If your business serves the local community, be sure to create informative flyers and tear cards and strategically place them at places where people tend to stop and read. Common places include bus stops and bulletin boards at a cafe.

Source: Coastal Artists

190. Host a class to attract people with specific interests.

Along the same lines of giving value before asking for the sale, hosting a class is a great way to meet potential customers face to face. For example, if you sell grills, BBQ cooking classes can be a great way for you to teach people how to get better with grilling while showcasing your product.

Classes can be a ton of fun, provide copious amounts of value to the end-user, give credibility to you and potentially drive more sales.

191. Get instant credibility from potential customers by booking speaking engagements.

If you’re truly an expert in your field then you should have no problem talking about it to a room full of people. With all the knowledge you have, it should be pretty easy to speak with authority and teach people something useful they didn’t know before.

Not only does this establish you as the expert in your field, it’s the prefect place to find new customers and people who want to do business with you.

192. Stand out with great business cards.

A subtle way to make you a more memorable person is to have a great business card. It’s incredible what opportunities some creativity and paper can create.

Source: VistaPrint

193. Join organizations that would benefit your business.

One of the best examples of this is an incubator for startups. Different local incubators can be tremendously useful for you to develop ideas, network with others with similar passions and goals and also get clients. Look into MeetUps in your area that are tailored to people with the same business interests. Check out business-minded organizations like the Chamber of Commerce to see what events they hold.

194. Use printed promotional materials.

Now I’d never recommend handing flyers out to random people walking in the streets, but it never hurts to have some well designed, printed materials. For example, if you own a restaurant then you need a printed take-out menu for customers. If you’re doing an event, then visually appealing posters and banners add to the perceived value of the event.

Don’t go overboard as printing can get expensive, but smart graphics make it easy for customers to remember you and buy from you again.

195. Appear at local events to be present in your community.

Entrepreneurs can occasionally think too big when they’re launching their business. Sometimes it’s just about starting small at local community events. Are you selling homemade organic soaps? Get a table at the weekend farmer’s market to showcase your product.

196. Register for and attend a conference to increase the size of your professional network.

No matter what business you’re in, there’s probably a conference, trade show or convention that brings together the biggest names and brightest minds in your industry. But before you cough up the price for the ticket, you need to do your research so you choose the right conference as well as get really clear about your goals for the event so you don’t go home empty handed.

197. Rent a booth at a trade show.

Taking industry events a step further, you could also get a booth with a little more real estate to attract and speak with potential clients.

But let’s be honest, people don’t like being bothered, especially if they know you are going to sell them something. It will take some creativity to stand out and get people to your booth.

198. Reach new people by sponsoring an organization.

Now you don’t need to go get yourself a stadium or professional sports team unless you don’t know what to do with your money. But, that doesn’t mean there aren’t a number of different organizations you could partner with from charities, business communities, events and even other businesses which can significantly increase your brand’s visibility.

Source: Good Works Walk

199. Reach out to your local library.

The local library can offer a tremendous amount of visibility for you and your brand. They usually have a listing of preferred service providers and/or can recommend offhand who to go to for certain needs. This is especially helpful if you’re offering a service. I recommend visiting the local library to get listed on their page of preferred service providers. A lot of people tend to go to the library to get answers to tough questions. Become a resource and you can get a lot of potential leads that way.

200. Get creative with billboards.

Billboards are a hit or a miss. Sure food billboards can get you off the road and grabbing a quick bite while you’re on an extended road trip. But they also can be very expensive and it can be difficult to measure its impact. But that’s why I love marketing, creativity can breathe new life into old ideas.

Source: Canva

201. Stickers + Swag!

Mark Cuban likes to make fun of “swag” like t-shirts, stickers, pens, keychains, etc. but I say if it works for you, go for it! Once again, it’s all about creativity and how you use the tools.

For example, instead of giving away t-shirts at an event to hope people buy from you, only give them to special customers as a welcome gift to your exclusive community of customers. An example of this is ClickFunnels. They sell advanced marketing software so the onboarding process for new customers is crucial. To make sure people actually go through the onboarding process, they give people who finish a free “Funnel Hackers” t-shirt to welcome them to their marketing community/club.

Source: Poshmark

202. Get creative with promotional products to stand out.

As with everything else on the list, this only applies to some. If you plan to table at an event or meet people to talk about your offering, it would be a good idea to plan a gift idea. It probably wouldn’t surprise many of you when I say that a branded pen is the most common promotional gift. While a pen is definitely practical and useful, feel free to get creative with your promo gifts to stand out.

203. Write a book.

Yes there are plenty of great digital platforms like Amazon and iTunes to publish your book(s). But physical books that people can actually touch and feel adds to the perceived value of that book.

Books are also a powerful way to instantly boost your credibility as a thought leader in your industry so people look to you for helpful advice.

204. Use magazine ads (sparingly).

The days of Mad Men are behind us and I’d be lying if I told you magazine ads are as effective as they used to be, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have some practical applications, especially if used in the right magazine that is targeted to the right audience. So if this is something you think might benefit your business, remember:

You need to stand out
Use color when possible
Have an easy-to-understand message
Make it easy for people to get in touch with you

205. Get your brand and contact information on your work vehicle.

Like other tips, this one only works for certain businesses. But if you serve customers door-to-door or do delivery, then having some kind of branding and contact information on your vehicle is a must.

Think about it, if you do mobile pet grooming, your vehicle is a moving billboard that you can use to attract new customers in your community.

Source: Mantua

206. Use automated phone welcome system.

I’m a big fan of automation, on and offline. Which is why I think local businesses need to use a welcome system on their phone to not only point people in the right direction, but also quickly introduce your brand, reiterate your USP and let people know what your latest offers are.

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