Sponsoring a youth baseball team is one effective marketing strategy.
In order for your business to succeed, you must let potential customers know who you are and what you do. Advertising is an expensive way to achieve this goal, but there are plenty of marketing and promotion strategies that won't bust your budget. Your marketing and promotion strategies don't need to be directed specifically towards encouraging potential customers to buy your products; virtually any activity that creates positive awareness about your company will ultimately lead to higher sales.
Word-of-Mouth
The best marketing and promotion your company can generate is the word-of-mouth advertising that comes from satisfied customers. Potential customers are far more likely to listen to a friend who has had a good experience with your product or service than to a paid actor on a television commercial. Although word-of-mouth marketing comes primarily from your customers rather than from your public relations department, you can foster it by doing a good job and satisfying your existing customers.
Activities
Activity-based marketing campaigns make good promotion strategies because they get customers and potential customers engaged, and can generate publicity. One Seattle restaurant marked its 60th anniversary by hiding menus from the 1950s in different spots around town, and then sending customers on a treasure hunt, communicating clues through social media venues. Winners earned an opportunity to dine at the restaurant for 1950s prices. The campaign generated considerable publicity and cost the restaurant next to nothing. Make your promotional activities fun and newsworthy, and send out press releases to local media outlets.
Sponsorship
Sponsoring an event or a sports team puts your company in the public eye without the considerable expense of conventional advertising. When sponsoring a team or an activity for promotional purposes, choose one that is suitable for your product and your message. For example, if your company sells art supplies, sponsor a local mural by donating the materials that the artists need. If you own a business such as a coffee shop that caters primarily to customers in your immediate area, sponsor an activity or a team close to your store.
Networking
Networking connects you to other entrepreneurs and members of your community. This can help your business, making your associates aware of the products and services you provide through direct, face-to-face interactions. Networking connections generally involve mutual support; you help to promote someone else's endeavor at the same time that he helps to promote yours. For example, by joining your neighborhood chamber of commerce, you avail yourself of opportunities to promote your shopping district as an area where customers can meet a variety of needs.
Tags: your company, potential customers, promotion strategies, customers your, from your, marketing promotion, marketing promotion strategies