Search engine and social media ads are everywhere you look. It’s often the same businesses using the same marketing lingo to sell the same products. It can all just get a little bit boring and mundane for the average consumer.
If you’re a business owner who has recognized this, you’re in a strong position to make a change. Rather than opting for expected marketing methods, think outside the box with these unconventional strategies:
Marketing through Experiences
You don’t always have to explain your products and services through brochures and other similar marketing materials. Instead, you can show potential customers what you have to offer through immersive experiences.
For example, you can purchase Look Our Way canopy tents with your own branding and attend events to offer interactive experiences. Depending on your business type, VR demos may also be a possibility.
Align Your Business With a Cause
It sometimes takes more than a convenient service or a helpful product to have customers supporting you. Shoppers may be more inclined to do business with you if they know your brand is actively making a difference to a cause they care about.
That’s why it can be so helpful to align your brand with a meaningful cause and donate a portion of your sales to it. Not only do you build emotional connections with your customers to potentially boost sales, but you also make a difference in the cause you’re supporting. Any major impact you have will even provide you with a fresh angle for your marketing materials.
Promote User-Generated Content
Your marketing materials don’t always need to come from you. They can come from your customers in the form of user-generated content (UGC). For example, a restaurant might launch a food challenge and encourage people to try it and post pictures online with a hashtag that connects it back to their business. There is a great deal of value associated with UGC, such as humanization, authenticity, a broad reach, and cost-effectiveness.
Mystery Campaigns
The larger your customer base becomes, the more hype there can be surrounding new products. If you’re about to release something truly special, don’t just release it with a ‘new product’ poster. Instead create a mystery or teaser campaign to build intrigue. Share cryptic visuals and clues and encourage your customers to guess. By the time you officially launch your new product or range, you’ll have a far more engaged audience to view it.
Collaborate with Other Brands
Few things grab the attention of customers quite like an unexpected collaboration. If you’re a well-known brand and want to create something truly special for your customers, partner with another brand that no one would expect. You may be surprised by how effective it is for your bottom line.
We’ve seen it time and time again with major brands. Taco Bell once collaborated with Doritos to produce the Doritos Locos Tacos, and Adidas joined forces with LEGO to create LEGO brick-inspired sneakers.
You don’t have to stick with tried and true marketing efforts like social media, search engine marketing, and brochures. Instead, you can try something different like collaborations, experiences, and UGC. These are just some of the many unconventional strategies that may produce the results you seek.
