In today’s world, marketing is considered an essential part of expanding a business. Just think about the biggest companies in the world today- companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft. They all rely heavily on marketing to keep their businesses afloat.
If you’re looking to make your own business more prominent in the world, you need to learn how to market yourself and your product effectively.
Step one: Set a Goal
This is the most important step before you start any sort of marketing campaign. Setting a goal will give you a clear idea of where you’re headed and what you need to do to get there.
The better your goal the better your outcome. If you want to secure a certain amount of profit then you need to set that as your goal. If you want to have a bigger social media following then you could set that as your goal. Or if you want to increase your sales by tenfold then you could aim for that.
Whatever your goal is, there is an efficient and creative way to reach it. You just need to figure out what it is you want and how you’re going to go about getting it. Setting a goal in this way will guide your entire marketing campaign moving forward.
Step two: Choose a Platform
Once you’ve set your goal, you can choose your platform. This is the type of media you’ll use to get the word out about your product. Once you’ve decided on a platform, you can decide the type of content you’ll produce- whether it’s a video, a podcast, or an article.
Each platform has its perks. For instance, if you’re aiming for video content then YouTube is the obvious choice due to its massive audience. Blogging platforms such as WordPress have an abundance of free themes and plugins that make building a blog pretty easy. And for those interested in social media, you can start up an Instagram or Twitter account for free.
Your platform should match your goal and be perfectly suited for the type of content you’ll be producing. If you’re looking to secure more business leads then you could consider using content marketing to attract high-quality leads to your website. A lot of businesses avoid using traditional advertising methods due to the sheer amount of spam and marketing content clogging up the internet. But attracting potential leads to your site doesn’t have to be hard- you can use content marketing to jumpstart your business.
Step three: Determine the target audience
Once you’ve set your goal and chosen your platform, it’s time to figure out your target audience. This is the group of people you’ll be marketing your product to. Once you’ve determined your target audience, you can narrow down the list of people best suited to receive your message.
If you’re looking to create top-notch content for YouTube, you may want to target those interested in lifestyle videos. Or if you’re an eCommerce store owner then you can target those interested in online shopping. Or if you’re a plumber in northern Virginia then you can target those interested in learning how to become a plumber.
Your target audience can be found by simply looking at your goal. If you want to secure more business leads then you could create content that appeals to existing customers or potential customers who are seeking lifestyle content. The key takeaway from this step is to find out who your target audience is and create content that will appeal to them.
Step four: Research the competition
This step is all about doing extensive research on your competition. You want to find out who your competitors are, what they’re doing, and how you can best position yourself above the rest.
Anatomy of a Product Demo Video
To save you the trouble of finding this information yourself, we’ve gone ahead and compiled a list of some of the most prominent competitors to your product. Take a look and see for yourself.
Apple- one of the biggest and most well-known companies in the world today, certainly! They create gorgeous hardware and software that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing. If you look at their website, you’ll see a huge emphasis on creating an immersive experience and a beautiful display.
But while the Apple brand is undoubtedly strong, they don’t have a huge presence in the world of software marketing. Their homepage simply serves as a gateway to their other products, encouraging users to explore the rest of their site. But if you explore deeper, you’ll see plenty of organic content dedicated to explaining the benefits of their products- including videos highlighting the features.
Amazon- another giant in the world of online retail, which currently serves as the default place for everyone to shop. When it comes to the vast array of products and brands they carry, it’s difficult to find a niche. But if you want to target independent traders, merchants, and businesses that sell their own products then Amazon might be a good choice. With all their different platforms and markets, it’s easy to see why.
Small business owners looking to market their products online will find that Shopify has all the necessary tools they need to get started easily- from product creation and marketing to shipping and payments. It’s a one-stop-shop for anyone who wants to enter the eCommerce industry.
While you might not always want to compare yourself to your competition, it’s essential that you know exactly who they are and what they’re doing. By putting yourself in the shoes of a potential customer and creating content that appeals to them, you put yourself in a better position to succeed.
Step five: Create an effective campaign
Now that you have a clear picture of your product and target audience, it’s time to create an effective marketing campaign.
If you’re using HubSpot, you can create an ad campaign in under a minute. Simply log into your account, create a new campaign, and select the type of content you’ll use for the ads. For this tutorial, we’re going to use an unconventional approach by creating a fictional persona and using them to explain the importance of our product.
Let’s say you’re a hair dresser and you want to promote your services to affluent women in the Kansas City area. You open an account with Google Ads and set a specific goal of $500 in monthly revenue. To achieve this, you create an ad campaign that includes ads with the hashtag #hairdresserforwomen.
When a person enters the hashtag into the search bar on their phone, they’ll see your ads. And not only do these ads engage users, but you can also measure the results of your campaign with Google Analytics.
Step six: Measure the success of your campaign
Now that you’ve launched your campaign, how do you know if it’s been a success? Simply measure it!
If you followed all the steps outlined in this article, you should now have a clear idea of what your product is and who your target audience is. With that knowledge, you can create high-quality content designed to draw in new customers and increase sales.