A lot of marketing strategies have been coined and put forward by a plethora of scholars through the evolution of the trade. As sophisticated as most of these appear to be, there are a lot of very ordinary ones that are being overlooked. These can easily be related to the daily social life of businesses and their stakeholders. Below is a breakdown of some of the easiest ways of effectively marketing your business for free
Undercover Marketing
Marketing efforts can sometimes be found irritating by the so called prospects which inturn may act as a jeopardy to the brand. In an attempt to mitigate this, marketers can adopt a stealth approach in their marketing communications.
On this token, prospects are manipulated without knowledge of what’s happening. Marketing efforts are done in such a way that they can be hardly noticed (Stealth Marketing) by the targets of the strategy. Reflecting it to the ghetto life, 2 individuals riding on a 15 passenger commuter omnibus and operating in favor of a certain organization can put up an argumentative act in advocacy for the brand.
They will express their satisfactory experience with a certain brand clearly highlighting its merits over rivals. Normally the rest of the passengers tend to pay attention to “Kombi” dramas and some will be tempted to ask questions and understand better. Moreso they can go as far as making a trial purchase indicating that they have fallen prey to undercover marketing.
Promote Word-of-Mouth
21st-century customers hate being sold to. Research studies show that people have adopted a referral system in acquiring, using, and disposing of goods and services. It is the nature of men that people listen and believe in advice from each other within their societies. It is therefore wise to leverage on such consumer behavior by inducing a positive gospel into talkative, social group leaders and other influential individuals so that the brand becomes a household name in the blink of an eye. Now the question emerges “how”?
Well, it is very simple. Don’t think too much, just start by addressing the little or silliest things that affect the daily operations of the business. In complimentary to Customer Relationship Management, if a customer launches a complaint to a dairy brand that he/she found the 1litr milk to be sour and off-taste, the CRM should contain the grieve such that it won’t spread.
From there the organization should be apologetic and can even offer 2ltr fresh milk as a compensation gesture to the initial sour bottle. Under normal circumstances, the customer will walk away with a smile. He/she will become a secret brand ambassador by standing up in defense of the brand even at public gatherings. That evangelism can work as a good communication tool in favor of the brand.
Taking Advantage of Addictions
There is a common Shona proverb that reads “kwadzinorohwa matumbu ndokwadzinomhanyir”. This means that people have a tendency of falling for something without a rational evaluation of the associated consequences. An addicted customer is just as good as a permanent customer. This is very common in the drug and alcohol industry.
A chain smoker is likely to crave for a pull when he’s treated to a movie that features a smoking gang. At worst the smoker is tempted to buy a cigarette even when exposed to an advertisement on the t-shirt. Upon realization of such, marketers should try by all means to feature a certain reminder of their products to wherever place their prospects are likely to be found. It might be a cigarette-designed key holder, a pen that reads Pacific, or anything that reminds prospects of a certain product but at the same time avoiding irritation.
When a Chibuku truck passes by, it’s most definite that someone out there swallows saliva down his throat signalling a strong crave for the traditional beer (addiction). Marketers are therefore recommend to provide the last push to the dead trees which are staggers in the ordinary blow of the wind.
Desire Munashe
(Founder & CEO of Marketing Network Pvt Ltd).
email – desiremunashe38@gmail.com
FB – Desire Munashe
Phone – 0775725109
