Classic Marketing that Still Works

Today’s new-school digital marketing tricks promise instant results and sleek presentations. They also come at a hefty price tag, and smaller businesses may find themselves paying a high cost just to test something.

Plus, for all of our new bells and whistles, many of the principles behind marketing are the same. We still analyze particular regions for trends, we still create an idealized customer profile and we still seek to put our best benefits at the forefront of everything we do. That’s why there are still some old-school tricks that work.

Branding Tricks

Your brand’s logo, slogan or jingle are important devices to help potential customers remember who you are. Never underestimate the value of presentation, because appearances help sell the image for your company. That’s why major players like Amazon will utilize custom printed boxes with their logo and branding. Anyone walking down the street knows an Amazon box when they see one.

Creativity is really the only path forward, so don’t be surprised if it takes lots of testing and design groundwork to get to something that feels right. In fact, if you listen to the radio or watch television long enough, you’ll start to realize companies do this kind of testing all the time.

Lead Gathering at Trade Shows

When you cold call, or even when you contact a warmer lead, you have to get past the gatekeeper. You need to figure out an alluring proposal that is of interest to the person you’re talking about before you ever get time in front of a decision maker.

Trade shows are a different story. Most companies are sending decision makers to trade shows because they want to convert business as well. This is a unique opportunity for those willing to make the trip. You don’t even need a booth, just well-designed sales materials and a solid elevator pitch. Slip someone a card with contact information to discuss the deal in greater detail when things have settled down, but you can start building your list of leads to follow up with. And you have an excellent foot in the door: “We met at the tradeshow and I wanted to go over some of our company’s offerings…”

Email Marketing

Email has been declared dead more than a few times since its inception, yet we’re all still using Outlook or Gmail or some other service to handle basic communications. Maybe our emails got shorter and we got better at parsing spam for ourselves, but it’s still a reliable tool for communication and outreach.

What has changed are the fundamentals of email marketing. Email systems have gotten better at detecting spam, so you must be careful about the words you use in your subject line and the body of your email. You must also pay more attention to open rates and try harder to trim your list of those who never open your emails. Cleaning your list in this manner improves open rates and

Direct Mail

Once someone owns a home, they are liable for all sorts of preventative maintenance they are either ignorant of or don’t have the money for. Direct mail campaigns with coupons and special offers help you close deals and provide a valuable service.

PPC is expensive, so businesses with a real local presence (like a plumber or a gardener) would benefit greatly from direct mailers. They aren’t particularly alluring, or exciting and new, but they are effective if you understand the demographics in your Zip code.