Many of the world’s most famous brands started out as small businesses – Hewlett Packard and McDonald’s are just two examples.
At Marketing Fundamentals we have a lot of experience working with global brands like these and we apply relevant learnings to our SME clients. Below are ten big brand tactics that will help you drive business growth as part of a coherent marketing strategy.
1. Brand planning – Have you written your marketing plan for 2012 yet? Traditionally Q3 and Q4 is when big brands start the process of writing a marketing plan for the following year.
2. Guerrilla marketing – The term was first coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his book Guerrilla Marketing published in 1984. Guerrilla marketing is the use of unconventional tactics to advertise on a small budget – Ironically big brands use it a lot nowadays although it is a perfect approach for small businesses.
3. Local radio advertising – Not as expensive as you might think and will give your small business that big brand feel.
4. PR Stunts – Execute a high profile PR stunt in your town or city and issue a press release. Be original to maximise coverage.
5. Partnerships – Establish a partnership with a complementary business to extend your customer base.
6. Staffing – Hire interns or virtual interns – expand without adding too much to overhead costs.
7. Experiential marketing – Take your business to the people – promote and demo your business where your customers are – business parks (B2B) town centres (B2C).
8. Sponsorship – Sponsor an event for your customers and benefit from the positive association.
9. Presentation – Speak at an industry event/ seminar and work towards a leadership position in your niche.
10. Primary market research – Conduct your own statistically robust research and publish key findings on your website and in industry magazines, if possible. Ensure that you act first on the key findings and make changes to your marketing plan if necessary.
We would be happy to help you incorporate any of the above tactics into a coherent marketing plan that will deliver growth for your business so give us a call on 0845 2264247 or drop us an email via mail@marketingfundamentals.org.uk
We hope you find this information useful.
Kind regards,
Marketing Fundamentals Team
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