As time has gone on, marketing tactics have changed dramatically. Gone are the days were the primary way to market your business was by running a commercial in the middle of “I Love Lucy.” Now you need to worry about things like developing a content strategy and optimizing your website for search engines. However, just because there are a few new ways to market your business out there doesn’t mean you should completely ignore the old methods.
Here are just a few old- school marketing tactics that still have plenty of use.
Customer Referrals
One of the best ways to bring in new customers remains having them referred from a previous customer. Studies have shown that people are more likely to become customers if the business receives good reviews from someone they trust.
There are modern ways to get customer referrals – for instance, asking previous customers to share your post on Facebook – but the principle behind it is very much old-school. To bring in more customers, put a system in place that asks happy customers to refer you to their friends and family.
Another good idea is to offer an incentive to those who do refer you, such as a discount on a future purchase.
Make Use of Signs
If your business has a physical location, or serves a local customer base, then you’ll absolutely want to think about how you advertise your business around town. Creating colorful and eye-catching signs is a key to bringing in foot traffic and raising brand awareness. According to this Houston sign company, “Signage becomes extremely important when you are not directly street side. Even if you are street side, signage is still very important because it can have such a strong pull on potential customers.”
Everyone in town should know where your business is and what you offer. Hanging up signs around town may seem out of date, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t effective.
Networking within Your Niche
Perhaps the oldest marketing technique is networking with others in your niche. This is especially important if you work in B2B sales, but it can help just about any business.
As a business owner you should be out there regularly engaging with others – telling them more about what you have to offer and learning what they might have to offer you. You never know who might be able to benefit your business, so the more conversations you have the better. Find some networking events for your niche in your area, then get out there and start spreading the word about your business.
Celebrity Sponsorships
The next old-school marketing tactic to consider is getting a celebrity endorsement. This may seem like an expensive tactic, but it doesn’t have to be. You don’t need to higher an A-list celebrity and have them in your Super Bowl commercial. Instead, you can aim a little lower and go for social media influencers.
There are plenty of people online with large social media followings, who will promote your product for a fee. If you can find one of these people within your niche, and come to a reasonable price arrangement, getting them to promote your business could lead to some great rewards.
Email Marketing
Finally, email may not sound old-school, but it’s certainly getting up there in age. There was a time when email marketing was all the rage, but it’s fallen off a bit in recent years thanks to the rise in social media. However, email marketing still has a lot to offer. Most people check their email inboxes each day, so if you can find a way to gain there attention at this time, you can bring in a lot of return customers.
Learning about email drip campaigns is a great place to start. You’ll off course need an email list compiled of your customers, but once you have that you shouldn’t let it go to waste.
Set up an email campaign, then watch as more people start to come back to your website.
Combine the Old and the New
When it comes to marketing, your best bet is to combine both the old and the new strategies. Hang up signs to bring people into your store. Then gather their email addresses once they’re inside. After that, add them to your email marketing campaign. When done correctly these marketing strategies can boost one another, providing you with a powerful way to bring in customers.
Hopefully this guide was able to shed some light on why you shouldn’t give up on old-school marketing tactics just yet, and before long you’ll have them incorporated into your own business.