How To Utilize Marketing Strategies To Foster Exponential Growth

By: Olivia Liveng and Carly Orris

A business could theoretically have created the most valuable service or product in the world. But without well-executed marketing strategies to get their word out, their brilliance is unfounded. And that is where marketing tactics come in to spread the word and, more importantly, generate buzz and authority.

These tactics include word of mouth, buying advertising space on digital websites and television shows, building partnerships with celebrities and influencers to post on their social media, and hiring publicists to assist in mentions for articles and publications. Such services function to generate buzz about the business, products, and services.

Marketing your business is the secret to growth, potentially exponentially. While often genuine marketing requires a monetary investment, ultimately, it will help bring the money in.

The first step for any company is to understand their audience to know which approach to marketing is best suited for their business. Payge Kerman, President of Wink Digital, a multimillion-dollar marketing agency based in Portland, understands how essential it is to understand your audience:

Marketing, as a whole, integrates important pieces of psychology with a strong understanding of consumer behavior to enhance the demand for a product and leverage that to create even more demand.

Think about how the diamond business came to exist – diamonds are not the rarest, most precious stone. Instead, they are a stone that has been heavily marketed to be unbelievably successful. The first diamond company to have a hold on the market decided to target consumers with various campaigns to put diamonds in wedding rings and other jewelry. As the demand for diamond jewelry grew, the company slowed the supply to raise the value of a diamond and raise the demand. Ethical? Debatable. Effective? Absolutely. Without a strong marketing campaign, diamonds would not be as valuable or highly utilized as they are today.

[Related: 3 Ways Marketers Can Use Design Thinking to Innovate]

While not everyone will reap the same successes as the diamond business, once they learn what their audience is looking for, implementing the strategic plan comes in. Having a holistic strategy is a massive benefit for businesses. It’s essential not to limit yourself to one type of marketing but instead to explore and implement a variety. As Kerman says:

No marketing strategy will last forever, so it’s imperative, in my opinion, to explore all channels and craft a marketing plan that touches many different channels but focuses on a few.

Of course, there is always a risk when deciding where to allocate the marketing budget. Businesses want to make sure they get a return on where and how they are investing their money. If one route has results, companies wish to continue funneling the money through this channel.

Maccie Vallacio, Tees2UrDoor co-founder, whose cunning marketing skills helped her turn her brick-and-mortar business into an extraordinarily lucrative and dynamic nationwide t-shirt company, believes that a business can make the biggest mistake of not going big enough with where they are spending their budget:

If you are going to take the time and effort to put a plan in place, it needs to be as big as your budget will allow.

Marketing tactics are certainly not a “one size fits all” way to create success for individual businesses. Instead, Vallacio has found promotion codes and creative marketing tactics to be the cornerstone of her brand’s growth. Her brick-and-mortar store in Texas decided to launch their website back in 2013 when they saw that retail was declining:

Our customers look forward to our next big promotions. Our marketing team is creative and always finding unique ideas for our customers.

She wants to see her customers reap the benefits and believes that through these specific promotions, that desired visibility is created.

[Related: How In-Store Retail Experiences Push Customers to Shop Online]

Ultimately, whichever strategy you decide to pursue has to make the most sense for your business. However, the big key is to make sure you’re grabbing your audience’s attention. Sheila Bella, a Beauty Business Success Coach and Celebrity Brow Artist who has utilized attention-grabbing marketing techniques to build a multi-million dollar empire, is an exemplar of this:

Attention is the initial spark every business needs to make a sale. It doesn’t matter how good your product is or how amazing your service is. After all, if nobody knows about it, you can’t make money. If you are putting all these efforts into your marketing campaign, but it’s falling flat, you have to be able to pivot to grab that spotlight again.

Consistency is the key to prolonging consumer attention when you’re trying to promote your business. Bella describes this as the rule of seven: It takes somebody seven times to see a message before it can convert into some form of sale or opt-in. The more visibility and familiarity a consumer has with a potential brand, the more that crucial ingredient of trust is instilled.

It is important to reiterate that many marketing styles will often have to be simultaneously implemented to reap results. Kerman says:

The most important facet is a holistic approach. There is no recipe to follow for success, so without looking at the whole marketing strategy and all pieces of the campaign, there is no way to be successful. So, in a sense, what I’m saying is that the most important facet of a marketing strategy is the whole strategy.

While there are always trial and error moments where it may feel that the initiative is progressing more slowly than you’d like, it is essential to remember that focusing on marketing can truly propel a brand’s reach exponentially.

[Related: Five Tips to Turn Your Passion into a Successful Business]

—

Olivia Liveng (nee Balsinger) is an experienced storytelling coach, brand strategist, entertainment producer, and CEO of Liveng Public Relations, an agency amplifying hospitality, tourism, and female voices. She’s also an award-winning travel journalist, with bylines in Fodors, Forbes, New York Post, Business Insider, and LA Style. Find her on Instagram at @livliveng.

Carly Orris is a freelance writer and publicist based in New York. Her writing focuses on female empowerment, travel, entertainment, and lifestyle. Find her on Instagram at @carlyorris.