5 Unusual Ways to Improve Your Marketing

Every business needs to use creative marketing in order to attract new clients. Doing the same old thing will produce diminishing returns, so here are five unusual marketing techniques that you probably haven’t thought of before.

Local Numbers

You may think your telephone number is useful for just one thing: taking calls. But what if it could be a marketing tool? Local or Geographical numbers are an innovative way for a business to gain reach without having to go through the expense and effort of opening branches in every city in the UK. It is now possible to have a local number for any village town or city in this country. The advantages?

• Local call charges for potential customers
• Local footprint
• Easy access for your clients

Local numbers can be massively effective for businesses of every size, particularly as localism is growing in strength. In 2013, the Small Business Saturday campaign went global and was even supported by the UN. Plymouth-based company.

Tamar Telecom are one of the UK’s leading suppliers of local numbers for business. Managing Director of Tamar Telecommunications Ltd, Jamie Banton, told InPlymouth:

“Many of our customers use several local telephone numbers in their different adverts. Why? It’s simple: by using a different local phone number in each advert, they can see online in real-time how many telephone enquiries their different adverts are bringing in. Local telephone numbers take the guesswork out of advertising and can save businesses thousands of pounds a year.” Jamie Banton, Tamar Telecommunications

Telephone Branding

Using your telephone to enhance your marketing isn’t restricted to the numbers you use. As soon as someone rings you, your marketing opportunities begin. Every part of their experience is a chance to wow your clients. If you need to put them on hold while they’re being directed to the right person, playing them a tinny version of Bohemian Rhapsody or Greensleeves isn’t going to cut it.

These days, savvy businesses have access to professionally recorded audio messages featuring voiceover artists, customised to suit their specific needs. On-hold messages can be used in a plethora of ways, such as promoting forthcoming events, new products, or introducing clients to unexpected services. Fresh Air Studios, based in Plymouth supply telephone branding services to businesses and organisations across the UK. We asked Fresh Air Studios what makes Telephone Branding such an effective way to market your business.

“To be totally honest and blunt, some companies really let themselves down.  I urge any business owner to take some time to call their own business and experience things in the same way as the customer.  It’s a complete waste of time and money to create a visual appearance and image, only to have it destroyed by an awful telephone experience” Paul Philpott, MD, Fresh Air Studios

Form Partnerships

One way to find complementary businesses is to ask your Accountant. Trust me, this works because they know a lot of businesses and are more than happy to put two or more of them together for mutual benefit. In a recent Sage Omnibus survey of more than 1,000 businesses Accountants were identified as the most trusted source of business advice (above bank managers, friends and family). Mark Cornwell, Chief Accountant at M&G Associates says:

“Accountants are ideally placed to act in this capacity. Accountants who have a broad range of clients can act as matchmaker to bring clients together who would not normally have come into contact with each other.” Mark Cornwell, M&G Associates

Get Seasonal

Ever since business has been conducted it has used special events to stimulate purchase. Running your own event or taking part in one organised by others can be easy. You don’t have to run a massive expo with hundreds of stands; a simple event can be extremely effective. Here’s a tip from one of the UK’s leading figures in the events industry, Paul Cook, founder of the event industry portal PlanetPlanit.biz:

“If you time your event to coincide with a season or date of local significance, you could benefit from the halo effect. Contact local media, they are often looking for events that connect to significant dates in the calendar” Paul Cook, MD, PlanetPlanit.biz

Go Mobile

2013 was widely touted as the year we went mobile and for good reason. That was the year we saw a massive change in the way we access websites. No longer are we tied to our desktops. Now we use smartphones, tablets, even watches and spectacles. The number of devices that we use to connect to the internet on the move has never been greater. This means that one thing has become vitally important: if your website is not mobile-friendly it’s likely that the experience is turning your potential clients away.

Is your website mobile-friendly? Have you tested what it looks like on an android phone? Or a Kindle? Or an iPhone? Is the text too small to read there? Does it display a mobile version or the desktop version of your website? Maybe it’s time to look at making your website mobile-savvy. This is what Web Design Specialist, Ash Mashhadi has to say on the subject:

“We live in the Age of the Smartphone. On average, people check their smartphones 150 times a day and they’re not doing that to see if they’ve missed a call from their mum. People are shopping with their mobiles all the time. Smart retailers have integrated their online and offline experience. Smart businesses of all kinds should be doing the same. The mobile web is a fantastic opportunity for small businesses as well as large ones. We’ve been advising all our clients to take advantage for more than a year, don’t leave it too late.” Ash Mashhadi, Design Inspiration

The Next Step

So what’s going to be your next step? Will you check to see if your website is mobile-ready? Maybe you’ll get a few Geographical phone numbers and take advantage of the move to local shopping, or run a new event. Whatever it is, two things are certain: doing nothing will get you nowhere, and doing the same things you’ve been doing will produce less and less every time you do them. If you want to make a small change pick one of the marketing tips here; if you want massive changes, do them all.