Successful Marketing Efforts Employ Multiple Techniques

Content marketing and social media are the hottest trends in marketing these days. This is no surprise given the success businesses have found using these channels to market their products and services as well as to promote their brand.

What may come as a surprise, however, is that most marketing experts will advise against relying solely on content marketing and social media. That is because adding other forms of marketing to the mix – especially tried and true methods – can help businesses reach new customers while retaining current ones.

So what marketing strategies are still worth your time and marketing dollars?

1. Pay per click (PPC). Perhaps due to a change in how Google is now displaying ads, PPC spending is on the rise after a period of decline. Display ads are now more difficult to distinguish from organic results so PPC is worth exploring again.
2. Link building. It was in 2011 that link building’s popularity began to decline as more businesses started to focus on content marketing. But link building is still an important part of luring search engine traffic. What is important to keep in mind is that today’s link building should encourage people to click on links from relevant sites. Links should not be used merely to compile clicks for the sake of getting a higher ranking on search engines.
3. Telemarketing. Recent studies show that when it comes to leads, telemarketing leads rank in the top 10 for return on investment. The personal connection of telemarketing is what experts say keeps it so relevant.
4. Postcards. Postcard marketing has taken a hit because of rising postage costs and less expensive online advertising techniques. What many people are not aware of, though, is that direct mail still has a lower cost per lead than even most online methods of advertising. And of all the direct mail options, postcards remain the most affordable.
5. Tradeshows. While tradeshows can be expensive due to cost, they are still a very popular and effective marketing channel for new business and sales leads. That’s because tradeshows, like telemarketing, offer a type of personal interaction that online marketing cannot achieve. While the popularity of tradeshows has been on the decline, it is still one of the top five marketing channels.

Content marketing and social media are great ways to market your business. However, that doesn’t mean that you should rely exclusively on those two methods in your quest to attract new customers and retain current ones.