Creative Ways to Market a Product
Marketing is an important part of business development. Through marketing, businesses evaluate consumer demand and create awareness of their products and services. For business owners who are just starting out, there are many creative ways to market their products besides traditional advertising. These methods include content marketing, community involvement and public speaking, among others.
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Content Marketing
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Content marketing uses published media to market a product or service. A content marketing campaign may use blogs, newspaper columns, radio commentaries or any other types of content that can get the word out about a product. One common type of content marketing is the commercial blog, where a business owner writes numerous entries about a product and promotes these entries on social networking sites. To reach a wider audience, some content marketers network with people in the media and write commentaries in newspapers and magazines. These pieces have the potential to reach a wide audience very rapidly. Marketers who are interested in contributing to publications may call editors and ask about submission guidelines.
Community Involvement
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Anyone who has a product to sell can move that product by appearing at community events where the product might be relevant. For example, a car dealer might show up at a car show with cars from his showroom. One of the best ways to market through community involvement is to contribute to events where your products are in need. For example, the owner of an electronics store could contribute sound amplifiers to a school talent show event.
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Public Speaking
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Many salespeople show up at trade shows to give presentations on new products, and to allow attendees to demo these products at a booth. Other businesspeople speak at community events, where they address a topic and explain how their businesses can help people with an interest in the topic, such as family counselors speaking at a family-based event.
Social Networking
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Social networking sites are very useful in marketing. Facebook allows users to create company pages and invite potential customers to become a "fan" of the product. Twitter allows users to distribute a constant stream of 140-character messages to their friends and the world. LinkedIn allows users to join business groups and post links to product information sites. The key to marketing on these sites is to add many friends and post many links.
Paper Distribution
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Marketing through paper distribution may seem quaint, but is nevertheless very effective. Business cards are effective if several are distributed every day. Brochures and fliers can be effective if they are placed in venues where potential customers may be found, such as car modification brochures in car dealerships. Posters are effective for businesses that are just starting up and are offering relatively inexpensive products, but may look tacky or desperate if you are marketing products like luxury cars or high-end clothing.
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References
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