5 Marketing Strategies You Thought Were Dead (But Aren’t)

Contributed by Derek Champagne

Here’s the simple truth:  just because the only use you’ve found for this year’s phone book was to help prop up the sagging middle of your sofa, doesn’t mean that it’s dead for all advertisers. In fact, there are a few “those are still around” marketing strategies that you shouldn’t put down for the count just yet.

Here are some strategies that you might want to take another look at this year:

Yellow Pages

Yes. That huge book of see-through-thin pages that arrives in front of your door every single year – and almost mocks you from the threshold of your door, tauntingly calling out to you, ‘I’m so much heavier than just looking it up on your smartphone!’  But, depending on your target audience, it may not be time to completely rule out Yellow Pages advertising … yet,  especially if your audience is in the 60+ range.

Direct Mail Marketing

If you’re willing to apply the most recent best practices, direct mail campaigns can have a huge impact on your bottom line. Companies that are marketing to local residents (like a pizzeria) or to “newcomers” to a neighborhood will particularly love what can be done with direct mail.

Radio & Newspaper Marketing

In addition to having a highly focused audience segment (sometimes even as much as a single zip code for newspaper insert marketing), radio stations and newspapers are highly aware of the recent down surge in the marketing dollars coming their way – and they have been experimenting with different ways to bring advertisers in the door. From trading discounted services for air time to offering “pay by the lead” advertising options, radio and newspaper outlets may have something that will work for your business.

Newsletter Marketing

Ask any online marketer and they will tell you that the money is in the list – basically, owning an active and responsive email list is a top priority for online marketers and it should be a top priority for your brand, too. We’re not talking about the circa 2005 newsletters that you would receive spammed to your inbox. Today’s newsletters are metrics and KPI-designed: sleek and efficient.

Chamber of Commerce Marketing

Haven’t spent the $200-something bucks to join your local chamber of commerce? It might be time to do so – many chambers have their own email lists – full of other business owners and local press – and are willing to do co-op marketing pieces with member businesses or organizations.  If you are in a service or business to business type company, you’re going to want to give the Chamber of Commerce another look over!

What’s important to understand is that, when it comes to marketing, there are no dead strategies. There are just ones that are more productive than others – and since every client and every campaign is different, your marketing strategy is never going to be a cookie cutter replica of another company’s. So… when you hear people say, “Newsletter marketing never made me a dime!” – don’t stress, just because it didn’t fit into that owner’s marketing design doesn’t mean it wouldn’t fit with yours (and vice versa!)

For a more in depth look at the different marketing strategies that will build your business in 2016 visit www.DontBuyADuck.com.