We’ve all seen them. The constant emails and social media posts telling us that we need a new house, a new body, a new job… basically a new everything! The ‘New Year, New You’ message is strong at the moment. And you have to shout pretty loudly in order to stand out from this.
So what can you do with your marketing to really stand out from the crowd at this time of year?
1. Take note of your subject lines
If you are getting fed up of receiving the same type of marketing, it’s likely that your target market is also getting fed up with them! While the message will be similar, be different – even edgy – in how you present it. The subject line “New Year, New …” could be replaced with “Are you in this for the long haul?”.
People are much more likely to open emails that have intriguing subject lines. This works particularly well with your existing database as they know your company and want to know what’s going on (we are nosey by nature!). You can learn more about how to write an engaging email subject line in this previous blog post.
2. Address audience pain points
Your target audience are looking to you to provide solutions to their ‘pain points’. Sometimes as a business you can forget that and spend time providing content on industry news, staff achievements and charity things. Whilst all of these are important in showing your diversity, it’s important to showcase your expertise on a regular basis in different ways.
Share a template (unique to you), give them “copy and paste” text they can use, or some top tips on how to get over a particular problem. These are all great ways of showcasing YOUR expertise and uniqueness in the industry.
3. Focus on a narrow niche
Sometimes we work very hard on doing everything. The writer Max Lucado says: “No one can do everything, everyone can do something”. Your company will offer a complete solution to your market. But sometimes we need to bring out the individual talents of your team and get them to talk about the fields they are experts in.
By asking individual experts for information and sharing it with your audience, you will be reaching a niche market. And although it’s not advisable to do this all the time, sometimes sharing expertise in one thing can get you noticed. At Cariad, all our team members write blogs on subjects that they can talk confidently about.
4. Start a blog
Regular blogs are a great way of getting fresh content to your website, and a way of getting those all important keywords in front of the search engines. But it is important not to start a blog for the sake of it. Develop a strategy and ensure that you post at least 2-3 blogs a month.
Many people struggle with thinking about topics to write about – great way of finding relevant talking points is to conduct some keyword research (there are various tools you can use to do this but we recommend tapping into your Google Analytics as a starting point) to see what your target market is talking about, and use these as a guide for your blog.
For example, if you want people who are looking for “blue cars under £1000” to come to your website, it may be worth writing a blog about how popular blue cars are and the price you should pay for them. Be creative but remember that blogs are there to educate your audience!
5. Offer a guarantee
If you have confidence in your service, this is a great way of standing out from the crowd. The difference between you and your competitor is that you GUARANTEE this solution will work. How you do this is up to you and how you manage the business, but the most common are:
- Money back
- Free product/service time
- Don’t pay until you deliver results
Have a think about what your business does that you are most proud of, and offer this as your guarantee!
If you need help with your digital marketing, our team of creative experts are on hand to help. Just give us a call and we will be happy to talk through your requirements.
