Over the last few decades, online marketing has been on the rise. There is now a head-spinning variety of methods to add to traditional offline approaches you can use to put your offer in front of your target market. Here are some of today’s key marketing channels both online and off.

Social Media

Social media is a great place to conduct market research, build relationships with your audience, and promote your products and services. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram give you a wealth of information about the people who buy products like yours. You can get to know them and introduce them to your brand. Although people don’t generally buy directly on social media, it has become an increasingly important step in the buying process.

Publish Content

Offer helpful advice and share your knowledge with readers by publishing articles about your topics. You can find offline publishing opportunities but the quickest way to get your work widely read is to publish online. You can start your own site or blog, or for even better results, find websites or blog sites that publish articles. Get your work out there to reach a new audience.

Email Marketing

Start an email list and offer helpful content to your subscribers. Email is still the most intimate marketing channel on earth. Create a freebie offer in exchange for people signing up for your list and set up an opt-in page to capture names and addresses. You can promote products and services through your email messages, but most of the content should be informational and helpful, not promotional.

Search Engine Optimization

You’ll still get a great deal of leads through search engines, so make sure that all of your websites are search engine friendly. Choose some good keywords and use them naturally throughout your text. Make sure your site is easy to navigate and try to build some backlinks into your site from related sites. I have chosen to outsource on Fiverr this task to someone that does it all the time.

Offline Events

Attend trade shows, conferences, seminars, and local events. Hold a booth and give a presentation if possible where you introduce your topic. I partner with my local school district’s tech centers and community schools and have a MeetUp group as well as participate in others. Just like your content marketing, give people some information they can use and then tell them that you have more to offer.

Make sure you have professional business cards to hand out to people you meet offline. Your business card should be eye-catching and include not only your contact information but a short blurb describing the unique value your business offers. And there are a few business card apps that are really cool (Clinck.me and Linkcards) Networking is essential to growing a business and you should never miss an opportunity to meet someone and tell them what you do.

The Basics of Marketing

Remember that the concept of marketing is actually quite simple – just find your audience and put your offer in front of them. Choose the marketing channels where you can most easily and effectively reach your target market.

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