5 of the Best Unconventional Marketing Ideas

Are you bored with standard marketing practices and looking for a new way to inform people about your business? Is your business simply a little too different to fit into the ‘normal’ marketing standards?

Photo by Diana Parkhouse on Unsplash

If your answer is yes to either one of these questions, you’re probably a bit frustrated with run-of-the-mill ideas. We’re going to give you 5 suggestions that you can use to market your business in a fun, new way that allows you to distinguish yourself from the competition. Keep reading for more information!

Domain Names for the Win

Chances are, you already have a domain name and market it heavily. This is where people go to learn about your company and purchase your product.

While this is great, it may not be the only (or best) option. You might consider purchasing one or several domain names that relate to your business and use a permanent redirect to move all traffic from that domain to your actual business page.

This works best when you can grab several of the cheapest domain names that relate to your business and that people might use to search for products, services, or businesses like yours. Additionally, you may find some quirky or fun domain names that work well for your business but aren’t necessarily the name of your page. This can make an impression on people and help them remember your website even if they don’t have the exact address.

Oh, and another benefit of utilizing several domain names? You can track your marketing efforts! If you use one variation of your domain name for pay-per-click ads, another for guest blogging purposes, and a third for social media, you can easily track which of these efforts are doing well (and which ones you should stop wasting money/effort on!)

Up the Ante With Email Marketing Campaigns

If email marketing is one of the most successful forms of marketing, why aren’t your campaigns showing great results? You might not even realize it but the content you’re sending out is being mistaken for spam or simply deleted because it appears boring or not applicable to the customer.

In order to avoid the spam file, you need to make sure that your email address has an established history, your website has an opt-in and preference center, and be sure to authenticate your address.

To keep your messages from being deleted, you’ll need to make sure that your subject line is attention-grabbing and intriguing enough for a user to want to click. Once you get past that issue, you’ll want to make sure that any links contained in your email aren’t broken and that your content is clear and quickly tells the reader what’s in it for them.

You’ll also want to make sure that you’re sending out personalized content. Use the reader’s first name, send special offers about previously viewed products, or show off new products that are similar to/complement already purchased items.

To do this, you’ll either need a great amount of patience or an email extension like Gmass. Email extensions can be used to segment marketing emails by topic and add other personalized touches like a customer’s first name. Opting to use an email extension means that you can spend less time on small details and more time on your copy, formatting, and other marketing tasks.

Get Weird

Whether you’re marketing your business online, on the radio, or through television ads, you can choose to create and use weird, quirky, or funny content to help people better remember your company. You might choose to pose a question or share a riddle for as the first part of your marketing campaign and then opt to share the answer in the second portion.

Another great option is to share intriguing, off-the-wall statistics that can be related to your product/service or share video content that shows your product being used in an unexpected or weird way. For example, SMS messaging was initially designed to let customers know about network issues – now it’s used widely as a standard form of communication!

Say Thank You

Photo by Nicholas Bartos on Unsplash

After every order, you probably send out an appreciation email that confirms the customer’s order and thanks to them for their business. If you really want attention and some positive PR, consider stepping this up a notch.

If your customer base is worldwide, you may opt to have a giveaway or customer appreciation month with a different sale every day. If the majority of your business is local, consider hosting an appreciation event like a cookout, pancake breakfast, or game day.

Another option that might seem dated and isn’t used enough is a simple, handwritten thank-you note. Yes, it might take a little time and effort, but it is cost-friendly and definitely memorable!

Your Keywords Need Updating

Performing your own keyword research is great and can save your business money. Unfortunately, many people view this process as a ‘one and done’ type thing. It’s not.

Keyword research is an ever-changing process based on what people are searching for and the linguistics used to search. What many people forget is the fact that people are choosing to voice search rather than actually typing a phrase into a search engine – this can change how your keywords are formatted because of the use of natural language.

Additionally, people tend to search for certain topics based on what’s trending in the news. Even if these topics aren’t directly related to your industry, you may be able to curate content based on these keywords or publish your own content based on the impact of these topics to your industry.

The idea here is to stay relevant by keeping your business’ content fresh, relatable, and newsworthy.

Your Unconventional Marketing Strategy

The best thing about marketing is that while the principles stay the same, the ideas can change to best fit each business. No two companies are completely alike and when you opt to use an unconventional marketing strategy, you are able to impress upon customers how you’re different and why your company is better.

Not every strategy will work perfectly for every business. In fact, finding the best marketing strategy will usually take some trial and error, common sense, and a bit of creativity to build the perfect solution for your brand. With this said, each of these tactics is broad enough to bend and fit an array of industries and products!