The Truth is, in any given business there are 14 proven ways to gain traction, i would list them below , the major thing is finding the ones that work for you:
a) PR: Get your name out there via traditional media using Above the Line Strategies aka TV, Print, Radio etc.
b) Untraditional PR: Do stunts and treat customers so well that it generates buzz on traditional media eg… Treat all your loyal customers to a free dinner, give them chocolates on their birthday or celebrate their most important moments or Create the biggest Logo the World has seen, the more outrageous the better.
c) Partnerships: Strategic Partnerships with like brands that can move your company forward, OgaVenue and Hotels etc.
d) Viral Marketing: Get your users to market for you when they have a WOW Experience with your brand, trust me you have to consistently wow people to help market you, Word of Mouth Referral the best Marketing Strategy.
e) Good ol’ Search Engine Optimization: Google anyone?
f) Social and Display Ads: Advertise on Social media sites, the trick here is finding the right firm or Social media person to create a good campaign for you.
g) Offline Ads: TV, Radio, Print Again then add BTL Strategy, Activations, OOH, Billboards, Marketing collaterals, Souvenirs all branded.
h) Search Engine Marketing: Display Networks, Re-targeting ( Ecommerce Favorite)
i) Content Marketing: Write witty contents don’t copy and paste on your company i beg of you in Jesus name, if you cant write, pay someone to do so or this isn’t for you.
j) Email Marketing: In Nigeria it has become Spam Marketing, we don’t mean send 1000 mails daily, send mails but with witty content that engages not annoys.
k) Engineering as Marketing: So you pay your coders lots of cash, time for them to whip up an algorithm that helps you sell better, market smarter and be a USP eg, a holiday calculator that helps u budget for your trip to anywhere you go and when you reach your goals easily allows you book your trip seamlessly, BOTS ANYONE?
l) Target blogs: Radar, Nairaland, Linda and the million and 1 others.
m) Business Development: I am sure this is what the Oga Venue guys did well, create relationships with hotel groups and then this guys refer them to other groups and they sign more partnerships and the cycle goes on, they also can speak with Catering firms to sign up the best to offer clients who need outside caterers for their events and becomes a value added service for their platform, the list is exhaustive. By focusing on this channel, they can scale without even posting a tweet.
n) Sales: Again, Smart selling generates revenue without buzz, but to sell you must have a creative story, a good product and a portfolio of happy customers to on board or a unique proposition for first time users.
o) Affliates: Get Affiliates to promote you, provided commission and target is well.
p) Existing platforms: Big Marketplace selling by leveraging on the owners brand.
q) Events/Trade-show: By Creating, Sponsoring, Co-hosting events, people get to experience your brand the way you want to, you can use that as a gauge for your brand etc.
r) Speech giving: CEOs time to get speaking, attend Events and speak…helps build your company brand and yourself.
s) Community building: Create a community passionate on your subject matter and groom them, Radar Anyone?
