Illustration: Lim Kexin
A successful entrepreneur, author and speaker, and internet personality, Gary Vaynerchuk is the go-to-guy for digital marketing and social media advice.
Zooming in on emerging online trends, while also building on his expertise, here are 5 marketing tricks selected for SMEs in Singapore from the multitude of Gary Vaynerchuk’s works. Build on these core ideas and see your business explode!
Rather than placing all efforts into refining your product only to have it garner a lukewarm response from the public, it is key to refocus a company’s attention to the needs of consumers.
By tailoring your product exactly to the needs and wants of the people that are to purchase them, you can definitely reap the positive outcomes proposed.
An example raised by Vaynerchuk is Guinness Beer. Tapping on basic market research tools such as surveying the public in bars, the company realized that interest in the public lay in soccer and trivia, which thus created the idea of the Guinness World Records.
Targeting the interests of the consumers increases its relatability, hence driving attention and sales to the brand.
Segueing to this from the previous point, Guinness, or in this case any other company looking to market their products must realize the importance of creating their own “media company”.
By taking matters into their own hands and interweaving hard marketing with various soft marketing approaches, companies will be able to see a marked increase in terms of digestibility of the marketing message.
By approaching and developing topics that are of interest to the public, a company can build a website or blog to post related content to gain attention - before weaving in a specific “branded message” to reinforce the importance of its product in contributing to the solution or support this interest-based content to the affinity of the public.
Ads often do not come cheap, thus many companies without a large budget often opt to shy away from them. However, advertising is definitely an option that would allow you to reach out to a wider audience and could actually be achieved at a relatively low cost with some smart budgeting.
Using Facebook, a popular social media website, defining a certain broad-based reach would allow you to target relevant consumers while being cost-efficient. Having a deep understanding of the characteristics of consumers you would like to advertise to would thus allow you to cast a wide, yet specific, net to target future buyers.
Additionally, running Facebook ads allow companies to execute retargeting for your personal shopping sites to increase the chances of an online purchase or snagging your company a loyal customer.
While it may seem tedious and an unnecessary task in lieu of all the other marketing tactics, being prompt in responding to comments, messages and queries would allow companies to keep up to date with the needs of consumers, as well as deliver high-quality customer service.
This brings about a sense of credibility and a platform to receive suggestions on how to improve on a particular service or product in order to attract more customers.
Letting customers know that their opinions and suggestions are acknowledged also increases the chances of retaining long-term customers by maintaining this rapport with them.
In spite of refinements made in the final product or service, an issue often arises in terms of eventually marketing it out for profit.
Therefore Vaynerchuk recommends giving more value to your customers by first by providing them free content on your company’s websites.
Delivering snippets and articles on a dedicated blog or social media account can both gain attention and traction from and with potential customers. As you offer value-added content, it is common to have an increase in following and audience reach.
With this trust built it would be easier to drive the message across to garner sales eventually, and customers would be more than willing to fork out their money for something they trust in.
When following these simple tips, you may realize that marketing is not a tough nut to crack after all. With some informed decisions, you may be on your way to being as successful as Gary Vaynerchuk.
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Rachel is a self-proclaimed superstar business student at NUS who spends her free time laughing at her own jokes and wondering why she does not yet have her own reality series.
