6 Marketing techniques business experts use to gain sales

Marketing is crucial for the success of any business. With so many options and strategies available, it can take time to figure out where to focus your efforts. However, there are tried and true techniques that marketing experts rely on to boost sales.

Table of Contents

• Social Media Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization
• Content Marketing
• Influencer Marketing
• Video Marketing

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing refers to promoting your business and engaging with customers on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. With billions of active users, social media offers an unparalleled opportunity to connect with your target audience and drive sales.

Here are some of the top ways experts use social media for marketing:

• Paid ads - Creating and optimizing paid ads on social platforms is one of the quickest ways to reach new customers. You can target ads extremely precisely using interests, behaviors, demographics, and more.
• Organic content - Posting valuable, engaging content allows you to organically reach followers without paying. Useful and entertaining content improves brand image and reach.
• Influencer marketing - Partnerships with influencers allow brands to tap into their follower base. Influencer posts introduce brands to new audiences in an authentic way.
• Contests/giveaways - Contests and giveaways incentivize social engagement. Users must follow, share, or comment to enter, expanding your reach.
• Engagement - Responding to comments and questions shows customers you value them. Engaged followers are much more likely to convert to sales.

Key Takeaway: Leveraging various social media marketing techniques helps drive brand awareness, website traffic, lead generation, and sales.

Email Marketing

Email marketing allows you to directly reach customers via the inbox. It continues to provide exceptional returns across industries.

Effective email marketing tactics include:

• Signup incentives - Offer discounts, content, or other perks for signing up for emails. This grows your contact list.
• Personalization - Segmenting contacts and incorporating personalized details boost open and click rates.
• Behavioral triggers - Send emails based on behaviors like abandoned carts and activity. This improves relevancy.
• Cross-channel integration - Promote opt-ins and coordinate emails with other channels for better results.
• Lead nurturing - Automatically send helpful content to move contacts through the sales funnel.
• Loyalty programs - Reward repeat purchases and promote loyalty with special offers for email subscribers.

The high deliverability, segmentation, and tracking of email keep it an essential marketing channel.

Search Engine Optimization

SEO helps improve website visibility on search engines like Google so you appear higher in results for relevant queries. Appearing on the first page can significantly boost website traffic and sales.

SEO experts recommend these optimization tactics:

• Keyword research - Identify keywords and phrases with high search volume and low difficulty to target. This ensures people will find your content.
• On-page optimization - Include keywords in titles, headers, content, etc. Make pages easy to crawl with clean code.
• Backlink building - Earn backlinks from authoritative websites to boost domain authority and rankings.
• Technical SEO - Ensure site architecture, speed, responsiveness, and other technical elements meet best practices.
• Local SEO - Optimize online listings and citations for local search rankings. Drive foot traffic.
• Content creation - Publish regular, lengthy, high-quality content to improve search visibility and attract organic links.

With proper optimization, businesses can achieve higher visibility and increase website traffic and leads.

Content Marketing

Content marketing utilizes informative, relevant content to attract and engage clearly defined audiences. Well-executed content strategies help build trust and generate sales.

Types of content commonly used in marketing include:

• Blog posts - In-depth articles with tips, insights, and information for target customers.
• eBooks/whitepapers - Long-form guides that provide value and establish thought leadership.
• Case studies - Stories demonstrating success in solving customer challenges build credibility.
• Videos - Engaging videos like product demos, customer testimonials, and webinars.
• Infographics - Visual representations of data, stats, processes, and ideas help content stand out.
• Social media updates - Valuable snippets of content that align with each platform's style.

Sharing useful, relevant content and storytelling helps businesses strengthen relationships with customers.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing leverages endorsements and recommendations from influential social media users, bloggers, industry experts, and celebrities. Their audiences trust recommendations from influencers they follow.

Some best practices for influencer marketing success include:

• Target selection - Carefully vet and select influencers with engaged followers in your niche.
• Asset creation - Provide influencers with posts, videos, etc. tailored to their channel and audience.
• Clear expectations - Set campaign goals, deliverables, timelines, tracking, and compensation.
• Exclusivity - Ensure influencers don't promote competitors during your campaign.
• Affiliate links - Provide affiliate/tracking links so you can monitor and attribute conversions.
• Multi-channel - Execute campaigns across top platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok.

When executed strategically, influencer partnerships expand the reach and drive sales with the credibility of recommendations.

Video Marketing

Video marketing leverages compelling video content to engage target audiences on social platforms, websites, ads, emails, and more. Short videos can convey information and emotion in powerful ways.

Types of effective marketing videos include:

• Product videos - Demo videos highlighting product features and benefits.
• Testimonials - Show satisfied customers endorsing your product or service.
• Behind-the-scenes - Give an inside look at your brand, team, or production process.
• Explainers - Use animation and motion graphics to explain or teach.
• Live videos - Real-time social broadcasts show transparency and personality.
• Webinars - In-depth presentations deliver value and build authority.

Video humanizes brands while improving engagement and conversion rates when integrated with other tactics.

In summary, today's successful businesses must leverage various marketing techniques including social media marketing, email marketing, SEO, content creation, influencer partnerships, and impactful videos. Aligning efforts with core buyer personas and their journey is key to truly connecting with customers and gaining sales.