With some industries, marketing campaigns seem simple and easy to execute. The product or service is already exciting and offers an edge or unique proposition. But what about “boring” industries?
If you’re struggling to market your product in a boring industry, think of it as an opportunity to devise interesting marketing strategies. Boring industries may present challenges, but they lend themselves well to creative campaigns that can truly set your brand apart.
Check out these 3 simple strategies that actually work for marketing boring industry startups.
No matter the product or industry, identifying a unique customer need is paramount. If you can provide a solution to a problem that’s not yet addressed by your competitors, you have an opportunity to provide value to your customers and promote brand loyalty.
To start, take a look at your competitors and find the areas where they’re not addressing customer needs, or market gaps. For example, Gerber Labs set out to create a platform for hobby, professional, and student electrical engineers to order small quantities of printed circuit boards (PCB). Before this, these segments were unable to access small orders of PCBs, so the company addressed a significant gap in the market.
The best way to find these gaps is by looking at your competitors social accounts. You can find comments, suggestions, and complaints that your audience has been addressing with your competitors. Once you determine the gap, you can plan your marketing campaigns about how you address that need.
Content marketing is powerful, but many companies go about it the wrong way. Content isn’t only about promoting your product to people or maximizing your SEO – it’s about providing value to the customer. Churning out low-quality content doesn’t help anyone.
Make sure your content is valuable and informative to your audience to earn their trust and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. Some of this content may include tutorials, how-to posts, infographics, blogs on industry news, and product highlights.
When you focus your content on the customer, you will not only improve your SEO and promote your product, but you can deliver the information your customer needs most. Over time, this can lead them to purchase your product or service.
Want an example of this in action? Gerber Labs customers often had questions about the printed circuit board assembly process, how to design a printed circuit board, or the difference between 2-layer and 4-layer circuit boards. Once we had this information, we were able to design content around addressing these questions with in-depth articles and blog posts.
You can also use creative marketing campaigns to get your topic noticed, such as humorous campaigns, beautiful imagery, and influencer marketing. Even if your product is boring, you have plenty of opportunity to make the campaigns eye-catching and compelling.
Despite how it may appear, no one is an “overnight success.” It takes time to build a successful business, especially if you’re doing it in a boring industry. When you’re planning your marketing strategy, break each part down into small, achievable steps with realistic goals. Trying to do too much at one time can lead to burnout, mistakes, and underperforming campaigns.
The best way to start your campaign is with an outline. You can set large, long-term goals for the business as a whole, as well as smaller goals and objectives that you want to accomplish within shorter timeframes. When you have this holistic view of your business and marketing strategy, you can plan each step with thought and foresight before moving onto the next step.
Best of all, taking it slow gives you a chance to test, evaluate, and refine your strategy along the way. A/B testing offers invaluable insights into your campaign’s performance. You can test changes in copy, imagery, and audience segments to see how each campaign performs. Over time, you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t to achieve your goals and reach your intended audience.
As your business grows, you may notice a shift in your larger organizational goals. While this is an expected part of the process, you should alter your overall marketing plan to address this shift.
These simple strategies are the foundation of your marketing plan, but they need to be part of an integrated strategy. Here are some additional tips to keep in mind:
Establish your brand as an authority: You’re posting content that offers value to customers first, promotion and SEO second. You’re keeping them updated on your individual business developments, as well as larger industry trends and news. You’re sharing all this content across your busiest social media platforms. Over time, your audience will seek out your brand as the go-to in the industry and look forward to the content you post.
Listen to your customers: Hopefully, you’ve been paying attention to customer feedback throughout your campaigns and you’re working to address their needs. If you notice that your customers are all asking for the same feature, complaining about the same issue, or suggesting different products or services, think about your current product development. Will your current product satisfy these needs? Can you incorporate your audience’s feedback? Should you pivot completely and create what they want, instead of what you want? Customers are the driving force behind your business, so make sure you’re listening.
Have patience with marketing strategy: Though these strategies are simple, they’re not easy to implement. Many brands struggle with marketing, especially at the startup phase, and balance the day-to-day operations. This isn’t an excuse to neglect your marketing efforts, however. Put a lot of time and thought into your marketing strategy and campaigns. You’ll not only achieve better results, but you’ll save time and resources when your campaigns are targeted.
These strategies should help you devise an effective, innovative, and compelling marketing strategy. No matter how boring your product or service may be, if you create interesting campaigns that offer value for your customers, you can turn a dull product into a captivating concept for your audience.
Author Bio: Justin Ou
