Ever wondered why people in malls offer free samples of their snacks? Sometimes in the newspaper, you get a small sachet of shampoo.
Why do brands offer free samples to consumers? After all, they don’t get any money by giving you free samples.
According to research, 81% of consumers said that they usually try a new product after receiving a free sample. This shows that free samples are effective for brands to increase sales.
But, how does a free sample make people buy the product? Keep reading this article to understand the psychology of free samples & why/how it works.
The feedback that the brand gets from free samples can help them improve the quality of products.
Brands get to understand what their target audience likes and dislikes.
Do Free Samples Increase Sales?
Product sampling is one of the effective ways to increase sales. Free samples can help your brand to increase sales and also creates brand awareness.
According to a study done by Arbitron and Edison Media Research, 35% of customers who have tried the sample will eventually buy the sampled product on the same shopping trip.
Psychology of Free Samples & Why/How it Works
Helps to Remove the Risk Factor:
Trying out new things is a very risky thing for many people. This is because many people think that the new product may not match their expectations. If the product is not good they will lose their money.
Nobody likes wasting their hard-earned money right? But, when you offer a free sample you are taking out all the confusion from the minds of your potential consumers.
Since they are not paying any money to try out the sample, the risk factor disappears.
Power of Experience:
People tend to remember the products that they have interacted with or experienced more than the ones they have read about or heard somewhere. This is quite obvious, isn’t it?
If you have eaten delicious street food somewhere you will remember the taste of it even after weeks. If the sample product is good and satisfies your customer, they will remember its taste or experience even after weeks.
After some time, when they will see the product somewhere, they will automatically remember the taste or feel of it and eventually buy the product.
Principle of Reciprocity:
If your friends give you an amazing gift at your birthday parties, don’t you also want to give them an amazing gift on their birthdays?
Or if your relatives have done some good for you, a feeling to help them naturally occurs in your mind. This is called Reciprocity.
The rule of reciprocity is a social norm where you feel obligated to return the favor if someone does something for you.
This is what exactly happens when brands offer free samples to consumers. When people get a free sample they will be obliged to return the favour in some way – buying your product.
Consumers usually feel guilty when they try the free samples. To get away from this guilt they tend to buy the product.
Reciprocity may not always lead to sales but, they will always remember your brand. If you have provided them with a memorable experience they will buy your products shortly.
You can give the free samples to the first 50 or 100 people. In this way, you will get their basic details like mobile number and email id which we will help you in retargeting. Although this is a bit costly as you need to pay for the delivery costs.
Attach the Sample to the Purchased Product:
Free Sample
You can attach the sample to the already purchased product encouraging your customers to try out the product. This is known as a passive form of sampling.
Although this won’t generate the same reciprocity feeling but it gets the product in the hands of your customers.
Offer Free Sample in Exchange for Specific Actions:
You can ask your customers to share reviews on social media, tag your brand on social media or like your posts in exchange for a free sample. This is an effective strategy to get brand awareness on social media and allow the customers to try your new product.
Conclusion:
Now, you must have understood why brands use the free samples strategy right? For many years this strategy has been proven effective and even your brand should also use it.
The key thing here is that your sample and products should be of high quality. A good sample which provides a memorable experience would guarantee sales.
If your sample is not good it will create a bad image in the minds of the people. So, use the free sample strategy smartly and you will get the desired results.
FAQ
What is product sampling?
Product sampling is a strategy where you provide free samples to your customers before they actually buy your product.
Are free samples successful?
Yes, free samples are very successful. They can create brand awareness and increase sales.
What are examples of product sampling in India?
People in the mall offering free snacks and getting a free small sachet of shampoo in the newspaper are all examples of product sampling in India.
Can product sampling be done by all the brands?
Yes, the majority of the brands use the product sampling strategy.
What is the main psychology behind free samples?
The main psychology behind free samples is the principle of reciprocity. When people get a free sample they will be obliged to return the favour in some way – buying your product.
Today, data is said to be the new currency. Big businesses believe data is what fuels monetary stability. That’s why many companies give more preference and energy to collecting the data, even if that makes them stay at a loss for a short period. Likewise, collecting data has become more of a tradition than a process. Because it is almost everywhere to be found. especially in the marketing of businesses.
Now, this strikes the question, what exactly is data-driven marketing?
Regardless of coming under the limelight only in the past few decades, data-driven marketing has become an integral part of the functioning of the world. It has refined marketing, making it more cost-optimized, which further proves that the power of data is undeniably crucial.
As the name suggests, “data-driven” marketing uses data to promote growth and make the right use of resources. Here, it focuses on using the collected data to improve campaign performance. In simpler words, it means justifying every penny spent on marketing by spending marketing expenditure in such a way that it only focuses on the areas that bring in growth.
Data-driven marketing was used in the olden times, even before the existence of computers and the internet. Amusing, right? The only different thing was the form of the data and the means of collecting those data.
People collected data by going door to door, enquiring about the product while tallying and ticking marks. With the help of the internet, the same goal is fulfilled. The same thing is done, but in a way that is hassle-free and does not require going door to door. It has always been a primitive custom; we upgraded it as we upgraded ourselves.
Why is Data-Driven Marketing better than the traditional methods of marketing?
This type of focus marketing was first initiated in the early 1970s and 80s. The power of collecting data for carrying out marketing procedures for a specific product was newly introduced, and people were amused by how powerful the right database is, for a fruitful and efficient personalized marketing strategy. Ever since then, customer communication has become easier with each passing decade.
“Valid customer data holds the balance sheets of the company”. When we talk about efficient marketing strategy, personalized engagement comes into the picture; this leads to the promotion of the company brand, which is done directly to the correct crowd; this hinders from wastage of funds and increases the return on investment (ROI).
It eradicates the unsure thoughts and guesswork from the process. One can get a clear idea of customer demographics, choices, and ideas in the customer’s head. Following this pathway, correct and refined customer segments can be captured and targeted.
Along with the heap of benefits, the process also comes with many challenging situations at each step of the process. Check out some obstacles that might come your way if you opt for a data-driven marketing process:
Collection of the right data
It is highly risky to depend on a single or few sources of data alone. Verification of each piece of data from multiple media is necessary to prove the authenticity of the piece and validate it. One needs the expertise and experience to filter out the most relevant data. Without this as a basis, the chances of making cognitive errors and wasting resources increase exponentially. This is the most important part of the process.
Reaching the right target
Having very elaborate data of interest can do more harm than good to the process. The advertisement tends to pop up mostly on the screens of dummy customers, meaning people who have no desire for the description of your data and will just scroll past it. Hence, decreasing your click-through rate (CTR). Overall, this decreases the efficiency of your procedure and lowers the return on investment(ROI).
Ready, steady, action!
There is an urge for an emergency while implementing this step: taking the ultimate step and giving the process meaning. It is very important to hit the iron while it’s hot. The quick-changing temptations of the customer influence data-driven marketers. It becomes very essential to keep track of customer preferences and take action immediately and effectively before the data becomes obsolete.
If you are thinking of revamping your marketing process and making it data-driven, then here are some basic things you need to focus on:
Collection of data
Collecting data from available sources is a difficult but necessary phase in the process. It provides a location for monitoring good decision-making and successful execution in a variety of advertising tools and industries. The internet, the cloud, and a variety of other platforms store a significant amount of data that consumers provide while using the internet.
Analysis of data
Before implementing any type of tool, data-driven marketers have to derive what type of interest they are looking for. This is done through the set of data gathered, refined, modeled, and framed as per the requirement to obtain the right audience set and maximum funds utilization.
Showing it to the targeted audience
When data-driven marketers are sure of the demands of the customers, they will be targeting their desired audience in such a way that it connects with their motives and reflects their attention in a manner that fulfills the goal. This way, by following the proper process, you will get amazing results all thanks to data-driven marketing.
Conclusion
To further conclude, the marketing processes that are empowered by data promise to solve bigger problems making the job cost-effective and cutting down the wastage of time and energy. There’s the data liberation that exists, which opens up a plethora of possibilities. Also, because of the abundance of data available, every entity now has a deeper understanding of its audience’s consumers than ever before. So, data-driven marketing is certainly the future of marketing, at least as is predicted now!
FAQs
What is Data-Driven Marketing?
Data-Driven Marketing is the process of marketing your brand based on customer information. Customer data is used to predict their needs, desires, and future behaviours, and marketing is done accordingly.
Is Data-Driven Marketing better than the traditional methods of marketing?
Yes, Data-Driven Marketing is a more efficient personalized marketing strategy.
Why is Data-Driven Marketing important?
Data allows marketers to market their brand to target and capture the correct and refined customer segments.
Your business gain attention because of your products and services. If your products are not good enough, your business will not flourish. Your product can only gather attention, if it has the ability to change the world. Now when you launch a product, it has to be visible enough for your audience to even ponder about it. Internet has given us the facility to connect with from all over the world. Everyone is online now. So, it is necessary, to understand where, when and how the product should get launched.
We will talk about an amazing platform where you can launch your product. Here we will talk about everything that one needs to know about product hunt, so let’s get started
Founded by Ryan Hoover in 2013, Product Hunt is a website that gives a platform to developers to launch their new product. Product Hunt has a huge audience that follows it. If you have any online products like a web app or mobile app, you can just register for it and they will feature you in their list if your app is worth it. The best thing about launching a product on Product Hunt is that it is all free and has quality checking. Real people check your product and decide whether to feature it or not. Therefore, many people check out the list to know about the new products launched on the internet.
Why Should You Launch Your Product on Product Hunt?
MassReach: As already told, many tech geeks do keep a track of Product Hunt lists. So, there is a very strong possibility that you will grab the attention of many tech people, who might be in the need of your product.
Free: There is nothing wrong in trying Product Hunt as it is all free to launch your product on Product Hunt. Even if you don’t make it to the list, you will not lose anything.
Feedbacks : You will get much feedback, both positive and negative. You can act on those feedbacks and improve your products. People will tell you what they need and want in your product. Therefore, you will not have to conduct any survey to check the market need for your product.
Investors: You might have bigger plans for your product and with the help of Product Hunt, you might find investors who believe in the growth of your product. Investors keep roaming all around the web to find an investing opportunity. They will not let an opportunity to go away if they see potential in your product.
Media: There are so many famous blogs that follow the list of Product Hunt. You might end up getting an article based on your product only, publish on a news blog. This will instantly increase your traffic and user base.
However, this is just a possibility. Very few products with some really special features could do that. Do not get fantasized by these advantages. Don’t create expectations because when it doesn’t happen as expected, it hurts. This will result in de-motivation. The only disadvantage of Product Hunt is that it is very, very tough to make it to the feature list.
How to Submit Your Product on Product Hunt?
Signup to Product Hunt
Once you are logged into your account, click on the “+” button in the top right.
Submit all the details including description and tagline. Please note that your account should have the access to post and submit products. You will need to become a contributor in case you want to post a product.
Who Are Hunters?
Hunters are the accounts or basically, the people who have the ability or better say, permission to hunt new products. They are the one who finds new products and shows to the rest of the community. Anyone can become a hunter by participating in community weeks, up voting products, create collections, and others. Your aim is to get as many followers as you can, to become a hunter.
Who Are Makers?
Makers are the people who develop the product and submit it to Product Hunt. There are mostly developers, inventors, and writers.
How to Launch Product on Product Hunt
What Can You Launch on Product Hunt?
Web Apps
Mobile Apps
Hardware Products
Games
Books
Podcasts
Conclusion
Product Hunt is one of the most popular and the best platform to launch your products. Many people create amazing things but don’t know what to do with that , if you want to let people be aware of your product, you need to market it properly. If you come up with some crazy idea, then don’t stop yourself to create it because you do have a great platform, though whose helps you can launch the product.
FAQs
What are some alternatives of Product Hunt?
Some fo the alternatives of Product Hunt are, YCombinator, AngleList, Beta Page, and Netted.
What is the purpose of Product Hunt?
The main purpose of product hunt is to help makers launch their products in their website where they find their first customers who use the products and provide feedbacks to the makers.
While starting a business, a creator’s main focus is to develop a product for the consumers, when the main deed is done, another significant step comes up, which is to launch that product in front of your audience. Every creator has the dream of launching their product with huge pomp and show, in a way that will be able to gain the attention of their audience. For this, the prototype has taken shape; the long time spent in the R&D phase has borne fruit, but the major task is till and that is preparing for the product launch.
The big day is a make-or-break situation; propagating the right message could do wonders and the opposite can reduce an ingenious invention to shambles. To help with such kinds of scenarios, it’s essential to have a well-crafted, effective product launch marketing plan. In this article, we will talk about the marketing strategies that can be used while launching the new product of your business.
A business will only survive when the marketing is done correctly, it becomes more important while launching a product. A product launch has to be done right so that it can attract the attention of the audience. Below are some marketing strategies that one can follow, while a product launch.
SEO Should Be Perfect
As it says, ‘what’s best should be at the top’. The relevancy of the quote matters in the launching of your product in the market, as the product should have visibility when it comes to search engines. Aim for the first page when someone types the product’s name.
After all, it’s a well-known fact that users rarely go through the search results starting from the third page because no one has time to ponder over things. We search, and we click that first option, right away, so use the keywords that can convey the intended information concisely and something for the audience to remember, the website layout counts as well.
Make sure that the first few lines of the website pack the punch because sites like Google tend to ignore meta-descriptions when listing the website in the search results. For the purpose, you can use a trained SEO specialist.
Invite Some Spokespersons
Remember seeing your favourite celebrity talking about a specific product and how it has changed their lives? This is the old yet useful trick up on the sleeves by business professionals, that is hiring a spokesperson for their product who will talk to the audience directly and will promote the brand. This spokesperson has to be famous and influential enough to grab the attention of your potential customers.
Interacting with the media and industry specialists can tilt the results in the product owner’s favour. And that’s what spokespeople are best at. Hire the right person for the job, those who can relay the necessary information as and when required while maintaining the recommended standard. CEOs are the driving force behind this workforce so no compromise when it comes to choosing executives and industry experts. Also, you can invite some celebrities to your product launch.
Build a Database
Setting aside the target audience, the management behind the product launch should have a list of media persons, influencers and reporters, after careful analysis and comparison to ensure the message reaches the target audience and the market. The more it’s promoted and shared, the more it reaches the audience.
Identify the Target Audience
Attracting new customers to buy a product is just like an impossible wish coming true. There are two ways of marketing, one is you can launch an ad campaign without identifying your target and hoping for the best. Another is, you have to put time and effort to research your target audience. You can also use social media to engage with different communities where you can get to know about the current market demand.
So, it’s imperative to identify the product’s target audience to reach them with the right strategy. Also, once you launch the product, not everyone would have the ‘I’m going to buy it, immediately’ mindset. So, there’s a high chance that remarketing may be required, depending on the mental phase that the customer’s undergoing.
Share and Let Others Share
Word of mouth publicity has been there for ages and shall continue to be so but the medium has surely become modern. Ensure that the content about the product is shareable, through mediums such as Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. This brings in a new audience that may not have been a part of your checklist earlier. Use social media as the new hotshot for amazing marketing.
Prepare Your FAQs
At the product release conference, not being bombarded by questions from inquisitive souls is a no-brainer. Prepare the FAQs well in advance, covering a range of possible questions that may arise. A few would be genuine while others would be sole to undermine the product. Be equipped to face them boldly and without any fear.
Customer Service Efficiency
The term ’24 hours, seven days a week’ exists for a reason: customers are relentless. They would go to any lengths to have their queries and complaints resolved. So, having a customer service cell, adequate in both quality and quantity, is more than a plus point; they are a necessity and the backbone that supports the product’s life-cycle after its launch. Also, make sure that you are not only listening to the problem but also doing your best to solve them, to satisfy your customers.
Prepare Creative Video Graphics
Visualizations play a major role in leaving a positive impression on the customer’s mind. Moreover, they help in making a unique identity for the product, just like a brand logo. For example, if one shows you the image of a tick mark, it takes less than a minute to guess the brand’s name. To build such kind of presence, the graphics have to be done using the best resources available to create a stunner.
A great video describing all the qualities of the product will straight up hit the people in their brain rather than some long slides show. So, do create an innovative, interesting and if possible funny video to engage your customers. You can either hire a freelancer to get this work done or you can also use tools to create it on your own.
Improve Your Website Speed
It is not only irritating but also unprofessional if your website takes a lot of time to load. A sharp and good website helps in building a better user experience which in return will create the image of your product as well as your business. Hire experts if you can who will use their coding knowledge to fix and improve your website.
Write a Great Press Release
We all know the press can make or break any deal. So, don’t hesitate to write an epic press release. The document should encompass the what, why, when, where and how’s of the product. Start with the most important details, followed by the descriptions and extended details. Share it with journalists, post it on social media and take the assistance of bloggers. Another tip is to get in touch with bloggers, make a repertoire of relevant blogs that can aid in marketing and publicity.
Don’t Forget to Add Discounts and Freebies
We all love when there’s something extra that we get as an offer at no additional cost. Offer freebies with the product, create special discounts exclusive to those who attend the launch day. This is much more than a marketing plan, it helps build that niche following that stays with the product’s life through thick and thin.
Indulge in Email Marketing
One of the professional ways to market your product is through Email Marketing. Create a proper Email list with the help of Email management tools and create a personalised message and convey to them what your product is all about.
Set Ambitious Goals
Moments like this don’t come often; aim big and work hard to achieve it. Be mentally prepared for the launch day, build the required hype and then leave things to unfurl naturally. Too much meddling for the sake of perfection can have undesired consequences. Make sure your presentations are great, you are filled with confidence and everything is on board. Then, you will have the perfect launch of your product, the way you want it to and the way you dream about it.
Conclusion
The launch of a new product has to be done carefully, the success of the product depends on it. Once you gain the attention of your potential customers through the launch of your product, it will be a step toward the success of the product.
FAQs
What are the 4 Ps of marketing?
The 4 Ps of marketing are, place, price , product and promotion.
What is product launch strategy?
A product launch strategy is a planning that is made to deliver a new product in front of audience
What makes a product launch successful?
The product launch can only be successful, if you are able to identify the right market, right way of marketing the product and at right time.
Sometimes being aggressive is seen as a bad thing but aggressive marketing could be one thing that turns your average business into something that becomes an integral part of your community. Aggressive marketing is an offensive strategy that uses exciting tactics to generate a response from your audience. Using aggressive marketing strategies you can grab someone’s attention about what you have got to offer.
Good aggressive marketing will show people that you are consistent and you are disciplined. Aggressive marketing can be achieved through several different strategies. When a market becomes very aggressive, the price of stocks can go up significantly which in turn makes it more expensive for a trader to become involved in the market by buying stocks.
Analyzer marketing: The analyzer is in between the defender and prospector. They take less risk and make fewer mistakes than a prospector, but are less committed to stability than defenders.
Defender marketing: This strategy entails a decision not to aggressively pursue markets. As a result, they tend to do none of the things prospectors do. A defender strategy entails finding, and maintaining a secure and relatively stable market.
Prospector marketing: This is the most aggressive of the four strategies. It typically involves active programs to expand into new markets and stimulate new opportunities.
Reactive marketing : It is opposite to the prospector one. The only time when they respond to something is when they are pressured by the environment, otherwise, it has no plan, focus, or any type of real strategy.
Aggressive Marketing Strategies
Be Proactive
Bosses, colleagues, and customers all like and appreciate proactive employees. Your level of self-confidence, happiness, and satisfaction at work increases when you are on top of things and are handling your tasks in a timely, deliberate, and efficient manner.
A proactive employee thinks ahead, acts ahead, and gets ahead. In short, being a proactive person is a mix of hustle and problem-solving.
You can use ‘SMART’ goals:
S: Specific M: Measurable A: Attainable R: Realistic T: Timely
Content Is Key You make the content king of your advertising and marketing approach because this is how people will see the most value. Deliver this content at the proper time and you’ll be in a position to encourage an ardour for your stuff in your leads that will subsequently lead to a robust economic future.
The headline determines whether audiences will read the rest of your work. Content creators tend to spend hours of time and energy making. Today’s customers are not worried about how much something costs to them, the value of being part of a cause is just as important. Aim to hold competitions as often as you can.
You must have extensive knowledge of the topic you are writing about, especially in the B2B market.
You need to identify at least one key message you would like to convey before you create your content.
The content you publish is the voice of your company and it should be unique to your company’s personality.
The best digital content often consists of short paragraphs, short sentences, and bulleted lists.
📃
ST Mentors Presents: List of Top Courses that will get you a High Paying Job or will help in Upskilling and Boosting Your Income 💵💵 |👇 Check the List 👇|
List of Courses Curated By Top Marketing Professionals in the Industry
These are the courses curated by Top Marketing Professionals in the Industry who have spent 100+ Hours reviewing the Courses available in the market. These courses will help you to get a job or upgrade your skills.
A competitive product analysis is an evaluation and comparison of your competitor’s products and how your products build up. Product analysis involves looking at many dimensions, including functionality, reliability, and use cases. Product analysis is an analysis of past and current consumer data related to a single product to extract insights about the future market.
Setting and focusing on a specific goal will help you create a more effective marketing strategy.
Market trends provide insight into what content worked with potential and current customers.
Creating high-quality successful marketing is often expensive and time-consuming.
The key to any aggressive marketing approach is to be assured of your product. be positive that you and all of your managers can recite all of the advantages that your product can grant to a lead. With this information on hand, you’ll be in a position to customize your pitch on a 1:1 groundwork and that creates a greater natural appeal in what you’re offering.
The key to any good aggressive marketing strategy is to be confident in your product. Many product marketers are not able to sell their products. You develop fact-based arguments that explain the value of your product or service. Use demonstrations to highlight the value of your offering. Many products have failed because the pricing strategy has been wrong. You can have the best product in the world but if no-one knows about it. Make sure that you and all of your managers can be told all of the benefits that your product can provide.
Aggressive Marketing management
Take Risk
You can’t play it secure and be aggressive at a time. If something appears like it may be a great idea, then roll the cube and believe your gut. If you’re afraid of failure or you’re busy weighing the odds, then you’re no longer geared up to start an aggressive advertising strategy.
Whether you are an experienced or new entrepreneur, risk-taking can be a great step to go forward. There are small risks and big risks, which are important to understand. If you are afraid of failure then you are not ready to begin an aggressive marketing strategy. You can hope for specific outcomes and results when you are thought to take risks. Many risks offer different levels of rewards.
One of the most common elements of business and entrepreneurial success is risk-taking.
Raise the Stakes
Innovation is often the key to success when it comes to aggressive marketing. It continually boils down to value. You must be able to show and prove that what you’re offering to people has more value than what your competitors can provide. Raise the stakes using doing something exceptional and you’ll be capable to aggressively stand out in your chosen industry.
Want to Work in Top Gobal & Indian Startups or Looking For Remote/Web3 Jobs – Join angel.co
Angel.co is the best Job Searching Platform to find a Job in Your Preferred domain like tech, marketing, HR etc.
The first step is to identify the influencers in your niche. You need to get information about the other influencers from your industry. Give them some reason to share your post or product. When you connect with the influencers, you start following them, sharing their content on social media profiles. For getting the attention, start interacting with the influencers on their site. To build a successful relationship with an influencer you need to be clear about expectations from the start.
Business competition can be violent, especially in markets with aggressive competitors and when customer spending is slowing down. Running a business can be difficult, especially with high competition on the market. Knowing who your competitors are can help you differentiate your business in the marketplace.
Focus on excellent customer service.
Partner with your competition.
Admit mistakes and solve issues.
Be smart with marketing strategies.
Know your unique selling point.
Study customer buying habits.
Ensure fast order fulfillment & shipping.
Show videos that help visualize life with the product.
Don’t Be Predatory
There’s a distinction between following the regulation and following the intent of the law. Just due to the fact something is allowed to do doesn’t imply that is something moral to do. People are influenced through legality and ethics, so make sure you’re staying on the proper side to keep away from being viewed as a predatory enterprise attempting to wreck anyone else.
Pepsi paraded around its triumph for years, finally prompting Coca-Cola’s horrific New Coke debacle in 1986.
Since then, they’ve taken the battle into outer space, fought over loyalty programs, and raged over social media.
Burger King and McDonald’s
Burger King confronted McDonald’s with greater head-on comparative marketing.
BK’s Whopper Virgins campaign put the two brands’ burgers- the Whopper and the Big Mac, into a taste review by customers around the world. It grew to become out a large failure, not due to a response from McDonald’s. The public noticed the advertisements as exploitative and racist.
Apple and Microsoft
We’ve all viewed the “Hi, I’m a Mac” commercials using Apple and Microsoft responded as “I’m a PC”. Apple has been lampooning Microsoft for years ever because it’s notorious 1984 ad for the Mac.
But lately, Microsoft has fought returned extra than ever. One such instance was once, one of Microsoft’s uncommon Zune ads, which bashed iTunes in contrast to Zune’s month-to-month pass.
Aggressive Marketing Example
Audi and BMW
In mid-2000’s Santa Monica billboard combat managed to crank up the contention even further.
The entire snarky episode started with an Audi billboard that poked BMW’s chess tournament. After BMW’s response, it escalated online, with Audi calling on its Facebook followers to come up with captions.
MICROMAX and SAMSUNG
Micromax took a direct dig at its foe Samsung. It started with a marketing campaign that appears like a sequel to Samsung Galaxy TVCs. The commercials used to cease with youngsters ending with the query – “Aapke pass nahi hai uncle?”
Micromax answered with many TVCs that begin where the Samsung commercials end. The closing few phrases are spoken in the Samsung advert become the first few phrases in Micromax’s advertisement. It nearly seemed like the sequel of Samsung’s TVCs
💻
List of the Best Laptops in India for Office and Personal use
List of the Best Laptops in India for Office and Personal use
The List has been curated keeping in mind the requirements for a professional/student which are Performance, Display, Operating system, Design, Ports & Connectivity. So what you are waiting for? Check the list now to find the perfect laptop for yourself.
Aggressive marketing is an offensive strategy which uses provocative tactics to generate a response from your audience. It often involves marketing warfare tactics, where one brand will attack or parody another in order to generate buzz and draw attention to itself.
What are the 4 types of marketing?
Types of Marketing Strategies:-
Cause Marketing
Scarcity Marketing
Relationship Marketing
Undercover Marketing
How to do aggressive marketing?
Aggressive marketing tactics that actually work:-
Targeted Telemarketing.
Distributing Printed Materials.
Leaving Comments on Social Media Posts and Videos.
Sending Out Promotional Emails to a List of Subscribers.
The SaaS market is booming right now, and competition is getting heavy. Spending on SaaS reached $8 billion in 2015. The growth and competition aren’t going to slow down, with spending expected to reach as high as $55 billion by 2026. It’s going to take some unconventional marketing strategies and clever growth hacking to stand out as the competition increases.
Here are some tactics that will give your SaaS an edge over the growing competition.
Marketing Plan
You need to have your marketing plans right to attract the right customers and stay in the competition. To do so, you can take help of apps to advertise about your company. But, you should follow some strategies to create an app:
You have to get your marketing right or massive distribution of your message won’t help and could actually hurt by attracting the wrong audience.
You need a good call to action (CTA), and the ability to capitalize on that CTA on the back-end
Where possible, get to know the people behind the directories and see if there are ways to make your app stand-out from the noise.
This is not a replacement for a marketing strategy of any kind.
But, while this isn’t a complete marketing strategy, why not make sure you’re in every horizontal App directory and recommendation engine as well as going after more specific promotional opportunities within your market.
Sites where you can list your App
Once you’ve done all of that, then you need to go figure out where the real money is, and that is where people aren’t just looking for “Apps” in a horizontal directory somewhere, but where they’re looking for immediate solutions to their very real and specific business problems! Below are some basic listing sites, and some places you might not have thought about. Or, if you have a LinkedIn or CrunchBase profile, consider whether it is used to its fullest.
Basic listing sites
Setup a “local” listing for your physical location or mailing address even if you’re a ‘virtual’ company; more data in the search engines can’t be a bad thing!
Highlight your Product on B2B Software Review Platforms
B2B products can offer you three content types that will help their readers assess your product: an in-house review, user-generated reviews, and paid listing. Although the first two types are usually beyond your reach, you can control the third type.
A paid listing highlights your software or gives it a priority in a specific category listing and in-site search results. Furthermore, many reviews platforms include valuable add-ons in their marketing packages. For instance, Finances Online has a marketing package that includes an in-site article about your product, a press release campaign and a verified quality certificate awarded to your product. They also provide very efficient lead generation campaigns for SaaS vendors.
Finances online
Software review platforms are becoming a major lead channel for SaaS marketers as prospects use review sites as their first base to product discovery. What other users say on review sites influences prospects’ opinions, and by the time your sales team get in touch with these prospects, they already have an opinion about your software. Likewise, B2B software review sites are becoming a necessity in software purchase. A company’s buying unit–an ad hoc team composed of the CMO, executives, managers and end-users–can easily get bogged down by a deluge of options and information on hundreds of solutions. Review sites are resolving this dilemma. They help companies focus on the key aspects to compare and shortlist at once the top choices.
Things can move fast because the buying unit has clear visibility on product options, essential features, pricing terms and call-to-actions. That’s why you need to have a solid presence in these review sites, which is ground zero for product research.
An ad network company works like a conventional ad agency. It identifies ad placements and sells these digital locations to advertisers. There are two main types of these: either your ad shows in search results or it shows in content on a website. For both types you can set a target based on keywords, location, IP address, and demographics. Your target is then matched with search results or a website’s content. You can select text ads, rich media, or a mixture of both. There are two popular ad models: pay-per-click (PPC) and cost-per-mile (CPM). Ad networks also use a bid process, where advertisers set a price per click (PPC) or per thousand views (CPM). The ad which bids higher is selected first for display.
When targeting your ad, you should have a clear picture of your audience. Utilize keywords that these prospects use while searching for content or a product. Do not limit yourself to a niche when ad targeting. For example, an accounting software product can also be promoted in other business aspects such as online business, small business, project management, marketing, etc.
Best display ad networks
The top ad networks for B2B and SaaS are likely to be preferred by publishers and they can leverage your reach and content scope. Some of the best display ad networks for publishers includes: Google AdSense, Clicksor, Adblade, Conversant, BuySellAds, and Media.net. You can also explore other ad networks and compare the main factors outlined above.
Sponsored Social Media for B2B Marketing
Most Important Social Media Platforms for B2B Marketers (2017)
Source: 2017 Social Media Marketing Industry Report
Facebook advertising takes your business beyond your followers. Moreover, you get to qualify your audience down to details. The social network has demographic-specific options, such as, based on the user’s listed job; employees of specific companies; and a life event like a new job. Most B2B marketers use Facebook for brand awareness, lead nurturing and reach out to the personal accounts of the client’s decision-makers. Interestingly, since most Facebook users have their email address for user account, you mailing list is likely to be a treasure of Facebook accounts and the social network permits you to leverage this bonus. Go to Custom Audiences then Campaigns and select Custom List. Your mailing list, which should be in CSV, can now be uploaded and included in your Facebook ad campaign.
On the other hand, LinkedIn is always an excellent channel for B2B promotions, where users are mostly professionals and where your software ad can be more focused. You can target ads by professional titles, positions, and company; thus, niching your target down to the core users of your B2B software. Moreover, people on LinkedIn are more conducive to B2B relationships, where they network to further their career. As a SaaS vendor or marketer, you can be seen as an important connector or expert in your software category.
These networks promote content instead of ads, and therefore they are ideal for marketing articles, case studies and webinar topics. They focus on engaging prospects with topics of interest rather than with product pitches. In fact, the “ads” look like they are part of the publisher’s content, usually as a bottom filler with subheadings like, “You Might Also Like” or “Stories Across the Web”. Paid content can complement your ad network placements as these content networks create a top-of-funnel traffic that can provide conversion at a much later date.
Taboola, Outbrain, and nRelate are three popular paid content distribution networks utilized by high-ranking publishers such as USA Today, ESPN, CNN, The Huffington Post, and Time. These networks use different algorithms to match your content ads with the publishers’ content to engage readers’ interest.
Show how it Works
When you really want to grab attention, it pays to put your platform to work and show them how it’s done. That’s what Promoter.io did when it launched its service. As a way to tap into current events, the site developed a tool that used its technology (Net Promoter Score measurement) in an unconventional way – predicting the presidential election.
With just a few months under its belt, Promoter.io has been featured in a number of publications with more than 12,000 votes driven by its platform as leads roll in daily. Showcasing the features and benefits of a system is a great way to connect your audience with your value proposition.
Examples of Promoter.io and SumoMe
Engage with Reddit
Marketing on Reddit has the potential to generate a lot of traffic. The community is segmented into hyper-focused subreddits that put your target audience in one place. Unfortunately, Reddit has some pretty strong guidelines about self-promotion.
SumoMe understood the need to provide value in the Reddit community. It created high-value long-form content within the subreddit, rather than Spam content links. It then sent information and links via private message to Redditors who requested more information. According to Wilson Hung of App Sumo, the efforts generated a lot of up votes and discussion with up to 1,000 unique visits per Reddit post.
Create urgency through exclusivity
Creating an exclusive gated or invite-only platform is a great way to generate buzz, because people tend to want what they can’t have. Targeting a younger audience, specifically college students, Tinder mobilizes local reps on college campuses across the U.S. to host exclusive parties for people between the ages of 18-24, which make up about 68% of its audience base. The company has been using this same tactic to grow since it first launched. If you wanted in, you had to download the Tinder app on your smartphone.
Facebook deployed this same kind of exclusivity as far back as 2004 when an edu email address was required in order to target and attract a very specific demographic – college students. That exclusivity lasted more than two years before Facebook finally opened the platform to the public.
For standard press releases you have a slew of paid and free PR distribution services, each one with its pros and cons. Free press release sites often do not let you post images or videos, greatly diminishing the impact of your announcement. The advantage of course is there’s no cost involved. On the other hand, paid PR can include a service that distributes your content or tweets it to a press group, but for a cost.
Although press releases are written to announce something, they’re mostly used for SEO, either to gain an extra backlink to your website or get a search boost by riding on the press release site’s PageRank. Likewise, even as your competitors focus on social media and content marketing, that leaves your brand alone in the PR site space, which is a significant advantage worth your attention. Free press releases are also often included in premium marketing packages on B2B review sites.
Make it All About the customer
With so many companies focused on growth hacking, gaming the search engines, leveraging optimization, and pushing the best services, you have to wonder when people are going to start caring about the customer. If your goal is to grow your customer base, then you should stop focusing on tricks to get their attention. Be direct. Ask them, quite literally, what they want from you.
Help Scout gets it, as it developed a help desk platform designed to create a delightful customer experience. Yes, it’s a SaaS product, but it’s customer-focused. The site has built and marketed its platform in a way that helps companies provide a human touch.
Conclusion
Paid channels can be the difference to your organic campaign especially when readers today are being overwhelmed by re-purposed content churned out by companies. When planning your SaaS ad campaign, make sure to cover a wide ground by including the basic but essential paid streams we’ve talked about.
Let us know in the comments section about the different advertising strategies that you applied to bring your SaaS in limelight.
PV Vyshnavi
