17 Marketing Ideas You (Probably) Haven’t Been Using

17 Marketing Ideas You (Probably) Haven’t Been Using:

Marketing can be redundant, especially if you’re stuck on the same routine every time you plan a new marketing blitz for your website. But what would you do if you had a new game plan that went outside the norm and got peoples attention where your competitors cannot be found? Yeah, I figured you’d get excited like that and that is why I put together this article for you to follow, filled with 17 great marketing ideas you probably haven’t been using. And lucky for you, your competition probably hasn’t been using them either, so make sure you try them out as soon as possible in order to benefit the mot from them.

Business Cards
With every blogger and social media expert in the world marketing in the same arenas online, why wouldn’t you want to showcase yourself to people who probably would have otherwise never heard of you? Pick a few spots locally that you know your business cards will benefit from the most and hit the town running (not literally of course).

Press Releases
Often overlooked as an “old school” approach to marketing, a well written press release can not only get you visitors to your website but it can also generate some good buzz and publicity for your website/blog. Don’t pass this opportunity up. The back links alone are great!

Referral System
It used to be that places like clickbank and other e-book sellers would be the only ones using the referral system. Now we’re seeing companies like Woo Themes and other Premium Wordpress Designers use e-junkie to allow other people to promote their products for them. So if you have an intangible item that you’re selling, why not get a referral system in place to let others do the hard work for you?

CSS Galleries
When I redesigned my Tennessee Web Design company website, I submitted it to a bunch of css galleries. Not only have I got sales from these visitors, I also have had a nice little boost in traffic and back links which in turned helped me rank higher for some of my target keywords in google.

Google Adwords
If you pick the right keywords, you can drive a great amount of traffic to your website without really spending too much money. After all, the people searching for the keywords you’re advertising with are looking for you right? It’s a win/win situation and not many bloggers have utilized this technique.

Giving Away Freebies
From e-books to free wordpress themes, giving away something for free is a great way to generate some traffic. Don’t have much design skill? Why not hire a web designer to design a free blog layout for you so you can release it as a freebie. You can also follow the method that Smashing Magazine uses and allow your readers to release freebies through your website (if you’re traffic is large enough of course).

Email Marketing
A lot of people focus solely on newsletters, but what about more traditional style email marketing? Why not give cakemail a try? Or how about getting together with someone who has a massive user list and advertise in their newsletters or rent their list to send a newsletter of your own. Email marketing can be highly effective if you target the right audience and it can be a great way to jump start your website.

Social Media Profiles
Twitter, Stumble Upon, Design Float, Digg and Vot.eti.me are all great social media websites you can utilize in your favor. Right now, my Stumble upon profile is a PR3. Yes, the links there are no-follow, but in some search engines (ie: Yahoo and other smaller search engines) the no-follow tag is not used. So by utilizing the Social Media Profile I have generated a free back link to my website and any other links I want to place here (even the reviews you post on stumbled pages link out - another great way to utilize social media profiles).

Squidoo and HubPages
Another form of promotion and marketing, squidoo and hubpages can be a great resource for you. Besides the usual networking that sites like these provide, the link juice can be incredible. My thoughts are to target smaller, less dominated keywords with your hubpages and make sure you like back to your main site with the high quality keywords. By building up the foundation of high ranking squidoo and hubpages pages, you can easily get your main website ranked higher in search engines.

Guest Blogging
I’ve personally seen the benefits from this through my post at Freelance Folder on Biting the Bullet. Not only did I gain added exposure in the community I am a part of but now I also have a few business relationships with people I met through that post. I also am now signed on to be a writer for Young Go Getter and am going to use this opportunity, not only to sharpen my writing skills and supplement my blog design income, but also use it to network with others and build more solid foundations for the future.

Door Hangers at Blog Expos
How many of your fellow bloggers go to these events? Now, how many of your affiliate ad networks go to these events? A pretty high number of people in one area right? So why not hit them where they’ll see it the most; right on their hotel room doors? Create a door hanger and place them on every door in the hotels that the visitors of the expos stay at and generate a lot of buzz, and some much deserved exposure in your niche. You could even put a link to a special download report only for the visitors of the expo as an added bonus.

Custom Blog T-Shirts
Some niches will get better results with method but either way, its well worth it. Visit a website like cafepress and get some of your own shirts printed up, give them away, wear them to the gym, or great a polo shirt and wear it to the next big event in your area. Imagine if you seen someone with the Fat Man Unleashed t-shirt on walking down the street; I’m POSITIVE it would get your attention. How about your site? Can you think of a witty t-shirt design to get peoples attention when you wear them?

Co-Marketing Your E-Book
Let someone who has a larger audience then you give your e-book away to their readers in exchange for allowing them to co-brand the e-book with their logo and information as well. Imagine what this could do for your website if someone like Darren from ProBlogger decided to release the book with you, or a website like Freelance Switch or DoshDosh released the e-book in collaboration with you? I estimate serious rises in visitors and subscribers to your site if that happens.

Movie Theater Ads
If you’re running a blog or a small business that could use some added marketing efforts, why not try out movie theater ads? Imagine if you ran a horror movie review blog and got your ad shown at the beginning of the new SAW V movie! Or if you’re the owner of a funny videos & pictures website and you got your ad shown before the new Zack and Miri make a porno movie. Talk about highly targeted advertising, and whats best about this is that I doubt any other blogger will be advertising here with you!

Airplane Chauffeur
When there is a blog expo in your town (or you’re headed to one yourself), grab a big sign with your website listed on it and hold it up outside the terminal where all the other limo drivers are standing and holding signs with peoples names on it. I guarantee people will notice you (especially if you’re not dressed like everyone else or your sign has something out of the norm on it).

Directory Submissions
You can outsource this and get 500-1000 directory submissions within a week or so. Not only will the directory submissions add to your google presence, it will also give you some traffic depending on the directories. I know a few people who run adult related blogs and they submitted to 10 directories and now receive 200+ visitors per day from each directory. It can work with DMOZ and many other directories depending on your niche and regardless of the traffic they send, the link juice is always worth the small marketing effort.

Be Outrageous
If you’re market is full of suits and monotone speeches, make yourself remarkable and stand out. This little change in your persona could be all the marketing you need in order to stand out and become the leader in your industry.