Business Blog:
15 No Nonsense Marketing Hacks For UK Startups & SME’s

We hope there is at least something in here to support your growth – that is our aim, and after reading(/scanning) you have the motivation to have a go.

Better still, appreciating that every single penny is often accounted for in the marketing budget, every one of these is either free or doesn’t require massive investment. This should therefore allow you to DO MORE.

1. Hunt for Brand Champions.

A good way to understand your target audience is to carry out a profile. What’s their gender? income? occupation? where do they live? how old are they? what are their interests? (need some help with this? – Click HERE for a search of URL’s and images). Once you have this down, all you have to do is find them, easy…..HA! It’s not that easy really, it’s quite tough isn’t it? 

Start with Twitter, follow the groups you think your audience would follow, see who are the biggest commentators with the biggest following and make contact. Engage with them, tell them what you are doing and get them behind it or maybe strike a deal so that they can deliver or share your messages to their own audience.

Alternatively, if you are lucky enough to have a considerable budget then it could well be worth turning to well seasoned brand ambassadors. It’s a growing industry with brand ambassador jobs increasing 7.5% year on year within the UK. There is currently a lot of speculation regarding online ‘social influencers’ in terms of whether the method still has validity or whether consumers are becoming more immunised to it due to volume. We’ll let you make your own mind up. However done right and as a part of a wider marketing strategy could provide exposure to consumers that were previously uninformed of your brand.

2. Make Customers Brand Champions/Evangelists.

Great service will get great word of mouth marketing and in time this will lead to future sales. However pushing it further, is there something extra you can do to as a part of your offering that none of your competitors do. Apple make people buying their products feel like they are a part of a community. Yeah, sure Apple might be a little out of our reach at this stage, but a considerable number of brands are doing this via sustainability. For example some brands give a percentage of their profit to good causes. Look at brands like Ivory Ella. Is there a way you can engage your audience, is there something very close to their and your hearts? Can you partner up with someone or something of a good cause or something that your audience is already engaging with?  

3. Cause a Social Stir.

Careful here, remember that you are still using your brand voice on Social Media Channels. Also remember that there are laws within the UK – Please DO NOT target or bully a celebrity. a) It’s not cool b) you could find yourself in a lot of trouble as governments the world over move to decrease the activity widely known as ‘trolling’.  However a well thought out post, a challenge of opinion, shareable and intelligent commentary on recent events, a stance on a subject that your brand is an authority on – Can all be ways in which to spark your audience into sharing your post, comments etc and therefore your brand to further eyes.

4. Source Local

Whilst making connections to other local businesses or organisations that swim in similar circles is good networking practice, doing business with them can open opportunistic doors that weren’t previously apparent. Think about it, it is within their best interest to build a relationship and champion your brand so that you continue to fund theirs. Their circles can often open yours wider, with multiples of this and a good degree of interaction your audience will scale up considerably. Without even thinking for more than 30 seconds, we wager you already have 2 or 3 businesses you are aware of that you could do business with that also already have good brand presence. Talk to them.   

5. Competitions & Offers for Existing Customers.

There is nothing quite like engaging existing customers. If they are already aware of your services and continue to follow you online the chances are you have already made a positive impression. You can now get them to like and share you further afield. Facebook is great for this. A sweepstake give away for example is a good way for product led companies – Get your followers to vote which of the two or three products would be the best prize then simply give it away to one of the voters. Simple but effective yeah?

Hopefully your first go at this will have a positive impact, repeat it a little later but having already had a first go, apply what you’ve learnt. Like with most things it will get a little boring and have less impact for your audience if it’s repetitive so make sure you mix it up and after the first few, maybe spread them out wider in regards to timing. Also remember to make a MASSIVE deal of the winner, promote the hell out of them – see if you can get a quote, this supports social proof but we’ll come to that in 6.

*NB: Not that you wise digital marketers haven’t already thought of this but make sure your imagery for competitions is mobile friendly, most social media is logged onto via mobiles, but you of course already knew that ;- )

6. Use Social Proof.

Everybody is affected by the groups and societies they are a part of or choose to affiliate themselves with. Subconsciously or not decisions are made aligned to the masses and your audience are not any different (social media marketing tricks 101). So what does social proof marketing look like?

Well there are many forms but here are a few to help you get the gist: social proof via experts, social proof via celebrity, social proof via user (customer i.e. testimonials & case studies are prevalent on a wide array of worldwide websites), social proof from the crowd (i.e. ‘10,000 happy customers to date and counting’) and arguably the most effect is social proof of friends (if a good friend recommends it is likely to influence and have more of an impact).

Now, how do you leverage this? Is there any of these channels you can tap into? If you know a volume of celebs, great get them to endorse your company. But the best advise would be to concentrate on the customers one by one. Get them to spread the word on your behalf allow them easy access and guide them to your channels of review whether that is social media or review based websites. Otherwise, explore these other strategic avenues and see what fits with your brand:

• Numbers already connected – If you have a good newsletter following or vast number of social media followers it is good to showcase this.
• Include Media Logo’s – If you’ve been published or appeared in a popular media provider (Like the BBC or Channel 4 or The telegraph for example – or if your market is more local, use local news providers).
• Certified Badges – Industry or customer service related.
• Showcase your current clients – display their brands.

7. What are your competitors doing well?

Forgive the authors for being a little forward, but you might need some help with this. This is because you need to have an element of impartiality toward the organisations you want to beat.

Try to create a couple of analysis based documents, get to the bottom of the things they are brilliant at, the areas where they might let themselves down, who they are associated with or partner with? How might they be able to pivot their business regarding changes in the environment.

Once you have put all this together you should see gaps to form your own plan. For example how can you do what they are doing well, better? No mixing words, steal their great ideas and do them better.

Can you tap into and play on their weaknesses, demonstrating to customers that you don’t share these. Are any of these a key selling proposition?

Concentrating on these areas will appeal to a lot of customers who are already aware of the services or products your business engages in. Why? Because it’s different, maybe they will get a better experience, maybe they will see the added value, maybe your brand is more aligned with their ethos..