Promotion

With the foundation of your identity fully crafted, you now have something you can proudly promote. The promotion stage is when you finally get to see sales skyrocket. But a successful promotion still relies on a well-crafted identity.

We at BlackStorm Design + Marketing divide the promotion stage into 2 categories.

• Pull Marketing
• Push Marketing

We define pull marketing as the means to promote your service/product to prospects actively searching for your solutions.

We define push marketing as the means to promote your service/product to prospects not actively searching for your solutions.

Is your solution something that people search for? Is your solution something that they are unaware of, and you need to push market to them to make them aware? Is your solution something that is searched for and can also benefit from push marketing? If you are unsure about the answers to these questions, don’t worry, we can help.

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is referring to marketing campaigns that utilize only digital platforms, e.g., search engine optimization (SEO), also known as search marketing, pay per click (PPC), which is referring to google ads and other search engines like Bing and yahoo, social media marketing (SMM) this can be done on all social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn, and email marketing.

Search Engine Optimization

As the internet became more popular, people started utilizing search engines like google, MSN, and yahoo to search the internet, and now in this modern age, search engines have evolved to provide very specific and accurate results for consumers searches. The process to be ranked high on these search engines has become more complex than ever before while also becoming more rewarding than ever before. The modern-day consumer utilizes search engines to find the answer to all of their problems and needs. They even search on google about medical problems to be able to diagnose themselves based on their online research… you know you’re guilty. So, getting ranked in the search engine when your client is looking for your services will yield you increased business. SEO receives 80% of the traffic from searching consumers.

Pay Per Click

This is a great way to generate more leads and acts as a great supplement to SEO. It tends to be a larger investment than SEO, however, it can provide results immediately which is great for companies starting their growth spurt. PPC also allows you to target your consumer at a greater level.

Social Media Marketing

If you want to create an audience of customers, then Social Media is the answer. Social media allows you to target very specific demographics and psychographics it’s kind of creepy. This is debatably the best push marketing method out there!

Content Marketing

Many people have different tweaks to their own definitions however the majority define this as a type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) that does not explicitly promote a brand but is intended to stimulate interest in its products or services.

The main purpose of this strategy is to provide such good content that it establishes you as the expert in your field for the largest audience of prospects that aren’t quite ready to buy from you. It is a farming strategy to reap the greatest harvest.

Email Marketing

Email Marketing is not dead however it has evolved. Email marketing is still used by all of the big companies, and it isn’t going to go away for the next foreseeable future.

Traditional Marketing

Traditional marketing refers to marketing campaigns that can be physical and digital, e.g. TV commercials, radio commercials, billboards, newspapers, phone books, and direct mail.

Direct Mail

Direct mail is debatably the most effective form of traditional marketing. In the past, mailing was the only long-distance communication people had, and every letter received was of great importance. As time went on, few businesses started using mail as an advertising method and received decent results. Once again, in the modern age, that too has become digitalized, and people are now able to communicate through email. Consumers are also flooded with junk mail that gets tossed without ever being opened, and to make direct mail effective in the modern age you must include items in the package other than just paper to catch their attention to open it. This has made direct mailing extremely expensive in order to remain effective. We also advise that direct mail is only cost-effective for business-to-business.

TV & Radio

TV is debatably the most expensive and is only effective for certain industries with specific demographics and psychographics. When a consumer watches a commercial, they will mostly make another mental note to follow up with the offer online. TV is not right for every business, and the few businesses that it is right for must spend the big bucks to run a campaign.

Radio has mostly stayed the same throughout the years however the consumers haven’t. Radio has changed in the fact of ad volume while in the past ads on the radio were few, and now, they are predominantly all you hear. In the past, when consumers heard an ad on the radio, they would be challenged to memorize the call to action, such as the phone number or address to be able to act upon the offer. However, in the modern age, people strive very hard to not have to listen to ads either by switching stations or by subscribing to a premium ad free music streaming platform. Nevertheless, when they do hear an ad in this modern age, they now just make a mental note to research online when the time is right.

Print

Print media advertising is a form of advertising that uses physically printed media, such as magazines and newspapers.

In the past, people relied on newspapers as their primary source for news and updates and when they read an ad that was intriguing, they would clip it and save it. However, even newspapers have gone to be digitized while hard copy newspapers still exist, very few people still read them and the few who do when they come across an ad, they find it intriguing they just make a mental note to research online when they are ready.

Telemarketing

This is defined as the marketing of goods or services by means of telephone calls, typically unsolicited, to potential customers. This is often referred as cold calling. This is still effective however it is a very discouraging strategy that provokes a lot of stress and confrontation. This is only beneficial for select industries and technology is developing to diminish telemarketing.

Networking

Networking is defined as the action or process of interacting with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts.

It is the networking that allows you to generate referrals and gain access to your most valuable customers. It often times presents public speaking opportunities that help develop you. This is great for companies just starting out that can stay busy with referral marketing however once a business grows, it will need larger lead generation sources.