7 Alternatives To Online Marketing – And My Recommendation!

In this digital era, marketing channels are saturated with strong competitors, making you wonder if there are any alternatives to online marketing. Using the same marketing methods and strategies, many businesses struggle to compete, spending a lot of money hoping to yield better results.

But as a business owner with a tight budget, it would seem implausible to keep on spending money on digital marketing. And these marketing methods could be a bit challenging for you, and you don’t have the time to learn everything.

Fortunately, there are alternatives to online marketing that do not require special skills, too much time, and money to share with you here.

Before anything else, let’s first identify the online marketing methods commonly used by many businesses today. These methods are the following:

• Email marketing
• Display ads
• Social Media Marketing
• Website SEO and mobile optimization

And since these methods are frequently used, you and your competitors are doing the same marketing ways. Therefore, that’s another reason for trying out a different marketing approach to give your business an advantage.

Here Are 7 Alternatives To Online Marketing

1. Register your business on Online Business Listings

Google My Business is just one of the online listings where you can register your business. When someone searches for keywords related to your business, Google will show your business in Google Maps.

The Google Map search results will display your store’s image, address, email, and phone number. It is a free form of advertising on Google. You can create, claim, and verify your business listing at no cost at all.

If your business is on the listings for a while, you may already have ratings from your customers based on their experience with your service or the product you’re selling. Otherwise, you can also send this information to your existing customers and ask for them to rate your business.

We will also show these ratings together with all your business information. Higher ratings help increase your brand’s credibility and can help attract other potential customers.

In addition to five-star ratings, if you have a good SEO website, you may even find your business on the first three local pack that appears on Google Maps even before organic search results. This gives you an enormous boost in clicks over brands that don’t show up.

Other online business listings are Yelp, Facebook, Angie’s List, Foursquare, Glassdoor, Instagram, LinkedIn, City Search, and many more. It is important to register your business to as many listings as possible to increase your market reach and expand your brand awareness.

2. Voice Search Technology Optimization

Nowadays, web browsing can be done using voice search technology. Millions of homes have Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, and other types of smart speakers to assist them with their daily searches without a screen or a keyboard. With the rise of voice search technology, a new way of searching was born.

People use sentences when speaking to a smart speaker, unlike in a search engine where people use a few words. This means that marketing also needs is to adapt to the new way consumers now look for a product or a service. Some of the things you can implement are the following:

• Optimize for Local SEO by updating and completing your business listings on Google My Business, Bing, Yelp, and Apple Maps
• Revamp your website content using conversational language and long-tail keyword phrases
• Improve your website’s FAQs using questions a consumer would ask
• Enhance your website’s loading time

Marketing with voice search technology optimization in mind will prepare your business for the future. This type of technology is projected to rise in the future, and voice search may eventually dominate the old keyword search.

3. Create Original Content

Google likes fresh content. This is why updating your website content regularly is important to get better rankings in the Google search engine. Perhaps the easiest way is to revisit your old posts and see if you can update some old information or add a new one. While you’re at it, you can also replace the images with more appealing ones that you can find now.

Another way is investing in original content. This method would require some time and research, depending on your topic. There are a few things to remember when creating original content:

• Know your audience
• Use your customer’s data
• Write in your own perspective
• Use a uniform tone of voice
• Include visually appealing images

You can seek help from your customers by sending them an email with a short survey to help with your data gathering. You can also set up a pop-up survey before they leave your website. And to gain more participants you can offer a discount or freebies in exchange for their answers.

4. Marketing through Quora

Quora gained many users and popularity over time. There are around 300 million active users every month, which explains why marketing is a good platform. Quora is a platform where users can ask a question, and other users answer the questions.

Some of these questions ask about product reviews, product effectiveness, credibility, customer service experiences, and many more. These are considered great opportunities for marketers and business owners to promote their brands and products.

It is important to provide quality answers instead of a plain marketing pitch. This is to avoid getting downvoted and eventually getting your answer hidden. To improve the quality of your answers, you can share your website’s content to provide helpful additional information.

You can also back up your answers with statistics and references. Enhance it with visuals such as using images, graphs, or infographics. By doing this, you’re able to increase your credibility and show your expertise in your industry which helps in marketing your brand.

5. Building LinkedIn Connections

Unlike other social media platforms, LinkedIn is a place specially built to connect professionals in various fields. It has more than 660 million professionals around the world. Moreover, LinkedIn drives around 80% of B2B social media leads.

LinkedIn allows you to post about your brand and follow people relevant to your industry. Other users of the platform will also follow you and see the posts you publish. You’ll be able to share your website’s content and grow your followers.

LinkedIn users are mostly interested in fresh ideas and thought leadership content. You can create a post about your expertise or experience in managing your business and share it on this platform. By doing this, you’re able to increase your authority and influence over other users.

The best thing about LinkedIn is you will also be able to make useful and long-term connections with professionals or business owners. It can open many opportunities for you and your business.

Some of these opportunities are building business relationships, discovering other potential investments, introducing your brand to a wider audience with the help of partnerships, and many more.

6. Video Marketing Strategy

Video marketing is becoming more popular, and it appears that it will stay for a very long time. Traditional business owners may think that their customers are too busy to watch their videos or just pass trends.

But there may be other reasons such as there’s no time and money to spend on making videos. However, marketing videos are becoming mainstream making their way through popular platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok.

Consumers like watching videos simply because they are more entertaining and engaging. These videos can be promotional, behind-the-scenes, testimonials, and explainer videos that help your customers know more about your brand.

Making these videos can be quite expensive, but there are also cost-effective ways if you’re on a budget. Some business owners preferred making their videos using their mobile phones, good lighting equipment, and a video editing app. The most important thing to remember is to make a fun, engaging, and informative video to promote your brand.

7. Referral Marketing

This type of marketing uses recommendations and word of mouth from your existing customers to help grow your customer base. It is cost-effective, powerful, and reliable. Your customers will promote your brand to other people and convince them to try it. And to award your customers in promoting your brand, you can offer discounts, commissions, or a free item as an incentive.

The best way to promote your brand is through your customers. They are your best salespeople. They can promote your brand naturally to their friends and families without sounding like a salesperson. Most likely, these customers are your advocates or your loyal customers.

They share their good experience with your products or your services that can entice other people. People are more inclined to believe your customers because they have already tried and tested your product or service. In turn, you’re able to gain more customers and retain your loyal ones by rewarding them for their referrals.

Final Thoughts

The success of these online marketing alternatives relies on your hard work and consistency. You can explore these strategies while still using the online marketing methods that you’re used to.

Although the usual online marketing ways can deliver results, these alternatives are worth trying. Besides saving time and money, you’re able to specialize in marketing methods that are not commonly used by most businesses.

It puts you and your business at an advantage. These ways may be alternatives, but any of these could be among the most effective marketing strategies in the future. Or you can try the platform where a community of people is getting real results.

If you need help on how to get started, check out my #1 recommendation on building a successful business online. You can get access to hundreds of training videos, 24/7 support, professional consultations, private access to training guides, tools, personal private assistance, my personal help, and much more.

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