Entrepreneur Eric Dalius’ Model for Achieving Marketing Goals Even on a Shoestring Budget

^{Eric J Dalius (center) and friends. Image/Eric Dalius}

Gone are the days when success was easy to achieve through word-of-mouth marketing alone. This old method of gaining publicity isn't reliable anymore due to the ever-increasing need for speed in information dissemination and accelerated methods for business growth.

The need of the hour is to develop a diverse marketing plan, especially when your concern is a modest undertaking. To gain the necessary edge when it comes to beating your competitors out of the park, it is essential to choose the right strategies alongside careful implementation.

You also need to keep in mind that there is no one-size-fits-all rule when it comes to marketing strategies. So, it’s necessary to brainstorm and devise strategies that work the best for you.

In this post, we’ll highlight some well-thought-out marketing strategies from the marketing guru and business expert, Eric J Dalius.

Without further ado, let’s dive in to the top marketing strategies from Dalius that you can use even on a modest budget to gain the result you need in your business.

Start by creating a solid marketing plan

According to Dalius, the most obvious place to start would be devising a marketing plan. Without a well-thought-out and viable plan, any business is likely doomed to fail.

Lack of growth is what spells doom for business ventures, and one of the primary reasons for it is the lack of a marketing plan, which is essentially a blueprint that outlines the advertising and marketing efforts for the coming year or some other set time frame.

A solid marketing plan starts with the customer. The most reliable pillar and foundation for any business success is a loyal customer base. The more your plan takes care of your customers, the better it is for your venture as your customers will love that and be loyal to your business.

Besides taking care of your customers’ needs, your marketing plan should entail all the ways to stay in touch with them and develop close relationships that will hold you in better stead, including email and social media posts. It’s vital to increase your customers and keep them updated on a regular basis, which is where a perfectly laid out marketing plan comes into play.

As far as staying in regular touch with your customers is concerned, you can plan a customized e-mail newsletter campaign. These are potent and incredibly useful tools for sharing promotional content, services, and features with potential customers.

Put together a team to design, optimize, and deliver the newsletters regularly. Make extensive plans for holiday seasons with special offers and bonuses to establish your brand the right way.

When you create a solid marketing plan with such strategies, it will allow your business to reach customers on a regular basis and stay top of mind, along with making sure that up-to-date news and information regarding your products and services always reach the intended targets on time.

A marketing plan will also enable customers to form a bond with your venture, and they will seek out your products and assistance anytime they need what you offer.

Get exposure through Google My Business

Google My Business is one of the foremost tools when it comes to gaining exposure free of cost. The reach provides is extensive and suits most small businesses.

“If you are a small business that suffers from a lack of exposure, you can remedy the situation by merely listing your venture on Google My Business,” notes Dalius

Once you list your business on Google My Business, it will automatically be uploaded to Google search engine, as well as Google Map tool. That essentially means a substantial boost to your online presence on two of the most popular online platforms.

Moreover, performing this simple step to list your business on Google My Business also ensures that you are taking care of your local SEO. Local SEO is vital for maintaining and developing relevancy, trustworthiness and legitimacy in the locality your business is based or headquartered.

The higher your business ranks on Google for local and global searches, the better will be the CTR (Click-Through-Rates), which means you will earn more clicks to your business website and brand visibility. This bodes well for the growth of your venture, since organic traffic is the hallmark of a trustworthy and successful business, as well as an effective marketing model.

Tap the power of guest posts

Alongside the aforementioned marketing strategies, guest posting is another big thing to look into.

Oftentimes, winning new customers and adding them to your expanding user base is easier said than done, and you need to put in the hard work for it to happen. Guest posting, according to the marketing expert, is one of the best ways to get this done.

High-quality content is always in demand online, and consistent guest posting and publishing of fresh content on your official website and other forums works towards demonstrating your expertise and proficiency, while consolidating your status as an authority in your field.

Additionally, guest posting on the more established blogging sites also opens up avenues for you to gain backlinks to your domain, which in turn helps with SEO and ranking on Google. This means you’ll build your authority while also enjoying higher inbound traffic for your own site.

Leverage forums to reach new communities online

There are many relevant forms that you can join online at almost no-cost. All you need to do is start a new thread on the different forums where your potential customers hangout. Be active there sharing information and useful ideas, as well as your business plans and services to bring more attention and focus on your expertise and business without blatant self-promotion.

When you are active and truly helpful on different forums online, you will soon start getting mentioned as an authority and presented with queries people need answered. You’ll be called upon to provide your answers, solutions and make sure that topics remain informative, authoritative, and relevant to the masses you are interacting with.

And in that way, you will become a thought leader. People will hang on to your words and that will ultimately help with your marketing  and brand awareness as well.

Gain traction through podcasts and e-mail newsletters

Because the goal is to spread the word about your business as far as possible all across the world, featuring on the various popular platforms that can enable you to connect with internet users wherever they may be is essential. Keep in mind, though, that not every user is the same, and therefore, you cannot have only written content.

To appeal to a broader demographic, you need to connect through videos and podcasts interviews as well. According to recent statists, 50% of all homes are podcast fans. You should not leave this sizable communication and marketing channel untapped.

Reach out to top podcast shows in your niche and request to be featured. If you get invitations to appear on a podcast show, go ahead and accept the invitation. And where applicable, start your own podcast show and use it to provide real value to listeners as well as market some of your products. But avoid too much marketing and promotions to avoid putting off your listeners.

So, as you can see, success in business is not just about aggressive networking; it also about strategic and consistent marketing through email, social media, forums, podcasts, and more. Ultimately, it’s about grabbing a hold of every opportunity that comes your way to speak to your audience. The more options you explore, the better it is for your business venture and goals.