Marketing, especially digital marketing, is fast-paced, ever-changing and constant. If you’re a business owner or marketer for a specific business, it can be difficult to constantly come up with new and exciting ways to market your business. This can seem like an even harder task when you work in an industry that many would consider ‘boring’. But there is hope. Marketing ‘boring’ products and services follow the same marketing principles of all businesses. Educate, inspire and entertain your audience to create truly memorable marketing campaigns. Here’s how.
Market Boring Products By Changing Your Mindset
When you think about your products and services as inherently boring, that negativity can easily be transferred into how you present your business. If you talk to anyone who is studying a PHD for a very niche subject, you’ll see that their passion is translated into their speech and makes it much more exciting for their friends and family to hear about. The same goes for business, if you are inspired and dedicated to your service, that passion will naturally come across in your marketing.
Marketing is just the dressing on the shop window, and I truly believe it’s the connections we make that decide frequently who we do business with. This is especially the case when it comes to B2B work. So when thinking about your business you need to know why you are passionate about it, what makes it an interesting industry or service and how you can spread that excitement to potential clientele. Below are some mindset tips and some practical tips on how to market boring products…so-called boring products.
Think outside the box
A company is more than its products and services, it’s the company culture, the benefits you include, the unique solutions you offer. When it comes to marketing your unique selling point, you don’t have to do the standard thing in your industry.
Maybe your corporate service is run by creatives that prefer dungarees to a shirt and tie, which not talk about how the casual work style improves the business for clients. Perhaps you have made amazing improvements to a dull product like making it more energy-efficient or provides extra features. Taking the mundane and making it interesting is a skill but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible.
Here a few out of the box ideas.
- Make your dull product stand out by improving your brand appeal. Who Gives A Crap Toilet paper is a great example, their fun packaging and social media marketing takes an every day product and makes it way more appealing.
- Create some fun videos about your company, the service or the product. Involving a corporate video production company can help to create a quality and quirky advert.
- Link up with other companies in related industries. This can be through a referral promotion but could also be just for fun on social media. Making fun of each other across Twitter, and other social platforms, humanises companies and keeps the conversation going.
Don’t Follow The Crowd
It can be tempting to jump on every trend you see to keep up your social clout but not all trends are created equally. Don’t jump on a meme or TikTok bandwagon if the content cannot be repurposed for your niche. You’ll just leave your audience confused. Here’s some out there marketing that I’ve not seen frequently:
- Barilla Pasta created Spotify Playlists and albums to help cook their pasta perfectly. It’s a unique example of marketing that combines fun and practicality.
- 20i, a hosting provider created a fun competition on their website where you collected ‘ghosts’ to win a prize. For October, their site had several ghosts appearing on the site in various locations that if you clicked them they would be added to your collection. Once you had them all collected you were added to a prize draw. This gave them something to talk about on their blog and social media. Provided an incentive for new clients to sign up. Plus it kept people on the site longer and made them explore the site. In doing so they probably learnt a lot more about 20i’s products and services.
Be Boring
If your industry and services are super technical, then embrace it. Create content that helps explain all the details that your clients need to know about before making a decision. This is essential in many technical industries such as software, engineering, architecture and legal services. Here are some practical ideas:
- Create a series of videos or blog articles to explain how your technical product works. They could show specifically how to set up technical aspects of a service.
- Set up a podcast or live interviews with other industry experts. This is very engaging content. The other experts will be able to share it with their own network, expanding your reach.
- Organise an event. Invite speakers, create workshops and hold an awards ceremony. This is a big bold task but it will provide endless opportunities for marketing, leads and growth.
There’s No Such Thing As Boring
If you think your business is a bit boring and want to build a better, bolder marketing strategy, I can help. I am an experience B2B marketer that has helped grow a wide range of ‘boring’ businesses. From telecoms to software, white goods and recruitment, no industry is dull to me. The reason I can market your business effectively is that I become a mini expert in your industry. I research any business incredibly thoroughly. I get to know the ins and outs of your sector, your company and the audiences you are hoping to attract. With this knowledge, I can create a bespoke strategy for your business. It will educate and entertain your target market and inspire them to buy from you. Get in touch today and see how we can grow your business together.