Hey there, my friend, welcome to episode 308 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast.

Thanks for leading me your ears right now – I know you have lots of other things you could be doing or listening to – so I appreciate you.

Today we are talking about marketing other than social media. Why? Well, it might be obvious that there’s marketing outside social media marketing but from conversations I’ve been having this month with clients, there’s some classics that have been forgotten and when I mention them the clients grow this massive smile of “yes, that’s it! That’s exactly what I need to do!”

But before I fill your head with amazing marketing strategies that you might have forgotten about, have you had a chance to listen to last week’s podcast episode? I had a great chat with Jenni Harding all about being a for purpose small business and how the UN values can help you with your business. It’s a great conversation and very thought provoking. If you haven’t listened to that episode, tune back into it after listening to today. Can you find it at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/307

I wanted to give a shoutout to my LinkedIn Retreat – there are still some spaces to come along to that if upping your LinkedIn game is on your list – you can find all the details on my website – www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au and just click the Retreat button in the top menu.

And lastly, before we get into today’s episode I wanted to do a throwback Thursday to an episode from a while ago. This week’s throw back is to episode 69 which is titled HOW TO CHOOSE A BUSINESS MENTOR – 5 KEY QUESTIONS TO BE ASKING YOURSELF. I think as many businesses struggle in 2024, thinking about getting themselves a business mentor, paid or unpaid, is a definitely power move to move forward. You can find the episode here: www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/69

So, today’s episode came about as I discussed marketing strategies with a new client. Their question, other than email and social media – what marketing would you recommend for my business.

Now that’s a loaded question and I have to say I ask a LOT of questions before answering that one because what marketing you do depends on so much, not the least of which is

• Who is your who
• Where do they hang out, and
• What do you want to be famous for

After discussing the answers to those questions, here’s some out of the box marketing strategies we worked through (and I tell you, because maybe, just maybe, they might suit your business too or at the very least, push you out of the social media marketing comfort zone.

The first one is my all-time favourite marketing strategies from both years gone by and really, now.

Lumpy Mail.

Yep, lumpy mail!

Perhaps you’ve just said, “I’ve never heard of it” or “OMGoodness I haven’t thought about lumpy mail for so long”.

So, what’s lumpy mail – just in case you don’t know – it’s mail with a lump!

Snail mail – not email!

It’s the lump that goes the attention – who doesn’t open a parcel or letter with a lump!

But it doesn’t have to be a lump, some of the most successful marketing campaigns that I did back in my retail days were done in bright pink snail mail envelopes.

Tell me a person who wouldn’t be curious enough to open a bright pink, handwritten, envelope address to them?

I bet you can’t!

Because, well, also, who doesn’t love a freebie in the mail!

So, if you’re wanting a 99% deliverability rate and a 100% open rate – then lumpy mail is your saviour, or your best shot as far as marketing goes!

And it is the curiosity that makes it work so well.

If you want to know more about lumpy mail, listen back to episode 156 www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/156 or in the show notes there’s a link to a blog on my website about this brilliant strategy too.  https://socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/nail-your-strategy-for-sending-lumpy-mail/

It’s also a chapter in my Small Town Big Impact book. If you haven’t got yourself a copy, then go get one from my website – today!

The next strategy we talked about came from my comment – who has your audience but isn’t your competition. Finding your starving audience is tough, rough and sometimes time consuming, but finding someone who’s not your competition who has your audience – gold!

These are the people to do collaborations with. A collaboration can be something as simple as an Instagram live together or a mention in each other’s email correspondence or it can be a full blown specific program or idea you invest together like a product or a service that fits together like rice crackers and chocolate. (side note – if you have not found mini rice crackers coated in chocolate in your (hilariously) healthy food isle of the supermarket, you are missing out on so much goodness #addicted).

The last marketing strategy for today and that I chatted to this client about was all about my BIG love for QR codes. Holy cow I love a QR code. I have loved them for so long. I remember back in my retail days, 10 years ago or so, using them in a window campaign and very few people knew what I was trying to achieve! Thank you pandemic because now everyone knows!

But let’s start with where you could make a QR code.  My best suggestion is www.canva.com – if you don’t have an account already, you can sign up for free and create one.  But Canva makes QR code building super easy – literally in two or three clicks you can have one created and start using it.

To make one in Canva – choose a blank template, like an Instagram Post for example, in the left hand menu choose apps (or more) and then choose QR Code.  Put the website address you want to QR code to direct traffic to click generate code and you’re done!  Simple yes?! But make sure you test it yourself before using it – make sure it does actually work!

E! ode 238 is all about QR codes and many of the different ways to use them. You can listen to that episode here www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/238 or read a blog here: https://socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/qrcode-2/

QR codes great for using everywhere except probably social media! Why aren’t they good to use on social media, well mostly because people are already using their phones and cameras on phones is how we scan!

I am doing an experiment at the moment, or building the background AI personality and landing page, for a QR code that I am thinking I’ll put on my new company car. As I finish off that project – I’ll tell you more – but at the moment I am in the background building the AI part.

The one mistake that I see people make with QR codes is that they have multiple codes going to multiple places – which could be okay but I think you should look at having one QR code that goes to a landing page and you change up that landing page depending on what season of business you are in or what you have for sale/offer. For instance, maybe this month the landing page is all about a special for Father’s Day or a new lead magnet you have and next month it’s about a brand new spring offer. Same QR code – no need to change that, but it changes depending on you and your business. Imagine the customised way you could use it!

As with all marketing – think outside the square. My book, Small Town Big Impact, has a whole chapter about thinking outside the square, called out of the box marketing thinking – and it’s got 28 strategies in that chapter alone!

Okay my wonderful business owner, that’s another episode of inspiring marketing done.

What are your thoughts? Are you inspired by the thought of lumpy mail or QR codes or finding someone to do a collab with? Hop into the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group and let me know and inspire others! https://www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners

If you loved this episode and found it valuable, please take 30 seconds out of your day to leave me a rating and review if you want where you are listening. And do you have a friend who might like to listen in too? Can I ask a favour, and have you share this episode with them? I’d love that and appreciate it SO much.

See you next week on the podcast for episode 309.

But in the meantime, let’s hang out on social and get social on social – you’ll find me on Instagram, Facebook, and my fav LinkedIn.

But whatever you do,

…….. remember small business peep, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!