Ten practical marketing strategies for growing your business in 2018

Executive overview

Most businesses neglect high-leverage channels because they require more effort. The channels with the highest barrier to entry — video, software, structured email — are exactly where competition is thinnest.

Ten tactics are covered: some foundational, two new tools recommended by senior marketers at HubSpot and CXL.

The best marketing advantage comes from doing the harder thing your competitors skip.

YouTube and LinkedIn as low-competition channels

• YouTube requires editing and scripting — most categories have almost no quality content
• LinkedIn posts outlast tweets and Facebook updates; business audiences are already there
• Post status updates on LinkedIn consistently for two weeks before evaluating

Affiliate marketing done cleanly

• Affiliate marketing: pay a percentage of revenue to others who sell your product
• Set explicit terms upfront — percentage, payment conditions, brand usage rules
• Warn affiliates clearly about prohibited brand usage to avoid bad-fit customers
• Monthly prizes or bonuses for top affiliates drive performance
• Start small; expand only after validating it works for your business

Owning a Facebook group

• Joining a group gives you occasional visibility; owning it gives you control of messaging
• Create a group around your city, category, or niche and grow it as a direct channel

Micro-influencer marketing

• Skip celebrities — target B, C, or D-level creators with engaged niche audiences
• Smaller influencers are more affordable and often have stronger audience trust
• Local food or lifestyle accounts work even for offline businesses like dentists or bike shops

Building word of mouth into the product

• Word of mouth is most effective when it is triggered at the right moment — after a user gets a result
• Prompt satisfied users to refer someone via email, Intercom, or in-app messaging
• Example: giveaway tools like KingSumo prompt entrants to share, automatically compounding reach
• Service businesses can ask: "Who's one friend you can refer?"

Autoresponder email sequences

• Autoresponders send your best content automatically to new subscribers on a fixed schedule
• New subscribers get your top emails (e.g. one per week for three weeks) rather than random sends
• This creates a consistently strong first impression without ongoing manual effort

Free software as lead generation

• Anyone can write a blog post or PDF; few can build software
• Offering free tools lowers the barrier for prospects and replaces passive content with active utility
• Higher barrier to copy means longer-lasting competitive advantage

Two new tools worth watching

1. Hull.io — a data management platform (DMP) that unifies siloed data across tools like MailChimp, Intercom, and Sumo into one place for smarter targeting
2. Siftrock.com — smart email optimizer that enables one-to-one communication based on specific user behaviour and email signals (e.g. job changes)

One warning

• No tool or tactic fixes a bad product
• Marketing amplifies what already works; if the product is weak, these strategies will not save it