The marketing landscape today is wildly different than it was even two years ago. This can be incredibly overwhelming for marketing professionals, and even harder for small businesses who are just trying to get by. With the world changing so rapidly, finding the right marketing strategy for your business can be challenging. 

One of the most important parts of marketing is finding strategies that are consistently new, fresh, and exciting. Many businesses are looking for alternative ways to market themselves, and make a real impact in the modern world. 

Below are five alternative marketing strategies that will help you truly engage your audience  in a way that is fresh, effective, and exciting. 

What Is Your Marketing Objective?

The goal of marketing is simply to show people your products or services, and convince them to look to you to solve their problems. Fundamentally, marketing is all about trying to prove to people that you can solve the problems that they have, and do it better than anyone else. 

Marketing itself is a fairly general term that encompasses a lot of different aspects of running a business. Some of these functions of marketing include: 

• Building brand awareness
• Developing relationships with customers
• Increasing sales
• Increasing the market share of a company
• Increase a company’s profit

There are many more functions of marketing, but those are the primary things that most marketing professionals are focused on. 

The way that people do this in the modern world is constantly changing and developing. There are tons of new technologies and platforms that are constantly appearing, and new ways to get access to people’s attention and focus. To remain competitive as a company, marketing teams need to be very good at riding the waves of marketing to find the most effective ways to market. 

That is why so many companies are turning to alternative forms of marketing. As time goes on, new ways to market are constantly showing up, which makes the world of marketing much more exciting. A huge reason why some companies don’t work out well is because they are still using old methods of marketing, and are becoming irrelevant to people who are naturally gravitating to newer and more effective platforms and systems. 

What Are Alternative Marketing Strategies?

Simply put, alternative marketing strategies are non-traditional marketing approaches that use unexpected or emerging platforms or methods. They forgo traditional mass media advertising in favor of more targeted, personalized, or experiential approaches. Instead of interrupting audiences with ads, alternative marketing strategies often provide value, entertainment, or utility that naturally draws people in. As technology becomes more prevalent in people’s lives, it’s natural that marketing strategies are starting to focus on meeting audiences where they are - online and mobile. 

Alternative marketing strategies focus intensely on trying to recapture the genuine interactions that people are commonly looking for, and often lacking in traditional marketing approaches. 

Here are five alternative marketing approaches that can advance your marketing efforts to new heights! 

1. SMS Marketing

Although SMS marketing is not new, Community has redefined what it can do.

Community is a conversational engagement platform that enables brands, creators, and organizations to have two-way, personal conversations with their audience, delivered through SMS, at scale. With no app downloads or login required, it offers the simplest, most accessible way to engage your audience through something they already use every day: texting.

What sets Community apart is its ability to:

• Engage effortlessly and authentically with fans using personalized, two-way communication
• Replace impersonal social blasts with real conversations that drive loyalty 
• Help you build deep and meaningful relationships behind the scenes
• Collect zero-party data directly from your audience through real-time conversations, helping you deliver content that truly resonates

Community empowers you to meet your audience where they are and turn that connection into long-term value through real-time audience engagement. Want to build long-term relationships, not just short-term clicks? This is where to start.

2. Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing is all about creativity, disruption, and surprise. It’s also a tool that requires the most forethought and intentionality.

The goal is to do something incredibly unique and powerful in the sight of a lot of people, so you can grab their attention in an effective way. 

Often, businesses making use of guerrilla marketing try to find something that makes the biggest statement possible for the smallest price possible. Finding a strategy that is unique will often take a lot of brainstorming, but often the most effective strategies are the ones that feel the most homegrown and organic. People love hearing stories and seeing pieces that have a very human feel and an exciting energy. 

Common examples of guerrilla marketing almost always focus on thinking outside the box. These strategies often include putting a prop or display in public so that people can interact with it, creating an experience for people, or even just releasing the product or service in an interesting way. At the end of the day, the biggest thing to focus on in guerrilla marketing is wowing your audience and showing them that you’re not afraid to think outside the box. Community can take that wow factor even further by turning in-person moments into ongoing digital conversations, letting you capture interest via SMS in real-time and extend the impact long after the stunt ends. 

3. Testimonial Marketing

Testimonial marketing is third-party validation of positive product or services experiences. Having happy customers put their experiences into their own words and then sharing those thoughts is a great way to show your audience that you are a viable solution to their challenges. 

People are often skeptical of a company’s self-promotion, after all, every brand believes in its own offering. But hearing positive feedback from unbiased voices outside the company can have a far greater impact. Testimonial marketing is a powerful way to show potential customers that your business is credible, effective, and trusted by others. With Community, you can instantly capture and amplify real testimonials through two-way text conversations, turning satisfied customers into advocates at scale.

4. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is similar to testimonial marketing,  but with a stronger focus on who is delivering the message. Today, social media is filled with influencers who inspire people to live their lives in new ways and follow their styles and opinions. Many people base a lot of their decisions on what their favorite influencers and significant figures do in their lives. Therefore, if you get influencers to promote your products and services, it can lead to their followers wanting to look for you as well. 

Partnering with the right influencers can significantly boost your brand’s visibility and credibility. Their authentic experiences and endorsements can influence public perception and drive meaningful engagement. When paired with Community’s conversational messaging platform, these influencer-driven moments become opportunities to build lasting, two-way relationships with audiences, turning interest into action. As a key part of modern marketing culture, influencer collaborations offer a powerful way to connect with new audiences and grow your social presence.

5. Seasonal Marketing

Seasonal marketing is about aligning your strategy with the natural rhythms of the year; adapting your messaging to reflect holidays, national events, or seasonal moments that resonate with your audience.. It makes your marketing a lot more effective as a whole, and can help your business focus on providing exactly what people want, exactly when they want it. 

For example, if you can specialize your marketing and branding to be focused on the holiday season during late November and December, that will make your marketing much more effective. This demonstrates that your business cares about the exciting and ever-changing seasons of life and is willing to celebrate it alongside customers. Using a text-based platform like Community can help you accentuate your relatability and relationships with your customers. 

Determining the Best Alternative Marketing Strategy for Your Business

Marketing in the modern world is constantly changing, with businesses always seeking new and meaningful ways to connect with their audiences.

Among the many emerging alternative marketing strategies, Community stands out for its ability to deliver personal interactions that truly resonate - at scale.  If developing relationships and fostering interactions with your audience is your highest priority, making use of Community SMS marketing is one of the best ways to do that. Find out how to grow your community today by checking out our website! 

Sources: 

5 Alternative Marketing Methods | Black Dog LLC

New Report Looks at the Most Effective Influencer Marketing Approaches, and Key Platforms of Focus | Social Media Today

What is seasonal marketing? | My Customer