7 Proven Marketing Tactics That Drive Real Sales (Steal These Ideas)

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Sales are the goal of every business owner, whether it’s selling products or services. But most businesses struggle with this because they aren’t using proven marketing tactics to get customers.

In this article, you’ll learn more about content marketing, the king of all marketing strategies. There are seven specific marketing tactics that will help you get more traffic, conversions, and sales.

These tactics work whether you’re selling physical products or digital ones, and we’ll also go over how to get started with these tactics.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a startup or are already running a profitable business—steal these tactics and skyrocket your sales!


What Are Marketing Tactics?

Simply put, marketing tactics are actions you can take to attract prospects to your product or service and convert them into paying customers through a product recommendation.

They’re the tactics you use to reach and communicate with your target audience that would be interested in what you have to offer with relevant content.

There are a seemingly endless number of tactics that you can try in order to achieve your marketing goals. Some include:

But before we dive into the juicy marketing tactics, take a moment to consider how they tie into your overarching marketing strategy.


Marketing Tactics Are A Subset Of Your Marketing Strategy

If you’re not already familiar with the term “digital marketing strategy,” this topic should be right up your alley.

The difference between a marketing strategy vs tactics is simply what tools you’ll use to achieve your marketing objectives.

But you absolutely need a marketing plan for how you intend to reach your revenue goals for your business. You can have the best ingredients in the world, but without a recipe you’ll end up cooking something weird.

Before we dive into each individual marketing tactic, consider how they tie into your overall existing marketing strategy. The following questions should get you on the right track:

  • Who is your target audience?
  • What resources (time, employees, freelancers, etc.) are available to you?
  • Where does your product fit within your industry?
  • What are your goals?
  • What are the most effective ways to achieve those goals?
  • What is your budget?
  • What is expected of you after implementation?

For example, if you’re launching a new product line, you may consider using Facebook ads. However, if you already have a strong brand name, you may opt to invest your resources in building relationships with bloggers and influencers who can help spread the word about your new product instead.

This type of strategic thinking is important because it helps ensure that you’re making the right decisions at every stage of your marketing campaigns.


Why Content Marketing Tactics Are So Powerful For Sales

Content marketing tactics are powerful because they’re effective at driving sales. They work because they tell stories, share information, educate, entertain, and inspire.

Content marketing tactics include things like creating blog posts, video testimonials, UGC (User Generated Content), reviews, etc.

However, these tactics aren’t just limited to attracting prospects and turning them into customers. They are also used to make people aware of your brand, build stronger relationships with your current customers, and find loyal fans who will talk about your brand online.

They’re also inexpensive and scalable. And they’re not just for B2C businesses; content marketing works great for B2B companies as well.

But there’s one main reason why content marketing is so powerful for sales: it helps build trust.

People who care enough to read your content are more likely to trust and buy from you, and in business, trust is everything.

And when you combine content marketing with social media, you create a two-way street where customers can create UGC, give feedback, and engage with you. This builds trust and loyalty, which leads to repeat purchases.

There are many ways to use content marketing to drive sales, and these are our favorite tactics that have proven themselves to work time and time again.


Marketing Tactics That Drive Real Growth and Sales

1. Blog Content Creation

HubSpot blog archive
Screenshot of HubSpot’s blog archive

Content creation is the foundation of any successful online business. Without content, there would be no blogs, no websites, no social media sites, and no email newsletters.

And blogging is a great way to build authority and credibility in your industry. It helps you establish yourself as an expert in your field, and it gives you the opportunity to share valuable information with others.

But blogging isn’t just about sharing content on your website builder; it’s also about creating content that drives sales. But before you do that, you need to understand your target audience and craft messages that speak directly to them.

When writing blog posts, keep these simple tips in mind:

  • Write short paragraphs. Long paragraphs can be hard to read. They’re also harder to skim, making it harder to find important points.
  • Talk about pain points that are specific to your audience. This shows that you actually understand your potential prospects, and gently suggest solutions which happen to be your product.
  • Include call-to-action buttons. These help drive visitors to take specific actions. For example, you may include a button that says, “Learn More.” This encourages visitors to click through.
  • Be consistent. Consistency is key when building trust with your audience, no matter if it’s on a blog or a YouTube channel. The more consistently you publish, the better.
  • Focus on quality over quantity. Quality content takes longer to produce than quickie content. But it pays off in the long run.

Also, make sure your content is optimized for search engines, which ties excellently into our next marketing tactic!

2. Inbound Traffic Through SEO

Example site performance from GSC
Screenshot of a website performance from Google Search Console

One of the most effective marketing tactics is called inbound marketing, which involves creating content that answers questions searchers may have rather than forcefully pushing products or advertising on them.

By providing valuable information, solving problems, and suggesting solutions (your products), you build credibility and trust. And this makes it easier for your visitors to convert into paying customers.

Search engine optimization (SEO) makes it easier for people searching online to find your content. This means getting your SEO content listed at the top of Google when users type in certain keywords.

When users type in those words or phrases, they’re either looking for information or to buy something. They want to learn something specific, and they want to be able to find it quickly.

There are two ways to be visible in the right places: 

1) Make use of paid advertising (such as AdWords).

2) Use SEO to generate free organic traffic.

When users find your site through organic search, they’re more likely to convert because they’re specifically searching for your content that naturally ranks at the top.

Visitors feel comfortable consuming information and buying products if Google presents your content at the top of millions of other websites.

The better you optimize content, the more likely it is to appear near the top of the list, simple as that.

3. Link Building

Backlink profile performance from Linkody
Screenshot of backlink metrics using Linkody

If you’re looking to drive sales through content marketing, link building is essential to get that organic traffic faster.

Linking back to your site from other well-trusted brands increases both your overall domain authority (which boosts your site’s credibility and authoritativeness) and your search engine rankings.

But there’s no need to be intimidated by link building, as long as you avoid common mistakes

There are many ways to build quality links naturally. Here are some tips:

1) Guest posting: When you post content on another site with the hope that the author will include a link back to your site. This works well when you’re writing about topics that actually benefit the brand you’re writing for.

In this relationship, you help them out with their content marketing efforts by providing quality content (that they want and need), and in turn, they help you out with a backlink or two. It’s a win-win relationship.

2) Content syndication: Where you create original content, publish it on your own site, and then share it across social media sites. This tactic works well for blogs and websites that already have larger audiences.

Both guest posting and content syndication work well to increase your authority in the space and gain a bigger market share.

Guest posting is great for getting noticed by search engines and increasing your organic traffic. However, it takes some effort to find quality sites that accept guest posts.

4. Repurposed Content

Content is king. But content isn’t just any old stuff sitting on a web server somewhere. Repurposing content means taking existing content and reusing it in different ways.

Here’s an example: Let’s say you’re writing a post about how to cook chicken drumsticks.

Instead of just posting it once on your blog, you repurpose the same content by perhaps making a video tutorial and also creating short-form content and snippets for social media platforms.

You can also create another version of the same recipe by targeting, let’s say, men who like to grill food.

This type of content repurposing works well because it allows you to reach multiple audiences at once with the same content piece.

Here are some examples of content repurposing:

  • Create a video version of your blog posts
  • Create a YouTube playlist out of your videos
  • Create short form content for socials like TikTok and Instagram
  • Create a podcast out of your audio recordings

When you repurpose content, you’re able to create unique pieces of content that help you reach your target audience in new ways and keep the content machine going to generate new leads.

5. AI Marketing

Screenshot of using ChatGPT for long-tail keywords
Screenshot using ChatGPT to isolate long-tail keywords for voice SEO

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming the most powerful tool available to marketers today. AI marketing allows us to automate many tasks that used to take loads of time and effort.

We’re already seeing AI take over in the content creation space in terms of writing content, crafting emails, scheduling social media posts, and analyzing marketing campaigns. And we’re only just beginning to tap into its full potential!

One of the biggest benefits of AI is that it helps us save time and money through automation. We no longer need to spend hours manually finding leads, sending emails, or collecting video testimonials. Instead, we can use AI to automate entire business processes for us.

Another benefit is that AI enables us to create personalized customer experiences for each individual that comes into your funnel. This means that every person who visits a site can receive relevant information based on their interests and preferences, which is super neat.

AI also makes it possible for us to reach out to users at precisely the right moment. We can send them targeted messages when they’re ready to buy and share valuable content.

All these features combined mean that AI is making it possible for us to drive sales faster than ever before.

But there’s still plenty of room for growth in the world of marketing. Here are some examples of ways that AI can help drive sales:

1. Automated email campaigns: Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective forms of marketing available. But it’s not very effective unless you’re able to send targeted messages to specific audiences.

With AI, you can create automated emails that target your ideal customers based on their interests, location, age, gender, income level, etc.

2. Targeted ads: Ads are a great way to reach out to prospective customers, but they’re often ineffective because they’re generic and lack personalization.

With AI, marketers can use machine learning algorithms to find patterns in how people act and then adjust their ads to fit those patterns. This means that every ad you show is customized specifically for each individual viewer.

3. Personalized content: Content marketing is, as we know by now, a powerful form of marketing. With the help of AI, companies can now generate content at a much faster rate than any content writer could.

4. Real-time chatbots: Chatbots are becoming increasingly popular among businesses. They allow consumers to interact directly with brands through live chat sessions.

Chatbots are especially helpful for small businesses that might not have enough resources to put towards traditional customer service channels.

5. Customer reviews: Reviews are incredibly important for any brand. And yet, they’re rarely taken seriously by many businesses. AI marketing tools that collect video testimonial reviews for you on autopilot are a must here.

With AI marketing, you’re able to scale your efforts quickly and efficiently. And when you add humans to the mix, you gain access to creative ideas and insights that would otherwise be hard to achieve.

6. Powerful Video Testimonials

Video testimonials are powerful because they’re visual proof of results. They show real people who’ve been helped by your product or service.

And when those people are happy customers, they’re far more convincing than any salesperson.

When done well, video testimonials are extremely effective at convincing viewers to purchase a product.

That’s why video testimonials work so well. People trust other people over companies, especially when those people are real people sharing their stories.

Customers also respond better to video than written words now with the digital age of social media and short-form content like TikTok videos.

So when you showcase testimonials on your website, be sure to include at least two short video testimonials showing actual people talking about their experience with your product or service.

And when you do, be sure to include a CTA for your products below the reviews, which makes it easy for viewers to take the next step in their buying journey.

7. Affiliate Programs

If you’re looking to drive sales, consider running an affiliate program yourself! An affiliate program allows you to partner up with hundreds of affiliate marketers who are ready and willing to promote your products to the world. And the best part is that you only pay a small percentage of the sale if the affiliates manage to get you new customers.

An affiliate program gives you access to a huge pool of potential customers who may not be aware of your brand. And because affiliates typically get paid commissions based on performance, they’re motivated to help you succeed. It’s a win for them and for you.

To run an affiliate program successfully, you need to set up a tracking system to keep track of your affiliates’ activities and manage their links. This helps you identify where your most successful affiliates are located and what types of content they are pushing out.

There are many different ways to build an affiliate program. Some companies offer free tools to help you set up an affiliate program, while others require a monthly fee. But whatever route you take, remember to give affiliates incentives to refer clients to you.

One great way to incentivise referrals is to offer a special discount to those who buy through your affiliate links. 

Whatever incentive you decide to use, make sure it’s generous enough to motivate affiliates to work hard for you.

Marketing Tactics FAQs

What is consumer marketing?

Consumer marketing is any type of marketing that targets individuals rather than businesses.

The end goal of any marketing strategy is to get people to buy something, and consumer marketing is made to appeal to each person’s needs and wants.

Consumer marketing includes everything from direct mail campaigns to television commercials. It’s important to note that consumer marketing doesn’t necessarily mean advertising.

Advertising is only part of consumer marketing; it’s also about creating messages that resonate with consumers and getting them to act on those messages.

What makes a good marketing strategy?

A good marketing strategy should include both short-term and long-term objectives.

Short-term goals focus on things that can be done right away, like increasing sales, while long-term goals focus on growth and expansion.

To have a successful marketing strategy, you need to think about providing an omnichannel experience to your customers. There are a lot of ways to do this; you can choose the contact center solution.

Why is SEO such a valuable marketing tactic for small businesses?

SEO is a great tactic for any type of business, but it’s especially valuable for smaller ones.

Having a good SEO strategy has many benefits, such as making your site more visible, increasing conversions, and spreading your brand’s name.

Larger companies may be able to hire people full-time to work on SEO and content, but smaller companies can still use a good SEO strategy and see results with a small marketing budget.

What marketing tactics work the best for launching a SaaS brand?

Content marketing is the foundation of any successful digital marketing campaign, and it works especially well for startups because it’s relatively easy to produce high-quality content without having to worry too much about budgeting.

The goal here is to create content that’s valuable to prospective customers. Once you’ve created these pieces of content, you should distribute them widely across multiple channels like social media and your website through SEO.

Whatever channel you choose, make sure that you’re consistently posting content on it. 

Wrap Up

In conclusion, if you’re looking to increase sales, you should consider using these seven secret marketing tactics. They work like magic, and they’re proven to drive real results.

Just remember: when it comes to selling products online, you have to give before you can receive.


Author Chris Starkhagen

Chris is a synthesizer and an engineer who combines content marketing with tech expertise. He writes carefully and curates the best tools and assets for new technical trends, content creation, and marketing.