In a crowded media landscape, with more content than ever being produced by AI, how do you cut through the noise and amplify your marketing impact? A great question and a timely one, especially for purpose-driven organisations and small businesses.
The answer is simple. Figure out what matters most to your target audience, what they value, and their pain points, and focus your marketing strategy on solving that problem. But how do you do that? Here are some smart and strategic ways to amplify your marketing impact.
#1. Value-Based Marketing
Value-based marketing is a customer-focused approach. It’s where businesses and organisations focus on how their product or service provides value for its clients, rather than the price or the features. It involves understanding your target audience and aligning your product or service with that need.
For example, if you’re a bookkeeper, you might focus on providing free tips and insights via blogs and social media. This helps establish you as a trustworthy and knowledgeable source and a thought-leader in your industry.
#2. Find the Human Angle
People connect with people. This is true whether you’re an NGO or a business. Sharing real stories and experiences that illustrate your message can help ground your campaign in lived experience.
Do this by using quotes, testimonials, or case studies from clients who have experienced your product or service. Furthermore, make it emotionally compelling. Use real people’s problems, show how their lives have been improved, and why it matters.
This is a key strategy in Customer Experience Design, as a way to get stakeholders’ buy-in. CX Design leaders use a ‘show-don’t-tell’ approach, which involves sharing real-world examples to create an emotional connection with supporters, rather than relying on quantitative data or statistics. This method works the same in marketing. Instead of saying “Nine women every day are affected by breast cancer”, you could say “Woman with breast cancer says she views every moment differently since diagnosis.”
#3. Repurpose Your Content
A cost-effective and time-saving strategy that can amplify your message and help you reach new audiences is repurposing your content across different marketing platforms. For example, you could turn a news story into a blog post, a blog post into an Instagram reel, a YouTube video into an email campaign, or a LinkedIn thought-leadership post into an article. The key is to keep your messaging consistent, but adapt your content format and tone based on the platform.
#4. Use Digital Advertising
Organisations with a modest budget can use Facebook or Google Ads to amplify their marketing and reach specific audiences. Facebook ads are an especially cost-effective way to boost your content’s reach, promote your events, and create leads.
Google Ads allows you to use keywords to reach people who are searching for these specific words in search engines. If you’re an eligible not-for-profit, Google provides $10,000 per month in free ad grants . Furthermore, paid retargeting or remarketing is an effective way to build familiarity with people who have visited your website or watched your videos.
#5. Pitch Local and National Media
Pitching to local and national media is another powerful and free way to amplify your story, but it needs to be timely, relevant, and tailored to the specific publication. You need to know what makes a news story interesting and newsworthy, and build relationships with journalists and editors who cover stories in your sector regularly. Journalists look for:
- Human interest stories: Real people at the centre of the story.
- Timeliness and Current Issues: Stories that are connected to something relevant and happening right now (i.e., A recent government announcement).
- Local Impact: This is especially relevant for regional media publications (i.e. Christchurch School leads the way in student wellbeing with new e-learning tool).
- A compelling hook: Something surprising, emotional, or inspiring, and unfortunately, in National and International news, often negative.
#6. Leverage Niche Outlets
Don’t just focus on mainstream media. Media outlets such as niche blogs, magazines, newsletters, podcasts and even Facebook groups where your audience gets their information from, can often be open to sharing your story.
For example, small businesses might leverage local Facebook groups to connect directly with clients in their area. To promote my marketing business, I might write for the Small Business NZ blog. If you’re an expert in neurodiverse education, you could approach the host of EPIC Families Podcast and share your expertise in an interview.
#7. Leverage Partnerships and Networks
Reach out to organisations and existing champions who align with what you provide and ask them to share it with their communities. For example, if you’re organisation that offers an e-learning course on mental health for teachers, you might like to reach out to the Mental Health Foundation and ask them to include this in their upcoming newsletter or social media. And, don’t forget about the power of good old-fashioned face-to-face networking. This is still a powerful tool for promoting your organissation in New Zealand.
#8. Optimise for Search Engine Optimisation
Use SEO techniques (i.e., blog posts, keywords, website copy, image alt text, call-to-actions) to ensure your website is optimised for search engines. Ensure you’re listed on Google Business Profile and any applicable business or sector-specific directories to take advantage of backlinks to your website. Create high-quality content that is helpful, informative, and engaging. Google prioritises quality content and aims to provide its users with the best possible search result.
#9. Create a Content Series
Along the same lines of repurposing content. Instead of just a single social media post, build a story arc: e.g. “Voices of Recovery”. For PGF Services, this could be real-life stories that are shared each week of people who were affected by problem gambling and their recovery. This helps build momentum and creates audience anticipation, which may lead to increased followers.
#10. Use Video
Video is here to stay, and if you’re not using it, I suggest you incorporate it into your monthly content plan. Unfortunately, thanks to social media algorithms and a shift to ‘pay-to-play’ models, roughly 2 per cent of your social media audience sees your organic content. If they’re not super engaged with your page, they may not be seeing it at all. Video storytelling can allow you to reach more people and get more views and engagement. Think behind the scenes, or how-to videos, thought-leadership content, or client testimonials.
Be Consistent and Patient
Marketing takes time. It requires repetition and persistence. You need to measure, adapt, and refine your approach based on what’s working and what’s not. Start by choosing one tactic from the list above and commit to it this month.
And of course, if you need help amplifying your message? Let’s chat!