Life as an internet marketer has become a bit tough these days with Google nuking almost all the previous online marketing techniques. Article submission - it Sucks, link exchange - You are a Big Spammer, Directory and Social Bookmark submission - Are you Serious??
So, the only way out is investing your all SEO dollars on content marketing that means, hiring the most demanding writer in your niche, pampering him/her with the most outlandish rate for a well written article and then start promoting it via all possible social channels. Probably this is the reason why some marketers are of the opinion that Google is forcing us to be content mill. However, content marketing is not the only path towards salvation. There are still some other ways to promote your business. Wondering what they are? Allow me explain them to you:
Image Source - http://www.flickr.com/photos/perryej/1029988108/
The Good Old - WOM [Word of Mouth]: Yeah, I am a bit biased toward old school ideas. However, I do not like all things old otherwise I would not have a crush on iPhone 5. Ok, what I was saying that every business owner feels great when he/she gets new clients recommended by his existing one. Believe me this is the most blissful moment of one's life. You need to have to do anything. Just focus on delivering great service to your customers and gear all your efforts toward ensuring 100% customers satisfactions and believe me you will never have to invest in social media marketing, content marketing etc.
Think about StarBuck. Do you think they are doing article marketing, creating content 24x7 or investing heavily on social media marketing? Ok they have profiles in social media sites and they are active but again it is the followers who are making them active and not the other way round. They are just focusing on providing great customers experience and bingo. People are loving them and they are mentioning them all over the web. If you dare, just check their back linkm profile. All of them are natural links.
Advertise Like You are doing to die young: I have no such intension to overburden you with a hefty budget in this difficult time. But have you ever given it a thought why some bigwigs of the market are investing so heavily on advertisement? People already know who they are and what kind of service they offer, still they are investing astronomical amount of money on advertisement. The reason is they are reinforcing their position by increasing brand awareness. So, what I am suggesting here is that you need to think beyond content marketing. If the budget forbids, you can always reinforce your brand via video marketing [huge opportunities lie here], banner advertising or opt for things classic like - billboard advertising.
In short, you need to promote proactively on the website. Seize every opportunity that comes in your way and you will be just fine.
Image Source - http://www.flickr.com/photos/32931740@N06/3256031851/
Create Something Viral: You know whenever you say Cheese; I think of Dominos and believe me this comes to me naturally. And what I feel is that Dominos does not invest in usual things like SEO and not even in content marketing. Rather take a very simple and solid approach - "they are delivering happiness". It is kind of thing that makes people say nice thing about the brand. This is kind of service coupled with brilliant catchword that seizes the attention of ordinary people and they will start sharing your website, social profiles all over the web. You would not have to chase the links; links will be coming to you naturally.
Image Source - http://www.flickr.com/photos/49503165485@N01/4347358256/
Create a Great Community: You can either create a small community for your fans in your website or else if you are a bit proactive, you can always participate in some related forums, communities in different social media sites for the sole purpose of interacting with your targeted audience. The greatest benefit of community participation is that your brand presence will get a facelift through it. Later you will find that you just need to intervene and the rest of the things will be managed by your chosen moderator and members. Just wait few days and you will see that people are mentioning your company and leaving the reference in the form of a link back to your website. Your only job will be monitoring and policing them and nothing else.