Sometimes it can feel like you are trying to do too many things at once with your marketing strategies. You have to manage all of these pieces, no matter how well or poorly they are working. This is when marketing becomes less about spending lots of money and time and more about what type of strategy you are using.
It’s important to know which types of marketing strategies work and don’t work so that you can focus your efforts where there is success. At this stage of the game, you will know if someone is just wasting resources or if they are actually advancing their business.
There are five different types of marketing strategies that you should be familiar with. All of these take place in three phases: introduction, action and evaluation. Let’s look closer at each one of them now!
Introduction
This is probably the most important part of any marketing campaign. If you get into the habit of skipping this step, then you may as well not even start thinking about what steps to take next. Your audience must understand who you are and what you offer before you can move onto the next thing.
Your first goal here needs to be establishing a brand identity. This includes defining your target market, telling your audience who you are and what you stand for, and creating an image and personality for yourself.
Marketers are people who promote products or services for others to use. This person’s job is to create awareness, motivation, and action around a product or service so that they can achieve the company’s goals with it.
As we know, companies spend lots of money on advertising every day, which often does not result in increased sales but rather increase brand recognition.
Marketers also develop relationships with other professionals in their field to gain knowledge and influence through sharing and talking about things related to their jobs.
Furthermore, marketers research and devise strategies to improve the product or service being marketed.
So what is marketing strategy? That’s one of those terms that people use very differently depending on who you are, what your goals are, and how you define success.
Mostly, it refers to the overall plan or approach to achieving an objective. For example, if your goal is to increase sales then your marketing strategy would be to promote products using effective strategies and materials.
A few examples of marketing strategies include creating catchy advertisements, developing relationships with influencers, offering rewards for referrals, etc. All of these things contribute to promoting your product or service.
However, not every tactic in marketeering is considered a strategy. Some tactics such as direct advertising or reward promotions are definitely part of the field, but they don’t fit into our definition of strategic marketing.
This article will discuss why this is and what can be done to achieve more successful strategic marketing.
A marketing process is an integral part of how marketers create products that appeal to buyers. They are typically broken down into five steps: discovery, evaluation, decision, implementation, and monitoring or feedback.
With digital media increasingly used as a tool for marketing, the first two stages of any marketing campaign often happen online. For example, YouTube videos and blogs about your product or service can attract new customers.
The third stage is where you make the actual purchase. This usually happens at a store or website for goods or through another channel like phone call or chat.
The final two stages occur when you monitor what works and what does not in terms of sales and retention and then repeat or modify the strategies if necessary.
These five steps are fluid and repeated reapplication of each one depends on the changes in the market and the effect they have. It also varies depending on whether a short term or long term strategy is being employed.
Each step requires different amounts of time and energy dependent on the size of the business and the level it is at during this cycle.
At the very least, these steps should be done with consistency and value every few weeks to keep up morale and focus. More frequently than that may indicate a need to review roles and responsibilities within the organization.
Marketers use different terms to describe what they do, but all of them have one thing in common — creating conditions that lead to sales or conversions.
That’s it! That’s the basic definition of marketing. It’s about using tricks and tools to get people into action for your product or service.
And when you think about it, tricking someone out of their money is an excellent way to create a sale. (Think about how many times you’ve bought something because of advertising!)
With that said, here are some examples of ways that marketers use psychology to promote products.
A well-marketed product or service will have clearly defined strategies to launch, implement, and promote it. It will have a clear goal that is aligned with the mission of the company, and solid plans to get there!
Most companies never take the time to define what they want their business to achieve before launching any campaigns to reach that goal. They might put in some effort into coming up with an impressive name for the business, but they fail to evaluate whether that name fits the intended audience or if it makes sense within the organization.
After the initial launch, they may lack a strategy to keep people aware of the products or services being marketed. There are usually no guidelines about how many advertisements to publish or where to place them. In fact, some brands don’t advertise at all unless they receive significant attention from media or word of mouth.
These factors cost the brand money, so they must be given consideration during the planning process to ensure success.
What is marketing? Marketing is defining your company, product, or service through creative strategies that promote perception and action towards your goal.
It’s creating awareness of what you have to offer and getting people to believe in and trust in your products and services. It’t sifting through all the noise and messages out there to find your ideal customer and then communicating with them using the best tools at your disposal.
That doesn’t mean buying expensive TV commercials every week, it can include things like putting up posters, doing interviews, hosting giveaways, and developing online and offline advertisements.
Businesses spend an average of $600-$1,500 per month on marketing, which seems like a lot, but if done right, it will save you money in the long run. More customers means more revenue! And though spending money to gain profit sounds counter-productive, studies show that companies that market themselves consistently see higher growth than those who don’t.
Marketing isn’t only limited to the ones mentioned above, however. There are many different types of marketing strategies that businesses use to achieve their goals. Some cost less, some cost more, but they all help create a lasting impression on potential clients.
A lot of people start marketing with the intention to gain more customers or sales for their product or service. But this can get expensive, quick!
If you are starting out as a business owner, you will need to consider how much money you have and what your budget is before investing in heavy costs such as advertising, direct mailers and frequent flyer rewards programs.
Most importantly, you should know if your market exists and if it is viable. Are there enough people hungry for your product or service? If not, then why would anyone care about yours?
Marketing isn’t something that happens overnight, it takes time so don’t expect results right away. It takes at least six months to see any significant changes. Sometimes even a year!
But once you do see those changes, you will feel very good about yourself! You invested in your company, you listened to your gut when things didn’t seem to be working, and you're giving it a chance to succeed.