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What is marketing, anyway? That’s a good question! Technically speaking, it’s the process of creating awareness for a product or service by interacting with potential customers through various channels (social media, TV commercials, online ads, etc.). But most people think of “marketing” as something far more elaborate — sometimes even implying that you have to be hired professional help in order to do it properly.
That perception can get in the way of marketers actually doing their jobs because they might feel like they don’t have access to those resources. Or worse, they may fear what kind of services other professionals will ask them to use, whether that’s due to a lack of trust or poor experiences with others.
In this article, we'll talk about why thinking of marketing as a form of strategy is an important shift, one that can reduce tension and create open communication and understanding in your work relationships. Then we'll look at some strategies you can apply when working on marketing projects.
Defining marketing is not an easy task as there are so many ways to describe it. Many people use different definitions for what constitutes marketing, which makes it difficult to have one clear-cut definition.
Most experts agree that marketing is the process of getting others to interact with your products or services. This can be done through direct interactions like talking to someone at a store about new gadgets or doing a commercial for a product, indirect interactions like listening to advertisements or hearing praise for a product you already own, or creating online content to draw in attention.
These actions all contribute to enhancing the perception of your product or service by potential customers. A well marketed product will make other individuals feel confident about it and want to purchase it!
Strategic marketing uses the tools of persuasion to influence buying decisions. It can be thought of as using psychology and sociology to promote understanding and acceptance of a product or company. Strategic marketers know how to appeal to emotions to get people into action.
A marketing tactic or element is considered strategic when it cuts across departments, functions, levels, and/or divisions within your organization. For example, when you market yourself as an expert in business strategies, that is a strategic statement because it touches upon what marketers do (market) and how organizations function (strategy).
Your personal brand is one such element that meets this definition. By investing time into developing and promoting your unique identity, you are creating a powerful strategic marketing tool that can be used by others to promote you, your products, and services!
If you want to see more success with your career and income, you must develop and promote your personal brand. The easiest way to start? Take some time to think about who you want to meet and what they would like to learn from you.
How to use social media for marketing – aside from posting content and engaging in conversations, is creating relationships with your audience or consumers of your product or service.
This can be done through creating profiles on all major social networks (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube), responding to comments and messages, promoting and supporting other people’s accounts, sharing things you would want to see yourself, offering giveaways and rewards, etc.
All of these actions create an atmosphere of trust between you and the public, which helps promote engagement and loyalty. In turn, you get more exposure for your business and greater opportunities to make sales!
That’s what good marketers do — they provide value to others by bringing in new clients, building up their reputation, and fostering longer lasting relationships. And when it comes to digital marketing, keeping up online relations is just as important if not even more so than traditional methods.
A strong marketing strategy is always focused on something related to what you want to achieve. It’s about understanding yourself, your product or service, and then defining an audience that will connect with you and believe in you.
The way to do this is by creating content that appeals to people at their own level – whether it be motivational speeches, educational guides, or stories they can relate to.
Your message should be clear, concise, and interesting. But beyond that, it must match who your audience is!
What are their needs and wants? What questions do they have? What does he/she struggle with?
By investing time into researching your products and services, and figuring out who your potential customers are, you’ll know how to cater your messages appropriately. You’ll also figure out if there are ways to improve your offering!
Strategic marketing doesn’t just happen naturally, so don’t expect lightning to strike twice. Take the time to work on your marketing plan, and invest where needed.
A few years ago, there was a lot of debate about whether marketing yourself or other people was more effective. Some would say that helping others is a good way to gain attention, while other’s believe it is better to focus on using marketing strategies to influence buying decisions for your products and services.
The truth is that both are equally powerful ways to create success for your business.
A strong brand is built over time, but you can start building that momentum today! While there are many ways to market your business, none of them should be viewed as separate strategies with limited use.
Instead, every aspect of marketing should be considered part of one larger strategy or goal. The term “strategy” refers to longer-term goals, while “marketing tactic” looks more like grabbing a quick cup of coffee before going into another activity.
With this understanding, all parts of marketing can be categorized as either being part of the overall strategic marketing approach or serving as a tactical way to achieve those goals.
Some examples of components in strategic marketing include creating a vision/message for your company, developing your unique selling proposition (USP), establishing credibility through research and validation, investing in advertising, promoting on social media, etc.
All of these things have been integrated into one, making it possible to refer to them individually yet also understand how they work together towards your long-term marketing goals.
Even if you are already doing some of these things, you can always add to your toolbox. Starting from the basics is the best way to develop your market knowledge and savvy. You do not need to have a degree in business or advertising to know what types of strategies work, but knowing the fundamentals is helpful as you develop your marketing skills.
There are many ways to describe what it means to be a successful marketer, but one thing that all great marketers have in common is an understanding of the why behind their tactics. For example, instead of just throwing a party because you wanted publicity, you should find out why giving a party is a good idea.
By asking yourself questions about how people will benefit from your event, and looking up answers, you’ll understand why hosting a party is a smart move. Similarly, when deciding whether or not to advertise using a certain tactic, like sponsoring a sports team, ask yourself why this makes sense and think about the benefits in terms of yours.
Another important part of being a marketer is keeping an eye on the trends happening around you and adapting your strategy according to what works now. Finding out what changes occur and how they affect businesses helps you choose the right course of action.
A few years ago, people would call themselves marketers, or at least they would consider it important. But now that marketing has been rebranded as “strategy”, you won’t find too many professionals using the term marketer.
Why? Because today’s marketers don’t just advertise products –- they develop strategies to achieve meaningful results in their target markets.
Their targets may be to increase sales, grow customer base, strengthen relationships with customers, and so on.
And remember, being strategic doesn’t mean doing things like putting up posters and leaving your house when you wake up. Strategic thinking is more about process than activity. It’s what happens between action steps that makes the difference.
So why not embrace the new name for marketers? After all, if we can’t have fun while we're working, what's the use of having us work at all?!
In this article, we'll take a look at some ways you can apply the concept of marketing as strategy in your own life. We'll also discuss how you can begin developing your personal strategy so you can enjoy spending time doing what you do best — making happy, healthy connections with other people.
