11 Marketing Strategies You Must Know

Many companies do not know the difference between marketing and advertising. Marketing is a strategy. It is defining how your customers will perceive your company. Advertising is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service. An effective marketing campaign will shape your customers image of your company in a positive manner.

In order to have a good marketing campaign, you must first define the image you want to portray. Some of the most successful companies have chosen this wisely and it leads to a big leap in their business. But some may fail to choose it as correctly which leads to failure. Before you launch a marketing campaign, answer the following questions about your business and your product or service.

• Have you analyzed your marketing industry?

• Have you prepared a clear plan of marketing checklist?

• Have you decided which features of your product or service will be used for your campaigns?

• Have you described how your product or service will benefit your customers?

• Which type of marketing strategy you prefer?

• What type of media will you use in your marketing campaign?

• Have you prepared a pricing schedule?

• What kinds of discounts do you offer, and to whom do you offer them?

• Have you planned any sales promotions?

• Have you prepared a sales forecast?

• Have you planned any publicity campaign?

• Do you have product liability insurance?

• How will you distribute your product?

Marketing campaigns may differ depending on the unique situation of the individual business. However there are a number of ways of categorizing some generic strategies. A brief description of the most common categorizing schemes are discussed below:

1. Search Engine Marketing:

Search engine marketing, or SEM, is a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs). According to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, SEM methods include: search engine optimization (or SEO), paid placement, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion.

2. Viral Marketing:

Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, or even text messages. The basic form of viral marketing is not infinitely sustainable.

The goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral marketing programs is to identify individuals with high Social Networking Potential (SNP) and create Viral Messages that appeal to this segment of the population and have a high probability of being passed along.

The term “Viral Marketing” is also sometimes used pejoratively to refer to stealth marketing campaigns the use of varied kinds of astroturfing both online and offline to create the impression of spontaneous word of mouth enthusiasm.

 

3. Buzz Marketing:

Buzz Marketing or simply buzz is a term used in word-of-mouth marketing. Buzz is a form of hype among consumers, a vague but positive association, excitement, or anticipation about a product or service. Positive “buzz” is often a goal of viral marketing, public relations, and of advertising on Web 2.0 media.

The term refers both to the execution of the marketing technique, and the resulting goodwill that is created. Examples of products with strong marketing buzz upon introduction were Harry Potter, the Volkswagen New Beetle, Pokemon, Beanie Babies, and the Blair Witch Project.

4. Word of Mouth Marketing:

Word of mouth is a reference to the passing of information from person to person. Originally the term referred specifically to oral communication (literally words from the mouth), but now includes any type of human communication, such as face to face, telephone, email, and text messaging. Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) is a form of promotional campaign which operates through an individual’s personal recommendationsof specific brands, products or services.

A recommendation from someone familiar and trust-worthy is the easiest path to a product sale, link or new subscriber. Think of why? Because recommendations are generally perceived asincentive-free, unlike the obvious motivation of advertisers, who may over-promise in a bid to increase sales.

If you want to sell more products, get more affiliate commissions or just gain more new readers or supporters for your website, word of mouth marketing is one the most powerful ways to dobly and convincingly in locations where target consumers congregate. so. It is better way to spread your brand by having army of supporters constantly talking about or referencing it online or offline, through conversations or links.

5. Guerrilla Marketing:

Guerrilla marketing is an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing tactics are unexpected and unconventional; consumers are targeted in unexpected places, which can make the idea that’s being marketed memorable, generate buzz, and even spread virally. The term was coined and defined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book Guerrilla Marketing.

Guerrilla marketing is needed because it gives small businesses a delightfully unfair advantage: certainty in an uncertain world, economy in a high-priced world, simplicity in a complicated world, marketing awareness in a clueless world.

6. Undercover Marketing:

Undercover marketing is a subset of guerrilla marketing where consumers do not realize they are being marketed to. For example, a marketing company might pay an actor or socially adapt person to use a certain product visibly and convincingly in locations where target consumers congregate. While there, the actor will also talk up their product to people they befriend in that location, even handing out samples if it is economically feasible. The actor will often be able to sell consumers on their product without those consumers even realizing that they are being marketed to.

7. Astroturfing:

Astroturfing is a word in American English describing formal political, advertising, or public relations campaigns seeking to create the impression of being spontaneous “grassroots” behavior, hence the reference to the artificial grass, AstroTurf. It is also popularly termed as Grassroots Marketing.

Astroturfing is when something is meant to look like a grassroots, spontaneous show of support for something (or railing against something) when in reality, it’s being manipulated in some way people may not find totally ethical. Some will find it ethical. You make your own call. But because this effort isn’t really grassroots, it gets the term, “Astroturf,” referring to fake grass.

The goal of such a campaign is to disguise the efforts of a political or commercial entity as an independent public reaction to some political entity – a politician, political group, product, service or event. Astroturfers attempt to orchestrate the actions of apparently diverse and geographically distributed individuals, by both overt (outreach, awareness, etc.) and covert (disinformation) means. Astroturfing may be undertaken by an individual pushing a personal agenda or highly organized professional groups with financial backing from large corporations, non-profits, or activist organizations. Very often the efforts are conducted by political consultants who also specialize in opposition research.

8. Experiential Marketing:

Experiential marketing is the art of creating an experience where the result is an emotional connection to a person, brand, product or idea. The name experiential marketing is relatively new however the fundamentals concepts behind it are not. For decades activity such as field marketing, customer service, special events, product promotions, PR stunts and the like have engaged consumers and the public emotionally. However what has happened recently is the specialization of taking the fundamental concept of creating connection through a designed emotive experience.

Since 2000 most major advertising agencies have been creating internal Experiential divisions or making alliances with Experiential providers. The rise of Experiential marketing can be attributed to 3 main drivers.

1. Perception. Experiential marketing is seen as the ‘new thing’, the smart new way to connect with customers. Agencies need to be seen being able to deliver what the client or market demands

2. Standard media is losing its traditional ability to connect with the public. Companies need new ways to connect with their target market.

3. Creating emotional connection through an experience works.

9. Tissue-pack marketing:

Tissue-pack marketing is a type of guerrilla marketing that is a phenomenon in Japan. Companies use small, portable tissue packages to move advertising copy directly into consumers’ hands. About 4 billion of these packages of tissues are distributed on the streets annually in Japan – largely outside of subway stations. This industry generates sales in the range of ¥75 billion annually.

10. Seasonal Marketing:

Seasonal marketing can be implemented under various seasons for various reasons. It’s not uncommon to have a business that relies heavily on certain seasons for increased sales volume. For most retailers, and other industries such as ecommerce, travel, the December holiday season is a significant time for sales. Depending on the type of business you own this may vary time to time. It is also most popularly termed as Holiday Marketing

You will need to plan your marketing campaign well in advance of your busy season or seasons. A reverse timeline, created by working backwards from what you consider to be the kick-off of your busy season, will help you get printed materials in full gear with plenty of time to spare. Give yourself some flexibility. Your staffing needs may also require careful planning. Therefore, budget accordingly.

If your business has various high points throughout the year, try to piggyback one promotional and marketing campaign onto the next. Timing and preparedness are keys to handling seasonal activities. Often off-season planning is as time-consuming as the actual selling is during the busy season. As soon as one season concludes, some of your staff should be working on the next season. Be careful, however, not to be too hasty in launching seasonal campaigns. Trying to sell people on Christmas decorations in late August will be lost on most people who are still in a summer state of mind.

 

11. Email Marketing:

E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a means of communicating commercial or fundraising messages to an audience. In its broadest sense, every e-mail sent to a potential or current customer could be considered e-mail marketing. However, the term is usually used to refer to:

• Sending e-mails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current or previous customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business.

• Sending e-mails with the purpose of acquiring new customers or convincing current customers to purchase something immediately.

• Adding advertisements to e-mails sent by other companies to their customers.

• Sending e-mails over the Internet, as e-mail did and does exist outside the Internet (E.g: Network e-mail)

Disclaimer: The post is completely based on individual thoughts and SEO Services Group bears no responsibilities for the thoughts reflected in the post.