Many businesses use different types of marketing strategies in their operations. The goal is always to better connect with their consumers. Customers also become cognizant about the different qualities of the products on offer.
In essence, marketing strategies are geared towards convincing a target population to get their hands-on what enterprises offer.
As bland as that may sound on paper, it’s quite an interesting regimen in real life. Companies are allowed to flex their muscle and play around with different types of marketing strategies.
To gain traction over the competition, you can always stick to a script.
Alternatively, you can opt to explore new options and unlock new markets.
Things to Consider
Before you deploy a specific batch of marketing strategies, you first need to evaluate them according to suitability. Since every business has some unique things going for them, you want to be specific in what goals you’d like to achieve.
Here are a couple of pointers we believe will get you on the right path in little to no time.
1. The Target Population
With a clearly defined target population, you’ll be able to clearly define the terms of your marketing strategy. An elaborately mapped out demographic will give you’re an edge when it comes to choosing the best marketing plan for your enterprise.
2. Test the Audience
It always helps to put yourself in the shoes of the customer. This hypothetical school of thought will help you gauge the customer experience from the buying stage to final sale. Having that information puts at an advantage when picking marketing strategies.
3. Evaluate Different Marketing Strategies
Knowledge about demographics will give you insights on your customers. You’ll be able to tell how your audience versed in how your target audience thinks and their behaviors. This data will also be crucial in determining their knowledge about your products.
As the adage goes, information is power. Having such details will elevate your frame of mind in terms of how you check out the different types of marketing strategies. With the perfect combination, you can proceed to assessment and application. Later on, you can move on to the evaluation phase.
The evaluation process is quite integral since it helps you realize the most rewarding strategy in the market.
The Different Types of Marketing Strategies
1. Word of Mouth Marketing
What is Word of Mouth Marketing?
Word of mouth marketing essentially involves oral communication. Since this marketing strategy takes on a freestyle approach, it’s quite easy to register organic numbers with customers.
Even with the emergence of new modes of communication with each passing day, it’s safe to say nothing beats the old school way.
Data shows that about 90% of people will buy from a brand simply because a close friend spoke positively about a product they bought.
Before the advent of technology, this was the number one-way entrepreneurs were able to reach out to the masses. It would be remiss if we didn’t point out that many establishments still favor this marketing strategy. This is because word of mouth has a rich history and has been proven to be effective.
For word of mouth marketing to work, you don’t really need to be a world-class orator. To start a campaign, you’ll need to create some buzz about a product and/or service you are offering. Then, you can just sit back and watch as the action plays out.
Usually, consumers enjoy hearing and sharing reviews about different brand products. This means that the buzz you create will only act as the trigger for conversations to start. For a positive word of mouth recommendation, the onus is on you ensure that the product and/or service exceptionally stands out.
2. Viral Marketing
What is Viral Marketing?
This is a marketing strategy where customers are encouraged to share their views about a product or service through the internet.
In contemporary times, brand marketers are always renovating their approach to doing business. Whenever new products hit the market, customers are allowed some leg room to review products. They are then encouraged to share correspondence about their dream purchases.
The best brand marketers usually note the common suggestions then unravel products with those said traits. Since the new products pull at the heartstrings of customers, many will find it impossible not to share with others across the web.
If you’re lucky enough to have your product go viral, you’re bound to realize an astronomical new following of fans.
3. Mass Marketing
What is Mass Marketing?
Companies use mass marketing techniques to appeal to entire markets with a singular tactic by making use of mass media.
The biggest corporations in the world today are heavily dependent on mass marketing campaigns. By doing so, they are able to sustain themselves going forward since they are able to pull in crowds by the numbers.
While the concept largely revolves appealing to as many people as people at a go, there are some gems that can be found from the whole exercise. Importantly, the corporations get to gain insights into what drives their customers to check out their products.
One of the companies that has successfully been able to do this on the world stage is Walmart. The mass market retailer has carved a niche out for itself as a brand that delivers a sense of personalization.
4. Transactional Marketing
What is Transactional Marketing?
This marketing strategy usually puts more emphasis on one point of sale transaction. This technique focuses on getting high sales numbers. This means that the buyer-seller relationship is not the main focus.
As a salesperson, there’s a good chance you’ll agree with the assertion that making a sale is usually the hardest part of the job. Even the biggest of retail shops face difficulties appealing to the masses thanks to a large number of targets they’ve set.
Thankfully, technology has vastly made things simpler in the sales world. With transactional marketing, retailers are able to better relate with customers. Incentives like shopping coupons and discounted prices are the key motivators for this.
By employing the same tactics, you can greatly improve the odds of making a sale. You’ll also be encouraging your target audience to check out a couple of your promoted products.
5. Ambush Marketing
What is Ambush Marketing?
Ambush marketing is a relatively new concept in the marketing world. The idea behind ambush marketing is to raise brand awareness covertly. What does this mean? Well, let’s just say that brands employing ambush marketing tactics benefit from all the positive publicity without paying for sponsorship rights.
Since companies deploying ambush marketing do not sponsor the events, they stand to benefit a great deal if they do it right. In most scenarios, ambush marketing is used by companies looking to appeal to millennials.
By hijacking another advertiser’s campaign, marketers can raise awareness about their own brands. Many ambush marketing campaigns are usually done tongue in cheek with just the right dose of creativity.
The Apple-Samsung feud has been one for the books. During the 2011 launch of Apple’s flagship iPhone 4S model, Samsung decided to hang onto the coat-tails of Apple’s party by putting up a Samsung store right adjacent from an Apple store in Sydney, Australia.
The move proved quite newsworthy since it diverted quite a number of Apple aficionados from the long queues. Samsung’s offer of a brand-new Galaxy SII phone for a mere $2 AUS was a big hit for fans. Especially when you take into account Apple’s iPhone 4S retailed at $850 right next door.
Despite the financial hit that Samsung obviously suffered, they were able to steal some of the limelight from Apple. As momentary as that moment of glory lasted, they converted a sensible amount of leads into prospects. From a business perspective, it was a win.
If you’re looking to make forays into ambush marketing, you need to look around to what your competition offers. Then, device a smart plan to beat them at their own game without creating too much friction.
6. Reverse Marketing
What is Reverse Marketing?
In this setup, it is the customers who seek out brands. This is quite different from the conventional setup. Usually, it’s the companies that seek out selling opportunities.
For this to work, you have to use traditional advertising forms like print ads, television adverts, and online channels. Reverse marketing is very different from traditional marketing. Here, the customer is the one who makes the first move by approaching brands that fascinate them.
Most notably, the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty won accolades in 2004 thanks to the manner they appealed to the masses. They were able to register more than $1 billion in sales simply because their message centered on the natural beauty of women.
The campaign was quite controversial since some people didn’t get to comprehend how the message worked. All the same, they realized a substantial increase in people flocking their shops and making orders.
7. Database Marketing
What is Database Marketing?
This direct marketing approach makes good use of existing and potential customers’ database. The data is then used in compiling targeted lists for improved communication.
Many people find it hard drawing the line between direct marketing and database marketing. The distinction exists in the fact that database marketing focuses on statistical techniques to come up with models revealing customer behavior. This information is then used in choosing the ideal customers to lias with.
Because of this, if you’re going to invest into becoming a database marketer, you’ll have to be heavily engaged with data warehouses. This is because having a vast amount of data at your disposal will boost your likelihood of creating comprehensive models.
Marketing databases are segmented into two types: business databases and consumer databases. Business marketing databases usually offer more insights than consumer databases because they’re not held back by privacy laws.
On the other hand, consumer databases are usually used by companies that reach out to consumers (business to consumer or B2C).
8. Entrepreneurial Marketing
What is Entrepreneurial Marketing?
Entrepreneurial marketing is all about the mindset business owners have when implementing their business ideas.
Since starting a business from the ground up and running it to fruition can be a tricky affair, it’s advisable that you cover as much ground as possible from your marketing exploit.
The spirit of entrepreneurial marketing is important because many entrepreneurs don’t have many staff members to help them realize their dreams. Especially when they’re starting out.
If you happen to be in such a scenario, then you can make do with what you have by simply being innovative in your approach. Of course, having a large marketing team and large sums of money can be quite helpful, but, it’s not the only way to run a business.
Today, Google is highly regarded as a mammoth tech company. However, this wasn’t always the case. The company’s present-day success may blind you from the fact that it started out in a garage.
The two main innovators responsible for its success, Sergey Brin and Larry Page employed entrepreneurial marketing to sell their idea to the world. The company is now considered a game changer thanks to its unique search algorithms and a wide array of other features.
As a marketer, you can take cues from their approach and seek to establish yourself as a household name in your field.
9. Cross Media Marketing
What is Cross Media Marketing?
This marketing strategy involves displaying your brand’s message to consumers in an assortment of different mediums. Ideally, this means making use of channels like the web, mobile, print media and email.
The only challenge when you’re deploying cross-media marketing is the fact that many people have become overwhelmed by the numerous ads running every now and again. As a result, it’s hard for your message to get across to people.
With cross-media marketing, the aim is to get a hold of your customers’ attention before letting them know what your brand represents. If your message resonates with them, they’ll be willing to share their reservations and dreams. Because of the close bond formed at this point, customers will have little inhibitions on clicking from one page to the next as you broadcast your message.
10. Tradeshow Marketing
What is Tradeshow Marketing?
Tradeshow marketing involves the showcasing of products and services by brands during exhibitions.
Since many clients want to have a feel of a product before committing to a sale, it is important that you provide avenues for this to happen. In the automobile industry, it is quite hard to find clients without allowing test-drives to customers.
Because of this, many automobile companies make good use of tradeshow marketing to boost their brand profiles. With tradeshows being big events, it’s easy for both journalists and consumers to sample the different offerings. They can further document the items that fascinate them the most.
11. Augmented Marketing
What is Augmented Marketing?
While there are different marketing strategies available to entrepreneurs, this is probably the most used. Augmented marketing aims to add value to a business proposition by introducing enticing offers.
By using augmented marketing, you further enhance the odds of completing a sale.
It’s not unusual to pizza companies offering incentives like “Buy One, Get One Free”. Many people usually flock to pizza eateries on those specific days since they believe they’ll be getting more value for their money.
Conclusion
Understandably, you may find it hard to pick one from the different types of marketing strategies listed. However, as we’ve alluded earlier, you can have fun playing with different combinations. If you’re lucky to land on a couple of favorable ones, then, you can proceed to deployment.
A good marketing strategy will make it easy for you to promote your brand’s products and services. In addition, you’ll be able to further advance your business due to the fact that you’ll be focusing your efforts on your target audience.
