The Many Facets of Marketing
Operating a healthy business requires lots of different components like hiring good people, providing quality products and services, and building customer loyalty. One of the most important parts of a successful business is a strong marketing program. After all, nobody wants to be the best-kept secret in the industry.
photo/ Gerd Altmann
And to take it a step further, no marketing program can be truly strong without being truly diversified. There are so many directions you can go in marketing and advertising that there is no reason to confine your company to a simple marketing approach.
Creating the right mix of marketing strategies is a real challenge, and it’s almost an art. But there is still a significant component of science to it, too, so let’s break it down in that framework.
Point of Sale Strategies
Before we were all hung up on likes and shares, we chose products the old-fashioned way. And despite the emphasis given to digital marketing, it’s not the perfect solution. When you go to the store to purchase things for your home, you don’t spend two hours surfing social media to choose which brand of lotion is best for your feet or what type of razor you want to use.
Instead, your attention is drawn to cardboard displays and other in-store tools that help a certain product stand out. Everyday items like this are sold alongside their competitors, including super-cheap store brands. The hurried consumer is likely to grab whatever is cheapest or most visible, and in-store setups can do a lot to reprogram that process to steer them toward your product.
Digital Marketing
The newest player in the field, digital marketing has unique advantages. A strong and consistent social media presence is a powerful tool for any business, whether you’re marketing directly to consumers or to other businesses. Just a few viral posts can really launch your business into the stratosphere, but it must be managed right from the beginning.
Digital marketing is usually most effective for innovative and big-ticket products. Think of a car as opposed to our earlier example of lotion. If you’re shopping for a vehicle, you want to think about its image. Who likes this model enough to drive it? You also want to know what people think of it because after all, it’s a long-term investment. Is it reliable? Does it drive well?
Tech products fit the mold as well. We know how much memory this phone has and how sharp the camera is. But do other users like it? Social media make it easy to get this type of information quickly and reliably.
Mass Presence
Mixed somewhere in between major purchases and daily purchases are those unexpected goods. We all know we need shoes, eggs, and the occasional chainsaw, and we research those products appropriately.
But some goods and services are needed suddenly, unexpectedly, and sometimes desperately. It’s in those situations when we typically go to the first name we think of and getting your company programmed into consumers’ brains as that first name is a great way to be successful.
Consider legal services. You may not have ever hired a lawyer. You may not even know any lawyers personally. But their TV ads, billboards, and even T-ball team sponsorships have kept their names in front of you, and when that reckless driver causes an accident that injures you or your family, you’re going straight to that attorney.
Marketing is an essential part of your business. Great marketing can make a mediocre product successful, and poor marketing can bury the best products. Building a marketing strategy that’s comprehensive, current, consistent, and persistent can be just the plan to launch you to the next level.
Author: Jimmy Simond
