A marketing strategy is something that includes all of the activities, functions or pieces that are used to promote or market a product or service. It can be categorized as either internal or external marketing strategies. Internal strategies focus on enhancing your company’s image, promoting teamwork, etc., while external strategies aim to influence potential customers to buy your products or services.
Most companies have a general marketing plan with different components of these types of strategies. Unfortunately, not every employee is assigned specific roles in the marketing team so some people may be performing more important tasks than others. This can lead to under-performing employees and poor overall performance of the organization’s marketing efforts.
External marketing strategies include things like advertising, sponsored posts, influencer marketing, social media marketing, website marketing and promotional giveaways. Companies often combine several of these strategies together to achieve their goals. For example, an advertisement might be paired up with a coupon offer for the same product through online advertisements, social media, radio and television commercials, among other ways.
Businesses also use influencers to advertise their products by paying them to mention the product or link to it via their channel of communication. This way, the business gets free exposure while the influencer receives compensation for sharing the information about the product.
Marketing is very interactive – there are constantly changing trends, new techniques being experimented with and tools coming and going.
Difference between marketing and advertising
As mentioned before, marketing is all about finding new ways to get people to buy your product or service. Advertising is one of the most important parts of marketer’s toolbox as it is a cost-effective way to do this.
Advertising is typically done through the media, either traditional (like TV) or non-traditional (like social media). A well marketed product will have influencers that promote it so it can spread its message more effectively.
Market research and analytics are also integral parts of the advertising process to determine how effective different advertisements are and what messages produce the highest sales.
A good advertiser will use both direct and indirect methods to achieve their goal which is to make sure they are creating a positive perception of the product for potential buyers.
That means telling people who know about the product about it, giving them discounts, hosting events, and promoting the product via blogs, Facebook, and other online mediums.
As we said before, marketers spend money in order to make money, and with technology making it easier than ever to run successful ads, they are very productive.
Businesses rely heavily on advertisers now so there is a steady flow of revenue coming in which helps them finance additional spending.
Examples of marketing strategy
As mentioned before, marketing is all about getting people to trust you and invest in your products or services. This can be done through different strategies that include telling, showing, asking, creating expectations, and incentivizing purchases.
Some of the most common types of marketing strategies are telling someone what to do (marketing messages), show them things they should purchase (advertising), asking if they need help with something (direct sales), creating an expectation about something (promotions), and offering reward points for buying a product (rewards programs).
These types of strategies can be used separately or together to promote a product. It’s important to know which one works best for your business at this moment depending on what you are trying to achieve.
Examples of product strategy
Products are what people want them to be. The best way to determine if your marketing is working as planned or not is by looking at the products in the market that have successful brands attached to them.
I’m talking about their brand, not necessarily what the product does but rather how it’s marketed. For example, I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing Nike shoes so there’s no way I would buy one even if they did something amazing like make you fly.
A lot of times, entrepreneurs get tunnel vision where all they think about is their product (what it does) and little else. They forget about branding and marketing!
That’s a big mistake because creating a strong brand takes time and effort. It’s easy to create a product, stick it out front for everyone to see, and expect people to flock to it and purchase it, but without the investment in branding, that doesn’t happen. You will continue to earn poor results.
You must invest in both otherwise you run the risk of wasting your hard-earned money and time. Plus, investing in marketing and branding creates an ongoing return on investment that can easily offset the costs of buying a product.
Taking control of your marketing strategy
As mentioned before, creating a successful business means developing effective marketing strategies to draw in new customers and keep current ones. Yours come down to two main areas: marketing strategy and product strategy.
The term “marketing” refers to all of the activities that promote your products or services – including setting up shop, finding new clients, keeping existing ones, and promoting yourself online and off. It also includes things like advertising, media relations, and influencer outreach and management.
Product (or service) strategists focus only on the items you offer other people to use for your company. These are called products (or services). They include deciding what products your company will have, offering different versions of a product, and picking which brands make sense for your market and budget.
Both types of marketers need to be highly aware of trends in their field, but one is more about changing the product itself while the other changes how they markets the product.
Review your website
A few weeks ago, we discussed what makes up a marketing strategy. These are all of the actions or components that make up the overall plan to achieve your business’s goals. You can also call these strategies KPI (key performance indicators) or initiatives.
Now it is time to take another look at your website and determine if its function serves an integral part in your marketing strategy. If not, maybe it is time to reevaluate how you use the site or whether you need to have it done anew.
Your website should clearly state who your target audience is, what products and services you offer, and how people can access those services. It should promote your brand, showcase your expertise, and direct potential clients to contact you or learn more about you.
But beyond this, it should connect with your market and tell a story – something about you and your company that will intrigue them. When doing so, be sure to include your mission, values, and position as well as descriptions of your products and services.
Create a marketing plan
A marketing strategy is something that includes all of the activities, strategies, and pieces of your business that are not in the product or service domain. These include things like creating social media profiles, finding and writing about relevant news topics to share on your various pages and blogs, investing in advertising online and offline, etc.
All of these activities combine into one long-term effort to promote and increase awareness of your products and services. They’re also referred to as “offline marketing.” Because they don’t involve buying or selling anything, they’re less likely to be seen as expensive or ineffective.
However, even though they aren’t necessarily for profit companies, they can still have large cost structures. This means it takes time and money to make them work. That’s why most people stick to more profitable projects when they’re trying to see how well you can do with no budget!
A good way to think about this is: what level of investment will give you the results you want? More modest ones usually lead to incremental growth, while bigger ones may result in explosive success, but require much longer to achieve the same effect.
Set your marketing goals
A lot of entrepreneurs get stuck because they try to include everything into their “marketing” or “branding” strategy. This is totally fine, but you have to be careful not to overshoot your goal!
Too many people will pursue any means necessary to market their product – creating reviews, launching advertisements, producing videos and so on. They spread themselves too thin and end up having no focus anymore.
You need to know what markets are already well-established and how to position yourself in those spaces. You can then develop your own unique angle that sets you apart from the competition.
This article will talk about why it is important to have a marketing strategy as well as what kind of strategies you should use to promote your company.
Develop your marketing strategy
As mentioned before, having a solid business model is crucial to success. But how you position yourself as an entrepreneur depends heavily on what kind of business you want to run.
If you want to be successful at making money through products, then developing your product strategy is important. You will need to determine which areas of the market are not being filled by current competitors, and if there’s enough demand for your product to keep up with sales.
However, while this is a great way to ensure that your company stays afloat, it can sometimes prevent it from reaching new heights.
As we discussed earlier in this article, companies that thrive do so because they have a larger goal than just making money. They aim to make an impact on the world, create legacy businesses, etc. — all things that depend on them staying in business for very long.
Running a startup means that you will go through times when your business does not turn a profit, or even loses money.
