Marketing strategies are numerous and fundamental to the success of a business. Before starting your business, the most important thing is to make sure you already have a customer base. So you think about the characteristics of the potential buyer of your products / services (the buyer personas) and once you have defined it you find yourself at your disposal a multitude of marketing techniques and tactics.
Some marketing strategies fall within the so-called traditional marketing or outbound marketing or interruption marketing because they interrupt the daily routine of users with advertising messages.
Others in the one defined in 1999 by Seth Godin as permission marketing or inbound marketing, in which the consumer gives his consent to communicate with brands. In general, inbound channel costs are scalable and significantly lower than outbound ones.
Unconventional forms of marketing such as guerilla marketing, for example, use low-cost tools to maximize results. Before going into the details of some of the main digital and traditional marketing strategies , let’s take a good look at the definition of the term.
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Marketing Strategies: Definition and Meaning
Marketing strategies are the set of actions that a company takes to achieve its business objectives. The application of the various marketing strategies takes into account multiple factors, such as country, competitors, products or services and type of company.
Its importance is fundamental for the health of the company. In fact, it is impossible to think that a company can grow and even survive without an adequate marketing strategy.Without an optimal strategic planning of actions there is a risk of taking a leap in the dark.
Planning before proceeding is the basis of marketing strategies . It means to consciously and effectively concentrate forces, resources, personnel and budget. It represents an in-depth study of a company’s strengths and weaknesses, and the identification of strategies to overcome obstacles.
Differences between strategic marketing and operational marketing
There is often confusion when it comes to strategic and operational marketing, and it’s easy to be led to think they are synonymous.
Operational marketing is about concrete work in the field in which it applies.
Marketing strategy or strategic marketing is the study done before proceeding.
They are concepts connected to each other but refer to two very distinct processes. Operational marketing is the study of a business plan while operational marketing puts into practice the decisions that derive from the previous study. The ensemble of strategic and operational marketing constitutes the process we know as the marketing plan.
Traditional marketing strategies or digital marketing?
Traditional marketing strategies are the offline techniques that were used and are still used to reach potential customers. Traditional marketing does not offer reliable data on ideal customers or buyer personas. The procedure is to dedicate a part of the budget to advertising and rely on a creative agency hoping that the marketing campaigns created will be successful. Here are some examples of traditional marketing strategies:
- Advertising signs and placards;
- Flyers and brochures;
- Face-to-face interactions;
- Advertising in newspapers and magazines;
- Telemarketing;
- Event marketing;
- Sales staff;
With the development of new technologies, digital marketing has taken over. Digital marketing activities make it possible to carry out an advertising campaign with a limited budget and to monitor its effects progressively and in real time in order to dynamically improve the marketing strategy implemented and maximize ROI.
Digital marketing is divided into two major sectors: the B2B sector or business to business and the B2C business to consumer sector ”.
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B2B digital marketing strategies
Growth hacking
Growth hacking is mainly dedicated to small companies and above all to start-ups that have to grow exponentially otherwise they risk disappearing. The ultimate goal is the growth made possible by developing a successful marketing business on a limited budget.
The marketing strategy made by growth hackers consists in selecting the metrics to use, selecting and testing the sales channels through A / B tests, analyzing the data collected in order to promote consistent growth in a short time.
We can therefore define this marketing strategy as an intertwining of data analysis, creativity and digital marketing that has only one goal, growth.
Earn media and digital pr
Earn media and digital pr are two important channels in the B2B sector.
Earn media or free media means that your brand or service naturally gains media attention. When a blogger really likes your product or service and decides to talk about it without having to pay, or your followers on social media continue to follow you and share your posts. Positive reviews on search engines are also an example.
Digital PR deals with online public relations trying to keep your brand’s web reputation high. A digital PR identifies the influencers in the sector, establishes relationships with them in order to benefit the reputation of the company he works for. Another aspect of his job is to observe, respond and stimulate the social network audience to interact with their company.
Search engine marketing
Search engine marketing is that set of paid promotion activities for a website on search engines. The procedure allows you to acquire traffic from search engines through paid advertisements.
Although there are many search engines worldwide, think of google, yahoo, bing, yandex for the Russian market and baidoo for the Chinese one, in Western countries such as Europe, United States, Canada etc … the main search engine is Google .
To do paid promotion on Google, google adwords is used as a tool. The same adwords is also used for display network advertising on youtube.
Search engine marketing is among the most used marketing strategies by companies.
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Social media marketing
Social media marketing exploits the potential of social networks. In the age of social media, you can’t not use a social media marketing strategy to grow a business. The presence on social networks is no longer an optional.
The benefits of a social marketing strategy are many and vary from increasing traffic and improving the positioning of your site, to improving the level of brand authority and customer satisfaction. Social media puts people and the brand in direct contact without intermediaries and this favors the building of strong relationships with existing or possible customers, resulting in immediate feedback, sharing, interactions and purchases.
Find out more about Social Media Marketing by downloading the Free Glossary!
Content marketing
Content marketing favors the creation of valuable content. Content marketing is a fundamental part of corporate marketing strategies. The objectives of a content marketing strategy are lead generation, media PR and community generation and management.
Content marketing is very effective in increasing brand awareness and maintaining a company’s reputation.
Inbound marketing
Inbound marketing is a pull type marketing strategy with the aim of attracting the potential customer to you. The intention is to be found by customers rather than following them. The phases of inbound marketing or funnel marketing are:
- To attract
- Convert
- To close
- Delight the customer
Inbound marketing is the best way to attract customers by offering quality content that meets their needs and answers their questions.
One of the aspects of inbound marketing is the creation of a marketing funnel or a path through which the user must go to become a customer. The funnel is the funnel that allows this “journey” of the future customer.
Before building a funnel we need to understand what our prospects are, their needs, their difficulties. Only by creating a well-analyzed path can we focus on the right actions to attract the user to become a customer who converts.
For more information, see the B2B Marketing Web page.
Digital marketing strategies in the B2C sector
Direct selling
Direct selling is one of the most used marketing strategies. Direct sales or direct selling do not involve intermediaries involved in the distribution of the products. The most telling example of direct selling is that of e-commerce which, by exploiting the internet and new technologies such as smartphones, are able to reach and be enjoyed by potential customers wherever they are.
Paid media advertising
Paid media advertising is advertising space that can be purchased. This includes sector advertising, various networks and paid advertising on search engines and social networks.
In addition to increasing sales, paid media promote the growth of brand awareness and rapid visibility.
Word of mouth advertising
Also called word of mouth is to involve users to such an extent that they are the ones who advertise to you spontaneously. Each person has his own social network made up of friends and relatives; every user who is able to connect and make active will also involve his or her network of contacts which will continue in this action of expansion like wildfire. Companies try to engage their customers through blogs, social pages and forums.
Email marketing
Email marketing is among the most powerful and widely used marketing strategies. Statistical data confirm that it is the web marketing tool with the highest Roi (rules of engagement). Through this powerful medium it is possible to engage and solicit your actual and potential customers also by segmenting their messages.
The two main phases of e-mail marketing are: “Attribution and Retention”.
The Attribution phase consists of acquiring leads or new customers. This process takes place either by using customer lists created over time or by purchasing new lists from external agencies.
The Retention phase, on the other hand, consists of building customer loyalty by trying to engage him as much as possible, reading new articles or purchasing products and services. A fundamental aspect of this phase is the preparation of an editorial plan and the segmentation of the list of users in order to offer a more personalized service.
Among the techniques to be used in this phase we identify Cross selling, i.e. the offer of a complementary product to the one already purchased, and Up selling, the offer of a better quality product than the one already purchased. .
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Mobile marketing
Among the marketing strategies, a fundamental role is played by mobile marketing.
Mobile is now the medium most used by users. Not valuing this strategy means giving up a considerable amount of likely customers.
Mobile marketing is that set of activities aimed at interacting and communicating with users through mobile devices. More and more companies are focusing on this strategy. The first step is to have a responsive site or dedicated apps. The apps allow you to send push notifications and engage the user by pushing him to make purchases.
The development of bots and mobile purchasing systems is another technique of mobile marketing strategies .
Storytelling
Storytelling is a storytelling technique of a product or service capable of generating emotions. The main goal is to excite and emotionally engage customers. The structure of the narrative is similar to that of fairy tales, it creates a character and a story around it that ends with a happy ending. Storytelling is one of the best performing marketing strategies.
Affiliate marketing
Another important marketing strategy is the affiliate marketing program, which is highly regarded by experts and businesses alike. Affiliate marketing is a type of marketing based on the performance of one or more affiliates (blogger, editorial portal, magazine, etc.) to a brand. The advertiser pays only for the results generated by the affiliate program based on the objectives set by himself. There are four main players in affiliate marketing:
- the merchant or advertiser (advertiserI;
- the publisher or affiliate;
- the affiliation platform (network);
- Customers;
Merchants (brands / sellers) are the people who provide products and services and brand to refer to.
Affiliates (collaborators / publishers) take responsibility for sending products to their customers / users.
The affiliate platform is the entity that provides the know-how and technology to manage payments, exchange advertising material and resolve disputes between the various publishers.
In affiliate marketing, the affiliates receive a remuneration based on the results obtained.The remuneration model of Affiliate Marketing is therefore mainly that of:
- CPA or cost per action – goes on a per cart basis and is a percentage
- CPL or cost per lead – is represented by a fixed cost
Other remuneration models are the following:
- CPM or cost per thousand impressions – or views, is widely used to make brand awareness
- CPC or cost per click – the remuneration is triggered when the user clicks and lands on the merchant’s site.
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Marketing and planning strategy
Strategic marketing planning provides the foundation for the firm’s subsequent actions. The marketing plan provides guidelines to all stakeholders and undergoes continual changes to meet ever-changing needs.
Planning goes through various stages, from the choice of means, market analysis, the creation of a marketing funnel and the identification of buyer personas.
Combining it with the various strategies we have just listed allows you to get closer and closer to the expected results.
Creating an omnichannel digital marketing strategy is not easy and requires a set of transversal skills that only a complete training and experience in the field can give you.
Digital Coach is able to offer both one and the other. Book an informative interview and take a look at our courses.
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