Marketing refers to various activities that a business undertakes to advertise the sale or purchase of a particular product, service, or item. In recent years, The New York Times defined it as “the science of telling great stories so compelling that people forget all about their wallets.” A marketing professional uses many marketing strategies, including advertisements in newspapers and magazines, promotional campaigns, target marketing, and creative marketing. A marketing manager will devise a comprehensive marketing strategy to maximize the company’s exposure to potential customers. They will seek to create brand loyalty by creating and maintaining long-term relationships with their clients.
The other major sub-strategy to a marketing strategy is the content strategy. Content marketing refers to the use of different forms of content such as blogs, articles, news updates, press releases, videos, audio clips, images, and text in order to deliver information to targeted audiences. In late 2021, Google took a significant step forward in incorporating content marketing within their search engine ranking algorithm. The main purpose of this move was to provide more value to content based search results.
Viral marketing involves using highly contagious or viral methods to encourage others to pass on your message. Examples include word of mouth, video sharing sites, and social media marketing strategy. Word of mouth has the potential to spread quickly through various social media sites. On the other hand, video sharing sites such as YouTube have wide scope of audience. To be able to tap into the potential of social media marketing, organizations can utilize video marketing or viral marketing strategies. With viral marketing, you can easily get the message across to potential customers but at the same time, you can also increase your own credibility.
Another sub-stratum of marketing activities is the market penetration strategy. This sub-stratum refers to any marketing activities that seek to reach potential customers who are not yet in the buyer’s position. In simple terms, this sub-stratum aims to enhance business profitability by reaching out to a wider range of potential customers. One example of an application of this strategy is Pay Per Click, which places ads on search engine results pages (SERPs). Once these ads are clicked by visitors, advertisers pay the host site, usually Google AdSense.
Distribution channels are also important in marketing activities. These include print advertisements, radio and television, and Internet advertising. They are used to distribute news and information about your business. Distribution channels can take various forms such as mass mailing, telemarketing, direct mail, and cold calling. Depending on your budget and marketing goals, each distribution channel will serve a specific purpose.
Although marketing is a continuous process, it is imperative that you understand the major steps in order to implement a well-planned marketing strategy. The four Ps of marketing include the preparation, research, development, and execution. You need to have a clear understanding of what each of these steps is, where they fit in, and how they affect your overall marketing plan. Moreover, marketing is not static. It constantly changes based on the needs of your target market. Therefore, your strategy should be flexible enough to adapt to current market conditions.
