Author: Nnaemeka Blessing Chinazaekpere

Consequences Of Neglecting Marketing Strategies

Do you ever wonder why your brand or company is not growing? Do you desire to see your company excel and grow? It is not rocket science, it all starts with you understanding the importance of marketing strategies, identifying the types best suited for your brand and also the side effects/consequences that can arise from neglecting them.

Read on to learn more:

Consequences of Neglecting Marketing Strategies

Some consequences accompany neglecting marketing strategies which include;

• Missing out on great opportunities: Experiencing a multitude of missed opportunities and wrong turns. Many brands will miss their customers and will experience huge losses because of this.
• Blowing your budget: Overspending vs budgets. To generate sales, you may panic and invest in an opportunity that you simply cannot afford, or perhaps get carried away and spend your budget before the end of the year or a key selling period.
• Uncoordinated promotion strategies: If you do not have a strategic marketing plan in place for your business, chances are your advertising, marketing, and promotion are haphazard. A marketing plan helps you access your market, determine your target audience, and select appropriate marketing vehicles for promoting your company.
• Low traffic: The worst-case scenario of not having a marketing strategy in place is that your business fails to attract enough customers to warrant keeping the doors open. If consumers are not aware of your business, your company will not be patronized.
• Ineffective tracking: A good marketing strategy not only charts a course of action for promoting your business but also helps you track Brands whose marketing approaches result in the highest flow of business.

Importance Of Marketing Strategy

Marketing strategies play an essential role in skyrocketing business products and services by;

1. Helping you achieve marketing objectives:Marketing strategies lay down a set of steps to achieve marketing objectives focused on fulfilling the business’s short-term and long-term marketing goals.
2. Providing direction:Marketing strategies set roadmaps that include apt steps toward achieving goals. This roadmap gives direction and ensures that the business doesn’t stray away from the set of listed steps.
3. Ensuring coordination:The set of steps ensures coordination and avoids confusion focusing on different business departments that work together to achieve the same goals.
4. Reducing wastage: These strategies ensure optimum resource use by reducing duplication of work and appropriate allocation of limited resources.
5. Ensuring better control:It decides on the path to be followed and interim goals to be achieved. Hence, it becomes easier for marketers to control their marketing activities and ensure they are going according to the plans.

Examples of Marketing Strategies That Have Worked In a Few Businesses

Every business in the market employs some form of marketing strategy to achieve sustainable competitive advantage and increase its sales. Some of the renowned marketing strategy examples include:

Aldi

Aldi is a renowned discount supermarket operating in over 18 countries. The company sells highly discounted products that are up to 50% less pricey as compared to competitors.

While the marketing plan sets the objective to sell products at a highly discounted price, the marketing strategy makes Aldi’s business model unique. The company believes in a no-frills experience and limits its inventory to only important items with high sales volume. Another example is TikTok.

Reasons Why Marketing Is Important

• It lets the public know your business exists:Because of the much competition that exists in the business world or the buying and selling world, one needs marketing to make your business stand out and to inform the public of the existence of your service or product, Marketing gives you a chance to educate people about your products and/or services and to show them why they need to buy them from you.
• Establishes trust between your business and your customers:Marketing helps to establish some sense of trust between companies and customers. Companies can use marketing techniques to create trust with their customers and keep them coming back for more products and/or services in the future.
• Gives your business sales a boost:As long as you market your products and/or services right, you should be able to drum up sales for your business in no time.
• Provides your business with the opportunity to grow:Without marketing, growth is impossible. You’re not going to be able to attract new customers to your business if you don’t have a strong marketing strategy in place. By continuing to market your company at all times, you’ll push it to grow bigger and bigger every year.

Conclusion

Aldi and TikTok have proven themselves to be a product of good marketing strategies with the number of customers and profit associated with their growth over time.

In my opinion, every business that lacks or neglects marketing strategies won’t last for long. Marketing is important because it allows you to establish trust, makes your business visible, provides your business with the opportunity to grow, and generates leads for your business.

The World of Marketing: Exploring Its Types and Applications

Marketing in the world of business has become important over the years; anyone or any brand to be successful or make progress in the world of business will have to rely on it.

If so, what then is marketing?

Marketing refers to those activities carried out by a business venture to promote their product or services online or traditionally.

The purpose of any marketing endeavor is to create awareness and get potential customers to choose a company’s product or service over that of its competitors.Tailoring one’s product or services to match the needs of consumers is another vital aspect of marketing.

Peter F.Sticker says it all:“Marketing aims to know and understand the consumer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself.”

The massive success of Apple Inc. It is all thanks to Steve Jobs’ technical genius and, most importantly, his extraordinary marketing skills. Jobs wasn’t just great at creating sophisticated tech. He understood the needs of consumers and made sure to develop innovative and beautifully designed products that satisfied those needs and desires.

Types of Marketing

Over the years, marketing has evolved from what it used to be. When once there were only media houses to promote a brand’s product or services, the advent of television and the internet changed the game. Now brands have a wide variety of marketing methods to choose from.

There are two forms of marketing; online marketing and offline marketing.

The difference between both is that while one relies on print, radio, television, and word of mouth to reach its target audience, the latter uses the internet.

A company may choose to work with these or use both, but between both, online marketing has proven to be the most used. The reason for this is that the average individual spends more of his time online than they do listening to the radio or TV. So let’s look at the different types of marketing that are available to today’s businesses:

1. Affiliate Marketing

An affiliate helps promote the product of a brand on whatever online channel they see fit. The good thing about using this marketing method is that businesses only get to pay the affiliate when the latter’s promotion generates a sale.

Affiliate marketing is an effective method as the publisher will do everything possible to market a brand’s products to consumers for the commission they stand to get.

2.Social Media Marketing

Businesses employ this method to reach potential customers who already spend a great deal of their time on social media platforms.

Great marketing on social media can help bring success to a business. It makes it easy for brands to interact with their customers and build relationships. It can also help to drive leads and sales.

3.Content Marketing

Content marketing refers to any form of marketing that involves the creation, publication, and distribution of free content online.

In an attempt to get the word out, businesses are known to spend heavily on content marketing each year. Content marketing uses videos, infographics, blogs, podcasts, social media posts, and persuasive copy to attract and convert prospects into customers.

4.Search Engine Optimization

Also known as SEO, this digital marketing method is the process of optimizing a website for visibility on search engines. The goal of employing this method is to create awareness and get potential customers to find and visit one’s website.

The first page of Google is a profitable place for businesses. However, getting there doesn’t come easy. Companies spend a lot to have their websites and web content on the front covers of Google; if you can afford it, you can go for it.

5.Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most direct and effective ways a business can connect with leads, nurture them, and eventually convert them into customers.

Email marketing is a digital marketing method where companies send emails to prospects and customers. The content of the emails could be educational, entertaining, or promotional as the case may be. On most occasions, the emails sent out aim at persuading potential customers to take actions that favor the brand.

6. Influencer Marketing

This method of marketing orients itself around an influential individual. Influencer marketing is yet another effective marketing strategy.

A company looking to promote its products or services reaches out to an influencer in their industry or niche and finds a mutually beneficial way to promote inserting to the influencer’s vast audience.Retargeting Retargeting is the practice of serving display ads to individuals who have engaged with one’s website or brand in the past.

Businesses use this method to lure existing or potential customers to revisit their website or purchase what they offer. Studies have shown that 92% of people who visit a site for the first time aren’t looking to do any marketing, so it becomes necessary for a brand to retarget these one-time visitors.

7.Brand Marketing

Brand marketing is a marketing move by brands to shape their public perception and to connect with their iris target audience. Brand marketing uses inspiration, storytelling, humor, and creativity to establish an emotional connection with existing and potential customers

8. Cause marketing

Companies promote and support a charitable cause to boost their brand awareness. Some examples of cause marketing include licensing of charity trademarks for use in sales, public awareness campaigns for breast cancer, pampers, and UNICEF partnership, etc. Because marketing is well suited to companies that deal directly with consumers.

Conclusion

Content marketing, Affiliate marketing, and Social media marketing have proven themselves to be the most commonly used types of marketing in promoting services and Influencer marketing will always have its place in making your business visible on the social media space.

Why Brand Visibility Matters: Unlocking Business Growth And Success

Let’s say you just launched a new business or have a company about to launch, it is imperative to understand the importance of brand visibility.

Visibility is crucial because it’s all about who sees your business and what they see. This is something essential to consider in light of this global financial crisis that we are facing.

More natural disasters are hitting the world than at any other time in its history, and with this storm, we all must consider ways to help protect our investments.

Brand awareness is essential for a business to grow. Consumers are now more discerning and want to know what is popular and in vogue.

It’s essential to understand the importance of brand visibility because a market is only as good as the number of people exposed to it.

Therefore, every business must have an extensive public relations program in place to ensure that you are visible to potential customers. With a well-planned marketing campaign, you can ensure that each business gets the maximum exposure by using the trade’s best tools, such as customized postcard printing, direct mail, and the like.

Brand awareness is crucial because it is through that visibility that businesses can tap into that potential consumer base and grow their businesses. In today’s world, brand visibility has become almost mandatory when it comes to modern-day marketing. For instance, a medium like social media has made it easier for businesses to interact with consumers and make them aware of your products and services. Without proper brand promotion, consumers would have no clue as to whom the brand belongs to.

With a good reputation, they will automatically come back to you for your services.

But how do you ensure your brand remains visible? The answer is quality content.

Content is what your customers and potential customers read about your business, and in turn, this information can carry with it a great deal of information regarding your company.

A well-written article or blog post may be the first impression your company receives, and your company’s reputation rests solely on the work you do to build your brand.

Simply put, quality content guarantees that your company retains and gains the trust of its customers.If people think your company is worth hiring, then you will be hired. When people hire you, they expect your services to deliver the same quality and experience that their friends and colleagues receive from you.

Without good quality content, consumers will be left in the lurch.Unless your company is heard through referrals, they will not know you exist.

The Internet is the hub of communication today, and without it, communication between businesses and consumers would have dramatically changed.Customers expect to contact companies that deal with jobs efficiently, and if you don’t maintain contact, you could be heading for trouble.

How important is it that you remain in touch with your customers?Without constant interaction, your customers will lose respect for your brand, affecting everything from how much you earn per month to how long your company lasts.Today, you can find an endless list of ways to market your company.However, the one thing that will determine whether your marketing efforts are fruitful or a complete waste of time is your visibility level on the internet.

Reasons why brand awareness is important

• It builds trust:Brand awareness creates an avenue for customers and products to build a trust meadow to get to each other, once there is trust, loyalty will follow suit.
• It builds association:As time goes on, a particular product that is used often will be associated with the brand so much that it cannot be separated from the other. Once you think or talk about this brand everyone will include Its product.
• It builds brand equity:brand equity speaks of the value of a brand. Positive brand equity increases the value of a company, higher price value for the product, high stock price, etc.

Conclusion

A lack of visibility can spell disaster for your business, and your brand may never reach its full potential. To ensure a successful existence online, your company needs to invest in effective web content creation, which is why you need to work closely with a professional content writer,your company needs a good content strategy to be visible.

The Ultimate Marketing Guide: 29 Facts To Launch Your Career

Every year the advertising industry evolves in new and unexpected ways. The business world keeps growing in its techniques and knowledge capacity.

In this blog post, we will cover facts that anyone interested in the marketing industry can apply to get an increase in sales and relationships with customers and to make your product or service attractive to anyone who looks upon it.

1. 82% of consumer internet traffic will be video by 2021: In a white paper published by Cisco, video is predicted to greatly outperform all other online mediums in the coming year. Brands are preparing for the shift with U.S. online video ad spending projected to hit $ 17 billion by 2020. To keep up with the trend, marketers must plan to increase investment in digital video.
2. Influencer marketing is a $1b industry on Instagram: With Instagram approaching 1 billion users, more and more brands are dedicating ad dollars to the platform. Parallel to this, search interest for “influencer marketing” has multiplied over 198x since 2013. A recent study by Mediakix found that this surge in interest has resulted in a $ 1 billion influencer marketing industry on Instagram, which continues to grow.
3. The average consumer attention span is 8 seconds: According to Time, the average attention span of a goldfish is one second longer than a consumer’s. From a metrics standpoint, a user is 106% more likely to bounce on mobile when the load speed is six seconds. Marketers should optimize web pages for speed and make blog content attention-grabbing to increase the time spent on the page. Millennials are projected to account for nearly 1/3rd of all U.S. retail sales by 2020.There are 92 million millennials in the U.S. today whose spending reaches a staggering $billion per year. This group of 21-36-year-olds has officially surpassed the baby boomers in population and is the country’s largest living generation.
4. Google and Facebook earn more than the world’s traditional media outlets: The ad duopoly tops over $117b in ad revenue, more than every newspaper, magazine, and radio network in the world combined, Inc. reported. The way consumers access news is much different with the rise of search and social media and the numbers reflect this behavior. Case in point, over one-third of Millennials and Gen Zens access news through social media platforms.
5. Content with relevant images gets 94% more views: Content marketing strategy is an ascending priority for many advertisers.Today’s consumers are attracted to images, so marketers must integrate visuals with written content. Consumer preference for image-rich content also relates to the previously mentioned rid of online video. Marketers will continue to increase investment in design resources to create compelling imagery and source quality photos.
6. 4x as many consumers would rather watch a video than read to learn about a product: In a survey by Animoto, four out of five consumers said a video showing how a product or service works was important. Additionally, the survey found that 4x as many consumers prefer a video on a product to an article. These facts further support the notion that brands should already be increasing the output of video content.
7. 85% of people would rather provide an email for an ebook than a tweet.
8. Blogs are 63% more likely to influence purchase decisions than magazines.
9. Companies that blog more than 15 times per month get 5 times more traffic.
10. The average content length for a page that ranks in the top 10 positions is 100 words.
11. If a post is greater than 1500 words, it receives 68.1% more tweets and 22.6% more Facebook likes.
12. Articles with images get 94% more views.
13. Using videos on landing pages can increase conversions by 86%.
14. Videos get 267% more links than normal posts.
15. 58% of your audience will stop watching the video within the first 90 seconds.
16. 20% of people will read text while 80% of people will watch videos with the same content.
17. Viewers retain 58% of what they see but only 10% of what they read.
18. The average insults 11 consumer reviews on the path to purchase.
19. Consumers who receive email marketing make orders 44% larger.
20. Personalized emails improve click-through rates by 14% and conversion rates by 10%.
21. 67% of consumers say that the quality of a product is very important in selecting and purchasing the product.
22. Consumers who receive email marketing spend 83% more when shopping: Emails are 26% more likely to be opened if the recipient’s name is in a personalized subject line.
23. 80% of blogs use an email newsletter to distribute content to their audience.
24. As early as 2014,57% of marketers already considered custom content as their top marketing priority.
25. Bloggers are 74% more likely to get strong results if they repeatedly update their old blog posts, even though only 55% of bloggers do this. In some cases, updating an old blog post can improve overall traffic by as much as 402%.
26. Investing in as little as six hours a week in content marketing was enough for 91% of marketers to claim an increase in web traffic.
27. Bloggers consider their top priorities to be creating a strategy and measuring the impact of the blog on the business’s overall success.
28. Marketers consider their top needs to be audience identification and targeting, analytics, creation, distribution, curation, and aggregation.
29. The skill sets most often missing from a content marketing effort are content creation, leadership and strategy, promotion, metrics, and subject matter expertise.

Conclusion

The marketing industry is large,this article would help you navigate your way around how the industry functions,for a beginner who is looking to know more about marketing whether for business purposes or knowledge purpose,you would want to read through this piece.

In What Ways Can Digital Marketing Facilitate The Growth of Entrepreneur?

“Marketing’s job is to make the sales team’s job easier”-Trish Bertuzzi

Digital Marketing is the most productive way to get your business, whether big or small, to successfully promote their product, service, or brand.

Digital marketing comprises a whole lot of strategies ranging from SEO marketing, content marketing, social media marketing, etc, all these strategies when used can help a business grow. But for this article, we will be focusing on how digital marketing can help not just any type of business owner grow their business but how digital marketing can help an entrepreneur grow his business.

Who is an entrepreneur?

An entrepreneur is someone who creates or makes an innovation/business, managing the risks and enjoying the rewards as well.

The process of establishing a business is known as entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs play a crucial role in any economy by bringing their skills and innovative ideas to the market. This contribution helps to enhance the economic development of the society they are part of.

Every entrepreneur aspires to expand their business, beginning as a small enterprise and gradually evolving into a recognized and prominent brand.

For any entrepreneur looking to grow their business into something very big, digital marketing is a tool that helps you reach your goals faster with little or no stress.

Digital Marketing has so many other marketing tools that can help you reach your target audience and give your brand a name online, which are e.g., social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, influencer marketing, etc.

Digital marketing can help you as an entrepreneur grow your business in many strategic ways which are

1. Reaching your target audience

Digital marketing makes it easier for you to reach your specific/target audience because not everyone is interested in buying what you are selling. Digital marketing tools can help you target your audience based on interests, demography, and behaviors; by gathering customers’ information through different digital channels, you can tailor your marketing strategies to suit the desires of your audience.

2. Brand visibility

With Digital marketing, it is just about a matter of time before your brand becomes popular and known. Your business will grow from being local to international, and a large number of people now make use of social media in the 21st century making it even easier to reach them with just a few clicks on your mobile phone or your computer. Also, Ads are a good way to increase your online presence on the social media space.

3. Generating conversion

Digital marketing can help you as an entrepreneur generate leads for your business and convert them into resources using tools like email marketing, social media marketing, and influencer marketing.These tools can help persuade a prospective client to patronize the service or product thereby generating income for the business.

4. Affordable communication channels

Channels like websites, social media, email, and blogs are less expensive compared to traditional marketing methods like billboards, fliers, TV or radio stations.On the other hand, digital channels are either free or allow for a small amount of subscriptions to manage their operations.

5. Keeping track of your results

The invention of tools like Google Analytics has made it possible to keep track of your results from anywhere you are. As long as you have a good network connection, you are good to go.For example, when you run an ad on Facebook for your business, a tool called Meta Business Suite can help you keep track of its progress; if your product or service is reaching its target audience, you can know using this tool.

Conclusion

As an entrepreneur you can significantly boost your business by understanding how digital marketing contributes to growth, transforming it from small to large. Digital marketing enables entrepreneurs to reach target audiences, reduce costs, track results, generate leads, and increase visibility.

Building A Strong Brand: Essential Principles and Practices.

Brand characteristics are the core values and fundamentals that showcase the true essence of the brand. They are a set of attributes that are identified as the physical, distinctive, and personality traits of the brand similar to an individual.

The brand needs to stand for something unique and consistent and this objective drives the management and the branding and marketing department to define a set of brand characteristics working as one of the integral facets of the entire brand management process.

Importance of brand characteristics

Loyalty

The unique and exclusive characteristics of the brand create an emotional connection with the target audience that makes them indulge in repeat purchases resulting in guilt towards the brand and its offerings of products and services.

Awareness

The target market and the audience need to be made aware of the attributes, values, and characteristics of the brand through various marketing and promotional programs compromising of participating in corporate events, sponsorship in events related to the nature of the brand, print advertisements, television commercials, and use of digital marketing and social media to elevate the awareness about the brand.

Higher sales and profits

With the increased level of brand awareness showcasing its unique characteristics in the target market that results in the top-of-the-mind recall factor about the brand and its offerings in the mind of the consumers, making them indulge in repeat purchases; hence, the company attains its objectives of higher sales and profits. Examples of brand characteristics of leading brands

Knowledge about the target market

No brand can appeal to the entire market to promote its offerings of products and services and the segregation and filtration of the target market is a must and are the foremost brand characteristic for any brand to attain the pinnacle of success. To start with, the target market or location needs to be identified and then the target audience needs to be carefully analyzed and understood by filtering them on the parameters of disposable income, working industry, and interest areas.

Uniqueness

The brand characteristics of uniqueness hold the primal advantage for the brand to be successful and gain a competitive edge in the market. There has to be a unique and specific character to the brand that separates it from the other players in the market.

For example, the Apple brand is renowned for offering innovative and technologically advanced products as compared to its contemporaries. Plus, its products have minimal design aesthetic appeal, working as a unique brand characteristic for the company.

Domino promises to deliver the pizza within 30 minutes of ordering, and it has been working in the favor of the brand for a very long time as the company has been adhering to its Brand Characteristics and delivery passion.

The markets are always dynamic and the business is known for its volatile nature as there is always tough competition from the existing players in the market as well as the new and budding ones entering and creating a foothold in the market. Steve Jobs, the promoter of Apple, had this characteristic in his personality, and the same was evident in his technology brand as well, which has made the brand carve a niche for itself and rank amongst the top brands consecutively for the last 7 years.

Consistency

The market insiders vouch for the fact that the customer changes his brand preferences when the brand to which he has been loyal becomes inconsistent in its values and attributes and functional benefits of its offerings.

Hence, the brand must have the brand Characteristics of consistency to keep its customers happy and satisfied giving tough competition to its arch-rivals.

Restaurants are one of the best examples of this characteristic if the quality of food is maintained and consistent throughout the operations of the restaurant, the brand enjoys loyal customers who keep on visiting to enjoy the quality and delicious food, and if there is any decrement in the levels of food quality or hygiene factors, it can cost a fortune to the restaurant brand.

Competitiveness

Success in business is readily established by brands in the market that work as a tough composition to the brand, plus the new entrants offer new and novel products on the table to the customers.

Exposure

The brand needs to be heavily exposed in the market having bigger marketing budgets to opt for multiple media and promotional channels to make the target market and the audience aware of the unique Brand Characteristics, ethos, fundamentals, values, unique selling propositions, and how its products and services are different from its competitors.

For A successful branding campaign, the brand should opt for a 360-degree marketing approach utilizing media channels rights television, radio, print, outdoor, digital, and social media, amongst others.

Leadership

The CEO of a big firm will be the leader of the brand, and in the case of a small business, the owner will be the leader of the brand. In any case, the attribute of leadership is a must to envisage the short-term and long-term business objectives, plan and execute business strategies, motivate the internal staff, and maximize their strengths that will help the brand to achieve its goals and objectives.

Conclusion

As one aspiring to own a brand, this is the kind of information you need to grow your brand and to bring awareness to your audience and I suggest you begin now to acquire some of the characteristics like consistency, exposure, and loyalty to make d attractive to anyone who comes across it even good leadership skills can go long way to improve your relationship with your consumers and customers.

Digital skills can also help to make your brand visible to everyone, you can begin trying out your hands in making people aware of your brand.

Marketing Fundamentals: Exploring the 4 Ps of the Marketing Mix

It can be difficult for a small business owner or marketing manager to know how to establish a unique selling proposition or to reach the right customers, especially on the always evolving digital space, with digital marketing.

You can also take into consideration elements of the mix in your day-to-day marketing decision-making process to attract the right audience to successfully market to through your marketing campaigns.

In this article, we will be looking at

• The 4Ps of marketing
• Product/service
• Price
• Promotion
• Place

The 4 Ps of marketing

1. Product

Your customer only cares about one thing: What your product or service can do for them. Because of this, prioritize making your product the best it can be and optimize your product lines accordingly. This approach is called “product-led marketing.”

In a marketing mix, product considerations involve every aspect of what you’re trying to sell.

This includes:

• Design
• Quality
• Features
• Options
• Packaging
• Market positioning

Four components successful product-led marketers should take into consideration

• Get out of the way: Let your product or service sell itself. Focus your marketing efforts on getting consumers to try what you have to offer so they can learn its value for themselves.
• Be an expert: Know your customer’s needs and use that knowledge to help communicate your product’s value.
• Always be helping: Position yourself as an ally by creating informative content that meets your target customers’ needs, and they’ll be more likely to buy from you.
• Share authentic stories: Encourage happy customers to share their experiences and tell others why they appreciate your brand.

2. Price

Many factors go into a pricing model. Brands may price a product higher than competitors to create the impression of a higher-quality offering, Price a product similar to competitors, then draw attention to features or benefits other brands lack with plans to raise the price after the brand is established or lower it to highlight the value of an updated model.

3. Promotion

Promotion is the part of the marketing mix that the public notices most. It includes television and print advertising, content marketing, coupons or scheduled discounts, social media strategies, email marketing, display ads, digital strategies, marketing communication, search engine marketing, public relations, and more.

All these promotional channels tie the whole marketing mix together into an omnichannel strategy that creates a unified experience for the customer base.

For example: A customer sees an in-store promotion and uses their phone to check prices and read reviews.

The view of the brand’s website focuses on a unique feature of the product. The brand has solicited reviews addressing that feature. Those reviews appear on high-ranking review sites, the customer buys the product and you’ve sent a thank you email using marketing automation.

Here are the ways you can use these channels together:

• Make sure you know all the channels available and make the most of them to reach your target audience.
• Embrace the move toward personalized marketing.
• Segment your promotional efforts based on your customer’s behavior.
• Test responses to different promotions and adjust your marketing spending accordingly.
• Remember that promotion isn’t a one-way street. Customers expect you to pay attention to their interests and offer them solutions when they need them.

4. Place

Where will you sell your product? The same market research that informed your product and price decisions will inform your placement as well which goes beyond physical locations.

Here are some considerations when it comes to place:

• Where will people be looking for your product?
• Will they need to hold it in their hands?

Conclusion

Anyone who is seeking an increase in sales never neglects the 4Ps of marketing which are promotion, place, and price.

The combination of elements of marketing mix makes it possible that you can sell/deliver your products and services to prospective clients.

In summary, it’s about showcasing your product/service to your clients at the right time, right place and at the right price.

Marketing Strategy and Some Types You Probably Did Not Know About

“Marketing aims to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”- Peter Drucker

Every business ought to have marketing strategies to keep track of its progress both in sales and reaching its goals.

Any company or business that is experiencing a huge setback in pushing its product or services into the market only needs to engage its reins in creating a plan good enough to draw customers to whatever they have to offer and this is where a marketing strategy comes in.

Marketing strategy is the foundation of any successful business enabling businesses to reach, engage, and keep customers.

It involves promoting products, services, or ideas to source prospects, driving leads, and generating growth/revenue. In this article, we will be looking at;

• What is a marketing strategy?
• Types of marketing strategy
• Portfolio marketing strategy
• Segmentation marketing strategy
• Brand positioning strategy
• Digital Marketing

What Is a Marketing Strategy?

A marketing strategy refers to a business’s overall game plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into customers of their products or services.

Marketing strategy can also be the combination of all the business decisions and actions to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage by understanding and fulfilling the needs and wants of the customers.

Types of Marketing Strategy

There are different types of marketing strategies that a company brand or business can implement/employ to cause a drastic improvement in the sale of their products and services which are:

Portfolio Marketing Strategy

In this type of strategy, you analyze which products are sold and which are not to decide which ones are still on the market and continue with their manufacturing process since keeping the products that are not generating economic income must be discarded.

Segmentation Marketing Strategy

This strategy is to decide which segments the market has been classified into the segmentation can be in three types:

1. Differentiated: When addressing each of the market segments that have been identified with a different offer and positioning. This strategy has a higher cost, but it will allow it to satisfy the specific needs of each selected segment.
2. Undifferentiated: Segments with different needs are identified, but the company chooses to address them with the same offer, to get the largest number of customers.
3. Concentrated: Only one of the market segments is chosen. This avoids making efforts in other segments and allows the campaign to be focused. This is the most effective strategy for companies that are growing.The segmentation strategy is derived from previous market research to classify the segments and make good decisions about them.

Brand Positioning Marketing Strategy

This strategy consists of defining how the brand wants to be perceived in the strategic segments decided, and what attributes we want to have as a company or brand in the mind of the customer.

There are several ways to access the positioning in comparison to the competition and it can be with the product’s cover, the company’s image, and the characteristics and uses of the product.

The main marketing strategies for the positioning are:

1. Benefit: This strategy is based on positioning the product for the benefit it offers.
2. Quality/price: Offering the highest quality at a competitive price.
3. Attributes:position the product by the attributes it has.
4. Use/application: Position based on the use or application given to the product.
5. Categories: Position yourself as a leader in a product category
6. Competitor: Compare your products with those of your competitors, this is a classic strategy.

When we talk about positioning strategy as a concept, we must take into account that we are designing three different strategic marketing keys:the positioning of the company, the positioning of the brand, and the positioning before the consumer.

Content Marketing Strategy

This strategy is based on the creation of content such as articles, computer graphics, and ebooks. This type of strategy can be used as a blog where you can publish news, trends, and information about the company or specific product reviews and educate the customer about the product/service.

Direct Marketing Strategy

A direct-customized message is implemented with the client. The consumer values the fact that the company communicates in a personal way for him/her as close ties are created.

Digital Marketing Strategy

Today most companies do digital marketing, something that was not common several years ago. Being just one click away from information makes this strategy popular.

Here are some of them;

Search engine marketing:

Companies try to increase their search traffic in two ways. Firstly, search engines can be paid to place the company on result pages. Secondly, companies can use search engine techniques (SEO)to place high on the search results.

Email Marketing:

This involves businesses obtaining the email addresses of prospects or potential prospects and sending regular messages or newsletters, which can come in the form of coupons and the latest updates/trends.

Social media marketing:

This kind of marketing involves using specific paid advertisements to grow your online presence on social media platforms.

Content marketing:

This kind of marketing involves the creation of content; it could be write-ups, infographics, or videos, something catchy that can be shared to gain the attention of your prospects.

Conclusion

A good strategy in marketing guarantees that your losses will be fixed. I strongly advise that anyone who is planning to start a lasting business or product should do or research the marketing strategy and use it well.

Takeaway:

Inbound marketing is a strategic approach to attracting and converting customers organically through useful content. Mailing where segmented communication can be established. Social networking to connect your posts with customers. Web search engines make the brand appear in the first options, among others.

10 Things Every Small Business Must Know To Succeed Online

Running a business these days is not an easy feat; an average business owner online is seeking to push his or her business at all costs. With so many strategies now at their disposal, recent technologies have made everything easier, which also means that there is now even more competition by business owners to stay afloat in the online space.

This article aims to help you as a small business owner to know what to look out for when trying to strategically position your businesses online. Read on to learn more:

What is an online business?

An online business is a business that leverages the infinite power of the internet to promote and grow a business so that it reaches all over the world. It is a very strong door opener to marketing your products and brand at a minimum expense.

If a business must succeed online there are things you must take notice of.

Here are 10 things to bear in mind before taking your business online:

1. Recognize your customer

Everyone is not your prospective buyer, you must know this if you want to succeed in the online space knowing your Customers and where to find them must be first; you must conduct an extensive study of your prospects before taking it online; interact with your customer by using Internet tools like email marketing, website, social media, etc.

2. Solve customer problems

You must factor the solution to customer issues into your strategy, Ask them questions, Offer bonuses, let them know your plans and how you plan to grow the business to better suit their taste, Customize your products, and let them know your charging system.

3. Traffic on your website

Social media is a good way to generate amazing traffic on your website and to get newcomers, create amazing content, use wonderful offers like ebooks to attract more customers, and use your email list to keep and attract customers and promote your business where your customers are found.

4. Use tech support

Almost all online businesses, whether small or big, are leveraging technology to boost their online presence brands. Tools like websites, meta business suites, Whatsapp business apps, etc., are now used to keep track of your business progress online.

Don’t do everything by yourself; seek help from technicians to give a better experience to your online website and hire help where it is needed.

5. Test run programs

Try out different ads and find out why your website is not generating enough traffic; use Facebook ads to try out multiple ads at the same time and know which one is better than the other in its conversion rate. There is no harm in trying; keep testing until you find out what works for your business, then stay there till it yields enough results.

6. Know your competition

Find out more about brands that work in the same line of business, check out their management techniques, how they respond to their customers, and things that make their products and services more sorted out for and improve your brand with the information you have gotten to keep your customers from seeking out other brands.

7. Protect brand reputation

Be authentic, let your yes be yes and your No be No, and Give your customers quality over quantity, let them know that your business is tested and trusted, and make sure all communication and information of the brand are accurate.

8. Build consistent relationships with prospects

Never forget little details about customers, appreciate every time of their life, and Consistently update your products and services to keep your customers satisfied and ever ready to purchase your goods.

9. Over-deliver

Over-delivering is a call to go beyond what is expected of you to become a leader that everyone admires and envies. Your first impression matters a lot; it can keep your customers wanting more like Oliver Twist and make your prospects feel comfortable that they have won you over in a deal.

10. Service Over Sales

Your aim as a business should be to get more customers than to make sales, make their first experience so good that you can keep them hooked on your products over and over again, Some of us may be confused by what I am saying but trust me real money comes after you have succeeded in capturing the interest of the prospect in question.

If you deliver great service to your customers, they will always return, and guess what? They will recommend others to come and patronize what you are selling just because you gave them an unforgettable service.

Conclusion

A small business might find it hard to survive in the physical world, but once it is taken to the media space, that business has so many possibilities, and it cannot be brought down as long as it is well managed in the media space.