If you read one article about effective marketing, read this one.
Is your marketing strategy getting results?
In this article, I will be discussing the foundations of marketing and how to
implement an effective marketing strategy. Furthermore, I will discuss pointers
to develop an effective marketing plan and key pillars that must be in place to
achieve success. This article is for the use of students, professionals,
entrepreneurs, freelancers, etc.
When we talk about marketing, we often ask the question, what is marketing?
What is Marketing?
Definitions –
According to Peter Drucker “the aim of marketing is to know and understand
the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself. The aim of
marketing is to make selling superfluous”.
Dr Philip Kotler – defines marketing as “the science and art of exploring,
creating, and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a
profit. Marketing identifies unfulfilled needs and desires. It defines, measures, and quantifies the size of the identified market and the profit potential. It
pinpoints which segment the company is capable of serving best and it
designs and promotes the appropriate products and services.”
“the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including
market research and advertising.” (Oxford Languages)
The endpoint of a product is with the consumer, and a good marketing
strategy is needed to get the job done. Before we develop a product, we must
make sure we identify our target market and create good quality products that
meet the customers’ needs at the right time.
We must develop products that people want, not just any product, but good quality products. When developing products, timing is an essential factor to consider in
marketing. Being able to meet a customer’s need at a particular time creates a
successful sale. Therefore, our products must be timely and in demand. While creating timely products, we must have an effective relationship management system.
This system is responsible for the customer service strategy. We develop and implement policies such as Refund policy, Delivery policy, Aftersales Service, etc. Good customer service creates good customer
care, which results in long-term customer retention, which leads to more sales.
More sales lead to growth, and a brand begins to emerge.
In recent years, marketing helps develop solid brands to position a product in
the market, e.g., Apple, Nike. An effective marketing strategy helps to build a
strong brand.
What is a brand?
Definitions –
“The term brand refers to a business concept that helps people identify a
particular company, product, or individual.” (Investopedia)
“A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies
one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers”. (Wikipedia)
There are three types of brands,
company brand, e.g., Apple,
product brand, e.g., Coca-cola,
personal brand, e.g., Elon Musk.
Personal brands tend to be stronger and more prominent than company
brands due to person-to-person interaction. A personal name and face are
directly behind the brand. Marketing as a skill is an added advantage; it
positively impacts individuals during job interviews, personal brands, sales,
advertising.
There are two main kinds of marketing, namely traditional and digital
marketing.
Traditional marketing consists of – TV, newspaper, advertising, radio,
billboards, etc.
Digital marketing consists of online marketing using social channels, e.g.,
Google, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
When comparing the two types of marketing in any country, traditional marketing still has a more extensive reach, e.g., TV advertising.
There is a TV in almost every home; TVs are owned both by the rich and poor. Therefore, a TV
advert will have an extensive reach; almost everybody will get to see the
advert if they are watching TV when the advert is on.
TV advertising works out to be much cheaper than digital marketing.
Moreover, compared to traditional marketing, digital marketing may not have
a large reach due to the number of people online and the number of people
who own smartphones.
To be successful in marketing also depends a lot on the Niche you choose.
What is a Niche?
“A place or position suitable or appropriate for a person or thing.”
(Cambridge)
“A specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product or
service.” (Cambridge)
Niche is the area of interest you have decided to focus on and develop content
for. This area of interest you are pretty knowledgeable and passionate about.
There are so many niches and micro-niches to choose from, e.g., education,
online learning, computer training, pets, dog care, dog food, etc. Choosing the
right Niche requires talent, passion, and market.
Creating content must be done for your Niche via the website, youtube
channel, etc. The content could be videos, blog posts, webinars, etc. After
creating content, you drive traffic to the content using SEO and different social
media channels, e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google, Quora, etc.
As you start to get traffic to your website, you begin to automate by building
an email marketing list. This way, you have the email address for your target
audience. Now, you have your target audience; you can always send them new
content, this way, they begin to build trust in you and start to listen and read
your content carefully.
If you have a product to sell at this point, they will start getting interested and finally decide to buy. This process is called the CATT Funnel – content, attention, trust, transaction.
For an effective marketing strategy, all the various components must be
automated and work together, e.g., email marketing, content marketing, paid
advertising, SEO, social media, sell and convert.
So, you choose your Niche, create content for your Niche, drive traffic to your
content using SEO ( search engine optimization), paid to advertise, and social
media platforms for paid and organic marketing, and then the final step to sell
and convert.
This article discussed the fundamentals and set up an effective marketing
strategy: key factors to consider and their importance.
Further reading
Principles of Marketing, eighth European edition, Philip Kotler