Marketing

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What is marketing?

Marketing is the action of promoting a product or service. Marketing is a broad term that encompasses all activities involving the advertising and selling of an item to customers.

The goal of marketing is to identify the ideal customers for a particular product or service, and then promote that item in a way that captures these customers’ interest.

Understanding marketing

Marketing involves drawing in new customers as well as building the relationship with existing ones to keep them coming back. This includes any promotional efforts or strategies that seek to engage customers and make sales, including phone calls and in-person events, print and online advertising, social media and influencer marketing, and branding.

Depending on the type of business, marketing efforts may target either businesses or consumers. Business to business (B2B) marketing directs all promotional activities toward an audience of businesses. For example, B2B marketers at a software company may advertise and sell primarily to other companies, rather than to individuals. Business to consumer marketing (B2C), on the other hand, involves marketing to consumers.

Often, the first step of good marketing is making sure that you have a solid product or service to sell and a presentable representation of that product or service. To do so, many marketers start by creating a website that'll help their product look professional and provide a deeper explanation of what might appear in their marketing campaigns.

The four Ps of marketing

As a whole, marketing encompasses the four Ps: Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

• Product refers to the good or service being offered to customers. Effective marketing strategies take into account what product is being sold and how it stands out from its competitors, as well as the market demand for that product.

• Price refers to how much money the product is being sold for. From a marketing standpoint, this includes researching and understanding the optimal price of the product, as well as the prices offered by competitors. It also involves a consideration of the net gain, assessing the production, marketing and distribution costs relative to the revenue.

• Place refers to the distribution of the product. This includes considerations such as whether the product is sold through a physical storefront, online store website or via a combination of both. Marketers also evaluate the best way to present and display their products on each of these different channels.

• Promotion refers to the communication aspect of marketing. This includes advertising, sales, and public relations. A powerful marketing strategy involves tailoring different types of promotions for different audiences, depending on their interests, lifestyle and needs. It also tends to evolve with the life cycle of the product, as well as trends in the market.

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You may also be interested in:

Localization

Market share

Focus group

Marketing management

Competitive advantage

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Types of marketing

Because marketing is a broad concept, it encompasses many different approaches and takes on a variety of forms. Here are some examples of the most common types of marketing:

• Digital marketing, also referred to as online marketing, is an umbrella type of marketing that leverages technology such as search engines, social media and email to reach audiences in new, modern ways.

• Search engine marketing includes efforts to ensure that a business is displayed prominently on search engine results pages, such as Google and Bing. This includes both search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC).

• Content marketing involves creating, publishing and distributing content that either directly or indirectly promotes your product or brand. This includes written content such as blog posts and e-books, as well as visual content such as infographics and videos.
  

• Small business marketing involves curating marketing strategies that are specifically tailored to small businesses in order to drive results.

• Social media marketing consists of creating promotional content for social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest.

• Email marketing involves sending promotional emails to subscribers. This includes product offers as well as newsletters. This type can also be used within personalized marketing too.

• Influencer marketing makes use of social media influencers who are considered authorities in their niches and have the power to make product recommendations that persuade their followers.

• Guerrilla marketing consists of using bold, attention-grabbing activities to spread the word about a brand. It makes use of the element of surprise with seemingly spontaneous alterations to public spaces, such as temporary urban artwork or performance art.

Looking to learn more about some of the most important and latest trends in marketing? Check out our trendjacking in marketing post to get started. Or, learn more from these insightful small business marketing statistics.