Marketing activities – master the most important ones
Nowadays, almost every company conducts marketing activities to reach potential customers and encourage them to take advantage of their products/services. Marketing is no longer a competitive advantage, but a basic condition for the company to prosper on the market. In the article below, we will discuss the most important marketing activities that you need to know about when planning the development of your company. So let’s get started!
What are marketing activities?
Marketing activities are a set of activities involving the creation, promotion and delivery of goods or services to interested consumers/organizations (definition by economist Philip Kotler).
We already know what marketing is in general, but let’s now ask the question a little differently: what are effective marketing activities? We answer: these are activities whose application is adequate to the external conditions and internal capabilities of the enterprise.
What do marketing activities depend on?
The above definition leads to a very important conclusion – there are no solutions that are effective in themselves. All possibilities should only be interpreted in the context of your own situation. Each successful marketing strategy differs in many factors, such as:
- industry
- target audience
- investment budget
- competition
- current economic condition
This makes it pointless to look for ready-made advice that will guarantee success; especially since some of the factors are dynamic and change over time. Interestingly, even the marketing goal itself can be planned in many ways – it may be not only increasing sales, but also building brand recognition or website positioning.
Classification of marketing activities
With the above introduction in mind, let’s move on to discussing the key divisions into which marketing activities are divided.
Inbound vs. outbound marketing
The main difference here is in the way of reaching the customer.
Inbound marketing is a method based on conveying the value that interested prospects are looking for.
This solution includes interesting infographics, webinars and substantive content. The name intuitively means “inbound marketing”, because the basic goal of this method is for customers to find the company themselves when looking for information.
Outbound marketing is a completely opposite strategy, as it involves reaching audiences by displaying promotional materials.
This includes, among others, television advertisements, sponsored posts on Facebook and any banners that pop up on websites. Similarly, the name means “outbound marketing”, because in this case the company reaches potential customers.
By the way, a relatively similar model that distinguishes between long-term “attracting customers” and advertising campaigns “providing an offer” is pull and push marketing.
Digital vs. traditional marketing
This division distinguishes promotional channels according to the technology used.
Digital marketing uses television and the Internet to establish business relationships with potential customers. This solution therefore includes both TV advertisements, webinar training and blog articles.
Traditional marketing includes all analog methods of reaching audiences. We are talking about promotion in the local newspaper, handing out leaflets or placing advertising materials on billboards.
Interestingly, this division is not as arbitrary as it seems. Some marketing activities fall into both groups, depending on the advertising space you choose. Examples include sponsored texts that may be published on a website or in a trade magazine.
B2C vs. B2B marketing
We have already mentioned that marketing activities depend, among other things, on the recipient group. This is the basis for this division, which divides customers into two basic groups: consumers and companies.
B2C (business-to-customer) marketing is a business relationship between an enterprise and an individual. An example are hairdressers who address their offers to individual customers.
B2B (business-to-business) marketing is based on the relationship between two enterprises. For example, an IT company that creates a new website for a hairdresser is providing a B2B service.
As in the case of previous classifications, such a division is not the result of theoretical games, but is of significant importance for marketing activities. Taking into account the audience’s profile is necessary to select appropriate promotional measures and adapt advertising messages.
Further classifications
We have outlined the distinctions between basic marketing concepts. However, we have not treated this issue exhaustively, because there are many more divisions.
Let’s mention B2C marketing, which can be implemented in dozens of different ways: through public relations, event marketing or cross-selling, and each of these methods is divided into further possibilities. This shows how complex modern marketing activities are.
To get out of this textbook confusion, let’s move on to discussing the fundamental actions that you can implement in your company.
Marketing activities in practice
We will discuss selected business activities that are still gaining in importance.
Positioning
Also sometimes referred to as SEO, positioning involves optimizing a website for search engines, which allows you to increase the visibility of the website and thus reach a larger audience.
Strategies to achieve this goal:
- Content marketing – publishing substantive content;
- Link building – obtaining links from other websites;
- UI & UX design – improving website transparency.
Building recognition
The goal is simple – to increase the company’s popularity – but the benefits are invaluable. Increased trust in the brand translates into better conversion, as customers are more willing to use the offer compared to the competition. Moreover, the company can allow for better pricing terms.
- Product placement – the use of products in mass media;
- Facebook & Google Ads – displaying catchy ads;
- Influencer marketing – promoting a company by famous people or organizations.
Engaging your audience
Increasing activity among users allows you to establish deeper business relationships that have a significant marketing impact. Therefore, it is worth knowing practices such as:
- Social media copywriting – adding engaging content to social networking sites;
- User generated content – conducting online discussions with users;
- Contest marketing – creating competitions with prizes.
Sale
We cannot ignore what is the culmination of marketing activities. Let us emphasize, however, that sales are the result of many factors, so achieving this goal in isolation is not very effective. You cannot count on a satisfactory number of transactions when the offer is invisible and the company is unknown.
Analyzing the final goal in isolation from intermediate stages is simply pointless. Therefore, we should not talk about marketing activities that increase sales, but about activities that finalize the transaction. These, in turn, include:
- Call to action – encouraging people to make purchases, e.g. with information about a discount;
- Cross selling – offering complementary products to further increase the value of the purchase;
- Up selling – offering goods of higher quality when the customer has chosen a cheaper product;
The selection of available marketing techniques is wide, so it is worth familiarizing yourself with the available strategies and choosing the most appropriate ones for your business.
Summary
- Marketing activities are an extremely important element of a company’s operation.
- Thanks to them, companies can increase the visibility of their offer, improve their image and increase sales.
- The choice of optimal actions depends on many complex factors, such as the target group, investment opportunities and the specificity of a given industry.
- The topic we have undertaken is undoubtedly a complicated issue that lacks ready-made solutions. Besides, they are not necessary to be successful.
- Marketing requires not only theoretical knowledge, but also a large dose of commitment, improvisation, as well as constant monitoring of results and drawing conclusions.
- However, we hope that the information contained in the above guide will help readers in making further marketing decisions.
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