Which Marketing Strategy Is Most Effective?

Facebook
Twitter
Email

There are numerous successful marketing strategies to consider that could potentially help a business realize its goals.

With the advent of the internet and digital communication channels, the number of different marketing tactics has increased exponentially, opening new opportunities.

On the flip side, that could make the decision regarding which type of campaign to run even harder.

Why Having A Strategy Is Essential For Success In Marketing?

Every company has a limited budget for marketing activities, and it’s very important to spend the funds in a planned and coordinated way.

Those activities are realized through many different channels and may promote multiple products or services, so a centralized strategy is necessary to ensure they are supporting each other.

For example, if a company offers a $300 free chip to claim, it needs to advertise this offer on gaming-related websites.

Organizations that strategically use the available resources stand a better chance of attracting new customers and strengthening their revenues.

The best strategy depends on many factors, from the size of the company and its market position to the state of competition and expectations of the customers.

A strategy is typically adopted for a period lasting between one and five years, but can always be changed if it doesn’t yield the expected results.

pexels tima miroshnichenko 5439487

Key Elements Of Marketing Strategy

Translating broad objectives into practical guidelines that will shape marketing messages is a key challenge that needs to be solved.

That can be accomplished by breaking down marketing strategy into elements that are easier to grasp. According to the well-known 5 Ps theory, the elements every marketing plan needs to include are:

  • Product
  •  Price
  • Placement
  • Promotion
  • People

Each of these factors affects the way marketing activities are conceived and executed, and needs to be carefully balanced against company priorities.

Enterprises that successfully define all of the factors can reasonably expect to develop effective marketing strategies that combine them into a coherent plan of action.

Overview Of Marketing Channels

Marketing materials containing key promotional messages can be distributed through many different media channels.

Needless to say, messages are uniquely formatted for each channel, so the questions of how to reach the target market and what to say to potential buyers are mutually related.

Roughly speaking, we can separate media channels into three groups based on the way communication with the audience is conducted.

Traditional Mass Media

Until recently, television, billboards, newspaper ads, and similar forms of marketing were accounting for a vast majority of promotional budgets.

Mass media of this kind still play a role, but due to low interactivity and high costs per viewer they have lost some of their dominance.

However, it’s still hard to imagine a big-time company without a TV or magazine presence and it’s highly likely that traditional media will stay relevant long into the future.

In the process, mass media will certainly change and become deeply integrated with online channels.

Worthy Reading:  How Your Workspace Affects Your Productivity

Online Media

The internet has opened a direct way to reach millions of people and receive feedback in real-time, ushering in an era of online marketing strategies.

It didn’t take long for electronic forms of advertising to evolve into powerful selling tools.

From banner ads and email marketing to YouTube commercials and content marketing, there are countless digital tools that didn’t even exist a couple of decades ago.

These tools gave local businesses the power to transcend geography and expand their customer base much further than was possible in the old days.

Social Media

Social media advertising represents the next step in building a one-on-one link between a brand and its existing or prospective customers.

It’s possible to distribute multimedia content in real time over social media channels and receive immediate feedback.

 In combination with mobile marketing, content posted on social media can go viral and drive a huge amount of organic traffic without any significant investment.

Basically, loyal customers willingly turn into unpaid brand ambassadors and voluntarily amplify key messages through their personal networks.

Types Of Effective Marketing Strategies That Could Work Well in Many Different Industries

As previously mentioned, the type of product or service a company sells largely determines which marketing approach should be chosen.

pexels eva bronzini 7661590

Based on previous success stories and theoretical postulates of good business practice, there are several types of campaigns that consistently bring good results.

Here are some examples that could inspire you to formulate a winning strategy for your business.

Brand Building

Recently established businesses or companies trying to enter a new market sometimes execute brand visibility campaigns that don’t immediately aim for monetisation.

If the goal is simply to make the company and its products better known among a certain target population, the choice of marketing techniques will reflect this objective.

For example, a company could prioritize increasing website traffic and expanding the network of social media contacts, without regard to actual sales.

The logic here is that once people become familiar with the brand and its offering, it won’t be too hard to commercialize the relationship.

SEO Marketing

Since most people shop online these days and use Google to find suitable suggestions, search engine marketing (SEO) has grown into one of the most powerful outreach channels.

By skillfully using content marketing to improve search engine ranking, advertisers are gaining access to consumers that are actively searching for a similar product or service.

There are numerous optimization techniques that can be used to improve page ranking and attract more clicks.

Many companies start their own blogs, publish industry articles that include selected keywords, or apply other content marketing actions that affect how search engines index the promoted website.

Celebrity Endorsements

Hiring well-known personalities to endorse a product or service is an age-tested strategy, but it becomes even more impactful in a market dominated by personalised recommendations, such as social media.

Famous athletes and entertainers were traditionally top choices to become the face of a brand, but recently they got some competition from online personalities and influencers. 

The best fit between a brand and an endorser depends on the target market and demographics, so it’s necessary to have clear objectives to capitalize on this approach.

Picking the wrong celebrity could end up being a costly mistake that only alienates the intended customers.

Worthy Reading:  How To Start Growing Brand Awareness for Boosting Your Business

B2B Campaigns

Some businesses prefer more focused campaigns that target a small group of corporate buyers.

This approach is known as B2B (business-to-business) and it can be very cost-effective when conducted the right way.

Email marketing is one way to advance this kind of agenda, but in some cases, it may be better to organize live events and personally invite a limited number of potential buyers.

This method doesn’t aim to increase the volume of sales too much, but rather to secure a smaller number of high-value purchases.

What Are The Most Effective Marketing Campaigns With A Limited Budget?

Money is always a relevant factor when making a marketing plan. Smaller companies that can’t afford to spend a small fortune on media buying might have to consider alternative approaches like content marketing that don’t require a huge upfront investment.

pexels ivan samkov 8117554

To decide which marketing strategy is most effective in this scenario, it’s necessary to consider the type of in-house expertise that the company has as well as its main business priorities.

Here are some examples of affordable yet effective marketing techniques that could yield surprisingly good results.

  • Follow-up email marketing campaigns targeting existing users.
  • Social media  marketing with posts on topics related to the core competence of the company.
  •  Local media campaigns targeting a narrow geographic area.
  • Discount-based promotions that reward new customers.
  • Affiliate marketing programs with compatible organisations.

How To Choose The Best Marketing Approach For Your Company?

From all of the above, it’s clear there is no shortage of options to choose from when it comes to marketing.

Numerous effective marketing strategies exist and can work fantastically in specific cases, and it might even be possible to combine multiple concepts when the circumstances call for it.

The most effective marketing strategies are always well-aligned with company strengths and accentuate the best aspects of its offering.

In this day and age, it’s almost mandatory to include a digital marketing strategy into the mix, even for enterprises working in non-technical fields.

At the very least, promoting the official website or product offers through search engine marketing should definitely be explored.

When offline channels can be used to complement the online presence, this opportunity should likely be pursued.

Ultimately, the management should take into account the early returns and reduce funding for the channels that are not paying off.

Putting The Marketing Plan Into Action

Formulating a sound marketing plan based on effective marketing strategies is hard enough, but executing it to perfection in a fast-changing marketplace requires skill, experience, and an excellent understanding of the media landscape.

Most companies have internal marketing departments charged with this task, although it’s quite common to outsource technical aspects of the job to advertising agencies, digital content production houses, or other subcontractors.

All activities have to be documented and impartially evaluated, preferably with quantitative statistics.

It’s not enough to note whether targets had been reached – knowing which element caused either positive or negative outcome is the key to improving the results.

To check which marketing strategy is most effective, one can simply compare the invested funds to the newly created revenues. Any strategy that results in a net loss over a long period should be revised and revoked.

Conclusion

You don’t have to be an online marketing guru to come up with a viable plan on how to promote your brand and grow your business.

There are numerous examples and success stories to learn from while getting expert advice from professional strategists is always an option.

However, company philosophy and values must be baked into the strategy in order to breathe life into it and turn it into a powerful money making machine. 

Related Posts