Marketing Methods
There are different methods when it comes to marketing. This includes direct marketing,
relationship marketing, advertising, public relations, and positioning. Use these resources to find
out which method will work best for you.
More Categories:
Advertising
Direct Marketing
Guerrilla Marketing
Positioning
Public Relations
Relationship Marketing
Viral Marketing
Advertising
What is the difference between advertising and marketing? Knowing the difference and doing
your market research can put your company on the path to substantial growth. Find out how
advertising can be a successful method of marketing.
Marketing vs. Advertising: What's the Difference?
You will often find that many people confuse marketing with advertising or vice versa. While both
components are important they are very different. Knowing the difference and doing your market
research can put your company on the path to substantial growth.
Let's start off by reviewing the formal definitions of each and then I'll go into the explanation of
how marketing and advertising differ from one another:
Advertising: The paid, public, non-personal announcement of a persuasive message by an
identified sponsor; the non-personal presentation or promotion by a firm of its products to its
existing and potential customers.
Marketing: The systematic planning, implementation and control of a mix of business activities
intended to bring together buyers and sellers for the mutually advantageous exchange or transfer
of products.
After reading both of the definitions it is easy to understand how the difference can be confusing
to the point that people think of them as one-in-the same, so lets break it down a bit.
Advertising is a single component of the marketing process. It's the part that involves getting the
word out concerning your business, product, or the services you are offering. It involves the
process of developing strategies such as ad placement, frequency, etc. Advertising includes the
placement of an ad in such mediums as newspapers, direct mail, billboards, television, radio, and
of course the Internet. Advertising is the largest expense of most marketing plans, with public
relations following in a close second and market research not falling far behind.
The best way to distinguish between advertising and marketing is to think of marketing as a pie,
inside that pie you have slices of advertising, market research, media planning, public relations,
product pricing, distribution, customer support, sales strategy, and community involvement.
Advertising only equals one piece of the pie in the strategy. All of these elements must not only
work independently but they also must work together towards the bigger goal. Marketing is a
process that takes time and can involve hours of research for a marketing plan to be effective.
Think of marketing as everything that an organization does to facilitate an exchange between
company and consumer.
Direct Marketing
Explore direct marketing such as database marketing, direct mail, mailing list options, and more.
These resources will teach you how to be successful in your direct marketing campaign.
Making a Hit with Your Marketing Campaign
Considered a vital link in a show's promotional plan, direct marketing is vital only if it's done right.
It's certainly not as simple as typing a letter, adding an address and stamp, and popping it in the
mail. Direct marketing specialist Debbie Bermont, president of San Diego-based Source
Communications, offers her golden rules for creating that vital, highly successful direct marketing
campaign.
There are some key golden rules to making your direct mailings work effectively. That doesn't
mean that you have to spend more money in order to succeed. Far from it. In fact, you could find
yourself spending less -- or at least spending more strategically -- than you may be doing at
present. Here's how:
Mail to Mr. Right
There's a simple but very clear distinction between junk mail and direct mail. Junk mail is mail
that isn't wanted. Direct mail is something that goes to the right person and is wanted. One major
key to the success of your direct mailing is to find the right people to mail to. If you are working
on a follow-up show, then targeting the people who signed up last year would be a good place to
start. If it's a new show or a new list, your first job is to start with a research phone call to find out
who that right person is. Even if you're using last year's list, it is still worth a telephone call to
check that your information is up to date. Don't ever rely on anyone passing your mailer on -- it
just won't happen.
Boost Your Letter
Once you've found out who to send your letter to, your next step is to make sure that your letter
works to its maximum effect. Write it as a one-on-one dialogue. Beware of using industry lingo
that your prospect may not understand. Keep your paragraphs short and sweet -- no more than
seven lines. Break up your letter into clearly defined subheads. And keep it to two pages in length.
Make All Your Copy Benefit-Oriented
List the benefits so they are easy to understand. And remember that a benefit is a lot different than
a feature. Features do not have the clout that benefits do. For example, stating that "10,000 people
attended our show last year" is merely a feature. Write it in the context of a benefit: "You can have
the opportunity of making 10,000 qualified contacts in three days," and you'll start making the
impact that you want.
Repeat your offer at least three times throughout your letter: in your headline, within the first two
paragraphs, and again in your closing paragraph. You can also include it in a "p.s." Last, but not
least, tell your prospects what the next step is and tell them to do it today. Also include details of
where to go for more information. Your goal should be for the recipients to immediately respond
to your letter in a positive way.
Make an Impact
Your mail piece must stick out from all the rest. Yours will not be the only piece of direct mail
that lands on your prospects' desks today. The more you can do to catch their attention, peak their
curiosity, and urge them to open the packet, the better.
One particularly effective way of doing this is to make your packet lumpy. For example, you can
include Post-it notes or candy (but never candy that could melt!). Make it even more appealing by
relating your insert to your offer or your message. For example, insert a bite-sized Pay Day candy
bar along with the message, "Every day's a Pay Day when you exhibit at the ABC Show!" Another
idea is to affix large plastic aspirin capsules to your mailer with the message "Don't let this be
another headache for you!" Or include a card with a telephone ringing along with the note "Give
us a call today!"
Whatever your insert, make your message clear, make it novel, make it fun, make it useful, and
make it one that leaves a warm fuzzy feeling -- not confetti. All that does is leave a mess!
Too Good to Miss
Create an offer that can't be refused. This may be a limited time offer (the expiration should never
be longer than 60 days), or an offer that sets you apart from your competition, such as a better
location or a bigger booth size with early sign up. Whatever the offer, the incentive has to be
sufficiently appealing to inspire immediate action.
Remember that there's no point in offering an outstanding incentive if no one knows about it. So
in your direct mail piece, make this offer clear, easy to understand, easy to respond to, and
relevant for your audience.
Easy Does It
Make it as simple as possible for your prospect to respond to you. The most effective option is a
fax-back form with quick and easy response sections. Other possibilities are a toll-free telephone
number, a postage-paid reply card, or a Web site. The Web site might not necessarily be your
direct response tool, but it is certainly very effective as an additional interactive vehicle for
obtaining more information about the show.
Follow up by Phone
Whatever you send out, make sure you follow it up with a telephone call to close the sale. You'll
see single digit response rates quickly turn into double digits as a result. Whoever makes those
phone calls must be professional, courteous, and well-informed of the details of the show and the
benefits of exhibiting.
Printing Essentials
There are plenty of ways to save money, time, and mistakes when it comes to your direct mail
bottom line -- and all without compromising quality or quantity. Here are a few ideas to consider:
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Save money with a printer. Pick a printer that will work with you -- not necessarily the
one that offers the lowest bid. If you don't, you could end up sacrificing both quality and
money.
Get at least three estimates from three different reputable printers.
Ask to see samples of their printing quality.
Remember that you can always negotiate a price (typically between 10 percent and 20
percent off of the price they first quote you).
For small print jobs buy your paper at a discount paper warehouse and avoid the printer's
markup.
Always supply a very detailed purchase order that includes all the details that could be
problems: price quoted, ink colors, paper specs, space requirements, quantity, etc.
Make sure that you see a final proof before the job is printed.
When possible, supply the printer with a sample of your final art as a guideline.
Mailing Tips
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Not only does a little know-how help with your printing procedures, but in your mailing
too.
If you want to save dollars, use third-class or bulk rate. You can save more than 70
percent of your postage cost if you can afford the slight time delay that bulk rate demands.
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Deliverability of bulk rate mail is between three and 10 days, but depending on the city, it
can be just as fast as first-class.
Make up a sample package in the early stages of your preparation and take it down to
your post office to check that it will go through the mail system without any problems.
You don't want to find this out after you have printed 30,000 pieces!
Consider using a mail house to handle and sort your volume work. It can save an
enormous amount of your time for a relatively low fee.
Concerned about the image of mailing bulk rate?
You can buy third-class stamps, which make a much better impact than a metered bulk
rate mark.
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What's the key to your direct mail?
It's the synergistic effect of multiple hits -- whether that's by mail, telephone, e-mail,
broadcast fax, or an inexpensive postcard reminder -- which will ultimately make the
impact and make the sale.
Guerrilla Marketing
The Guerrilla Marketing concept was created by Jay Conrad Levinson. It has become a phrase that
has taken on the meaning of mean non-traditional, low-cost, highly effective marketing effort. Use
the resources below to learn how you can become a guerrilla with your in own marketing efforts.
Guerrilla Efficiency Tools
Traveling is an inevitable part of every guerrilla 抯 life. A true guerrilla finds ways to make his
travel time less aggravating and more productive. Guerillas spend endless hours in hotel rooms,
sitting in airports and waiting for meetings. However, there are ways to stay productive and keep
business running even when away from the office.
Even if they are not 100% comfortable with all of the new ways to use technology, guerrillas
understand that technology allows them to become more productive and effective in reaching
customers. Understanding basic ways that products and services can increase performance will
allow guerrillas to excel even when they are away from the office.
Jfax.com
Jfax is the perfect way for guerrillas to establish a "virtual" presence in different areas of the world
and stay in touch with customers in the timeliest manner possible. Jfax provides the guerrilla
entrepreneur with a personal phone number in over 60 cities around the world, where he can get
all his voice mail and faxes via his email. The phone numbers run only $12.50 a month and can be
used as a dedicated voice mail box, dedicated fax number, or a combination of the two. When a
user leaves a message or sends a fax to that number, it is immediately converted into a document
that is emailed to up to 3 email addresses of his choice. Jfax has even started offering free fax and
voice mail numbers, but for now these are only in one specific area code.
After downloading the free and easy to use software from their web site, guerrillas can hear each
voice mail, see each fax and even send faxes of their own for a small additional fee. By setting up
a free web based e-mail account and downloading the free software onto their computers,
guerrillas can access their messages and faxes from almost anywhere.
Jfax has even developed a new feature called Jtalk for guerrillas that are not always tied to their
computer. E-mail messages are read to them over the phone, where they have the choice of
forwarding them to a fax machine, responding to them with a voice message, or deleting them
from their mailbox.
The Jfax products allow guerrilla entrepreneurs to establish themselves in a new area and stay on
top of issues while away from the office, allowing them to respond to each potential customer in a
timely fashion.
Sony VAIO Laptop Computer
Guerrillas are not interested in buying equipment that will be outdated in a year. The advances
made in speed and memory in the computer market specifically have resulted in faster, cheaper
computers being built every year.
The good news is that the technology has advanced so quickly that developments being made now
are not as significant to business travelers as the ones made in the past 3 years. This makes it an
excellent time to think about purchasing a new laptop.
The new Sony VAIO is a reasonably priced laptop at around $2000. It is less than 1 inch thick and
weighs less than 3 pounds. It is the ideal machine for travelers who spend frequent time lugging
around their conventional laptop and need frequent access to information while on the road.
With a 10.4 inch screen, up to 300 MHz, 64MB (upgradeable to 128MB), and up to 6.4GB of
memory, this machine has more than enough power to handle your computing needs for many
years to come. The keyboard is a bit small, however comfortable to type on after a week of usage.
Having such an easily portable laptop to bring on the road will increase productivity and
effectiveness. The Sony VAIO is an effective tool for guerrillas on the go, with its sleek design and
light weight.
The advances being made in technology are creating many new and exciting products for
guerrillas. When examining the wave of technology products available in the marketplace, make
sure to understand the capabilities, ease of use, and relevance of each product and service to a
guerrilla needs. By selecting the right tools, guerrilla entrepreneurs can improve efficiency and
productivity and continue to build their businesses, even on the go.
Positioning
Positioning your product correctly can make a significant difference in the success of your
marketing campaign. Use these resources to learn how to properly position your product or
service.
Market Effectively by Solution-Positioning
Our society is bombarded with advertising and marketing messages. How can you make your
marketing stand out and be effective to your target market? The answer is easy it’s by taking the
time to listen and relating to the pain of your client.
Keep in mind that it is easier to sell a solution to a problem than to sell a positive benefit or
substantial features. What problems are your potential clients facing? A great way to find out is
to spend some time networking and doing market research by contacting potential clients. Find out
what their needs are by spending time asking questions and intently listening to their answers
taking mental note of their needs, problems, and pain.
Once you see the presence of a problem that your product or service can solve, study that problem
and reposition your marketing so that it is offering a benefit and a solution to that problem. You
will notice that by doing this marketing and selling will become a lot easier.
Not sure if this works? Take a few moments and consider the products and services that are
currently hot on the market. These products include products that help you quit smoking, lose
weight, grow hair, and diminish wrinkles. Why are these products reaching a high level of success
in sells? The answer is easy; they offer a benefit and a solution to a negative situation or
problem.
Once you’ve identified the problem that your product or service solves, it’s time to get to work by
drafting your marketing material. When drafting your marketing plan be sure to mention the
problem and the solution. This will assist your marketing efforts from going off in the wrong
direction. You will want to spend some time researching, problem-spotting, problem-discussing,
and solution-positioning.
The key to keeping your marketing efforts effective is to focus on selling the solution to the
problem not selling the features or benefits.
Public Relations
It is important to have a solid understanding of how the press works. Use these resources to learn
how to leverage public relations and make it work for you.
Six Steps to Developing Your Public Relations and Media Plan
Marketing experts will tell you that a well planned public relations campaign is often far more
effective than advertising. This tutorial will assist you in developing and creating the core of your
public relations campaign in six easy steps.
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Step 1: Define and write down your objectives for your publicity or media plan.
How will you design your public relations campaign? Will it be designed to:
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Establish your expertise among your peers, the press, or your potential clients or
customers?
Build goodwill among your customer, supplier, or your community?
Create and reinforce your brand and professional corporate image?
Inform and create good perceptions regarding your company and services?
Assist you in introducing a new service or product to your market?
Generate sales or leads?
Mitigate the impact of negative publicity and/or corporate crisis?
You may be wondering why I am asking you these things at the beginning of a tutorial
that is supposed to show you how to create and your develop publicity plan? The answer
is easy. In order for your publicity and media plan to be successful it's first most
important to determine and define your objective. With a clear objective in mind ,you
have laid the ground work to the complete the remainder of this tutorial.
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Step 2: Define your goals in achieving this objective. It is important that your goals be
specific, measurable, results-oriented and time-bound. These goals must be in-line with
your overall business, marketing, and sales objectives.
Step 3: Determine who your target audience consists of. Who is it that you want to reach
with this campaign? What do you want your key message to be?
Step 4: Develop a schedule for your public relation campaigns. Create synergy by
coinciding your public relations plan with other marketing and sales efforts.
Step 5: Develop your plan of attack. What communication vehicles will you use to get
your message to the public? Examples may include:
o Press releases
o Articles
o Customer Success Stories
o Letters to the Editor
o Press Conferences, Interview, or Media Tours
o Radio, Television, or Press Interviews
o Seminars or Speaking Engagements
o
Event Sponsorships
Select three from the list and beginning researching and developing your approach.
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Step 6: Put measures in place to track the results of your PR Campaign. After each
campaign sit down and review the results. Did you achieve the defined objectives and
goals of this campaign? Should you consider modifying your original plan? If so, how
and why?
Relationship Marketing
Customer relationships are key to your marketing strategy. Use these resources to learn why it is
important and how you can improve the service you provide your customers and clients.
Customer Relationships Are Key To Your Marketing Strategy
If I could show you how to increase your sales by 50% without increasing your marketing budget,
would you be interested? Of course you would, what marketing professional or business owner
wouldn't be interested? By the time you have finished this article you will have figured out how to
do just that.
Take a few moments and think of all the inactive customer files you have in your file cabinet.
Business owners often make the costly mistake of servicing a customer once then assuming
"they'll stay" as a customer or client without maintaining and growing that relationship.
A year later that business owner is wondering what happened to that customer and where they
went. Why haven't they heard from them? Did they leave? If so, why?
There are many reasons a customer or client may leave you, but the ones you will hear most often
are:
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They felt your pricing was too high or unfair.
They had an unresolved complaint.
They took a competitors offer.
They left because they felt you didn't care.
When you consider that the last two make up the majority of why a client or customer will no
longer use your service or buy your products - it can be a hard pill to swallow. After all it means
they are an inactive client because they felt you didn't care about them and your competitor did.
This makes sense when you consider that customers often purchase your service or product
because they have developed a relationship with you, they owned another product or yours, or
they were referred to you by a friend or associate.
When faced with the above facts why is it businesses spend 80% of their marketing dollars going
after new customers and clients rather than nurturing, retaining, and maintaining the customer
relationships they already have?
Before you spend your time and money going after new customers and clients you do not
currently
have a relationship with consider the following statistics:
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Repeat customers spend 33% more than new customers.
Referrals among repeat customers are 107% greater than non-customers.
It costs six times more to sell something to a prospect than to sell that same thing to a
customer.
As you can see your marketing dollars will go further if you use it to build, nurture, and develop
your customer relationships. This isn't as difficult as you think. Building these relationships just
means treating your customers and clients as if they
truly are your strategic partners and showing them that you truly care about them. It's important to
try to satisfy them with the right products and services, supported by the right promotion and
making it available at the right time and location. Customers can easily detect indifference and
insincerity and they simply will not tolerate it. Long-term client and customer loyalty is a
long-term challenge that you must strive for every day and with every transaction no matter how
big or small.
While a growing business needs to constantly capture new customers, the focus and priority
should be on pleasing your existing customer base. Companies that fail to nurture and retain their
customer base ultimately fail. You will also spend twice as much to get new clients as you will in
maintaining your existing customer base. You will also be limited in your ability to attract new
clients if you can't hold onto and satisfy your existing customers and clients.
The bottom line is that one of the key components in marketing and business growth is to spend
the majority of your time and effort nurturing customer relationships, so that you get business
from existing clients and customers. This is a strategy that will move you forward in increasing
your sales by 50% without increasing your budget.
Viral Marketing
Viral marketing depends on a high pass-along rate from person to person. If a large percentage of
recipients forward something to a large number of friends, the overall growth snowballs very
quickly. Find out how you can successfully use Viral Marketing to market your business.
Value of Viral Marketing
How is word of mouth marketing working for you? Is there a buzz in the air about your product or
service? Are you reaping benefits from the viral marketing of your customers and clients. Viral
marketing describes strategies that encourage individuals to pass your marketing message to
others. This type of marketing creates the potential for exponential growth in your message's
exposure and influence.
If you've studied marketing at all I have no doubt that you have come across articles and resources
that strongly encourage "word of mouth" and "referral After all these types of marketing avenues
are often called the best thing that has happened to marketers after the invention of
advertisements.
With that said you may be wondering "How can these resources, or anyone for that matter, be so
sure?"
There is some truth that most marketers simply insist on the universal effectiveness of word of
mouth without any concrete data or figures to back their claims. They cannot quote any facts or
figures regarding word of mouth simply because there are none available. Even though it's
supposed to be the best form of marketing, it remains the least researched marketing method.
Why is viral marketing not researched more? There are two strong reasons behind this:
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Marketers think that when they are researching peoples' attitudes, beliefs, intentions,
tastes, and preferences, they are indirectly researching word of mouth (since those are the
factors which drive it).
They believe that word of mouth cannot be influenced considerably, so any attempts to
research it would be fruitless.
What people have failed to realize is that simply studying the factors which drive word of mouth
may not be enough. You need to get down to the very specifics. Such as
What questions are your prospective customers asking and in what way are your current customers
responding? The extent of influence certain customers' comments or views carries can be much
more than you think. What your customers say about your product is extremely important as they
will influence the future purchase decisions of their families, relatives, friends, colleagues,
neighbors, etc. Specifically speaking, tailored to the individual requirements of the product and
market, research can be conducted in regards to the following:
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What are potential customers asking those who have purchased and used your product?
How are product purchasers and users responding to queries like the one above?
Are questions, suspicions, and reservations regarding your product handled effectively?
What are the factors which decide whether someone who hears about your product will
actually go out and buy it?
What is your primary source of referrals, i.e., how did customers learn about and decide
to purchase your product?
Once you have conducted preliminary research using the above questions, you will be in a
position to tell how effective your word of mouth marketing campaign is. With that information
you will be able to take concrete steps to further improve its performance and effectiveness.