Marketing Strategy for Dummies: Everything You Need to Know
Digital & Marketing Strategy

Marketing Strategy for Dummies: Everything You Need to Know

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When you see an advertisement or marketing tactic on television or while you are scrolling online, your first impression of it will determine what you will do about it. As a consumer, will you opt to buy the item or hire the company for its services?

If the ad didn’t get to you, your next move would be to dismiss it. Every marketer hopes the former would be the reaction they get from their clients. The latter would simply describe every marketer’s worst nightmare.

The success of a marketing strategy depends on a lot of different factors. A company will know if its campaign isn’t that effective when it does not translate itself into sales. An effective marketing strategy will be able to evoke the desired reaction from the consumers.

It should be able to make them realize that buying the product is all they need to complete the experience. This is what will make consumers go out to purchase the product or hire the service. In turn, the company will know what they did was effective because they begin to generate higher sales.

This kind of approach to marketing is what every marketing manager should have today. They must think of their target audience members as real people so that their campaigns can appeal to genuine emotions. Every brilliant creative director knows that the power of the campaigns rests in merely two things: the message and the platform.

Marketing, they say, is one of the most critical aspects of the business. It is the department under the supervision of the marketing manager. What does a marketing manager do? He is the person in charge of putting together different campaigns for various platforms, targetting the needs and wants of the consumers.

Looking Into The Challenges Of Marketing Strategies

Change is inevitable, and it is considered the only constant thing in this world. And while this concept of change may be applied to practically everything about life, this is a fact that every marketing strategy must consider.

To be able to deal with change properly, you must first understand the basic rule that governs the thought. Change is not good or bad. Change is just what it is. How it affects you or your marketing strategies is your call.

Change is the only constant factor in life that every person must learn to adapt to. The same is true for marketing and advertising as these are often a reflection of the ever-changing times.

The advent of the digital revolution, new technology, and globalization has had every marketing manager on his toes.

The incorporation of technology in people’s lives has created a significant impact on consumer behaviour. So much so that businesses can no longer stay afloat without a digital marketing plan and having a specific marketing budget for it. Even small business owners that started before the technological era are now having to develop digital marketing strategies.

Technology has made it possible for consumers to take their experience to a whole new level. Today, consumers are able to interact with companies as well as the other consumers of the product. In an instant, everyone became interconnected, no matter where they are in the world.  Even digital marketing agencies in Malaysia can connect with customers in France.  Consumer satisfaction has become more attached to the brand.

It is why one of the key elements of any digital marketing campaign to provide this kind of experience to its target audience members. Understanding this is essential to learning what is the basic meaning of marketing. It is no longer just about giving high-quality products or services.

Exactly what is marketing? Today, it is defined as the experience. The changing times have required the marketing agency to evolve. The challenge for them is to continue improving themselves.

The marketing strategies that made a mark today would no longer be relevant tomorrow. Consumers get tired, and they move on. It is why companies should always be ready to offer something more than the usual.

Experts in marketing research noted that a company’s focus for good and effective marketing strategies should, on the one hand, they have to be able to touch audiences’ emotions. On the other, they must be able to use dialogue to build strong customer relations.

While this may seem very easy to talk about, they prove to be challenging to work around. The real challenge for every marketer is how they could build client trust through a positive customer experience.

Creating Value For Every Customer

The first step to learning more about how to plan marketing strategies is all about creating products and offering services that meet the needs and desires of consumers. It is the only way they can ensure that their marketing efforts all lead to conditions that make it possible for profit.

Product Branding in an apparel store

How do you create value for your customers then? Here are some tips to help you do it:

Tip 1: Define the target market.

Who are you selling your products to? What are the demographics of your target audience? Getting to know who your clientele is will help you carve the scope and limitations of the marketing plan that you are creating.

More importantly, identifying your target audience means getting the opportunity to be on the same wavelength. It means that you will be able to determine what they want and what they need. From there, you can modify your marketing strategy to specifically target them to get the response that you want.

Tip 2: Customer data – Gather all the information that you can.

Statistics, surveys, and other scientific forms of research can be good tools to gather the information that you want, but nothing will ever replace a good conversation with a client.

Give yourself the chance to meet them. Talk to them. Listen to what they have to say. It will give you more valuable information than all the digital customer data you may collect.

In all the many ramblings that they may have, there is always a piece of good information or two about their wants and their needs at the moment. Understand what motivates them. What makes them want to buy.

Discover their values in life. These values are what they use as a guide in life. When you understand what is important to them, it will be easy for you to strategize your marketing campaign based on what is appealing to them.

At the end of the day, the main goal is to connect the product and services that you are selling to the values of your target clientele. That’s the only way you can make a profit.

Tip 3: Don’t be afraid of taking risks

While taking risks may be something you are used to brushing aside, making calculated risks is always part of the job of a marketing manager. Your goal is not only to make a sale but to make sure that the sales would be sky-high.

Follow this guide from RevPilots to enhance your sales and risk management strategies and elevate your marketing efforts.

What does taking a risk mean? In terms of content creation, for example, promoting a beer product to housewives may be a hard sell, but it is worth a try when you know the values of your targeted clients, it will open doors to strategies where you would see an opportunity to sell.

In this case, you can package the beer product as something exotic yet refined. This is targeting the value of hospitality that housewives are known for. Simply put, it would appear as if not having a beer to offer to their guests would be a big mistake.

This is where your message comes in. When housewives are able to realize that you are making total sense, they will immediately put your beer brand on their grocery list.

Before you know it, the risk you took turned into an opportunity for growth. Your sales will double if not triple in the coming months, and that just spells success.

What Makes A Marketing Plan Essential?

The whole point of establishing a business is to make a sale. More than that, it is all about making a difference in the lives of your target consumers.

For example, a beauty brand that is primarily targeting women under thirty would definitely go for product packaging that is defined by two principles: simplicity and authenticity. These are two essential values of every modern young woman.

Maybe they would opt for a packaging that’s based on white because the colour itself is simple yet fresh. They might go for lavender and blush pink highlights as these colours are dainty and clean. And perhaps their campaigns would run on social platforms because that’s where their target clienteles are.

For any start-up brand, it would be hard to get an expert to certify the miraculous ingredient that they have in their product. Its anti-ageing properties won’t be board-certified. However, when the ordinary girls begin to speak of how good or effective the product is for them, that’s when the narrative begins to take the curb.

Bloggers, digital influencers, and Facebook or Instagram users are the very people who will become brand ambassadors and handle your public relations. Their authenticity is what will sell the product. Soon, customers will find themselves incorporating the product into their morning or nighttime routine.

This may seem simple, but it is definitely life-changing for both the user and the producer. Authenticity is guaranteed by real people.

In the end, the goal is met, no matter what process it took marketers to get there. Being able to connect the product to the things that are considered of value by the target clients is what gave the marketing campaign its meaning.

If the customer does not find any value in the product or service that is being offered, no matter how appealing the ad is, he does not find the reason to buy it. There will be no purchase of any kind as the ad itself does not come with a value.

Should Advertisements Appeal To Emotions?

Creating A Marketing Plan

While marketing experts might say that every campaign must strike a balance between emotion and reason, it is clear which will eventually win.

After making your client realize why your product or service makes sense to them and why they’re supposed to buy it, your next concern should be why they should choose your brand over a competitor?  You need to create a competitive advantage for your business.

It can be very tempting to make justifications by going rational. You might be tempted to say that your product or service is of better quality, more affordable, or that you offer more options than your competition.

And yet, experts believe that there is nothing stronger than a targeted content marketing strategy where you appeal to audiences’ emotions. Rationality may make more sense in the beginning. But at the end of the day, audiences still decide based on how they feel.

This is what it is best to go for reasoning that leans on one’s emotion. No matter how significant the level of reasoning is, the power of emotions will always be stronger.

Keeping memories through Kodak.

When Kodak, a popular film company, invented the slide projector, they were very proud of their technology. They went to speak with an advertising agency and told them of the “wheel” that could hold up to 80 slides.

Instead of talking about the technology, the agency suggested that Kodak highlight how technology can evoke emotions from their target clients. How will it make the customers feel?

In the end, the company presented the projector not as a new technology to view photos. Rather, it was a time machine that will take people back to the very moment they felt sheer happiness and joy. They evoked the emotion of nostalgia; a small pinch in the heart from a powerful memory.

That was what made Kodak a big name in the film industry.

The magic of Belle Jolie Lipsticks

Belle Jolie used to be a brand in the 1960s that became a big name in the field of make-up and cosmetics. They wanted to launch a range of lipstick shades to give women several options. However, one of the team members of the advertising agency pointed out that variations of colour are not what women are after.

She emphasized that women did not want to drown in a lot of lipstick shades that every other woman owns. Rather, she emphasized that the real value of lipstick is when it is able to make a woman feel that she is special and unique.

Mad Men Daily

The agency has put together a campaign for Bell Joie lipsticks that highlighted a specific shade for a specific type of woman. They emphasized that each woman has her own colour and that it is what distinguishes her from every other woman out there.

Lucky Strike

The marketing strategy opted by Lucky Strike was a mini-series. The first one was very important because it was what would make a statement. Back then, the company was against the negative campaign about cigarette smoking.

The famous tobacco brand was trying to find a way they could respond to the criticism, but it was difficult considering that the angle of every argument was about public health. Back then, the first attempt of advertisers was to appeal to psychology.

marketing campaign for cigarette brand

However, that strategy would mean accepting that the reports about cigarette smoking are right. Admitting that cigarettes could kill would be detrimental to the company’s image. But that was when the advertising agency had to think of another way to approach the brand crisis.

They thought of highlighting the manufacturing process of cigarette making. They banked on the fact that tobacco is toasted to reach the kind of effect that smokers want to feel. This approach appealed to human emotion.

The ad highlighted the collusion and authenticity in every smoking experience. This was a great way to avoid getting caught up in a debate on smoking and the medical issues that it causes.

The changing times have not changed how people decide on which products to buy and which ones to simply ignore. They still base it on their emotions and what the product made them feel. The excitement and joy that the product brings changes the name of the game.

No matter how better one product or service is in the rational sense, your competitive advantage will be based on your ability to make your target audience fall in love with you.

What Makes Marketing Important?

Why is marketing important? Marketing is what makes audiences change their minds and have a change of heart. It is the guide that they need to make the wise decision of making a purchase. You should contact a digital marketing agency or a public relations agency if you need assistance with your development strategies.

Learning how to create a marketing plan all begins with recognizing the role that marketing plays in the success of a business. It is not about having the best product in the market. At the end of the day, it is your well-thought-out marketing strategy that will make a dent in the market.

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