Creative Marketing Lesson

What is Marketing? 

Marketing refers to any actions a company takes to attract an audience to the company’s  product or services through high-quality messaging. Marketing aims to deliver standalone  value for prospects and consumers through content, with the long-term goal of  demonstrating product value, strengthening brand loyalty, and ultimately increasing sales. 

Purpose of Marketing 

The purpose of marketing is to research and analyse your consumers all the time, conduct  focus groups, send out surveys, study shopping habits, and ask one underlying  question: "Where, when, and how does our consumer want to communicate with our  business?" 

Marketing vs. Advertising 

If marketing is a wheel, advertising is one spoke of that wheel. Marketing entails product  development, market research, product distribution, sales strategy, public relations, and  customer support. Marketing is necessary in all stages of a business’s selling journey, and it  can use numerous platforms, social media channels, and teams within their organization to  identify their audience, communicate to it, amplify its voice, and build brand loyalty over  time. 

On the other hand, advertising is just one component of marketing. It’s a strategic effort,  usually paid for, to spread awareness of a product or service as a part of the more holistic  goals outlined above. Put simply, it’s not the only method used by marketers to sell a  product. 

For example, Let’s say a business is rolling out a brand new product and wants to create a  campaign promoting that product to its customer base. This company’s channels of choice  are Facebook, Instagram, Google, and its company website. It uses all of these spaces to  support its various campaigns every quarter and generate leads through those campaigns. 

To broadcast its new product launch, it publishes a downloadable product guide to its  website, posts a video to Instagram demonstrating its new product, and invests in a series of  sponsored search results on Google directing traffic to a new product page on its website. Now, which of the above decisions were marketing, and which were advertising? The  advertising took place on Instagram and Google.

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4Ps of Marketing 

The four P’s of marketing, otherwise known as the marketing mix, are product, price, place,  and promotion. The four P’s are meant to help marketers consider everything about a product or service  when they’re deciding how to market something for their business. 

For example, you can ask yourself: 

How does your product meet your customer’s needs? 

Where are customers looking for your product? 

What is the value of your product? 

How can you differentiate your product from competitors? 

Thinking about your marketing in terms of the four P’s will help you strategize how to reach  your customers. 

1. Product 

When you think about your product, consider exactly what you’re selling. Is it a specific  product? Or is it a service? Your product can be a physical product, an online app, or a  service such as house cleaning. Really, anything that you’re selling is the product. Then,  think of your brand messaging, the services you offer, and even packaging. When you define  your product, think about what problem your product solves for your customers. Consider  how your product is different from competing products. What features are unique to your  product? It’s important to know your product intimately so you can market it. 

2. Price 

When it comes to price, you have to consider how much you’re going to charge customers  for your products or services. Of course, you need to make a profit. But you also need to  think about what competitors are charging for the same product or service and how much  customers are willing to pay. Additionally, you can think about what discounts or offers you  can use in your marketing. When you decide on a price, you want to think about perception.  Do you want to be known as a cost-effective option in your industry? Or perhaps you’re a  luxury brand and the price is slightly higher than competition on the market. Either way, the  language you use to market your product will be greatly impacted by the price of your  product.

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3. Place 

When it comes to place, this might mean the physical location of your company, but it could  also be defined as anywhere you sell your product, which might be online. The place is  where you market and distribute your product. Remember that not every place makes sense  for every product. For example, if your target market is seniors, then it won’t make sense to  market on TikTok. It’s important to choose the right places to market your product and meet  your customers where they’re at. Think about possible distribution channels, what outlets  you could sell your product, whether you’re B2B or B2C, etc. At this point, you’ll need to  think about how to market your product on all the various channels that make sense for your  company. 

4. Promotion 

Promotion is the bread and butter of marketing. This is when you’ll think about how to  publicize and advertise your product. Additionally, you’ll discuss brand messaging, brand  awareness, and how to generate leads and revenue. When it comes to promotion, keeping  communication in mind is of the utmost importance. What messages will resonate with your  target market? How can you best promote your product to them? Think about where, when,  and how you’ll promote your brand. 

To develop a marketing mix, you’ll need to think about how you can uniquely position your  brand amongst the competition. The most important part of thinking about the four P’s of  marketing is to understand the customer, the competition, and your company. You’ll  evaluate your product and how to promote it. Even though marketing has changed since the  four P’s were developed, the foundational elements of the industry haven’t. You can apply  the concepts of the marketing mix to any type of marketing. 

What Are Marketing Funnels? 

A marketing funnel is a visual representation of the steps a visitor takes from first  finding out about your brand until they convert. The most common type of marketing  funnel is four steps: 

1. Awareness: A prospective customer sees your ad, social media post, or hears about  you from a friend. 

2. Interest: They think you can solve a problem and want to learn more. 

3. Consideration: The prospect has done their research and wants to convert. 

4. Conversion: The prospect takes action — they buy your item, schedule a demo,  or take whatever other action you want them to take. 

The action can vary based on customer and industry — maybe you want them to make  a purchase, sign up, or fill out a form. When someone does something you want them  to do, it’s known as a conversion. The visitor converts from browsing to taking the  action you want them to take.

For example, Think about the Amazon purchase funnel. There are several steps a visitor has to go through before they can purchase a product. Here’s how it looks: 

• They visit Amazon.com 

• They view a product 

• They decide to add a product to the cart 

• They complete the purchase 

1. Awareness 

The first stage of the funnel is awareness. This is where people who have a certain  problem get to know about your product, company or brand (because you are somehow  related to that problem).This can happen in a variety of ways: 

• They read one of your articles on Medium; 

• They listen to a podcast where the host gives you a shoutout; 

• They see one of your ads on Facebook; 

• They search for something on Google and find your website; 

• They attend a conference and one of the speakers mentions you; 

• They watch one of your videos on YouTube

2. Interest 

The second stage of the funnel is interest. At this stage, your potential customers are  “hooked.” They’ve consumed your content, and now they want to find out more. They want  to dig deeper into the subject. Very likely, they will begin: 

• Refining their searches by using more specific Google queries. For example, instead  of searching for “how to promote your website,” they may begin looking for SEO specific terms like “link building” and “on page SEO” 

• Looking for experts and influencers to follow. For example, they may look for the  “best SEO blogs” or “best SEO podcasts” to quickly get up-to-speed on what is  happening in the world of search 

3. Consideration 

The third stage of the funnel is consideration. 

At this stage, your prospects know the problem. They know the solution. And they know  you can provide that solution for them. Just because they know what you can do and how  you can help them doesn’t mean they will choose you. Chances are: there are plenty of  possible solutions for them to choose from. They will look at alternatives. This is  

especially true if it’s a big ticket item. 

Think about it: knowing everything about the iPhone does not necessarily mean you will  choose it over the Google Pixel 3 or Samsung S9. So your job here is to convince them  you are the right person, product or company for the job. How do you do that? 

4. Conversion 

The fourth stage of the funnel is conversion. Your prospects are almost convinced you are  the right solution for their problem. 

All you have to do is to give them a final ‘nudge’—a compelling reason for them to click  “buy” right now. 

There are plenty of things you can do here, like: 

– Utilize urgency. If a product is going out of stock soon, you can gently remind them.  (Please don’t fake this!); 

– Make sure the checkout experience is smooth and easy; 

– Offer them a discount to persuade them to buy (by the way, this is not a strategy we  encourage or use!

Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing 

Inbound marketing: Inbound marketing, marketers attempt to pull or draw the customer to  the product or service, as opposed to reaching out to them, using modern marketing  techniques such as social media marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) content  marketing etc.  

Outbound marketing: Also referred to as interruption marketing, outbound marketing  involves reaching out to the customer or the largest number of people possible to get the  marketing message out there through traditional marketing techniques such as cold calling,  direct mail, advertising etc.  

Digital Marketing 

Digital marketing incorporates all marketing efforts that use an electronic device or the  internet, leveraging digital channels and online marketing tactics to promote and sell  products/services and run marketing campaigns.

Most businesses and brands have a website or at least have a social media presence or digital  ad strategy. Some channels that brands, businesses and organizations leverage upon include  email, social media, search engines, videos, blogs, websites etc.  

Types of Digital Marketing 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): With SEO, the goal is to optimize and improve the  business website and its online content to “rank” it higher in search engine page results. It  is the process of optimizing the online content so that search engines can easily read, index  and rank them and show it as a top result for searches of certain keywords. For example, If  you have an article about how to make an eggless chocolate cake, you want the search  engine to show it as a top result to anyone who searches for the phrase “chocolate cake.”  Hence, the amount of organic or free traffic on the website increases. SEO is about earning  traffic on websites through free or unpaid listings. The channels that benefit from SEO  include websites, blogs, and infographics. 

Pay-Per-Click (PPC): Pay-per-click or PPC is the most common form of paid search  marketing. It is a tactic of digital marketing in which the advertiser business or brand pays  a fee to the publisher (platform running the add), each time one of their ads is clicked upon.  Basically, PPC helps to increase traffic on a website rather than trying to get traffic  organically. Commonly, these ads are run on search engines and social media. For example,  Google Ads, paid ads on Facebook, sponsored messages on LinkedIn, Twitter ad campaigns  etc. Some factors that influence the success of PPC ad campaigns include landing page  quality, keyword relevance, quality score, visual creative of the ad etc.  

Social Media Marketing (SMM): As the name suggests, this method is about promoting  your brand and content on social media channels to drive traffic to your website, increase brand  awareness and generate leads among current and potential customers,  employees, journalists, bloggers etc. Most businesses create accounts and pages on social  media platforms to share content, build a following, and establish relationships with  customers. Most social media platforms have built-in data analytics tools, enabling  businesses to track the progress, engagement and success of ad campaigns. Some popular  social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter, Pinterest  etc.  

Content Marketing: Content marketing refers to the creation, distribution and promotion  of relevant, valuable and consistent content assets for the purpose of traffic growth,  increasing brand awareness, lead generation, and engaging customers. Content is created by  playing between text, videos and images. The foundation of content marketing is  storytelling and generating high-quality content that outlines customer needs, pain points  and key benefits. Some common channels and formats of content marketing include blog  posts, infographics, vlogs, podcasts, e-books, whitepapers, memes, pin boards etc.

Email Marketing: Email marketing is the practice of communicating with the target  audience and sending various types of content via email. Email is used to share discounts, create awareness about events, promote content and direct customers towards the  website. Emails also help to get subscribers, generate leads and even get product sign ups.  An email campaign is most effective when the subscribers or recipients have opted in to  subscribe to the content. Every email newsletter must offer something valuable to  customers. Some common types of emails included in an email marketing campaign are  blog subscription newsletters, follow-up emails to website visitors who downloaded  something, customer welcome emails, promotions to loyalty program members, tips or  similar series emails for customer nurturing etc. 

Affiliate Marketing: This digital marketing method is a type of performance-based  advertising. An affiliate, i.e. the platform/entity that promotes and sells other people’s  products or services earns a commission for each conversion/sale. The affiliate holds no  stock, fulfils no orders and does not deal directly with any customers. Sales are tracked via  affiliate links to enable commissions to be calculated. For businesses of various kinds such  as those selling physical products via an eCommerce store, SaaS software tools, eBooks  and virtual training courses, financial services such as insurance, credit cards etc., affiliate  marketing is highly advantageous in driving sales. Some popular affiliate marketing  examples include Amazon Associates affiliate program, YouTube partner program etc.  

Reputation Management: Also referred to as “Online PR”, reputation management is a  public relations activity, focused on the practice of earning online coverage with blogs,  digital publications, and other content-based websites to improve your brand image and  build credibility. It is also about identifying negative press online and creating content to  counteract it. Some online PR activities include reporter outreach via social media, getting  engaging comments on your personal website or blog, engaging online reviews of your  company etc. 

Influencer Marketing: Influencer Marketing is a type of sponsored content where products  and services are endorsed by industry influencers to publish posts or videos about the  product/service on their social media accounts. Influencers are either industry experts or  have a huge social media influence. Instead of marketing directly to a large group of  consumers, influencers get out the word and drive the brand’s message to the larger  market. A robust influencer marketing strategy includes macro-influencers, “power middle”  influencers, micro-influencers, brand ambassadors, brand advocates, employees, and even  celebrities, as needed

Activity: My Marketing Mix

When: during session

How: decide the marketing mix for your business using this table

Quiz: 

1) Which of the following values does Marketing Deliver? 

a. Brand Loyalty 

b. Product Value 

c. Sales 

d. All of the above 

2) Mark the option which is not among the 4P’s of marketing? 

a. Peak 

b. Product 

c. Price 

d. Promotion 

3) Which among the following is the final phase of the Marketing Funnel? 

a. Consideration 

b. Conversion 

c. Awareness 

d. Interest 

4) Select the option which is not a type of Digital Marketing? 

a. Email marketing 

b. SEO 

c. Pamphlet Marketing 

d. Affiliate Marketing 

5) Rubina is marketing and selling a few products on a platform. She earns on each sale done  and her performance & remuneration is tracked via a unique link. Which type of marketing is  Rubina doing? 

a. Content Marketing 

b. Affiliate Marketing 

c. Influencer Marketing 

d. Social Media Marketing