Marketing is the creative act of consciously promoting sales of products and services to customers and prospecting potential customers. Marketing also includes development of a target market; selection of a specific target audience or group; identification of certain qualities or themes to be applied to advertising materials; and the timing, size, and type of communication that gets these messages across to the public. Thus, marketing is more than just throwing together a bunch of words or images and calling it marketing materials; marketing has a specific purpose in mind which must be carefully considered and implemented to achieve a desirable end result.
The three major components of marketing are the marketing strategy, the consumer, and the product or service. A marketing strategy is a clear description of the message and purpose of the marketing materials. In short, your marketing strategy is your roadmap to reach out to the public. Your strategy should include what you intend to accomplish by marketing your product or service. In addition, a marketing strategy will establish the parameters of your communications with potential and existing customers. Moreover, your strategy will help you to decide how you plan to communicate with each individual consumer.
The fourth component of marketing is that of the customer. You have to take care of your customers because they will ultimately determine whether you stay in business or not. The basic marketing strategies of relationship marketing involve creating and maintaining a positive relationship with customers, while at the same time providing them with access to your products and services. Marketing and relationship marketing go hand in hand because building and maintaining a positive relationship is what keeps a business going.
Finally, the fifth component of marketing is that of the industrial marketing. Industrial marketing targets a specific audience by offering them specialized products and/or services, which are only available in quantities and in limited formats at particular times. Marketing organizations often define industrial marketing by referring to the business of providing distribution channels for specific goods, such as manufactured food products. It also covers services like postal and freight services. Other types of services covered may include chemical marketing, financial marketing, electronic marketing, pharmaceutical marketing, packaging and labelling, and the likes.
Once you have defined your marketing mix, you should then carry out market research. Market research can be done through survey of current practices in the market and can be either qualitative or quantitative. Quantitative methods of market research include focus groups, questionnaires, and experiments. On the other hand, qualitative methods of market research include user interviews, surveys, and questionnaires.
The fifth component of marketing is public relations. PR is an extremely important aspect of all marketing mix. PR works to spread awareness about your products and services, both in the real world, online and offline. Companies who neglect PR are losing out on opportunities to attract new customers and to build brand loyalty.
The final component of marketing is product promotion or advertising. Advertising is the method through which consumers get information about a new product. It is done through print, television, radio, and outdoor media. While advertising serves to inform the general public about your brand and your offerings, marketing research enables you to understand the target market segmentation. Knowing this will enable you to choose the right kind of advertisement formats that would be most effective in stimulating sales.
In conclusion, it is very important for a firm to understand its marketing orientation and its product promotion strategy. A firm should also carry out market research. This is important to determine what kinds of advertisements will generate the most sales. Additionally, it will help the firm to create effective campaigns and to make them effectively work. Finally, the firm should incorporate advertising and marketing into its overall strategic plan. A firm with an incomplete marketing orientation and a poor product promotion strategy will not only fail to succeed in today’s marketplace, but will even fail to thrive.
There are many marketing practices that can drive sales. The key to understanding these practices is to first determine your target market segmentation, and then identify the kind of marketing practice that will be most successful in driving sales. Once you have determined these two, you will have a better idea of how to structure your advertising and marketing activities to achieve this objective. Moreover, you will know which marketing practice would be most effective for your target. By implementing each of these components, you will be able to improve your overall marketing performance.