Types of marketing: choose the right one

There are dozens of types of marketing today. Every year something new appears, and the old is transformed or transformed – it is impossible to keep up with everything, and there is no point. You need to choose the right one and focus on it.

First, you need to analyze your own business and the business models of competitors, study the market and the situation and determine the budget. After that, you can choose a specific type of marketing. You will find the most popular of them in our material.

Criteria for choosing the type of marketing

When choosing a type of marketing, all elements of the complex are taken into account. It includes the product, price, place of sale, and product promotion. The last component is the type of marketing. Here are the main parameters that are based on when choosing the appropriate types of marketing:

• Field of activity. Not all promotion methods are equally suitable for promotion in the service sector, sales, and other types of business.
• Business type. There are common marketing types for different commercial interaction schemes, but there are also differences between B2B and B2C.
• Business size. Its value determines the number of promotion costs.
• Target Market. Which consumer groups should be targeted?
• Option to sell offline or work online.
• Budget. If it is limited, you will have to look for the most effective and, at the same time, affordable types of marketing.
• Waiting time for the result. There are types of marketing with a short-term effect and those designed for a long-term result.
• Experience. The company used one or more areas of marketing and got a certain result. By adding a new method, you can enhance the effect.

It is necessary to thoroughly explore the possibilities of using each type of marketing in your field of activity, evaluating their effectiveness and cost. This will reduce the risk of using an inefficient way to promote the product.

In the classification of types of marketing, two large groups are distinguished:

• Systematization based on consumer demand.
• Based on the nature of the activity and its scale.

Types of consumer demand marketing

This classification is most often found on the Internet.

Not only is it the most famous and popular, but it is also considered official. The American Marketing Association used this approach as early as 1985.

In this case, the difference between the types of marketing is determined by the nature of the demand.

Conversion

It is used if the product is in negative demand (not interested in the consumer), and marketing should change this situation.

At the same time, such techniques are used as a reduction in the price of a product, its re-release, or the system of measures for promoting a product is completely changed. An example of conversion marketing is the actions of the Toyota automobile corporation. It produces Toyota and Lexus cars. The second line was bought poorly. The growth in sales of Lexus cars was necessary to increase the company’s economic benefits. We had to come up with a way to do this.

An ingenious solution was found. Designers have changed for the worse the appearance of Toyota cars, deliberately making them less attractive. Compared with them, the design of Lexus cars began to look very advantageous. Lexus sales began to grow, increasing the company’s overall income, despite the fall in demand for Toyota cars. You can consider this an example of the successful application of conversion marketing.

stimulating

Its goal is to change the target audience’s attitude toward the product. In other words, overcome indifference and arouse interest. You can observe the following methods of promotional marketing:

• Significant price reductions during the initial market launch of the product to “lure” the buyer.
• Actions.
• Conducting tastings.

Developing

Otherwise, it can be called spy marketing. This is similar to trend-spotting technology. Developmental marketing is used when there is the confidence that there is a need for a certain product that needs to be promoted on the market. The purpose of such marketing is to make latent demand real.

Remarketing

It is used if it is necessary to revive the fading demand. Most often used to promote a product on social networks. Reception, when customers are returned to the site where they purchased something, is used in Google Adwords. This tool is called retargeting.

Synchromarketing

This type of marketing is needed to smooth out fluctuations in demand associated with seasonality or other factors independent of the quality of the company’s work. It is easiest to find examples in the service sector and construction. Here are two of them.

• During the winter season, only a little construction work is carried out. A company that produces and sells bricks is experiencing a drop in demand. A promotion is being held to fix this: a discount when buying bricks in the winter months, and the purchased goods are stored for free until spring.
• Regular visitors to the World Class network began to complain about congestion in fitness clubs at certain hours. In response to these claims, the network produced charts showing the number of visitors during the day. This helped clients plan their visit to the club, considering its workload. The problem, albeit partially, was removed.

supportive

It is used when supply and demand are balanced and at a good level. For example, Coca-Cola’s Sprite drink is popular and in steady demand. Marketers need only remind about the drink with the help of commercials and sometimes change the shape of the package.

Demarketing

If your products are so in demand that production cannot physically keep up with demand, you need to reduce the latter artificially. Regulating increased demand to the level of supply is the task of demarketing.

The most obvious example is Apple. Its demarketing strategy is to keep product prices much higher than competitors. This allows you to contain the hype and control the increase in demand.

Opposing

Like demarketing, counter-marketing aims to reduce demand. The difference is that it is aimed at goods that are not socially approved (tobacco, alcohol, drugs), and most often, the state initiates it. In this case, often drastic measures are used. For example, we can recall the “prohibition” in the United States in the early twentieth century.

Types of marketing by nature and scale of activity

This classification is more common in textbooks than in practice, but it is also quite common.

A mass (or undifferentiated) marketing

Most often, the manufacturer adapts to the target audience’s needs, finds its hidden needs, makes various product options, and builds advertising based on the client’s preferences. Mass marketing ignores all this. One product is produced without taking into account the characteristics of consumer groups. Upon entering the market, this product should attract many potential customers and convince them to become buyers.

This is a somewhat aggressive form of marketing, expecting each product to find its consumer. This strategy is suitable if you have a large budget for advertising a product and if it is produced on a large scale.

As an example of mass marketing, you can bring Coca-Cola. Another example is Ford, with its cars for any purpose and wallet. But the success of these companies was largely due to little competition and large budgets.

Differentiated Marketing

This type of marketing is usually chosen by enterprises starting to bring products to market. These products are usually broken down into segments designed for different target audiences (for example, shampoos for children, women with colored hair, dandruff, weak hair, and so on).

In this case, marketing is adjusted to these consumer groups.

Concentrated (or targeted marketing)

It is best used for small businesses in very strong competition. Target marketing focuses on a certain market segment or target audience, reveals all their needs, and offers the most satisfying product or service.

15 most popular types of marketing

Inbound Marketing

In other words, inbound marketing. Its basis is the formation of content that attracts a benevolent audience. Content should be interesting and practical; it can be a blog, newsletter, presentation, and so on. The goal is to get people interested in a certain product or service to start searching for information on the Internet and learn about the company that provided this information.

A person will remember their source after receiving information that turned out to be important. Therefore, if he needs a product or service from this area, he will most likely turn to this company, which is already familiar to him. That is why marketing is called inbound: the company is not imposed on the client but pushes him to contact her himself.

Although this method is aimed at the long-term achievement of the goal, it contributes to the company’s positive image.

Outbound marketing

It’s the opposite of outbound marketing. Sets the opposite goals to incoming: find existing problems of a potential client and immediately offer their solution.

The marketer must determine the target audience and develop measures to influence it. It uses mailing lists, targeted advertising on social networks, and direct calls to potential customers. In any case, the service is offered directly to the intended consumer. Further events can develop in two ways.

In the first case, a person will not be interested in the offer, will not pay attention to it, and may even block this contact. In the second case, the client accepts the offer and completes the purchase of the product or service. Since the first option is much more common than the second, outbound marketing is either included in mixed strategies or used on an already prepared audience.

Digital Marketing

The complex mechanisms and marketing channels in the digital environment are called digital marketing. It includes all types of advertising on the Internet, infographics, search engine marketing, email newsletters, and all similar tools.

We experience digital marketing when we encounter an ad post on social media, watch an ad before launching a YouTube video, or read a native ad post on someone’s blog.

Search Marketing

Search Engine Marketing is a strategy based on search engine algorithms. That is, it is necessary to ensure that, with appropriate queries, the company’s website appears in the top lines of search results.

The main mechanisms are contextual advertising and search engine optimization (SEO).

Video Marketing

As the name implies, various forms of video are used here. These include educational videos, informational videos, lectures, blogs, and lifestyle publications.

The main feature of this type of marketing is the achievement of goals with the help of video content.

Content Marketing

This variety is close to inbound marketing. The difference is determined by the fact that inbound use simply information about a product or service, increasing interest in it, while content marketing includes recommendations for purchasing them.

Another difference is the increase in distribution methods. In addition to mailing lists, blogs, and the publication of useful information, content marketing uses the media, educational events, news resources, and more.

Social media marketing

The abbreviation SMM is commonly used in social media marketing. This is one of the types of Internet marketing that uses social networks. At the same time, brand pages are created on various social networks, correspondence is conducted with customers (both personal and open), and answers to emerging questions are given. Useful materials are also published. The main tasks of SMM:

• increase audience reach and attract more subscribers;
• raise the reputation of the brand and make it more recognizable;
• prepare the audience and push subscribers to buy.

Email marketing

Uses the power of email to communicate with the target audience. To do this, a database of addresses of potential buyers is created, and a content plan is drawn up. It contains offers, surveys, and important information.

On the one hand, the main difficulty lies in not causing discomfort and irritation in the addressee and obtaining practical benefits from the interaction.

Buzz-marketing

In another way, this type is called hidden marketing. Rumors are deliberately spread about the product, usually under the guise of leaking information. Rumors can even be scandalous. Due to this, interest in the brand is warmed up – while there is a discussion and exchange of opinions, it remains at the peak of attention.

Influencer marketing

The promotion of goods and services is carried out with the involvement of “influential people,” so this type is called influencer marketing. Artists, bloggers, or other public figures can influence the audience’s opinion. A person who considers some media personality to be an authority for himself will likely choose the product that this person uses.

Guerrilla Marketing

The most cost-effective form of marketing. At the same time, they use the distribution of booklets and leaflets on the street, comments in discussions on the Internet, and publications in the media.

This is a completely ineffective strategy for medium and large businesses, but it will help raise the visibility of a small company without requiring significant expenses.

Account Marketing and Client Marketing

Account-based marketing singles out one target group from the general audience and works with it in a targeted manner. Usually, the most promising clients in terms of profit are selected, to which an individual approach is justified.

In such cases, you can only spend energy on some possible buyers but focus on those who can become VIP clients and will provide a stable income.

Customer marketing works in the same way, but there is a difference. Here the goal is to attract a new clientele rather than increase existing customers’ interest.

Word-of-mouth marketing

Word of Mouth Marketing can also be translated as word of mouth. With this method, consumers of goods and services share their impressions with friends, colleagues, or relatives. By passing information to each other about the interesting characteristics of the product or about the original way of using it, people make it recognizable, which means they increase their interest in it.

Interactive and Relationship Marketing

These two types of marketing are very close. Interactive Marketing and Relationship Marketing require constant contact and feedback with the target audience. Draws, polls, interactive games, and other activities that create a favorable attitude are used to do this. Thus, the brand raises its position in comparison with competitors.

Customer reviews are very important in each case, including those randomly found on the Internet.

Event Marketing

Promotion through events and activities is called Event Marketing. It can be conferences, concerts, festivals, and holidays. Moreover, the company can either arrange an event itself or become a sponsor of an already-finished one. People who learned useful information from the conference or received positive feelings from the concert will remember the brand name and associate it with positive emotions.

As we can see, there are many ways to classify marketing. For any product promotion to achieve a result, you first need to consider the specifics of the target audience. A good marketer must collect the psychological characteristics of a potential client on this basis to select suitable mechanisms of influence and apply them effectively.