The Many Different Types of Marketing

Marketing is one of the most important aspects of doing business.  If your company is a startup, only the proper marketing will get it off the ground and allow your new business to survive.  If you’re operating an existing business, the main goal is always to generate more revenue.  There’s never been a business owner on the planet whose modus operandi was to decrease revenue.

Some people don’t even know what the true sense of the meaning is so lefts define it.  In the literal sense of the term, marketing is the act of promoting and articulating the value of goods or services to potential buyers with the intentions of increasing sales and profits for a company.  However, there are many different facets of marketing so let’s analyze some of the more common strategies so that you can better understand the many ways in which to get the job done.

Ambush Marketing

This technique is usually associated with an event where one company attempts to draw the attention from the official sponsor (which is typically the leading brand) to another by means of overwhelming the event with its brand.  In some cases, marketers can get away with executing this strategy with a minimal investment.  For example, free sample giveaways at an event or getting many people to wear shirts bearing a company name or logo.  Often times, this method is done in a way that is effective without having to be an official sponsor or pay advertising fees to the venue.

Other examples of Ambush Marketing are leaving flyers or brochures on the seats before spectators enter the venue, placing flyers or banners underneath windshield wipers in the parking lot, blimps, airplane banners, skywriting, boxers buzzing brand names into their hair, utilizing insanely hot models, etc.  Ambush marketing makes the brand it’s promoting the unofficial sponsor at the event. 

Sometimes Ambush Marketing comes in the form of one sign mocking the competitors sign that’s right next to it.  This type of marketing can be risky and those participating in it should first consider the possibility of legal ramifications or the probability of coming across unscrupulous.  However, it is usually an otherwise effective tactic.

Vertical Marketing

This is an interesting strategy that involves a company owning both the supplier and the manufacturer or the manufacturer and the retailer.  In this case, a company can become its own referral source.  Think of how cost effective and efficient the process could be if the same company supplies the raw materials, manufactured the products and distributes to end users.

Examples of vertical integration are when a mortgage company lends money and collects payments or when an oil company owns the refinery and gas stations.  Other examples could be a car company owning a tire company or a soda company owning the bottling plant.  When a company owns its suppliers and buyers, it has a better chance of dominating the marketplace. 

Companies usually don’t start off this way but rather use Vertical Integration as a logical way to expand or cut out the middle man.  There’s no better way to get business than to own one company that sends business to another company you also own.

Guerrilla Marketing

As with guerrilla warfare, guerrilla marketing utilizes unconventional methods to conquer an otherwise large traditional market by the use of hit-and-run tactics, over and over again.  This in-your-face method is usually found in public places and associated with a minimal investment to achieve maximum results.

These types of marketing efforts can come in the form of stickers, billboards, publicity stunts, graffiti, banners, signage, murals, etc.  Whatever the form is, its effectiveness is fueled by creativity.  The more original the concept is, the more people will notice and remember it.  I’ve never seen an example of guerrilla marketing that wasn’t much more creative than traditional marketing.

In simplest terms, it’s an unusual or unexpected scheme that evokes a memorable reaction to those who view it.  Some guerrilla marketing tactics can include accepting competitor’s coupons, harnessing a controversial topic, using your entire building as a billboard, floor stenciling, body art or body painting, utilizing props, flash mobs, gimmicks, etc.

Multi-Level Marketing

Formerly known as pyramid marketing and sometimes referred to as network marketing, sales momentum is generated by the commissions earned not only from individual sales rep efforts but also sales reps they recruit.  As more sales recruits are brought in, the individuals involved higher on the chain gain greater residuals.  This fosters rapid growth among the sales community.  In this strategy, individual sales representatives participate in word-of-mouth campaigns in order to generate direct sales with end users.

Companies best known for utilizing this technique are Avon and Amway.  Sometimes this method can fail if the system encounters difficulty recruiting new distributors.  When this occurs, the distributors lower on the chain seem to be left with nothing while the recruiters who got involved earlier in the game reap the rewards of the lowly distributors efforts.  Some unethical companies who participate in multi-level marketing have exploited their recruits with unrealistic income claims, giving it somewhat of a bad image.

Internet Marketing

Everyone knows that online marketing utilizes the internet to disseminate information to the masses about a company’s products or services.  This can be done through emails, search engines, social networks, banner ads, articles, press releases, blogs, videos, memes, infographics, pop-up ads, pay-per-click campaigns, affiliates, text ads, etc.  This type of marketing has become essential to the survival of most companies in almost every industry today.

In many cases, internet marketing is categorized in 2 ways, sponsored and organic.  Sponsored advertising online means that you have paid a website, such as a search engine or another type of high-traffic website to display your advertisement. Organic search results are the links that appear on the search engines based on their content and relevance to your search terms.

With Google dominating the search engine market, they have set the standards for how this type of marketing is done.  Google makes most of their money selling advertising on their search engine so they make it difficult for anyone to achieve organic search placement.  They do this by periodically changing the algorithms of their search engine which basically determines how websites get ranked.  Succeeding in organic search results has become so complicated that it’s best left to search engine optimization professionals.  Participating in certain online marketing tactics that Google deems unethical could get you blacklisted and banned from the search engine’s indices. 

Article Marketing

This article that you’re currently reading right now is an example of Article or Content Marketing.  At the end, you will see my company’s name, telephone number and website address.  Article marketing is effective because it contains information that is useful and/or interesting enough to attract the attention of the target customer.  Once you have their attention, you can make them aware of your product and/or service.

If you are an expert on a particular topic, you can write an article about it and submit it to a newspaper, magazine, periodical, newsletter, article submission or press release submission website, blog, etc.  Sometimes, other entities will find your article to be newsworthy and ask your permission to use it in their publication.  This opens your marketing efforts to a whole new population of potential customers.

If you attempt to participate in Article Marketing online, be careful with re-posting your articles on multiple sites.  In other words, don’t do it.  Search engines frown upon duplicate content and when they identify it, they tend to penalize the site by ranking it lower in search engine result pages.

Viral Marketing

Viral marketing normally pertains to a type of online marketing that involves the marketing tool to be replicated and redistributed throughout a multitude of social media platforms.  This type of marketing is extremely effective as it could reach many people with very little effort or cost.

In order to make your marketing efforts go viral, there has to be some incentive to make viewers pass it along.  In order for people to want to share something they see online with their friends, it has to be funny, informative, interesting, emotional, controversial, horrifying, offensive, etc.  Once you create an image, statement or video that has the potential to provoke someone’s emotions and go viral, all you have to do is sit back and allow other people to distribute it through their own networks.  The challenge is developing something that promotes your business and is viral-worthy at the same time.  Otherwise, no one will want to pass it along.

If it seems too much like an advertisement, your content is less likely to go viral.  It should evoke some type of emotion from the recipients. In order for something to go viral it has to either touch someone’s heart or in some way scare, enrage, infuriate, repulse, excite, entertain or surprise the viewers.  Only then will they be willing to pass it along and post it on their own social networking platforms.

If a message is not going to be voluntarily spread throughout its viewers’ networks, it could possibly be spread involuntarily.  Such as embedding an advertisement, image, logo or offer in an email campaign.  It could be as simple as incorporating a motivational or inspirational quote into an image and having a subtle website address at the bottom.  People may post the image for its original message but your URL will be visible.

Database Marketing

This form of marketing is a lot more common than you might think.  All of the free websites that seem to not have any way of generating revenue are using this as their main source of income.  Social networking sites that have acquired so much information about their members, such as demographical information, what their interests are, how they spend their time online, what they look at, what they read, etc.  Someone is making a lot of money off of you without you even realizing it.

Once all of this data is collected, it is sold, recycled and used to market products and services to individuals in many different ways.  This is why some websites that never made any money have been sold for millions of dollars.  Their value is in their database.  Large corporations are interested in the collection of data and use it for marketing purposes.

Every company should keep a record of past customers.  These customers can be reminded of your products or services in an effort to generate repeat or recurring sales.  If you want to expand beyond your previous clientele, you can purchase leads or databases for the purpose of marketing to a new population.  Once you have access to a database, you can then use the information to call, email or mail the individuals on that list to market your company.

Freebie Marketing

This concept involves giving a product away to customers at no cost in an effort to increase sales of other items.  Offering free products can attract people to your location.  Once they’re there, you have a captive audience who you can then market items they would have to buy.  Getting something for free can entice and engage a potential customer almost every time. 

An example of this is when razor blade companies mail out free shaving handles.  They make more money selling the blades than they do on the handles themselves.  Sometimes food and beverage establishments offer free food (like buffalo wings) to attract people who will ultimately spend money on alcohol at their bar.

Loyalty Marketing

Many companies realize that it costs more money to market to new customers than it does to remind past customers of their products/services.  Loyalty marketing offers incentives for a company’s past or existing customers to re-engage.  Some companies give you a punch card that entitles you to a discount or free item on your 5^th purchase or something to that effect.  This is an example of Loyalty Marketing.

In some cases, Loyalty Marketing can offer incentives for your customers to continue doing business with your company, rather than your competitors.  Some retailers do this with “reward” cards that offer you a discount or money back when you reach certain points.  This method can be very effective if executed properly.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing became popular when the internet became a more comfortable platform for retail.  Entrepreneurs who are seeking business opportunities on the internet view Affiliate Marketing as a low investment, low risk way to sell other company’s products.  Basically, the affiliate creates the website in which to sell the products and the company participates in a drop-ship arrangement whereas the affiliate takes the orders and the company fulfills them.  The company makes the sale and ships the product directly to the consumer without any further involvement of the affiliate and the affiliate makes a commission or a percentage of the sale.

There are affiliate administrators who help facilitate this process by developing software that makes it easier to track transactions.  If you are a manufacturer or a supplier of products, developing an affiliate program could be a viable way to increase sales.

Alliance Marketing

This is basically a form of co-branding that allows 2 companies with different products that complement each other without competing with each other.  For example, a company that sells flowers can team up with a company that makes wedding cakes.   Their target customers are the same so if they market their products together, they may have an increased chance of making a sale. Companies engaged in this type of strategic alliance can also share the cost of advertising and other marketing efforts.

There are many companies that sell products or services that can be paired up with other companies that offer products/services that compliment theirs without there being a conflict of interest.  A plumber and an electrician can participate in an Alliance Marketing campaign where all of the clients of one company are exposed to the other’s and vice versa.  The key is finding companies in your field that you can do this with.

Black Hat Marketing

This is one type of marketing that you don’t want to be involved in. It typically pertains to online marketing and is an unethical approach to gaining higher search engine rankings.  If Google catches you, you could be banned and blacklisted from ever appearing on Google again.  This could be a devastating blow for any company that counts on being found on search engines to stay in business.

Examples of black hat marketing techniques are keyword stuffing, hidden texts/links, cloaking, doorway pages, duplicate content, spam, link farms, domain squatting, URL hijacking, misspellings, illegible text, link bait, broken links, bad code, paid links, etc.  Participating in any of these tactics is the best way for your website to become invisible to the entire world.

Catalog Marketing

This has almost become a thing of the past, thanks to the internet.  However, there are still some retail companies that send out catalogs to customers or potential customers in the hopes that they will place an order.  The postage associated with mailing out thousands of catalogs can be costly.  It may be more cost effective to spend the money on an SEO campaign unless your target customer is the geriatric population that doesn’t utilize the internet.

There are many other types of marketing.  It’s a good idea to try as many strategies as possible to see what works best for your company and in your industry.  A diverse and multi-pronged approach to marketing is always a good idea, at least initially until you are able to determine which approach or methods are most effective for you.

For more information on how to market your company, products, services or brand, please contact Ashlar Consulting Corporation at 305-849-9399 or visit www.AshlarConsultingCorporation.com.