To promote their products and services, businesses can actively engage in different types of marketing.
But sadly, most small businesses only know and use one or two types of marketing. Hence, they limit their reach and impact.
On the other hand, successful businesses know the importance of investing in a solid marketing plan and strategy.
More importantly, their strategy actively combines multiple types of marketing throughout the customer lifecycle.
In this article, we shall examine certain types of marketing you can use to promote your business.
But before then, let’s take a quick look at what marketing is all about.
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What is Marketing?
The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines marketing as “the process of planning, executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods/services to create exchange and satisfy individual/organizational objectives.”
AMA’s definition of marketing is so broad. However, you can summarize it as the totality of efforts a company puts into standing out from the competition and creating awareness about its product/services.
Marketing creates awareness and engages the target audience by walking them through the customer cycle until they become paying customers. After the target audience becomes customers, a well-laid-out marketing plan also maintains a connection with the customers.
Additionally, marketing is very essential to the survival of any business. It is as important as revenue is to your business because it is at the heart of revenue generation.
That said, let’s explore the best types of marketing every business can try out.
Read also: Best Email Marketing Services for Business Owners
10 Types of Marketing Every Business Should Try Out
Marketing is usually divided into two major categories; digital (online) and offline marketing.
Offline marketing refers to the traditional mediums of marketing such as newspapers, radio and television broadcasting. While online or digital marketing describes any form of marketing that is carried out leveraging the internet.
These two broad categories of marketing are then further broken down into types of marketing. Some of these subdivided types of marketing are explained below:
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Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing describes all promotional efforts that were used before the emergence of the internet. Here, we talk about radio, television, billboards, and printed adverts (newspapers, flyers, magazines, etc).
Even though digital marketing seems to be a more impactful approach to marketing nowadays, these traditional types of marketing are however potent when deployed well. They can also complement a company’s digital marketing efforts.
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Content Marketing
Content marketing is one of the most effective types of marketing. Just as the name suggests, this form of marketing seeks to attract prospective customers through the creation and distribution of content on various platforms. These contents can come in different formats—text, audio and video.
Usually, the aim is to build and nurture a positive relationship with potential customers. Along the way, you can also build credibility and earn your customers’ trust.
One notable benefit of this marketing strategy is its affordability. You can seamlessly create content on your mobile device and share it on social media platforms. All of these come with no charge and you also have the advantage of sharing your content.
If your audience finds your content useful, chances are that they’ll share it, thereby increasing your reach. However, it’s important to note that content marketing requires patience. Its rewards usually take time to be earned.
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Social Media Marketing
Are you searching for an ideal option to grow your business online among the many types of marketing? Then consider social media marketing. We already touched a little on social media under content marketing.
With platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, etc, businesses can now interact with potential and existing customers on a more personal basis. Regardless of your industry, you can create a social media page and interact with your customers.
You can also promote your business and respond to queries within a short time. These platforms also have advertising features that allow you to get more traffic to your brand for a fee.
However, a word of caution is to avoid being overly promotional. Do not forget that it is primarily social media and not a marketplace. Also, it takes consistency and patience to reap the rewards of your efforts on social media.
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Search Engine Marketing
Search engine marketing (SEM) is everything you do as a business to rank high in search engine result pages (SERP). SEM has two subsets which are pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and search engine optimization (SEO).
The difference between these two subsets is that the former relies on paid ads (known as inorganic traffic) while the latter is purely organic traffic.
Several companies combine both forms of SEM. Whichever you choose to do depends on your kind of audience and your budget.
Read also: Steps to Sustainable Marketing for Businesses in Nigeria
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Email Marketing
The list of the best types of marketing can not be complete without mentioning email marketing. This form of business marketing describes marketing done via email. Usually, businesses of all kinds can create what is known as lead magnets, and give them out online in exchange for people’s emails.
Subsequently, these brands stay in touch with their subscribers via email, nurturing them into paying customers through educational content and sometimes promotional messages.
Below are certain best practices to keep in mind when using email marketing:
- Give those who opt-in a heads-up about who you are and what to expect.
- Make it easy for them to opt-out if they ever have a reason to.
Note that you’ll definitely need email marketing software to use this marketing approach.
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Influencer Marketing
With influencer marketing, you leverage the social media reach of experts within your industry. When compared to other types of marketing, the influencer marketing strategy is much more powerful and more effective.
All you’ve got to do is ensure you choose an influencer with your ideal target audience. Another important thing to do is to compare their audience size with the level of engagement they get. Influencers with high-level engagement can guarantee some good return on investment (ROI).
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Video Marketing
Nowadays, video marketing happens to be one of the most popular types of marketing for big businesses. Whether it’s on social media, your website or your email list, video marketing can significantly boost your promotional efforts.
With a video, you can entertain, explain difficult concepts or simply tell your brand stories. Common kinds of videos you can make include product demos, explainer videos or even interviews.
Video marketing gives your business marketing a human touch because people can see and hear you at the same time. It’s a lot more personal compared to the other types of marketing.
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Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing shares some similarities with influencer marketing. With this type of marketing, businesses offer other brands or individuals a commission on every sale made using their unique affiliate links.
This business strategy is one of the cost-effective types of marketing. You also get to set the rules and the percentage that works for you.
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Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Here, let’s describe two scenarios.
The first scenario: You watch an advert about a product/service online or on your TV set.
The second scenario: Your friend or family tells you about a product.
Tell us, which would convince you to buy a product between these two scenarios? Well, your answer is as good as our guess—you would trust your friend or family more. The power of word-of-mouth marketing has just been explained here.
Meanwhile, the downside to this type of business marketing is that you can’t force it. Customers only talk about brands they had a very good experience with. So, your goal is to build a product/service that is reliable.
Alongside that, endeavour to offer exceptional customer service. If your brand ticks these boxes, you’ll convert customers to frequent buyers and simultaneously turn them into evangelists of your business.
Read also: How to Create a Marketing Plan
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User-Generated Content (UGC) Marketing
UGC is one of those results-driven types of marketing strategy where customers share their experiences with your brand. UGC helps to increase believability and trust. This in turn can greatly influence the perception and purchasing decisions of potential customers.
According to a survey by Stackla, 79% of consumers are more likely to purchase a product after seeing positive UGC reviews. Some examples of UGC include product reviews, testimonials, user-generated photos and videos.
Integrating social media platforms into email marketing campaigns can allow for the effective dissemination of testimonials, amplifying their impact and reach.
Encouraging customers to share their photos and videos related to the brand through the use of hashtags or contests can also generate valuable UGC.
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Wrapping Up
There’s no right or wrong option when it comes to choosing from the above types of marketing. Implementing diverse types of marketing strategies is essential for any business striving for success.
Keep in mind that different approaches work for different businesses and industries. Thus, you need to experiment with different types of marketing to determine which works for your type of business.
By incorporating one or more types of marketing discussed in this article, you can effectively grow your business.
About Author
- Ajayi Olalekan is a Professional SEO writer & editor with 8+ years of print journalism and writing experience across different platforms — blogs, website, eBooks and social media. His writing experience also cuts across industries like IT, fashion, education management, real estate, consulting and entertainment.
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