Top Ten Marketing Tools
In order to become more visible and attract more clients, companies use a range of different marketing tools. These include; advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing and many others which will be described in this article. We wanted to give you a breakdown of all of these important marketing tools, so you can choose the ones that best fit your product or service. Combining these methods will give you a powerful presence in the market and allow you to win customers ahead of your competitors.
Most people associate marketing with advertising, as it’s probably the most visible marketing method. We are bombarded with advertising every day on our streets, television, magazines and increasingly in the 21st century, on social media.
By advertising a product or service, you create awareness and draw the potential clients’ attention to it. Especially in a crowded marketplace, advertising is crucial to sales success and without it your company is at risk of being overlooked. Due to their advertising on TV, radio, print, outdoor or digital, businesses attract clients and become more visible. Advertising makes people aware of the product or brand by consistently repeating the key message until people remember it and take action.
Sales promotion is a tool which some brands use to push sales up, get more clients or to clear stock for new products. Examples of sales promotions include; buy one get one free, larger sized product without an additional cost, and a free gift with your purchase. This technique encourages the client to buy the product and in many cases encourages customers to switch to a different brand.
Public relations is a method that a lot of companies use to talk about their product in the media, generate good will and improve reputation through community involvement. To ensure media success, a story must be newsworthy and not be overtly promotional. PR is a softer way to tell to people about your product than a standard advertisement and you don’t tend to have to pay for the space. It is often viewed as more powerful than advertising because it is not viewed as sales and the editorial environment adds weight to the message. However, placement is not guaranteed, as it must interest the media to be published.
Influencer marketing is a new and rapidly growing marketing tool. However, it is really based on the principals of public relations, but modified for the new channels and the new brand of social media influencers, rather than traditional journalists.
A common example of influencer marketing is when a company sends out products to bloggers and popular media figures asking them to review the product and give their opinion on it. This is very powerful because their followers receive their recommendations and want to be like them, so they go ahead and buy the product or share the post with their followers.
However, make sure you find the right person with right target audience for your product, only then will the promotion be effective.
This is a very fast developing advertising method, growing in popularity with brands, as it is so interactive and immediate. However, because of the demand, important influencers are charging large amounts per post. We recently encountered a mid-range Spanish influencer charging 4,000€ per post and the mega influencers like the Kardashians charge much, much more. We’d recommend looking at micro-influencers, which are niche for your area and perfectly fit your target market. These influencers often accept the product and review it without charge, or charge an affordable fee.
Online marketing centres around your company website and your social media channels. Good online marketing ensures that you are visible online and can catch the eye of the audience while they are searching, make them aware of the product and make them want to buy. A company website should be easy to find and easy to use, have a design that suits the brand and is user friendly, with quality images. It should feature quality content, which is regularly updated to boost performance in search engines. Your website represents your company online and is a big part of the decision making process on whether the client wants to work with you or not and so is an important tool to drive sales. This should be supplemented by strong social media channels.
Social media is another key tool which companies should use in order to interact with clients. Important channels include Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter. Whether you have a hotel or an online shop, you should have a social media presence so that your audience can receive your notifications and give them an easy platform to contact you and connect with your brand. Another important function of social media is driving traffic to your website and creating links.
- Personal selling
This is the original and most simple form of marketing where you interact with the client face-to-face. For example, a market trader selling their goods, or the salesman going door to door. Selling face-to-face enables you to adapt the sales pitch and price, depending on the type of customer you’re dealing with. It gives very good market insight and can influence your sales and marketing strategies across your brand.
Networking is the king of personal selling. Normally it takes place at an event, which is organised for businesses with the purpose of making new contacts, sharing information about your company and giving out cards to other businesses and potential consumers. However networking can also take place online, on B2B platforms such as LinkedIn. It is the cheapest way to promote yourself because you do not need anything except your business card and yourself.
Direct marketing is a type of marketing which is all about action. It takes many forms, but the key is to think what you want your customer to do. For example, you could be sending out emails telling people about a promotion or sale, with a direct link to buy, or a promotional code. The aim is to get a client to be more interested in the product and trigger a sale or enquiry. Alternatively, the company can send out a physical mailing to people with coupons, special offers or discounts that will encourage these potential clients to interact with your brand and buy.
Email marketing is a technique, which is used to notify the client about you via regular email updates. The content should be interesting for the reader, to discourage them to delete the email or unsubscribe from the mailing list. In order to make it interesting, the email should contain short texts, bullet points, images and links to your website.
In this post, we have discussed the most popular marketing tools for both small and large businesses alike, in order to help you find the right way to sell your product or promote your business. Combine several of these techniques for a strong marketing mix. To find out which marketing tools would work best for your business, please contact us.