A business is made up of several aspects that work together to make it profitable. Each aspect relies on the other to grow the business, reach new customers, and generate revenue. For businesses to make a profit, they must be able to sell their product and service to people that need them. Without making consistent sales, running a business or a company can be frustrating and the odds of the business failing increases.
To sell their products and services, businesses invest a lot of money into marketing and lead generation. They do this because they understand that to stay profitable, they have to retain existing customers as well acquire new ones.
click here – How Marketing Intelligence Helps Businesses Succeed
What is Marketing?
Marketing describes any effort made by a business or company to promote the buying and/or selling of a product or service. It involves several processes from research to promotion, sales, and distribution of products and services. It can also be done by others on behalf of a company; this is known as affiliate marketing.
Professionals who work in this field are known as marketers. Big companies and corporations usually have a dedicated marketing and promotions department that may consist of smaller teams. Marketers seek new ways by which they can market a company’s product or service and are always improving on existing strategies.
Derek Capo from Star Quix says – “Business has only two functions — Innovation & marketing.” In promoting a product or brand, marketers often go into deep research about their target audience. This is done so that their strategy can be tailored to that audience in a way that feels almost personalized. They may also promote a product through celebrity endorsement, unique packaging, trending catchy phrases, and overall media exposure.
This discipline is built entirely on the study of consumer and market behaviors. Focusing on how companies can leverage available consumer data to attract, acquire, and retain loyally paying customers by satisfying their needs and wants.
In marketing, several tools are used to guide strategies and improve their chances of success. One of such tools is a funnel. Funnels describe a customer’s journey from the moment contact is made till they are converted. Several companies provide businesses with tools that make the management of this process easy. You can check out GrooveFunnels for an example of such a tool.
click here – Top Things to Do in Southeast Colorado
The 4Ps of Marketing According to E.J. McCarthy
According to E.J. McCarthy, the entire scope of marketing can be summarized into a simple formula- the 4Ps of Marketing. This formula is the foundation of the concept and should guide every effort and strategy.
Product
A product must exist for marketing to be possible. After all, the concept centers on how products can be developed, promoted, and distributed to relevant customers to satisfy their needs and wants. Products and services that are to be marketed must be developed based on consumer needs and motivations. When designing a product or service, the customer’s satisfaction must always come first.
Place
The success of a product depends on several factors, one of which is the merchandising location. Where the product or service is sold can be anywhere from an online store to a chain of brick-and-mortar stores across different locations. However, the goal is to find the location of the target audience, a place where they can easily access the marketed product or service. This should be the backbone of every distribution strategy.
Price
Pricing is a crucial aspect of every marketing strategy as it can affect the success of the entire campaign. Several factors should be considered when deciding on the price of a product or service. A few of them include:
- What you want your profit margin to be
- Your target market and what their purchasing power is
- The type of product or services- luxury or regular
- Competitors’ price
- Company goals and target
Promotion
This involves all that is done to raise awareness of the product or service and communicate all its benefits. A good promotion should be able to set what you are selling apart from that of the competition. By focusing on the benefits and uniqueness of your merchandise, you increase your chance of making sales and turning in a profit.
Types of Marketing
There are several types of marketing that companies utilize to meet their sales goals and targets. Some of them include:
- Digital: Involves all promotions done within the digital environment.
- Email: This is one of the most profitable methods of promotion in terms of return. It involves communicating with the target audience via strategically written emails.
- Direct: This method relies on direct communication with the target audience rather than through mass media. Email marketing is one of the delivery systems used in this method. Click here to learn more.
- Viral: Involves the use of existing networks to promote a product or service through word-of-mouth.
- Mobile: Describes campaigns that are focused on mobile applications and platforms.
- Inbound: The use of various techniques to attract customers and work towards making sales. One popular technique employed here is content creation.
Importance of Marketing to Businesses
Marketing is important to business in many ways. Some include:
Raising Awareness
By putting your brand out there, your target audience becomes aware of your presence and what you have to offer. When they constantly see or hear about you, they unconsciously begin to develop trust in your brand and eventually become paying customers. As important as it is to have paying customers, you should aim to acquire loyal paying customers. This set of customers are incredibly valuable, especially when it comes to word-of-mouth marketing.
Generating Traffic
If you run an online store, you will understand that the volume of traffic you get can significantly affect your business. Marketing when done right, can send significant traffic that is relevant to your business. With every other thing in place, you can convert some of that traffic to actual sales.
Gathering Consumer Data
Most successful marketing campaigns are built on credible consumer data. This data is important in not only developing a product, but also in promoting it and predicting the outcome of campaigns.
Final Word
As we have established so far in this article, marketing is one part of a business that should never be overlooked if profit is to be made. An adequate budget should be set aside that will fund the different strategies marketers would like to implement to generate more leads and increase sales.