Marketing technologies are methods of promoting a product (service) to the market. In addition, these are ways to increase sales. Marketing is not limited to advertising and sales promotion. It includes everything related to the product: quality, ergonomics, properties, design. This is the price, the choice of points for sale, promotions, loy alty programs.
Let's consider what types of marketing technologies exist. Let's find out what their features are.
Network Marketing
It is to create a sales chain. Independent agents of the firm sell its products. They attract other people by becoming their leaders. The new agents soon move up a notch as well. They begin to control a group of other implementers. Managers receive a percentage of the cost of goods sold by downline agents.
Network marketing allows a company to reduce spending tominimum. The manufacturer does not need to look for wholesalers who will sell the goods in stores. No need to pay for transport for transportation and storage facilities. No management costs. You can even save on advertising, because this function is performed by the agents themselves.
Merchandising
The application of marketing technology lies in the correct placement of goods. The seller creates such conditions that the buyer can easily and quickly find what he needs. So that he perceives being in the store as entertainment, pleasure and spends as much money as possible. Products must have attractive promotional descriptions and correct price tags.
Call Center
Companies place their call center number on product packaging or in TV ads. Sometimes promises to send the consumer a small gift for making a call. The telephone exchange distributes all callers to the call center. The first ones talk to the operators. The second wait until the specialists are free, and at this time they listen to information about the company's promotions and discounts.
Telephone communication increases brand awareness, customer trust and loy alty. Based on the questions asked by the callers, you can create a portrait of the consumer, understand the needs. Comments and recommendations allow a company to make a product or service more attractive to customers.
Viral Marketing
Consists in the fact that people themselves share information aboutproduct with each other. Divided into:
- Spreading rumors. The manufacturer communicates certain information to the general public for the purpose of advertising. People tend not only to interpret in their own way, but also to add something of their own. As a result, the information is distorted. But such gossip is beneficial for companies, they increase awareness and interest. It happens that information is so misrepresented that it can harm the reputation of the manufacturer.
- Managed word of mouth. The company hires people who talk about the benefits of the product, call it the best. Moreover, this is presented as a conviction of a particular person, and not as an advertisement.
- Gifts, discounts for referring other customers.
- Product advertising from opinion leaders, celebrities. This technology is expensive, but usually pays off well.
Guerilla Marketing
This term is used by some to mean hidden marketing. Others mean non-standard. Such confusion in concepts gives the right to talk about two subspecies of guerrilla marketing. This new marketing technology has emerged in response to the glut of advertising in the information space and real life. Consumers have developed insensitivity. They just stopped noticing the ads.
Hidden guerrilla marketing - this is when people do not notice that they are trying to make them loyal to some brand, product. For example, a mobile phone company has attracted well-known media personalities. They asked passers-by to take a picture of them with their smartphone and at the same time talked about its benefits. Allfelt natural, like sharing personal experiences.
Unconventional guerrilla marketing is low cost. It is suitable for small businesses or start-up companies with a low budget. The essence of the technology is the distribution of promotional products of unusual appearance and content. Example: yoga center business card is made of neoprene. Looks exactly like a rolled up exercise mat.
Cross marketing
Companies join forces and promote products together or advertise each other. Firms must produce a different product. The target audience is one or intersect. It is important that consumers of both goods have approximately the same level of income. It will be difficult to promote budget and high-end products together.
Types of cross-marketing:
- Tactical. One-time cooperation for a short time. It can be a promotion for a holiday or discounts on the occasion of the company's birthday. However, this technology can be used frequently, as well as attract as many partners as you like.
- Strategic. Companies (two, rarely three) agree on long-term cooperation. They offer a loy alty program, order general advertising or promote each other.
Product placement
Marketing technologies have settled in culture for a long time. Product placement is proof of that. What is its essence? An advertisement for a product or brand is introduced into the plot of a film, video game, clip, book. The spread of this technology is due to the fact that consumers began to consciously avoid advertising. They change the channel, install a blocker on the Internet. There are three types of product placement:
- Audial. The character or voiceover mentions the product.
- Visual. Viewers see the logo or product through the movie character. For example, a sign on the street, a drink on the table.
- Kinesthetic. The character interacts with the product, for example, makes sharp turns on a motorcycle of a famous brand.
Internet Marketing
This is the newest technology that has developed into a separate direction. Promotion on the Internet has subspecies. Let's analyze each of them.
SEO optimization
Needed to attract more Internet users to the site. To do this, the page must be in the first positions or on the first pages of the search engine results. SEO optimization can be internal and external.
Internal optimization improves the quality of the site. A good page should respond to the request of visitors, contain the correct keywords. Usefulness, structure, uniqueness and volume of texts are of great importance. Linking the site and other components of internal optimization make it more attractive to people.
External optimization involves placing links to a web resource on other sites. Not only the quantity is important, but also the reputation of third-party resources. You can exchange links with high-quality, visited sites. Their authority and the mention of your site will help in promotion. Buying a lot of links at once and placing them on one-day sites is dangerous. Search engines may recognize the trick, and the ranking of the web resource will drop.
SMM
This is social media marketing. The company, in order to interest buyers, leads groups on social networks, conducts surveys and contests there. You can "friend" with other groups to increase the number of subscribers.
SMM Benefits:
- only the target audience in social networks, which means that the traffic to the site is better;
- feedback from consumers helps to improve the quality of services (product);
- users themselves distribute information, share with friends;
- cheaper SEO.
Disadvantages of SMM:
- no quick returns;
- no guarantee;
- not suitable for complex industrial products and b2b-segment.
SMO
This is website optimization for popular social networks. The resource integrated with social networks has "Share" and "Like" buttons. On the site, you can subscribe to updates through the social network, and comment on the article you like through it.
Viral Internet Marketing
Thanks to social media and the Internet in general, content spreads as fast as a virus and reaches a huge number of users in a short time. Species:
- Viral video. This Internet marketing technology is used most often. The point is to post a funny, unusual video on the site. Most often, there is no advertising of the product in the video - only the logo or the name of the company in the credits. In order for people to share a video with their friends, it must be very interesting.
- Viral prize game. The company is holding a competition forperformance of some tasks, then an entertainment event. It all ends with the presentation of gifts to the winners. This is an expensive technology, only big market players use it.
- Transmission of information through well-known bloggers. This only applies to popular blogs with high traffic.
- Viral marketing through social networks. Not only video can be distributed, but also a funny picture, photo, link to the site.
Direct marketing
This is synonymous with direct marketing. The technology involves direct one-way contact with potential customers. Users who are the target audience are sent a series of emails via email or SMS. With the help of the mailing list, the company demonstrates its expertise to the client, shows how it can be useful. Then he tries to sell a product or service.
You don't need a huge budget to start a newsletter. It is convenient that the company has access to statistics on email open rates, link clicks, and order placement. The difficulty lies in the fact that you need to accurately create a customer base, and then constantly replenish it. In addition, emails often end up in spam. Some users do not open such letters at all.
Contextual advertising
On the page with search results, the user can see ad units. They are located at the top, immediately below the search bar, and to the right. Also, such ads are found on sites of the same or similar topics. Contextual advertising can be a text ad or an adbanner.
If the user is interested, he clicks on the link and goes to the advertiser's site. For each transition, and therefore, for each potential client, the manufacturing company pays money. The more popular the keyword in the ad, the more expensive the ad costs.
The advantage of marketing technology is that from the first day the company receives potential customers who have moved to the site. No need to promote with optimization. However, customers may disappear when the ad expires. In addition, contextual advertising is not suitable for informational sites. Resources that earn on traffic will not be able to recoup it.
Display advertising
Speaking of media advertising, as a rule, they mean banners. These are images, animated drawings or short videos. Banners look almost the same as advertising on billboards or magazine pages. They inform consumers about promotions, new products.
A banner should be not only attractive and noticeable, but also catchy, that is, play on a person's emotions. Placing a banner on a site with high traffic is expensive. This information and marketing technology allows you to see statistics. Unfortunately, it shows that not many website visitors who come through the link become customers.
Internet branding
The essence and purpose of this modern marketing technology is the formation of the company's brand, its development and promotion on the Internet. Internet branding has its own tasks at different stages.
- Introducing the audience to the brand. It must become recognizable, and for this, companies use many of the above marketing technologies: banners, advertising in social networks, forums, cross- and direct marketing. The manufacturer explains to the audience the features of his product or service, tries to form the image of a professional. People need to believe in the company's ability to solve their problems.
- Strengthening the brand's position in the network. Thanks to the quality of products and service, the company has more and more customers. The manufacturer communicates with them through the website, social networks, involving consumers in the life of the brand. At this stage, product advertising by famous personalities works well. As a result, customers become loyal to the brand.
- Constantly maintaining the image of the company. This stage is the most difficult. In order for customers to become adherents of brand products, quality, sales and after-sales service, and fame are necessary. A company with a large following can save on advertising.
Social Marketing Technology
Unlike the previous ones, this technology is not designed to sell more services or satisfy customer needs for a product. Its goal is to improve the quality of life of certain categories of people, to popularize an idea that is useful for society or the ecosystem. The company can help the poor, orphanages, encourage people to join a charity event. Major manufacturers are pushing the idea of recycled packaging or replacing plastic bags with paper ones.
Control system
Marketing Technology Management includes:
- Commodity policy. This is the creation of new products or updating. Positioning of goods in the market, ensuring its competitiveness. Packaging design, brand development.
- Sales policy. This is sales promotion, demand generation, development of a sales strategy.
- Pricing policy. This is the choice of a reasonable price of goods, margins, discounts. Setting the initial price and options for its fluctuation.
- Technologies of marketing communications. They are used at all stages of promotion from the manufacturer to the client. The company decides in what areas it will advertise and conduct PR. Develops ways of sales and their stimulation. Defined with brand image building and service quality criteria.
- Marketing research technologies. These are observations, surveys of the target audience, experiments, expert evaluation, development of a mathematical model.
No matter how good the service, the product, without the use of the company's marketing technologies will not succeed. Recently, marketing has become very complex, and approaches that were effective yesterday no longer work today. Marketing tech savvy tend to have a specialization such as SEO, SMM, or email marketing. It is better for companies to turn to professionals for promotion services.
