Marketing is a broad umbrella concept that includes all of the processes and strategies for accomplishing goals such as:
- Elevating brand awareness
- Improving an organization’s public image
- Setting one’s products or services apart from those of competitors
- Making one’s products or services compelling to customers
- Retaining current customers and encouraging them to be loyal fans of the brand
On occasion, marketing can overlap with public relations, such as when developing a marketing campaign designed to improve the organization’s public image and brand perception.
Marketing requires extensive research to develop an understanding of the company’s target audience, such as their demographics and pain points. The marketing team attempts to connect with their audience so that the product or service becomes more enticing.
Depending on the size of the organization, the marketing team may encompass other smaller teams within the broader marketing team. For example, at some companies, there may be a social media team, digital team, content team or any other variety of teams that all work under the umbrella of marketing.
Some of the steps that are taken in marketing include:
Marketers can use research to make data-driven decisions. Effective marketing necessitates understanding a product or service and its audience.
Marketers may develop buyer personas or buyer profiles to better understand their potential customers. They will consider many different aspects, such as age range, income level, education and gender, along with pain points that a product could solve. This allows the team to tailor aspects of their strategy to this specific group of people.
After conducting market research and getting to know the target audience, marketers create marketing strategies that guide the development and implementation of marketing campaigns. For example, if the target audience largely consists of overworked, cash-strapped single parents, the main marketing message may communicate how a particular product or service will help customers save time and money.
Once the marketing strategy and campaign has been planned, marketers can launch content designed to connect with their audience. They may use a multi-channel strategy, such as publishing many different types of content on multiple platforms.
Additionally, marketers must be able to review and analyze what strategies worked best and others that need to be adjusted. For example, a certain package design may have generated more sales, or a series of social media posts may have received more engagement than an email campaign.
