9 Marketing Techniques Experts Use to Make Millions of Dollars
The reason you are reading this article is that you are in the field of Marketing. And you are looking for better ways to make your marketing activities more effective. On that note, you are on the right page. In this article, I have discussed 9 marketing techniques (divided into three broader categories, i.e., Marketing, Branding, and Economics) based on my research, experience, and as part of an Internship program.
Yes, you read it correctly. An internship program.
I am a content writer, digital marketer, and a keen learner in the field of marketing. To sharpen my skills, I joined batch 14 of the Digital Deepak Internship Program. And I must say that this has been one of the best learning experiences in my life.
This article is one of the assignments I completed during my internship. And I hope you will find it very useful. Read on.
Marketing
If you ask anybody, “What is marketing?” the answer will be like, “Marketing is all about advertising a business, products, or services on various platforms.”.
But if you ask experts, they will give you a different, probably long, but meaningful answer. However, if we want to understand marketing in a few words, below would be the answer.
Marketing is a set of activities related to creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings, that have value for others. In business, the function of marketing is to bring value to customers whom it seeks to identify, satisfy, and retain.
I would like to add here is that every entrepreneur must have the basic fundamentals of marketing clear. You can not have a strategy by outsourcing the marketing process entirely to a marketing agency. Because when you are the founder, your products or services reflect your vision and mission. In that sense, your marketing strategy and activities should also reflect the same. And nobody other than you can do this better.
On the other hand, to do this, i.e., having an active involvement in shaping a strategy and setting up the execution processes, one needs to have the basic knowledge of marketing.
Though you have to learn a lot for this to happen, the information I have discussed in the following sections will be a great addition.
1. Marketing is not about talking. It is about listening.
Most of the small and struggling businesses mostly talk about themselves in their marketing campaigns. They present their products and services and try to convince the audience to buy them. As a result, their marketing copies end up talking features rather than solutions.
People do not need features. They need a solution, comfort, and value.
For this, your marketing activities should have a two-way conversation. If you expect your audience to pay attention, you have to listen to their needs. This can be done with engaging ad copies, social media posts, blog posts or articles, videos, etc.
2. Evolve with technological advancements
Your marketing efforts will get better results when you have the right resources and skills in place. Some businesses stick with old ways and struggle with the competition. But successful brands make use of every new way of improving their marketing activities. And they enjoy the benefits.
Use social media platforms
Everybody knows social media has become an inseparable part of our life. And it is an obvious thing that you, as a marketer, should reach your audience where they spend more time. Traditionally it was radio, then TV, and now the internet. More specifically, social media.
Your business and your followers on social media are ideally a community. And when you are in a community, you are expected to converse with the members regularly. So, learn how to keep them interested in you, make them talk about you, and encourage them to talk to you often.
Though these responses can not be measured accurately, you can see the results in terms of revenue and repeat customers. It will also increase customer retention and the flow of reference-based new customers.
Learn to use automation in marketing
Technologically advanced companies are so because they spend more on automation. It not just makes them agile but also eliminates the chances of human errors and delays.
As a marketer, you have to make sure your activities are automated and need less human intervention. Note that it is still crucial to appear human when engaging with your audience as they are humans. But you can make it almost the same and still make it automatic. So, understand how automation works, particularly for your business type.
Use marketing automation software
After you have a product or service, and a target market, your next crucial step is to have marketing automation in place. It is an investment worth making since it will boost your revenue by many folds if you deploy it effectively.
See it as an investment that is not only helpful to you but also to your customers. Imagine yourself, you as a customer of a company would expect prompt and personalized attention. And if you get it, you will feel happy. Instant replies, regular reminders and notifications, and on-time updates will make your stay with that company.
Thus a marketing automation software can have a positive impact on your ROI. And it is worth spending money on it.
Branding
In ancient times, people used to trust those in high positions in royal courts and society. And they used to make personal and financial transactions based on the name of these people.
In modern times, it has not changed much. You are more likely to trust a highly reputed person or brand. While shopping, you would also prefer an item when it is produced by a particular company. It is the result of many activities collectively called branding.
3. Know What You Are Selling
This is the first step towards knowing your customers who will buy your products or services.
Yes, if you know what you are selling, you can know where and whom to sell it. However, it does not end there. There is a reason behind the existence of any product or service. That reason may exist in the form of a problem or a want. If it is a problem, you have to be selling an outcome called a solution. If it is a want, you have to be selling experiences called happiness, pleasure, or satisfaction.
Digging deep to know your offers better and have a better idea of how to present them.
4. Sell the sizzle, not the steak.
When customers are buying something, they are actually looking to buy a solution, an outcome, or an experience. Sometimes, only one out of many features can solve their problem, so they will see it as a 100% value to their money.
That means you have got to be selling a meaning and not a product. If you talk about the features and benefits of your products all the time, you will lose the customer. Surprisingly, most of them would look startled by looking at your shining products and services. But in the end, they will move to those who match their needs within their budget.
Remember, every single person experiences a different outcome from the same product.
Take a smartphone as an example. It gives a businessman a tool to stay organized and get things done on the go. On the other hand, users of age-group 15–24 use it more to capture the fun moments and socialize with their friends. And you would have noticed this in the commercials of smartphone brands.
5. Personalize Your Message to Your Target Market
As an extension to what I discussed in the previous section, I would like to say, you have to personalize your message to your target market. Remember, no matter what your products or services are. You can not sell them unless you communicate effectively with your potential customers and make them feel special.
That means your content should focus on what your audience needs and what outcomes you are offering. Note that the features of your products can get their attention only if they can give a specific experience or solution.
Continue with the example of the smartphone. The smartphone brand commercial would display people enjoying the feature, i.e., high clarity camera or processor.
Many brands and models give the same camera or sound. But those who convey the personalized message to their target market sell more than those who just speak about features and technical aspects. Because most people are concerned with the benefits and the resulting experience. They do not know or care about the technicalities like camera resolution or processor speed. They just want a better experience.
6. Create Value Propositions to Attract Customers
Most businesses compete on features using attractive commercials. But some brands stand out with a value proposition. If your product is unique and solves a specific problem that no others do, you will have a sizable market.
If you are selling in a market having many competitors, you have to create a value proposition. It can be a feature or service that sets you apart from others and justifies the price.
Ask questions like “Why should people use my product instead of my competitor brands?” and “What makes you look different from others?”. You will come up with the value prepositions if you can give solid answers to these questions. And using them in your marketing material will provide you an advantage resulting in expected ROI.
Zoom is a great example. The website and marketing content effectively convey its value proposition to the visitors of its website as soon as they arrive there. It further clarifies some features that address the pain points that its users generally experience, for example, complexity, hidden pricing, and inconsistent experience.
If you are running a digital agency, you can use Zoom to create webinars for your audience. You can also have meetings for interaction with your team and customers. Zoom Rooms provides a smooth remote office and workspace experience with interactive whiteboarding, audio, and wireless content sharing. It also provides SDKs and APIs for developers for custom integration and building applications and new functionalities for the business-specific experience.
7. Use Customer Retention Techniques for Better Results
If you have products or services that users will need frequently and regularly, you need to keep them coming back to you. If you fail at that, they will move to other providers offering the same thing.
The results you get from your efforts to make customers stay along with you is called customer retention. And it brings a significant portion of your revenue. This is the reason great brands use customer retention techniques. Here are some of them.
Create a community
Your brand has a specific user base, and you can convert it into a community. Make them feel like a part of a tribe that goes in the same direction for their needs and wants. As a result, you will have a community where your marketing costs will be minimal with high returns.
Monitor the customer journey
Monitor their journey with your products or services using analytics and work to make it smoother and better. Moreover, you should be effectively adding value and solving their problems throughout the period. If you can do this, they will be more likely to stay with you or buy other products and services from you.
Measure and improve the lifetime value of your customer
Analytics can also give you an insight into your customer lifetime value. And you can compare the numbers with those of your competitors and take action to improve them. You can create custom offers or loyalty programs to keep them with you and increase their spending on your products and services.
Enhance customer experience
As it is said, customers do not buy your products or services, they buy an experience. So, it is your responsibility to improve customer experience on all channels that you use to serve and communicate with them. Advanced digital platforms have made it convenient for businesses to provide better experiences and satisfaction. Companies and brands are switching to more popular mediums like Whatsapp, Instagram, Facebook, and Telegram for sales and customer support activities.
These and other strategies, if applied well, can make a big difference in terms of your revenue, market share, and profit.
Economics
Having knowledge of economics and knowing what is going on globally and in the country where you are operating is the key to success in business and marketing. Global changes and trends may have short and long-term effects on markets. Hence as an entrepreneur or marketer, you have to learn economics and apply the knowledge while making decisions in your business.
8. Anticipate the future
Successful marketers go beyond the current trends by anticipating the future. They do this by analyzing the data on global and national economics. For example, India has been a rapidly growing country for a decade now. As a result, the demand for technologically advanced products and services is at an all-time high. This is well-taken by many organizations. And they have come up with solutions that received a great welcome from the masses in all the customer segments.
Jio is one of the best examples. The company successfully tapped into a huge growth potential of the Indian market by introducing their low-cost mobile instruments and internet packages. They achieved the place of number one in the country.
It is not the cheapest internet and mobile service provider now. They have already gained a significant market share that they can easily leverage while launching their new products or services.
9. Focus on your market segment
Every product or service category has a specific market segment. For example, if your product or service is of high value, its users will be from a high-income group. On that note, your marketing activities should be directed towards that segment. It can not be that you target a general or broad audience.
If we consider India as your market, there are three segments called India1, India2, and India3. These segments are mentioned by Sajith Pai in his blog post India2, English Tax and Building for the Next Billion Users. He is a venture capital investor, and according to him, most startups in India have a market segment called India1 or India2. The total household population in these segments is 110m and 104m, respectively, which is of the size of Mexico and the Philippines.
So, targeting these segments will give you the optimum response and return on your marketing expenses.
Conclusion
Marketing does not mean paid advertising only. It is a combination of multiple activities that starts right from designing your product. Moreover, your product or service should be based on what customers need or what problems they are facing. Listening to your target audience will help you create a solution and an experience that needs not much marketing.
However, marketing is an inevitable activity for any business. So every entrepreneur should have the knowledge of basic marketing fundamentals, branding, and economics. Covering these three areas in your marketing strategy will boost the chances of your success. We hope the techniques discussed above will help you marketing your products and services and generating high revenue.
Best wishes.
