There is a misunderstanding by many of what a marketing strategy is about. Marketing and advertising are two completely different subjects. Your marketing strategy is long term. Its goal is to show people the value of your company. Advertising is short term and aimed at finding immediate buyers for your product or service.
Your ideal customer
Although knowing your audience is important for advertising it is as important for marketing. Every business has an ideal customer. With marketing and advertising to find buyers you must reach your ideal customer.
How can something be different and yet interdependent?
Are there different strategies for marketing and advertising? With each in the end the goal is the same. Marketing goes much deeper into the potential buyer’s question, “What is in it for me?” It spends more time dealing with “why should I buy from your company”? With advertising you are letting a customer know how much, for how long, and in many cases where they can find their solution. It takes both in synchrony to run a successful business.
Three major questions to be answered
- Why is your solution the best for the customer?
- Does your company align with your customers need to belong?
- Are you addressing your customers’ pain or just increasing their pleasure?
Why is your solution the best for the customer?
Marketing is where you address this question. The most important is why your product or service is the best solution. Then hopefully the only real solution to the situation in which they find themselves.
Does your company align with your customers’ need to belong?
What does your ideal customer care about outside your product or service? When you align your goals outside business with your ideal customers it is considered common knowledge that they are more apt to do business with you. This is what makes them feel part of something bigger than themselves.
Are you addressing your customers’ pain or just increasing their pleasure?
For this let’s look at horses for our example. Different breeds have different functions. If you are plowing fields using horses you want a draft horse. A cowboy is going to be happier on a mustang. For fast, most likely you are going to want a thoroughbred. With pleasure most of the above will work. It will depend upon the status you want to show the world. Pleasure is almost always about status. With each type of horse there are also status levels.
Who, what, where, when and why
Advertising is the area where a potential customer finds out what, where, and when. It is short term, letting a potential customer know what specials you are offering at any given time.
Marketing is required to answer the who and why. This is where a potential customer finds out, “Who are you as a company”? Then “why should I do business with you”?
Marketing strategies
It is important to remember that your strategy for marketing is about filling your funnel. It is about creating interest for those who will buy after several exposures. Since in today’s world people often research before they buy this just makes sense.
Advertising is short term. Those who buy will most likely do at least a little research. These are the people with an immediate need, and quite often looking for a bargain.
In conclusion
If you fail to plan, expect to fail. As the internet has changed so have the marketing strategies that work. In today’s world it takes creativity and knowing what has worked in the past.