What type of marketing do you want to do?

When you hear this kind of question, you start to wonder. Is the answer I am thinking of too simple? or too vague? or to reductive?

Can we break down types of marketing? Rabbit hole alert.

I started with just asking the above question to an accelerated computing program built with the help of receptive language learning models or we simplistically call AI.

The perplexity.ai replied.

The type of marketing you choose depends on your specific business goals, target audience, and available resources. However, here are some key considerations when deciding what type of marketing to focus on:

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is the fastest-growing and most effective way to reach customers today. It encompasses strategies like:

• Search engine optimization (SEO) to drive organic traffic from search engines
• Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising on search engines and social media
• Social media marketing to build an online presence and engage with followers
• Email marketing to nurture leads and stay top-of-mind with customers
• Content marketing like blogs, videos, and podcasts to attract and educate

Digital marketing allows you to precisely target your ideal customers, track results, and optimize campaigns in real-time. It’s a must-have for most businesses today.

Traditional Marketing

While digital is dominant, traditional marketing still has a place, especially for local businesses and certain industries. Effective traditional tactics include:

• Direct mail like postcards, catalogs, and sales letters
• Print advertising in newspapers, magazines, and directories
• Outdoor advertising like billboards, posters, and vehicle wraps
• Promotional products with your logo and contact info
• Networking and referral marketing

Traditional marketing can help build brand awareness and reach audiences that may not be as active online. It’s often best used in conjunction with digital strategies.

Inbound vs Outbound Marketing

Inbound marketing focuses on attracting customers by providing valuable content and experiences. Outbound is more about interrupting potential customers with unsolicited messages.

Inbound leads are more likely to convert and cost less to acquire. Outbound tactics like cold calling and email blasts are becoming less effective as consumers tune out marketing interruptions. For most businesses, an inbound-focused strategy is ideal, using content marketing, SEO, and social media to draw customers in.

Outbound can still play a supporting role, but it should be a smaller part of the overall marketing mix. The most effective marketing strategies combine the best of both traditional and digital, inbound and outbound, to reach customers where they are with the right message at the right time. The key is to test different tactics, track results, and continually optimize your approach based on what works best for your unique business.

You can easily recognize the simple 2X2 matrix from above

Inbound Marketing:
Inbound marketing focuses on attracting customers by providing valuable content and experiences. This includes traditional tactics like print ads and networking, as well as digital strategies like content marketing and SEO.

Outbound Marketing:
Outbound marketing involves interrupting potential customers with unsolicited messages. Traditional outbound tactics include cold calling and direct mail, while digital outbound includes PPC ads and email blasts.

This means, you need to know which of these channels

So do you choose a type of marketing just based on who you are talking to?or there is more to the mystery of allocating available budgets to specific kinds of marketing?

Yes. You need to ask the crucial question. The brand/company/person needs to look inward to choose a the type of marketing.

What is the business goal you want to serve? (And please do not be simple/vague/reductive while answering this.)

Business goal is the most important piece of the puzzle.

Lets see what ate the different business goals:

This section is especially included for the poor souls who think ‘growing revenue’ or ‘gaining followers’ are the only business goals.

AI can tell us that there are more business goals like:

1. Increase Brand Awareness

• Rank on page one for 100 new keywords this quarter
• Earn 20 new social media followers this month

2. Drive More Website Traffic

• Increase website visitors by 25% this year through SEO and content marketing
• Boost referral traffic from 3 to 5 high-authority sites this quarter

3. Generate Qualified Leads

• Collect 500 new email subscribers per month through lead magnets
• Increase demo requests by 30% this quarter with targeted PPC ads

4. Boost Sales and Revenue

• Grow online sales by 15% this year through conversion rate optimization
• Launch 3 successful email drip campaigns to nurture leads into customers

5. Improve Customer Retention

• Increase customer lifetime value by 20% through loyalty programs and upsells
• Reduce churn rate from 10% to 7% this year with better customer support

6. Establish Industry Authority

• Earn 50 high-quality backlinks from industry publications this year
• Increase social shares of content by 100% through influencer outreach

7. Expand into New Markets

• Launch localized websites in 5 new countries this year
• Grow international sales to 25% of total revenue within 2 years

8. Boost Employee Advocacy

• Increase employee engagement with the company’s social media by 30%
• Achieve 80% employee participation in the brand ambassador program

9. Improve Marketing ROI

• Reduce customer acquisition cost by 10% this year through better targeting
• Increase marketing-attributed revenue by 20% with better attribution modeling

10. Enhance Customer Experience

• Reduce website bounce rate from 60% to 40% through UX improvements
• Increase customer satisfaction score from 7 to 8.5 out of 10 this year

The key is to set SMART goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Break down big goals into smaller, actionable objectives and track progress regularly. With the right marketing strategies and tactics, you can make significant strides towards achieving these business goals.

Photo by Alexas_Fotos on Unsplash

I love how I do not even have to think of these things. Lazy way of thinking. But Let us continue the search for the answer in the heading of the article.

We can have the nichest possible audience set in our mind, the marketing can target them. Business goals define what kind of marketing you need to do.

TO BE CONTINUED>>