Marketing

Brand Awareness
Brand Awareness Jonathan Poland

Brand awareness refers to the extent to which consumers are familiar with and able to recognize a brand. It is a measure of how well a brand is known and remembered by its target audience. High brand awareness can lead to increased brand loyalty and customer engagement, ultimately driving more sales and revenue for the business.

There are several factors that can influence brand awareness, including the quality of the product or service, the level of customer satisfaction, and the effectiveness of marketing and advertising efforts. Brands with a strong and consistent brand identity and message are more likely to be remembered and recognized by consumers.

There are several ways that businesses can increase brand awareness, including:

  1. Advertising: Advertising is a common method of increasing brand awareness, as it helps to reach a large audience and build recognition for the brand.
  2. Public relations: Public relations can help to build credibility and increase visibility for a brand through media coverage and press releases.
  3. Social media: Social media platforms can be a powerful tool for increasing brand awareness, as they allow businesses to engage directly with their target audience and share content that helps to build recognition for the brand.
  4. Content marketing: Creating and sharing valuable, relevant, and consistent content can help to attract and retain a specific target audience and increase brand awareness.
  5. Influencer marketing: Partnering with influencers or industry leaders can help to increase brand awareness, as these individuals have a large following and can help to promote the brand to a wider audience.

Overall, brand awareness is an important aspect of a business’s marketing efforts, as it helps to establish a strong and memorable presence in the market and drive more sales and revenue. The following are common types of brand awareness.

Brand Recall
Unaided recall of a brand name given a product category. Customers can often name 1-7 brand names for a broad product category such as “airlines.”

Brand Recognition
Aided recognition of a brand. For example, when shown a brand name customers can correctly state that it’s a brand of bottled water.

Visual Branding
The ability to identify a brand from its visual symbols, advertisements, packaging and colors independently of brand name. In many cases, customers buy a particular product by its appearance but can’t recall the brand name.

Top of Mind
Top of mind is the first brand customers can think of for a product category. For example, customers might be asked “what is your favorite chocolate bar?”

Brand Dominance
Brand dominance is when customers can’t recall any brand but yours for a particular product category.

Target Audience
Target Audience Jonathan Poland

A target audience refers to the specific group of individuals or consumers that a business or organization is trying to reach with its marketing and advertising efforts. Identifying and understanding the target audience is an important aspect of marketing strategy as it helps businesses to tailor their messaging and channels to effectively reach and engage their desired audience.

To identify a target audience, businesses typically conduct market research to gather data on the characteristics, behaviors, and needs of their potential customers. This may include demographic data such as age, gender, income, and education level, as well as psychographic data such as interests, values, and lifestyle.

Once the target audience has been identified, businesses can use this information to create marketing campaigns and messaging that is tailored to the specific needs and interests of the audience. This may include selecting appropriate media channels, creating targeted advertising and promotional content, and developing targeted offers and incentives.

By effectively targeting their marketing efforts, businesses can increase the chances of success for their campaigns and drive more conversions and sales. It is important for businesses to regularly review and update their target audience as consumer preferences and behaviors can change over time.

Overall, understanding and targeting a specific audience is a key aspect of successful marketing and advertising. By focusing on the specific needs and interests of their desired audience, businesses can create more effective and relevant marketing campaigns that drive better results. The following are common types of target audience.

Everyone
Communications, media and entertainment with a large budget may target as broad an audience as possible. For example, a beverage company with a high market share may create ads that simply convey a positive feeling that is likely to have broad appeal.

Demographics
Demographics such as a film intended to appeal to a particular age group.

Locations
Locations such as information about a festival aimed at residents of a neighborhood in Tokyo.

Subculture
Subcultures are spontaneously formed groups that identify with a shared experience such as a music scene. In many cases, media and entertainment is targeted to a subculture.

Super Cultures
Super cultures are large groups that share elements of culture that span multiple nations such as classical music fans or sailing enthusiasts.

Needs
Information that targets a set of needs such as a video channel that helps people with common do-it-yourself home improvement projects.

Attitudes & Opinion
Target audiences based on how people feel about a particular topic. For example, a charity may seek communication channels that reach people who are concerned about an environmental problem.

Personality
Personality traits such as a movie for people with a certain sense of humor.

Lifestyle
A lifestyle is how people spend their time. For example, an audio book collection that targets people who have a long commute and would like to use the time to improve knowledge and skills.

Fans
Communications aimed at fans of a media or entertainment series.

Customers
Messages targeting existing customers of a firm. For example, ads for upgrading to a premium version of a service.

Drip Marketing
Drip Marketing Jonathan Poland

Drip marketing, also known as drip campaigns, is a strategy that involves sending targeted and personalized marketing messages to a group of potential or existing customers over a period of time. The goal of drip marketing is to nurture leads, build relationships with customers, and ultimately drive conversions.

Drip campaigns typically consist of a series of automated emails or other marketing messages that are triggered by specific actions or inactivity. For example, a drip campaign might send a welcome email to new subscribers, a series of product recommendation emails to customers who have abandoned their shopping carts, or a reengagement email to inactive subscribers.

One of the main benefits of drip marketing is that it allows businesses to deliver highly targeted and relevant content to their audience. By segmenting their email list and using personalized messaging, businesses can better address the specific needs and interests of their audience. This can help to increase engagement and build trust with potential customers.

In addition to email, drip marketing can also be used with other channels such as SMS, social media, and push notifications. It is important to consider the various preferences and behaviors of your audience when selecting the channels for your drip campaigns.

To be effective, drip marketing campaigns should be carefully planned and executed. It is important to clearly define your goals and objectives, segment your audience, create relevant and engaging content, and regularly track and analyze the results of your campaigns.

Overall, drip marketing is a powerful tool for building relationships with customers and driving conversions. By delivering targeted and personalized content to your audience over time, you can nurture leads, increase engagement, and ultimately drive more sales for your business.

Here are a few examples of drip marketing campaigns:

  1. Welcome emails: A welcome email is sent to new subscribers when they join your email list. This email typically includes a greeting, a brief introduction to your brand, and a call-to-action encouraging the subscriber to explore your website or make a purchase.
  2. Product recommendation emails: After a customer makes a purchase, you might send them a series of emails featuring recommendations for related products or complementary items. These emails can be triggered based on the products the customer has purchased or viewed.
  3. Re-engagement emails: If a subscriber hasn’t opened or engaged with your emails in a while, you might send them a re-engagement email to try to win them back. This email might include a special offer or a reminder of the value they can expect to receive from your emails.
  4. Abandoned cart emails: If a customer adds items to their online shopping cart but doesn’t complete the purchase, you might send them a series of emails reminding them of the items in their cart and encouraging them to complete the purchase.
  5. Educational emails: You might send a series of emails providing valuable information or tips related to your industry or product. These emails can help to establish your brand as a thought leader and build trust with your audience.
  6. Upsell emails: If a customer has purchased a product from you, you might send them a series of emails promoting related or upgraded products that they might be interested in.
  7. Win-back emails: If a customer hasn’t made a purchase in a while, you might send them a series of emails offering special deals or incentives to try to win them back as a customer.

Experience Economy
Experience Economy Jonathan Poland

The concept of the experience economy suggests that companies can differentiate themselves and gain a competitive advantage by creating memorable and valuable experiences for their customers. In a market where many products and services are interchangeable and widely available, the experience a company offers can be a key factor in attracting and retaining customers. This can involve creating immersive and engaging experiences that go beyond simply providing a product or service, and instead focus on creating a holistic and satisfying customer journey. By investing in the experience economy, companies can differentiate themselves and stand out in a crowded and competitive market. The following are illustrative examples of the experience economy.

Usability
A mobile device that is pleasing and productive to use commands a higher price and enjoys higher sales volumes than the competition that have similar technical specifications but are less usable.

Customer Service
A restaurant with friendly and diligent staff develops a loyal customer base and thrives on slow nights when competitors struggle.

Luxury
A hotel that has character and superior services may achieve high ratings and occupancy rates despite high prices.

Status
A brand that customers view as a status symbol such as a symbol of wealth or membership in a group. For example, the experience of wearing the same snowboarding brands as your favorite professional snowboarder.

Culture
Experiencing culture such as the taste of food or sound of music.

Wellbeing
Products and services that provide a sense of well-being such as a relaxing spa.

Peak Experiences
Experiences that customers may view as accomplishments or events that are important to their life. For example, a wedding or travel experience.

Transformative Experiences
Experiences that transform an individual to make them better such as education or an inspiring book.

Market Position
Market Position Jonathan Poland

The market position of a brand, product, or service refers to its place in a crowded market. It is the reason why customers choose to buy a particular product, and it is determined by factors such as customer needs, customer perceptions, and the competitive advantages of a company. In other words, a market position is the space that an established brand, product, or service occupies in the market, and it is defined by the unique value it offers to customers and the ways in which it differentiates itself from its competitors. The following are common types of market position.

Brand Identity
The mission, vision, concepts, visual symbols, ethics, culture, reputation and legacy of a brand. People buy what inspires them.

Brand Recognition
How well your brand is known. People will often buy what they recognize.

Customers
Relationships with customers. For example, a restaurant that has impressed thousands of customers over the years that enjoys repeat business and high ratings online.

Price
Your prices. Price is one of the strongest types of competition. In many industries, customers typically purchase the lowest price item that meets a minimum level of quality.

Features
The capabilities and performance of your products and services.

Quality
The value of your products and services including intangible elements such as experience and reliability.

Channels
Reaching your customers. Customers often buy from the most convenient location or from the salesperson who reaches out to them first.

What is Marketability?
What is Marketability? Jonathan Poland

The marketability of a brand, product, or service refers to its competitiveness within a market. It is the likelihood that a product will sell and the risk that it will not be successful. In other words, marketability is a measure of the potential for a product to be successful in a particular market. The following are common types of marketability.

Cost & Price
The ability to offer a reasonable price and make a profit at that level. In a commodity industry, prices are set by the market and a higher cost base is a significant competitive disadvantage. Premium products compete on price relative to perceived quality.

Customer Needs
A product that customers will be motivated to buy because it fulfills needs.

Functionality & Performance
Competitive features and performance relative to other products on the market. An innovative or niche product may offer features that are unique. In some cases, a lack of features can be an advantage if customer needs and preferences are served.

Quality
The value of your offerings to customers including factors such as reliability, durability, usability, customer experience and design.

Distribution
The ability to reach customers to sell to them and deliver your products and services.

Reputation & Recognition
The ability to establish a reputation and/or brand recognition in a crowded market.

Demand Generation
Demand Generation Jonathan Poland

Demand generation is any marketing or sales activity designed to create recognition, awareness and interest in a firm’s brand and products. This can include activities such as content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, search engine optimization, and lead generation campaigns. The goal of demand generation is to increase awareness and interest in a company’s brand and products, and ultimately drive more sales and revenue. Effective demand generation strategies can help a business reach and engage potential customers at various stages of the sales funnel, from initial awareness to final purchase decision. The following are illustrative examples.

Advertising
A telecom company launches billboard advertising to generate demand for its mobile services.

Promotion
A fast moving consumer goods company hands out free samples of a new product at a concert to generate recognition and awareness.

Locations
An electronics firm opens showrooms in prominent locations to show off their products to fans, media representatives and influencers.

Social Media
Engaging customers and sharing information, content and media such as promotional videos.

Events
A software company engages customers directly at industry events to raise awareness and generate leads and opportunities.

Sales
An IT security firm carefully hires and retains salespeople who have a large network of industry relationships. The salespeople are encouraged to generate interest in the firm.

Trendsetters
A young fashion company uses relationships with trendsetters in its niche to generate significant interest in its designs.

Customer Relationships
A design firm carefully manages customer relationships to discover opportunities and raise customer awareness about the firm’s services and capabilities.

Service
An auto manufacture provides service to vehicles while customers wait in a showroom filled with shiny new vehicles and product brochures.

Scarcity Marketing
Scarcity Marketing Jonathan Poland

Scarcity marketing is a strategy that involves creating a perception of limited availability for a product or service. This strategy is based on the idea that consumers are more likely to desire and purchase a product that is perceived as rare or in short supply. Scarcity marketing can be an effective way to create a sense of urgency and drive sales.

There are several ways that businesses can use scarcity marketing to increase demand for their products or services. One common technique is to limit the quantity of a product that is available for purchase. For example, a business might announce that it is offering a limited number of a new product, or that it is only selling a certain number of products at a discounted price. This can create a sense of urgency and encourage customers to purchase the product before it runs out.

Another way that businesses can use scarcity marketing is to limit the time that a product or offer is available. For example, a business might announce that a special sale or discount is only available for a limited time, such as 24 hours or one week. This can encourage customers to make a purchase quickly in order to take advantage of the offer before it expires.

Scarcity marketing can also be used to create a sense of exclusivity for a product or service. For example, a business might announce that a new product is only available to a select group of customers, such as members of a loyalty program or VIPs. This can make customers feel special and more likely to purchase the product. In conclusion, scarcity marketing is a strategy that involves creating a perception of limited availability for a product or service. By using techniques such as limiting the quantity or time of availability, businesses can create a sense of urgency and exclusivity that can drive sales and increase demand for their products.

Some more examples include: 

  1. Limiting the quantity of a product that is available for purchase. For example, a business might announce that it is only releasing a limited number of a new product, or that it is only selling a certain number of products at a discounted price.
  2. Limiting the time that a product or offer is available. For example, a business might announce that a special sale or discount is only available for a limited time, such as 24 hours or one week.
  3. Creating a sense of exclusivity for a product or service. For example, a business might announce that a new product is only available to members of a loyalty program or VIPs.
  4. Offering limited edition or exclusive versions of a product. For example, a business might release a special edition of a product that is only available for a limited time or in a limited quantity.
  5. Using a countdown timer to create a sense of urgency. For example, a business might display a countdown timer on its website or in its advertisements to show customers how much time is left to take advantage of an offer.
  6. Offering a limited number of early bird discounts or special offers. For example, a business might announce that the first 100 customers to purchase a product will receive a special discount or bonus.
  7. Using waitlists or pre-order systems to create a sense of scarcity. For example, a business might allow customers to sign up for a waitlist or pre-order a product that is not yet available for purchase. This can create a sense of anticipation and exclusivity for the product.

Promotion Strategies
Promotion Strategies Jonathan Poland

Promotion strategies are communication techniques that aim to sell a product, service or cause. They include advertising, publicity, selling and persuasion. Promotion is an essential element of a marketing strategy, as it involves communicating with customers and potential customers about the benefits and features of a product or service. There are many different promotion strategies that businesses can use to reach and engage their target audience. Some of the most common promotion strategies include advertising, public relations, sales promotions, personal selling, and direct marketing.

Advertising is a paid form of communication that uses various media channels, such as television, radio, print, and digital, to reach a large number of people. Advertising can be effective for introducing a new product or service, building brand awareness, and promoting special offers or discounts.

Public relations involves building and maintaining a positive relationship between a business and its stakeholders, such as customers, employees, investors, and the media. Public relations can be used to communicate important information about the business, manage its reputation, and respond to crisis situations.

Sales promotions are short-term incentives that aim to increase sales and drive customer loyalty. These promotions can include discounts, coupons, free trials, or other offers that are designed to encourage customers to buy a product or service.

Personal selling involves one-on-one communication between a salesperson and a customer, with the aim of persuading the customer to buy a product or service. This approach can be effective for building relationships with customers and providing personalized recommendations.

Direct marketing is a form of promotion that involves sending marketing messages directly to potential customers through channels such as email, SMS, or direct mail. Direct marketing allows businesses to target specific customers and tailor their messages to their interests and needs.

Promotion is a crucial part of a marketing strategy, as it allows businesses to communicate with customers and potential customers about their products and services. By using a combination of different promotion strategies, businesses can effectively reach and engage their target audience and drive sales. The following are some additional concepts.

Alliance Marketing
A shared marketing strategy between two or more firms that may be designed to generate publicity. For example, two technology giants may announce a shared initiative to work on artificial intelligence that generates more publicity than actual research results.

Attribution Marketing
Modeling events that lead to sales and then using promotion to achieve these events with each target customer. Attribution marketing is typically aimed at achieving brand recognition, awareness, customer interactions and other precursor events to purchases and other goals such as loyal customers.

Awards
Establishing awards in some area of achievement that is associated with your brand.

Behavioral Advertising
Digital advertising that targets customers based on behavior such as the websites they have visited.

Brand Promotion
Promotion such as advertising that is designed to generate positive feelings or social status for a brand. Typically includes no sales pitch or call to action.

Call To Action
A short, commanding and direct request to customers such as “call now.” Considered a fundamental tool of promotion.

Causes And Charities
Supporting causes and charities in order to build goodwill with communities and customers.

Content Marketing
Developing content related to your business to demonstrate your expertise and build relationships with customers.

Contests
Running contests designed to generate publicity and traffic to your locations or website.

Contextual Advertising
Advertising that targets a particular context such as ads for cameras on a camera review website.

Corporate Anniversary
Celebrating the history of your company, products and brand.

Coupons
Coupons are a form of price discrimination that can also be considered a type of promotional item. In many cases, direct marketing that contains coupons generates increased interest from customers.

Customer Appreciation
Customer appreciation events and actions such as thanking customers for writing a positive review or sending them a gift certificate at an anniversary such as five years of patronage.

Customer Referral Programs
Asking customers to refer their friends, family and associates and giving them incentives to do so.

Direct Marketing
Marketing communications sent directly to a customer using email, mail, phone calls and social media messages.

Drip Marketing
Marketing communications that are sent to customers at a set pace such as once a day. Examples include a weekly phone call or a daily newsletter.

Email Marketing
Gaining a customer’s permission to send them a regular email and using techniques such as newsletters to build a relationship with them.

Endorsements
Asking influencers or celebrities for public support or approval.

Evangelism Marketing
Employing an evangelist for your products who is enthusiastic, respected and well spoken to represent you with the media and at events. In some cases, firms develop an evangelist program to identify prominent customers or partners to speak on the firm’s behalf.

Event Marketing
Sponsoring or attending events to generate publicity and engage customers.

Factory Tours
Opening your organization to the public can generate content about your business such as photographs, blog posts and social media conversations.

Free Trials
Offering your product or service for free for a limited period. Allows the media to review the product and may achieve a high rate of conversion to paying customers.

Games
Developing a game that features your products or advertising in games.

Industry Conferences
In some industries, conferences are important to the sales process, particularly lead generation. In other industries, they are important venues to establish relationships with media figures who cover your business.

Influence Marketing
Engaging influencers such as celebrities, media heavyweights, social media personalities, prominent reviewers and trend leaders in your industry to ask for their promotional help. For example, you might openly give prominent reviewers free products in exchange for a review without demanding that it be positive.

Local Advertising
Advertising in local media, locations such as billboards and with digital ads that are served based on current geographical location.

Mass Media Advertising
Media that reaches a large audience that isn’t particularly targeted as compared with digital advertising.

Native Advertising
Advertising that matches the form and function of content such as sponsored social media posts.

Outbound Sales
Techniques such as cold calling a prospective customer that involve directly reaching out to qualified leads.

Participation Marketing
Encouraging customers to participate in the evolution of your products and brand. For example, asking customers to help you design a new product.

Personal Selling
Using a sales force to develop relationships with customers. Often includes face-to-face meetings, phone calls and digital interactions such as email or messaging. Extremely common in high value business-to-business sales.

Persuasion Techniques
Persuasion is the ability to influence people’s ideas and actions. It is a fundamental technique of promotion that defines the results achieved from advertising, marketing copy and customer interactions.

Photo Op
An event that is designed to generate photographs that will have media appeal such as a politician visiting local businesses to hear their concerns.

Press Conferences
A media event for announcing significant news. Tends to generate a sense of competition between the media, resulting in greater coverage than a press release.

Press Releases
A notification to the media of news. The effectiveness of a press release depends on the newsworthiness of its content.

Product Demonstrations
Demonstrating products for customers at public venues or at your customer’s office.

Product Placement
Paying to have your product featured in entertainment such as a movie or video game.

Promotional Products
Giving out useful items that feature your brand symbols.

Public Relations
The practice of managing communications between an organization and the public. Typically gives the public a single point of contact for inquiries. Public relations serves a marketing, corporate governance and risk management function. For example, strategies may be developed to manage negative publicity should it occur.

Public Speaking
Encouraging your employees to speak on a variety of topics at conferences even if they are not directly related to your product and brand. For example, a security expert in your IT team may speak at a security conference generating free publicity for your organization.

Publicity
Publicity is anything that attracts media attention such as achievements, discoveries, people stories, technology breakthroughs, unconventional approaches and anything that’s generally entertaining and informative.

Publicity Stunt
A dramatic or imaginative event designed to generate publicity such as a world record attempt.

Reference Customers
A list of customers who have chosen your product, possibly with detailed success stories related to each. Reference customers are often required to bid for certain contracts. They can also be used as a promotional device, particularly if your customers are large, well respected organizations.

Relationship Marketing
A marketing strategy that relies on social interactions such as face-to-face and social media conversations to promote a business.

Remarketing
Remarketing is the practice of following up on recent customers interactions with techniques such as advertising, direct marketing and personal selling.

Reverse Placement
Creating a product and brand based on a fictional product in a movie or television show.

Road Shows
A traveling presentation or event.

Samples
Giving out free samples for a product that you believe will generate word-of-mouth.

Scarcity Marketing
Techniques that generate emotions such as curiosity and desire by making products, services and events difficult to obtain.

Slogans
Short memorable phrases that communicate emotions or information about your products and brand.

Social Media Marketing
Using social media to engage customers or advertise.

Testimonial
A statement that communicates the value of a product from an “ordinary” customer. In the cases of a celebrity or influential individual, a testimonial is typically termed an endorsement.

Underwriting Spot
Sponsoring content such as a radio news broadcast in exchange for a short credit that mentions your brand, often without a call to action.

Vaporware
Announcing plans for an exciting new product that doesn’t exist. In many cases, such announcements are based on research or vague plans that never produce working products but garner media attention nonetheless.

Vision
A firm’s mission and vision statements are often viewed as a promotional tool.

Visual Merchandising
Visual displays of your product at retail locations such as the elaborate displays in the store windows of department stores.

Word Of Mouth
Focusing on product and customer experience over promotion with the idea that a good product promotes itself though word of mouth.

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