Types of marketing - how many are there and which will work best for your industry?

The success of a business is inextricably linked to ensuring maximum visibility. In the past, every business had to rely solely on basic types of marketing. However, with the development of technology, new possibilities have opened up. What types of advertising are most effective in this respect? How much do they cost? Who should you entrust a campaign to? Find out the answers to these questions.

Traditional marketing versus online marketing - which to choose?

Many business owners may be in a dilemma as to whether it is worth betting on just one of the available channels to reach consumers. The best solution, however, is not so much to choose but to use both types of marketing strategies.

Advantages and disadvantages of traditional marketing

It is worth noting that, despite the revolutionary changes brought about by the widespread use of the internet, traditional forms of marketing are still being used. For example, city streets have invariably been filled with advertising banners for decades. Customers can also still be reached with their product by means of promotional boards displayed or displayed on public transport. In addition, many companies, especially large ones, still try to promote themselves using advertisements broadcast on radio and TV.

Why hasn't the passage of years led to a decline in the popularity of traditional types of marketing? The reason is that there is still a great opportunity to reach both existing and potential customers. This type of promotion also has disadvantages. The biggest is the high cost of advertising campaigns. The second, but extremely important, is the non-personalised message. This is why online marketing should be included in a company's business strategy.

What is the case for betting on online marketing?

Internet marketing offers entrepreneurs a unique opportunity to reach users who are genuinely interested in the service offered or product available. Promotional activities are facilitated by personalisation, understood as displaying advertisements to specific Internet users on the basis of their previous online activities. Examples include banners appearing in search engines and on websites, as well as sponsored posts and videos on social networks.

In addition, forms of direct marketing, such as posts on a company's profile activating users to leave comments, are effective in increasing sales on such sites. This is an excellent way of building brand awareness, i.e. the image of the brand in the target audience. The strategy of communicating with them can be supplemented, for example, by organising competitions with attractive prizes. What is more, interesting posts or competitions can be shared with other people, thus increasing the number of potential customers.

What does the effectiveness of marketing activities depend on?

The effectiveness of a promotional strategy depends on choosing the right communication channels. It is important to bear in mind that some types of online marketing are not liked by internet users. One example is plug-ins that block sponsored content. Their widespread use results in losses for advertisers, who pay for a campaign that is invisible to many consumers. Fortunately, however, online promotion is possible in many other ways, e.g. through sponsored content.

The use of various types of sponsored texts is becoming increasingly popular as it fulfils all the assumptions of an effective campaign. Content published on websites is not blocked by browser plug-ins. They can also be used to improve the visibility of a company's website in search results. SEO-compatible articles thus increase organic traffic to the website, contributing to sales. High-value texts also build brand awareness as an expert in the relevant sector.

Effective types of marketing activities are complemented by mailing. It provides direct contact with the consumer, serving a dual function. One is to show the company as open to feedback and suggestions for changes that affect satisfaction with the company's services. In addition to this, e-mail after-sales service is a good method of offering customers, for example, additional discounts and informing them about promotions.

Marketing instruments are constantly changing, adapting to the latest trends. Today, influencers have a considerable impact on the effectiveness of activities. Their recommendations have an even greater impact than sponsored posts. However, achieving success with their help is very expensive. Especially in the case of the most popular influencers, salaries can reach astronomical heights. For this reason, their services tend to be afforded mainly by large and wealthy brands.

Other types of marketing

The most important types of marketing are supplemented by many companies with unconventional methods by which they try to stay one step ahead of the competition. A well-known example is stealth campaigns. This type of campaign has taken hold in the entertainment industry. One way is through product placement in films and TV series. They appear as part of the setting or as a prop. Sometimes they are also mentioned by actors speaking their lines. Hidden marketing also appears in the world of sport, for example in the form of logos of sponsors of players or teams.

Referral marketing is also an interesting way to increase sales of your services and goods. It involves encouraging customers to tell other people about them. In return, both the customer recommending the offer and other participants in the promotional action receive discounts. It is an extension of word-of-mouth marketing, which operates largely independently of the actions taken by the brand. What both types of promotion have in common is the need to first ensure that customers are satisfied with their purchase.

Guerrilla marketing is also worth using from time to time. It does not have one specific form. All unconventional strategies fall under this concept. What can they be? For example, a meme referring to a currently commented event, which published on a social media profile has a chance to become viral, additionally reminding of the brand. Many companies opt for even less conventional measures. Advertising murals are a good example.

How much does it cost to carry out marketing activities?

Sky is the limit is a saying that best reflects the reality of the advertising industry. Marketing services can cost a company a few hundred zlotys. However, there is no shortage of campaigns that consume multi-million budgets. In the vast majority of cases, of course, this translates into the effectiveness of promotional activities. It cannot be otherwise, because no enterprise would decide to incur colossal expenses if it did not bring results in the form of increased sales.

An effective and at the same time quite inexpensive path to customer acquisition is through advertisements placed on social media. A single broadcast costs as little as a few cents for a video of a few seconds. Longer and unmissable promotional materials cost several PLN per display. In this case, the cost of the marketing action is influenced not only by the number of times the ad is displayed per day, but also by the duration of the campaign.

Marketing agency - is it worth opting for?

Running marketing campaigns on your own is time-consuming. More extensive activities, which include systematically maintaining the company's social media profile, writing sponsored articles or creating banner ads, take up time that could be spent on other duties. This in turn translates into costs that have to be spent on hiring new people.

For this reason, it makes sense to partner with a marketing agency. This will not only save your subordinates' time. Another undoubted advantage of such cooperation is the certainty that the advertising campaign will be effective. In specialised agencies, experts have the knowledge of how to adapt the message and select channels of communication with the target customer groups. In addition, they will prepare professional promotional materials.

How can we examine whether our marketing efforts are successful?

One way to check the effectiveness of marketing activities is through conversion analysis. This method involves controlling the number of orders in relation to the number of visits to the website. By relying on this technique, you can not only track how many customers are buying products, but, more importantly, why others are not doing so. This allows you to optimise the sales process, for example by simplifying it, adding new payment options or delivery options.

Google Ads is also among the effective types of marketing tools. An account with this service allows you to check, among other things, the click-through rate based on the keywords present on the page. Moreover, it allows you to check the Ad Rank, i.e. the relevance and usefulness of your own ad against your competitors' material. This ranking influences Ad Quality, or quality. This in turn determines its positioning and frequency of display. The better it is, the less you can spend on displaying your ad.

Building brand awareness or increasing sales are the types of marketing objectives that are easy to achieve today. Both traditional and digital forms of customer outreach help. This makes it easy for any company to secure recognition online and beyond and achieve business success.