So we know marketing is all about 4ps. Or maybe not exactly. Whether we are promoting a product, service or even a celebrity, we need to study the macro and micro environment carefully. When we say macro environment, I am referring to the cultural, technological, economical, political and environment factors. The customers, competitors, suppliers, employees are microenviromental factors which we need to study further
Depending on the trade you are in, different marketing strategies and tactics are adopted for different reasons and initiatives.
We need to question the marketing intent behind every marketing initiative. What is the challenge and objective behind every activity? Are we trying to generate awareness? Or are we looking at a short term increase in sales and profitability. Are we looking at strategically 'attacking' our competitors?
The conventional marketing tactics include advertising- BTL & ATL; PR, Sales Promotions, Events, exhibition, Media relations, to name a few. However, please remember when it comes to marketing, there is a myriad of tactics which we can use. Below are five less common tactics:
1) Get your products or services into production set or documentary series.
It is always good to make friends with script writers or producers. If you know they are developing a script and need content advice or products for the production set, be open about their request and try to fulfill their needs. Attempt to steer their interest to your favor; say if they are not sure whether they want to have their shoot in a hotel or coffeeshop, do grab the opportunity and tell them that your hotel lounge is available.
2) Be an opinion leader in the field of Marketing
If you are a brand manager, try to get some 'airtime' for yourself. This could be achieved through a carefully orchestrated media publicity plan. When journalist ask you for expert opinion, make sure your name and designation is quoted correctly. When your designation & company appear in the media, it gives people that additional visibility about the brand you are trying to promote. In addition, it positions you as a credible subject matter expert which the media can all trust.
It is always a good practice to send marketing & PR articles to Straits times classified or other internet sources. This will give you & the brand that additional publicity and awareness.
3) Credit Card Loyalty program marketing
Alot of marketers forget that this is a cheap and effective platform to target directly at the card's membership database. As banks are very focused on segmenting their target market, it will also ensure that you are reaching the right demographics by getting into the right cards. The investment is minimal. You don't really need a huge marketing budget to get your promotions listed. Do ensure that you have a sound strategy in engaging the various credit cards in SG. Credit card companies like DBS, Citibank, UOB, OCBC, HSBC prefer to sign exclusive deals that set them apart from their competitors. So you need to ensure that you have a good pletora of services or promotions which you can evenly spread across the various cards.
4) Don't neglect the social media & forums
I have been talking alot about social media platforms. Identify key social media and forums which you could target. If you are a marketer for IT products, forum like Hardwarezone.com is an important platform for you to measure your brand engagement and mention. Get into the forums and study the conversation and the things said about your brand. Do a content analysis and quantify the no. of positive and negative remarks. Plant a pseudo user and seek to steer the string of entries to your favor. Weave your messages subtly and suggest points or messages that are to your favor. Then see what happens. If the next few threads turn positive, you have successfully steered and changed public opinion!
5) Organise joint events with other brands
Identify key partners that are relevant and have similar brand personality with your brand. If there is good synergy in the partnership, do join forces to drive some good initiative collectively. It could be for a charity drive, forum, or even bundling of products to increase sales.
As a marketer, we constantly need to think of new and fresh ideas to market our brand. There are alot of facets and approaches in our marketing work. So keep renewing your mindset and take a proactive approach towards your work.
Be creative and try different avenues and you'll find that all your efforts will bring good returns and fulfillment, at the end of the day.
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