By Jackie Camacho-Ruiz
After 11 years as head of JJR Marketing, a Chicagoland marketing firm serving start-ups to Fortune 500s, I still delight in helping companies find the “right recipe” for their marketing. Like a chef experienced with different ingredients, I’ve found that not all marketing is the same, or designed for the same results. For some businesses, preparation of their marketing is the challenge while for others, it’s how to serve it up, or even, how to invite others to share in the bounty.
All marketing is not created equal, nor is it meant to be. So in our relentless commitment to elevating companies and their marketing savvy, I’ve developed a brand new way of understanding the many different types of marketing that can help businesses gain a greater awareness of their efforts and more confident understanding of how to best allocate their time, money and resources. We’ve coined this new perspective the “Five Types of Marketing” and by understanding what each of them do, you can work them into your marketing strategy and set realistic goals for success. In a way, the “Five Types” are like ingredients that you expertly add to your marketing plan to create the perfect, delicious result.
1: FOUNDATIONAL MARKETING
Foundational marketing refers to the key elements needed to create the baseline of a marketing campaign. Almost every client needs at least some forms of foundational marketing to implement their plan. Newer businesses and start-ups must prioritize their foundational pieces before other efforts can succeed. While these marketing activities will probably not make the phone ring immediately, they are important stepping stones to every other marketing initiative you take.
- A marketing calendar which outlines the entire campaign, complete with launch dates and deadlines
- A website/landing page so that a url may be referenced in successive marketing efforts
- Logos or other graphic representation of client entities
- Social media pages where successive marketing efforts may be shared
- Printed brochures or materials that serve as connections for face to face meetings
- Collateral such as business cards, letterhead, etc.
2: EXECUTIONAL MARKETING
Executional marketing is designed to provide regular communication with the captive and prospective audiences so that they ultimately begin to anticipate it. Any effort that keeps the client connected to their audience can be considered executional marketing. This is a very effective type of marketing because it continues to build an ongoing relationship with past and/or present customers. Out of the blue, you may hear from a past client who just received something from you. Examples of executional marketing items include:
- Ongoing social media posts
- Targetted Eblasts about company news or timely offers
- Monthly or quarterly newsletters
- PPC, Adroll or Google Adword campaigns
- SEO landing pages
- Downloadable content
3: TIME-BOUND MARKETING
Time-bound marketing is, as it sounds, something that must be initiated and consumed within a particular window of time to be effective. Companies usually seek marketing help of this kind when they have a particular event to publicize and everything must be done by a certain time. This kind of marketing builds on the foundational efforts and creates a pragmatic approach to the pre, during and post-event (live or online) campaigns. Results, when done correctly, are immediate and result in sign-up, calls, registrations, etc. Some examples include:
- Media Relations, such as a press release to daily/weekly local print media and a media alert to broadcast outlets near the day of the event
- Listing of the event in calendars
- Securing sponsors
- Announcements in social media, newsletters and all client communication channels
- Live social media events
- Giveaways and drawings at the event
4: INNOVATIVE MARKETING
Innovation provides a disruptive marketing approach. It drives an unexpected, new perspective to existing marketing. Results may vary from immediate reaction to smoldering interest over a longer period of time. Clients have approached us for something innovative, and here are some ways we have delivered.
- Awards programs
- Facebook contests with voting
- Scholarship competitions
- Kickstarter Campaigns
- Creative Concept Encapsulation, or taking a concept and presenting it in a completely unexpected way, i.e. an infographic of something never depicted before, or a concept in a different shape. (For example, JJR has a deck of cards to educate about marketing where each card illustrates and describes a different type of marketing tool).
- Badges or stickers to advance a concept or movement
- Anthology publications with contributions from different group members
- Custom publications
5: CAUSE MARKETING
Cause marketing provides a key partnership with a nonprofit organization that yields opportunity to both the company and the nonprofit. Many companies come to us looking for these alliances and we love to make them and help with positive publicity for their generosity.
For example, when we were representing a local water park, we connected them with the Sheilah A. Doyle Foundation, an organization that gives hope to children who have lost their parents to homicide. The water park generously donated a day’s admission to the group and we were successfully able to make their generosity known in the media. It was a win-win for both organizations.
Cause marketing creates something to talk about and goodwill among your audience. It may not get the phone ringing immediately, but will build upon your relationship with your customers, prospects and the community at large.
Once you have your “recipe” for the type of marketing you need, and you’ve chosen the “ingredients,” or marketing activities you need to include, how do you bring it all together? You must develop a marketing calendar. Using the format or software program of your choice, a marketing calendar will help you integrate all of your efforts and assign them concrete, yet manageable deadlines. Your marketing calendar moves the project forward and keeps everyone involved accountable.
The “Five Types of Marketing” are powerful by themselves and unstoppable when combined vigorously with an integrated marketing plan. By understanding them, you will be in an ideal position to create the “optimal recipe” for your company’s marketing success.
Watch our recent Webinar about Marketing Tactics and the 5 types of Marketing…