Types of marketing. Part 3

Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing is the most economical strategy possible. This is something like writing the brand name on fences: distribution of leaflets and booklets, comments on forums and social networks, publications in the media with the right signature.

This method is suitable for small companies (slightly increases their awareness without allocating a budget for advertising) and is completely ineffective for medium and large businesses.

Today, companies are created literally every day, and each of them should declare itself or its product. To do this, they use marketing — conventional and guerrilla. The second often involves hidden marketing, when people do not even suspect that they are being advertised something, and there is little budget marketing.

You can see an example of guerrilla marketing below. This narrower direction is called ambient marketing (from the English “Ambient” — environment), that is, advertising surrounds people in everyday life. This is how McDonald’s promotes its brand at the pedestrian crossing.

Features of guerrilla marketing

Currently, well-known companies do not disdain guerrilla marketing either. Moreover, it is positioned as a kind of communication that can be recognized by the following signs:

Creative approach. Excitement among potential consumers can be achieved only with the help of a truly original idea.

Small investments. A mandatory principle of guerrilla marketing: an effective result with a minimum of cash injections.

Psychological impact on the consumer. Guerrilla marketing is aimed at motivating potential clients. To do this, it is necessary to analyze their needs in advance.

Lack of moral and ethical standards. Guerrilla marketing often involves provocative or even outrageous events.

One-time promotions. Repeating this or that action will not give any result. Resonance happens only once.

Types of guerrilla marketing

Outrageous provocative marketing, involving the most daring activities, is usually aimed at promoting inexpensive goods and arousing interest among young people. In shocking marketing, sexual overtones are acceptable.

Viral marketing is the promotion of the idea of a client who is interested in this product. Most often, this is a video on the network that spreads at the speed of a virus.

With hidden marketing, a potential client is not aware of the influence that is being exerted on him. The brand is mentioned as if by stealth in TV programs, TV series, in the form of recommendations of media personalities, etc.

Fusion marketing is a tool for free promotion. It consists in partnership with companies related to your business in order to attract new customers and increase brand awareness. It is important to keep in mind that companies should not compete with each other. Shops of all kinds of clothes, shoes and toys can cooperate on such conditions. The most famous example of fusion marketing is McDonald’s and Coca Cola, which advertise each other.

Life Placement is an influence on the subconscious of a potential consumer through front persons who have already purchased products and are satisfied with them, as well as promoters.

Ambient marketing is a direction in marketing that involves the use of the environment and certain elements of it as an advertising channel. For example, branded benches, bus stops, public transport, signage, installations, parking, etc.

Methods of guerrilla marketing

In order to successfully promote goods and services, organizations use various methods:

• cooperation with organizations offering other products, but having the clientele that they plan to attract;
• organization of events — meetings, forums, presentations, etc.;
• distribution of commercial proposals;
• use as an environmental advertising tool;
• placement of original advertising on transport, including public transport;
• shocking tricks;
• offer of additional services;
• distribution of souvenirs with the brand logo, information about it, etc.

Guerrilla marketing is not just a bold and extravagant trend, but also a promising advertising direction.

Advantages of guerrilla marketing:

• Disproportionately smaller budgets compared to SMM, contextual advertising, SEO and other expensive projects that require a staff of professionals.
• The opportunity to expand the sales funnel in the shortest possible time by mass attracting the target audience, even when it comes to a niche product.
• Bright, long-lasting memorable content, which will be talked about on social networks for a long time, “warming up” interest in the trademark.
• The current employees of the sales department develop creative thinking, which is especially valuable in conditions of fierce competition.
• Word of mouth of social networks is the main distribution channel that does not require direct financial investments.

The only objective disadvantage of guerrilla marketing is that the specific results of an advertising campaign are difficult to accurately predict. But even such a nuance does not cover all the potential advantages of the method, otherwise world-famous brands would not use the technology to promote their products.

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is a way of promotion in which a company enters into contracts on special terms with partners. For example:

• the blogger receives a personalized promo code and broadcasts it to his audience. The more clients came from a blogger, the more benefits he gets, for example, he will have a higher reward or discount percentage.
• the partner site contains a link to the company’s website. The benefits can be different: mutual placement of links to each other, remuneration, service in return.
• referral links.

An affiliate is a person who promotes products or services of a particular company among his audience. As a rule, he receives a certain reward for such cooperation.

In affiliate marketing, a reward is given for clicks on an affiliate link. That is, when a blog visitor clicks on a unique link and makes a purchase, the partner receives a percentage of this sale.

Let’s look at an example.

Imagine that you have decided to engage in affiliate marketing and want to monetize your baking blog.

Your favorite brand of household appliances Kenwood has released an Electro Mix 4000 mixer. The company asks you to post a link to this product on your blog, in social networks or in the description under the YouTube video.

If your subscribers follow the affiliate link and buy a new Electro Mix 4000, you will receive a percentage of the sale.

This payment scheme is the most popular, but there are others. For example:

• Payment for the lead: payment for each potential client who came to the promoted company.
• Pay for engagement: pay for clicks, views, or other factors of interaction with content.
• Fixed or regular payments: In affiliate marketing, there are also one-time, regular monthly or even pre-determined weekly payments.

5 main advantages of affiliate marketing

The cost of affiliate marketing around the world is increasing by 27% every year. Compared to most other promotion channels, where 10% is considered a good growth rate, this is quite an impressive figure. Judging by the statistics, this way of promotion is gaining momentum. But before you start working with it, it is important to understand all its advantages and disadvantages.

To begin with, let’s consider the pros.

• No need to develop your own product or service. Creating something from scratch is a difficult and costly task. And affiliate marketing allows you to immediately start promoting an existing product.
• Low entry threshold. To participate in the affiliate program, you do not need to buy any equipment, and often you do not need to pay a membership fee. You can start earning on affiliate marketing at minimal, or even zero, costs. Becoming a partner is quite simple. To register, you usually need to specify your name and email address, as well as bank card details to receive a reward — and that’s it!
• Small risks. Given that the initial investment in affiliate marketing is minimal, you have nothing to lose — unlike launching your own product.
• An excellent source of passive income. Although affiliate marketers sometimes have to work hard (we’ll talk about this later), income in this area can be incredibly simple and at the same time very high.
• You promote what you like. There is an affiliate program for every taste. If you promote what you really like, you can turn your earnings into an interesting hobby, not a boring job.

6 potential disadvantages of affiliate marketing

Each area has its disadvantages, even in such a fast-growing one as affiliate marketing. We analyze the main ones:

1. If your site receives little traffic, you may not be accepted into the affiliate program. Many affiliate programs have clear requirements, and if your resource does not meet them, they are unlikely to cooperate with you.
2. It is difficult to reach a good level of income right away. If you don’t have a large audience, then the earnings from affiliate marketing will be insignificant. To achieve a good level of income in this area, you need to work on increasing traffic to the site.
3. Companies can reduce the payment at any time. Your earnings completely depend on the brands with which you cooperate. Therefore, it is possible that at some point they will reduce your percentage of sales.
4. There are nuances in the launch of advertising. You cannot use the company’s brand keywords in paid ads. To set up effective advertising, you need to be creative.
5. If you use affiliate links, you need to add a disclaimer to the site. According to the law, if you promote the products of a third-party company on your website, you must clearly state your connection with this brand. If you hide this information, you will not only break the law, but you may not receive your reward. And you also risk losing the trust of your audience.
6. Growing competition. Affiliate marketing is developing rapidly and many specialists want to try themselves in this field.
7. Although the competition is high, this does not mean that you will not be able to succeed. You just have to understand what you will face — this is the best way to set yourself up for a good result.

To achieve success in affiliate marketing, you need to put a lot of effort, but in the end you can get an excellent reward. The right strategy is very important here.

Account marketing

Account marketing involves identifying a separate target group among the entire audience and working with it. For example, VIP clients are the most promising and valuable buyers who deserve a special approach and personalization.

In this case, the marketer is not sprayed on a large number of potential customers, but concentrates on those who are more likely to benefit on an ongoing basis.

Customer marketing works in a similar way, but the key difference is that it is not aimed at attracting new customers, but at increasing the loyalty of existing ones.

Account marketing (hereinafter referred to as ABM, from the English version — account-based marketing) is a B2B strategy that does not try to reach a wide audience, but cultivates super-valuable connections with specific organizations. This means that you target your customers with your content and offers only if they are highly relevant to their needs. You will have an account for each client and you will treat it as a separate market, creating a specific marketing message.

Therefore, instead of creating a general marketing campaign that will reach a large audience, you work with specific organizations that can become good customers. When you prioritize these clients, you create an individual approach to each of them.

SiriusDecisions conducts annual studies of the state of ABM. In 2017, they found that 81% of respondents were already using ABM strategies. This is a huge percentage compared to 49% in 2016, which indicates a growing trend.

The whole point of such a strategy is to build a personalized dialogue with the account based on its requests and characteristics.

Using the ABM approach, you can get a more holistic view of marketing. This will not only generate leads, but also qualitatively work through the existing customer base.

Advantages of using ABM:

It is worth saying that within the B2B market, ABM is gaining more and more popularity. This strategy is often used to target large-scale accounts. Long sales cycles and significant turnover of transactions are what distinguishes such accounts from others.

What advantages does the ABM strategy offer in this case:

• Personalized approach in advertising. Instead of generalizing, marketers create separate messages for each targeted account.
• Coordination of sales and marketing business processes. The ABM strategy is developed in such a way that these two departments work together. The definition of a target, the development of a customized advertising campaign, account support from dating to purchase, and all other processes must be coordinated with each other and serve the same purpose.
• Shorter sales cycles. Since large expenditures/purchases are often approved by all the owners of the company’s shares, the decision-making process can take a long time. ABM is designed in such a way that all targeted accounts are processed simultaneously, which significantly reduces the length of the sales cycle.
• A more stable ROI indicator. Another advantage of this strategy is that all indicators and results can be evaluated and measured. This is especially useful for the B2B market. Already 85% of marketers claim that ABM is one of the leading approaches that shows the expected return on investment in a short time.
• Optimization of the resources used. As the target becomes more accurate, you get more successful trades. This saves resources as much as possible, because all forces go not on quantity, but on quality.

Examples of using ABM:

The ABM strategy begins with identifying the most significant market segments for the business. After that, personalized campaigns are created for them using the most appropriate communication channels (be it a website, events or social networks).

Each strategy is developed with a unique mix of tactics that are suitable only for a specific account. After all, each client company has its own set of characteristics, a segment in the market and communication channels through which it is convenient for him to receive information.

There are several proven examples of using the ABM strategy.

1. Events or thematic meetings. Live communication has always been the most active way to influence people at the helm. With ABM, you can even go a little further. Personalized invites, gifts, VIP dinners and organized meetings for targeted accounts will clearly attract attention. Do not forget to keep in touch after the actions.
2. Webinars. As well as various events, webinars can be held for a specific topic of the client company.
3. Direct mail. Personalized letters and gifts by mail can be taken to a new level with the help of more thoughtful financing. Moreover, it is much easier to get into the field of view of decision makers with direct mail than just by email.
4. Email campaigns. Emails have not been canceled, they can be used to reach out and remind you about yourself.
5. Paid advertising. Social platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook help to target accounts of interest or even specific specialists. If you add more IP addresses and retargeting, we get a direct communication channel with the right clients. It is not necessary to be sprayed on the general broadcast on the network, go out to customers live.
6. Web personalization. As soon as the targeted user visits the site, he receives a web page interface optimized for his interests.

How to start ABM development?

Step 1. Identify for yourself some of the most desirable customers.

These will be the key accounts that will potentially bring the highest profit for your company.

Step 2. Conduct an in-depth analysis of these accounts.

It is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of communication with the customer base. Determine where the users are on the consumer’s path.

Step 3. Develop customized campaigns.

Use all the information that you got in the previous stages and enrich your campaigns. Advertising should resonate with the interests of the selected object and be relevant at this stage of its development.

Step 4. Launch advertising campaigns.

Constantly analyze and monitor how your campaign is developing, what feedback it receives and how effective it is. Don’t be afraid to make changes as you go.

ABM and personalization.

Website personalization is an important component of the ABM strategy. This is a kind of offline approach to online sales. After all, every new time you meet a client, you let him know that you know him and are ready to provide him with important services.

So it is with websites. Visiting the site page, a potential client can get the same pleasant experience.

The technology developed on the basis of firmographic data allows you to adjust the desired creative to the characteristics of each site visitor. As soon as the algorithm determines which company’s employee is on the site (this happens in a matter of seconds), the website is optimized for queries.

There are many aspects that can be changed for the visitor. Communication methods, pictures, calls to action and suggested social networks for repost.

Below you can get acquainted with some examples of web optimization.

Any person, when making a purchase decision, will listen to the reviews of friends. Even after studying the match, he will give preference to the product that his friends praise. You can make it so that your products and services are advised — with the help of word of mouth marketing.

As you probably already guessed, word of mouth marketing is directly related to word of mouth. Only if the latter is completely self-sufficient and perfectly exists without you, word-of-mouth marketing, as it is also called, involves the direct participation of the brand.

Word of mouth is a conversation between ordinary people that occurs naturally. Word of mouth marketing is a job aimed at making people talk about you during this conversation..

Andy Sernowitz, “Word of Mouth Marketing. How smart companies make people talk about themselves”

Why does word of mouth work in marketing?

1. The necessary distribution channels. For example, if one mother liked the crib, she will recommend it to her other friend–mom, that is, to the target audience. This is the most accurate hit in the audience.

2. Trust. We believe relatives, friends, colleagues, idols, and even people in line to see a doctor more than self-promotion. Psychologically, it is easier for people to trust people like them, who will not have personal benefits from advertising, than actors from TV or promises on advertising banners.

3. Coverage. In the age of information technology, it is a big mistake not to use all kinds of promotion channels: Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Clubhouse — this is only a small part of where the average user lives and communicates with each other. With the help of word of mouth, very large masses can be involved.

What you need to consider before launching word of mouth

• Highlight your USP — a unique trade offer. How can you attract and surprise the client? What is your feature that the user will want to tell others about? It can be free delivery outside the city or a unique assortment that no one else offers.
• Analyze competitors. How are they better than you? What do they have that you don’t and vice versa? What needs to be done to make customers prefer you and recommend you to others? Try to do better, faster and better. You can safely borrow their ideas and creative solutions, but at the same time adding your own chips so as not to be like everyone else. Brainstorm, throw ideas and don’t be afraid to implement something, even the most delusional — in the end it can lead to a great result!
• Be prepared for a slow result. Crowd marketing has a cumulative effect. Be patient, work hard, follow the result, seek feedback, take into account and correct mistakes.
• Work out your brand. Do you have a memorable name or a recognizable logo? Is it possible to find at least some information about you on the Internet? What are they already saying about you? Has the concept of brand management been worked out? All these points should be taken into account when creating and promoting a personal brand.

People like to talk, and what subjects do not become the subject of their discussion. They may mention the company not when someone asks for advice, but just like that: for example, they liked your service so much that it is impossible to keep silent, or vice versa, they did not like it.

Anyway, they will talk about you, and it’s just stupid to treat this as gossip. Brand reputation is built from many factors, and reviews of satisfied customers — agree, not the most inconspicuous of them. It is in your power to make sure that people speak well of you, especially since there are enough funds for this now.

Internet and not only

The Internet allowed customers to express their opinion so that everyone could see it. And they could share. In addition, this opinion, unlike ordinary tete-a-tete conversations, will in some way remain in history. A visitor posted a photo of a cracked countertop from your establishment on Instagram, tagged you — and that’s it! Even after six months, when that countertop will no longer be in sight, anyone will be able to see this shame.

At the same time, the Internet allows you to receive honest feedback, engage in dialogue and work on problems. When a brand responds kindly to the mention of itself on the web and conducts a constructive dialogue there, it arouses respect. You become part of word of mouth — and turn it into word of mouth marketing.

Another step in the right direction is social media communities. By creating a group in the same VK, you are not just working on loyalty, sharing news, conducting sweepstakes, no. You also attract customers to your site — you get feedback on your territory.

Of course, this does not guarantee the absence of negative reviews outside your group, but it significantly reduces them. As practice shows, customers often write claims in person, and all sorts of cute mimicry — in the comments under the posts. Not always, but if you regularly communicate with subscribers, yes.

However, we must understand that word of mouth marketing is not limited only to the Internet. All channels are closely connected: so you went to a new bakery, ate a stunningly delicious donut there and shared your joy on Twitter. A colleague read your tweet, went there, in turn, was happy and wrote to his wife in VK. And she forwarded this message to five friends. And so on.

The thing is that word of mouth marketing is very different from traditional promotion. For example, you don’t invest money directly in marketing, but you invest in service. And satisfied customers tell their friends about you themselves — because they just can’t keep silent. How it works, we will analyze a little later, but for now we will get acquainted with the four basic rules of word of mouth marketing.

Four basic Rules of Word of Mouth marketing

So, every brand wants to be talked about and — to be talked about well. Andy Sernowitz, already familiar to us, believes that four rules are at the heart of both.

Surprise me.

If you are one of thousands of typical companies, they will not pay attention to you — what is there to tell? Surprise your customers with something, and they will talk about you. It can be a funny or provocative name, a new interior in the style of Sesame Street, or some unique product, like the legendary (at least in the USA) 17-centimeter corned beef sandwiches from Carnegie Deli. At one time, they became a real attraction in New York, and every tourist considered it his duty to try them.

Don’t bother.

Sometimes a simple and elegant solution can be an excellent information guide. An example of such a solution is the first iMac series from Apple. In order to boost sales of not very successful computers at that time, the company’s board invited Jobs (who had been asked to leave before, yes). So he did not bother with updating the software, or with any other technical upgrade, but offered to make the cases multicolored. Naturally, everyone started talking about it.

Make customers happy.

Improve, invest in the service, solve problems.For example, Dyson, a company that manufactures vacuum cleaners, periodically makes an email newsletter to its customers. They remind you that you need to rinse the vacuum cleaner filter, and attach the available instructions. Z — care.

Earn trust and respect.

Actually, this rule follows from the previous one, but still. To quote Sernowitz again:

“Always preserve the dignity of your company. Everything you do must be ethical. Treat your customers well. Talk to them. Meet their needs.”

An example of a company that has really earned the trust and respect of customers is Southwest Airlines. Passengers love the airline for a lot, and pricing policy plays an important role in this: Southwest is allowed to carry 2 free baggage and does not charge an additional fee if a person suddenly decided to change the flight at the last moment.

If you follow the basic four rules of word of mouth marketing, customers will talk about you in a positive way, even though you don’t seem to have done anything special. This is called organic word of mouth marketing. Agree, there is nothing in common with traditional marketing techniques. But there is another kind of word of mouth marketing — enhanced.

Word of mouth is probably the most honest way to promote a brand and improve customer loyalty. But still, this is not the main method for increasing awareness and increasing sales. It is important to use all possible channels to attract traffic. Omnichannel is the main trend today

Conclusion

The types of marketing are numerous and diverse, but without knowledge of the characteristics of the target audience, it will not be possible to achieve an effect with any of them. A competent marketer will be able to make a psychological portrait of the client, choose the optimal direction based on it and effectively implement the tools in practice