Affinity marketing involves a partnership between two or more businesses to sell more products. Note that this is a mutually beneficial arrangement where one brand can extend its reach and enhance its credibility in association with the other.
Aspect
Explanation
Definition
Affinity Marketing is a strategic partnership or collaboration between two or more complementary brands or organizations with similar target audiences. It aims to leverage the shared interests and values of the partners to create mutually beneficial marketing campaigns or promotions.
Key Concepts
– Partnerships: Collaboration between brands or organizations. – Target Audience: A shared demographic or customer base. – Shared Values: Alignment in brand values and mission. – Mutual Benefit: Each partner gains value from the collaboration. – Co-Marketing: Joint marketing efforts and campaigns. – Customer Loyalty: Building loyalty through shared experiences and offerings.
Examples
– Starbucks and Spotify: Starbucks offers Spotify music playlists in its stores, enhancing the in-store experience. – Uber and Spotify: Passengers can choose their Uber ride playlist from their Spotify account. – Nike and Apple: Collaboration on fitness apps and wearable technology for runners. – GoPro and Red Bull: Co-branded content creation and distribution for extreme sports enthusiasts.
Benefits
Affinity marketing offers several benefits: 1. Extended Reach: Access to a partner’s customer base. 2. Enhanced Value: Improved offerings or experiences for customers. 3. Cost Sharing: Shared marketing costs. 4. Brand Loyalty: Building loyalty through shared values and experiences. 5. Cross-Promotion: Opportunities for cross-promotion and co-marketing.
Challenges
Challenges include finding the right partner, ensuring alignment in values, managing the partnership effectively, and measuring the impact of the collaboration on both brands.
Metrics
Metrics for affinity marketing include customer acquisition from the partner’s customer base, increased sales, brand mentions, and the success of joint marketing campaigns.
Conclusion
Affinity Marketing is a strategic approach that allows brands to tap into the customer base and values of complementary partners. By forming mutually beneficial collaborations, brands can extend their reach, enhance the customer experience, and build brand loyalty. Successful affinity marketing requires careful partner selection, clear alignment in values, and effective co-marketing efforts to maximize the benefits for both parties.
Affinity marketing is a mutually beneficial partnership between two brands. For this reason, it is sometimes called co-marketing or partnership marketing.
This form of marketing involves a brand collaborating with a related (but non-competing) brand to offer products, services, or benefits that are suitable for each brand’s respective target audience. Marketing efforts carry the branding of both businesses, with each able to access a new market of prospective buyers.
Affinity marketing best practices
To ensure the partnership is beneficial for both parties, it can be helpful to consider these best practices:
Choose the right partner – an obvious point, but one that is worth explaining further. Companies should always vet potential partners according to whether they share similar values, customers, or possess products that could be considered complementary.
Ensure the partnership is mutually beneficial – for the partnership to work, both companies must contribute in unison to deliver mutually beneficial outcomes. In a situation where the partnership is lop-sided or worse still, one-sided, it will be impossible to keep the disadvantaged company interested.
Define roles – like any partnership, it is also important to define roles and responsibilities from the outset to avoid confusion and potential conflict later. Two companies that want to create a product, for example, must discuss who is responsible for manufacturing and who will market and sell the product.
Focus on communication – in the context of affinity marketing, effective communication means collaborative decision-making in real-time. In many cases, the two brands will require shared access to files and other important assets throughout the campaign. Partner relationship management (PRM) software can be used to onboard partners, protect stored assets, and track sales, among other things.
Affinity marketing examples
In this section, let’s take a look at some affinity marketing examples:
Disney and Lyft – to help families move around the Walt Disney World resort, Disney partnered with Lyft to create the Disney Minnie Van™ Service. Families can book a ride on the service by using the Lyft app while within the bounds of the resort itself.
Chase and British Airways – American credit card company Chase partnered with British Airways to launch a branded British Airways Visa card to its customers. Individuals can use the card to collect the Avios reward currency which can then be redeemed for flights, hotel stays, and car rental.
Red Bull and GoPro – with both brands geared toward adventure and extreme sports, affinity marketing was also used to great effect by Red Bull and GoPro. Red Bull once sponsored an attempt to skydive from a balloon, with the diver wearing a GoPro camera to record the action. The two brands continue to enjoy an enduring partnership where GoPro cameras are used in Red Bull sports events such as the Red Bull Rampage mountain bike competition.
Amazon and Whole Foods: Amazon, through its acquisition of Whole Foods, offers Prime members special discounts and benefits when shopping at Whole Foods stores. This partnership combines Amazon’s e-commerce prowess with Whole Foods’ physical grocery locations.
Coca-Cola and McDonald’s: Coca-Cola beverages are prominently featured at McDonald’s restaurants worldwide. This long-standing partnership leverages the strengths of both brands in the fast-food industry.
Spotify and Starbucks: Starbucks customers can influence the in-store music playlist through the Starbucks app, which is powered by Spotify. This partnership enhances the overall Starbucks experience and promotes Spotify’s music streaming service.
American Express and Airbnb: American Express cardholders can earn reward points by booking accommodations on Airbnb. This collaboration encourages American Express customers to use Airbnb for their travel needs.
Nike and Apple: Nike and Apple have partnered to create products like the Nike+ Apple Watch and Nike Training Club app. These products combine fitness tracking technology with Nike’s athletic wear, enhancing the workout experience.
Marriott Bonvoy and Uber: Marriott’s loyalty program, Bonvoy, allows members to earn points for using Uber rides. This partnership incentivizes travelers to choose Marriott hotels and use Uber for transportation.
Delta Airlines and Lyft: Delta SkyMiles members can earn miles for using Lyft for airport transportation. This partnership benefits both frequent flyers and Lyft users.
Starbucks and Visa: Starbucks and Visa launched a co-branded credit card that offers rewards like Starbucks stars for purchases made outside Starbucks stores. This partnership extends the Starbucks experience beyond coffee shops.
REI and Subaru: Outdoor retailer REI partners with Subaru to offer exclusive discounts to REI Co-op members on Subaru vehicles. This collaboration caters to outdoor enthusiasts and adventurers.
Gap and (RED): Gap has partnered with the (RED) organization to create a line of clothing and accessories where a portion of the proceeds goes to the fight against AIDS. This partnership combines fashion with philanthropy.
HBO and Game of Thrones: HBO partnered with various brands to create limited-edition Game of Thrones merchandise, such as Oreos with themed packaging and Johnnie Walker whiskey with special labels. This leverages the popularity of the TV series for product promotion.
Macy’s and Make-A-Wish Foundation: Macy’s has a long-standing partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. During the holiday season, Macy’s donates a portion of sales from specific items to help grant wishes to children with critical illnesses.
Pampers and UNICEF: Pampers partners with UNICEF for their “1 Pack = 1 Vaccine” campaign. For every pack of Pampers purchased, a portion of the proceeds goes toward vaccinating mothers and babies against maternal and neonatal tetanus.
Key takeaways:
Affinity marketing involves a partnership between two or more businesses to sell more products. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement where one brand can extend its reach and enhance its credibility in association with the other.
Affinity marketing best practices include choosing the right partner, focusing on communication, defining roles and responsibilities, and ensuring the partnership is mutually beneficial at all times.
Affinity marketing has been used in partnerships between Disney and Lyft, Chase and British Airways, and an enduring arrangement between Red Bull and GoPro.
Key Highlights of Affinity Marketing:
Definition: Affinity marketing is a collaborative partnership between two or more businesses aimed at selling more products or services. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement where each brand leverages the other’s reach and credibility.
Mutual Partnership: Affinity marketing is often referred to as co-marketing or partnership marketing because it involves brands working together. These collaborations target products, services, or benefits that are relevant to each brand’s target audience.
Brand Collaboration: In affinity marketing, both brands participate in marketing efforts, and the branding of both businesses is prominently featured. This allows each brand to access a new market of potential customers.
Best Practices:
Choose the Right Partner: Brands should carefully select partners with similar values, customer bases, or complementary products to ensure a successful partnership.
Mutual Benefit: Both companies should contribute equally to deliver outcomes that benefit each party. Imbalanced partnerships are unlikely to be sustainable.
Define Roles: Clear roles and responsibilities should be defined from the beginning to prevent confusion and conflicts. This is especially important in co-creating products or services.
Effective Communication: Effective communication is essential in affinity marketing. Collaborative decision-making, shared access to assets, and partner relationship management tools can help facilitate communication.
Affinity Marketing Examples:
Disney and Lyft: Disney partnered with Lyft to offer the Disney Minnie Van™ Service within the Walt Disney World resort, catering to families visiting the park.
Chase and British Airways: Chase collaborated with British Airways to launch a branded credit card that allows users to collect Avios reward currency for flights, hotels, and car rentals.
Red Bull and GoPro: Red Bull and GoPro, both associated with adventure and extreme sports, have collaborated on various projects, such as recording skydiving attempts and using GoPro cameras in Red Bull sports events like the Red Bull Rampage mountain bike competition.
Related Concepts
Description
When to Apply
Affinity Marketing
Affinity Marketing is a marketing strategy that targets consumers based on shared interests, affiliations, or identities, rather than demographic characteristics or purchasing behavior alone. Affinity marketing leverages common passions, lifestyles, or communities to establish connections with target audiences, building brand loyalty, and fostering emotional engagement. It involves identifying relevant affinity groups or communities, such as hobbyists, enthusiasts, or social clubs, and developing tailored marketing campaigns or partnerships to resonate with their interests and values. Affinity marketing aims to create meaningful connections, drive word-of-mouth referrals, and enhance customer relationships through shared experiences and shared identities.
– When targeting niche markets or building brand communities around shared interests or passions. – Particularly in understanding the motivations and preferences of affinity groups, such as lifestyle choices, values, and social networks, and in exploring techniques to engage affinity audiences, such as content marketing, influencer partnerships, and community events, to strengthen brand affinity, drive customer engagement, and increase brand advocacy in marketing strategies or brand management initiatives.
Community Marketing
Community Marketing is a marketing approach that focuses on building and engaging communities of customers, fans, or followers around a brand, product, or cause. Community marketing emphasizes relationship-building, user-generated content, and participatory experiences to foster a sense of belonging and ownership among community members. It involves creating platforms or spaces for interaction, such as online forums, social media groups, or offline events, where community members can connect, collaborate, and co-create content. Community marketing leverages the power of peer influence, social proof, and shared experiences to drive brand awareness, loyalty, and advocacy within community networks.
– When cultivating brand advocates or encouraging user-generated content through community engagement. – Particularly in understanding the dynamics of brand communities, such as member motivations, group norms, and community dynamics, and in exploring techniques to nurture brand communities, such as community management, content moderation, and gamification strategies, to foster brand loyalty, amplify brand reach, and harness the collective power of communities in marketing campaigns or brand building efforts.
Segmented Marketing
Segmented Marketing is a marketing strategy that divides the target market into distinct segments based on common characteristics, needs, or behaviors, and tailors marketing efforts to each segment’s preferences and requirements. Segmented marketing enables companies to deliver personalized messages, offers, and experiences to different audience segments, maximizing relevance and effectiveness. It involves identifying relevant segmentation criteria, such as demographics, psychographics, or behavioral patterns, and developing targeted marketing campaigns, product variations, or pricing strategies to address the specific needs and preferences of each segment. Segmented marketing aims to optimize resource allocation, improve customer engagement, and enhance overall marketing performance by catering to diverse customer segments with differentiated marketing approaches.
– When addressing diverse customer needs or targeting specific market segments with tailored marketing strategies. – Particularly in understanding the characteristics and preferences of different market segments, such as buying behavior, media consumption, and value perceptions, and in exploring techniques to segment markets effectively, such as data analytics, customer profiling, and segmentation validation, to optimize marketing messages, allocate resources efficiently, and drive customer acquisition or retention in market segmentation strategies or customer relationship management.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer Marketing is a marketing strategy that involves partnering with influential individuals or content creators to promote products, services, or brands to their audience. Influencer marketing leverages the credibility, authority, and reach of influencers to endorse or recommend products authentically, driving awareness, engagement, and conversion among their followers. It involves identifying relevant influencers in niche markets or target demographics, such as bloggers, vloggers, or social media personalities, and collaborating with them on sponsored content, product placements, or brand partnerships. Influencer marketing aims to leverage the trust and influence of key opinion leaders to amplify brand messages, build social proof, and generate buzz around products or campaigns.
– When leveraging social influence or reaching specific audience segments through influencer endorsements. – Particularly in understanding the audience demographics, content preferences, and engagement metrics of influencers, and in exploring techniques to engage influencers effectively, such as influencer vetting, campaign planning, and performance tracking, to maximize the impact, authenticity, and ROI of influencer marketing efforts in influencer collaboration or social media marketing campaigns.
Content Marketing
Content Marketing is a marketing strategy that focuses on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience and drive profitable customer action. Content marketing aims to provide informative, entertaining, or inspiring content that addresses audience needs, interests, or pain points, positioning the brand as a trusted resource or thought leader in its industry. It involves developing content assets such as articles, blogs, videos, podcasts, or infographics and distributing them through owned, earned, or paid channels to reach target audiences across various touchpoints. Content marketing emphasizes storytelling, authenticity, and utility to engage audiences, build brand affinity, and drive desired behaviors, such as lead generation, brand awareness, or customer loyalty.
– When educating prospects or building brand authority through valuable content creation and distribution. – Particularly in understanding the content preferences, consumption habits, and engagement metrics of target audiences, and in exploring techniques to develop content marketing strategies, such as content planning, production workflows, and performance measurement, to create compelling content experiences, optimize content distribution, and achieve marketing objectives in content strategy or digital marketing initiatives.
Loyalty Marketing
Loyalty Marketing is a marketing strategy that focuses on building long-term relationships and fostering repeat purchases or engagements with existing customers. Loyalty marketing aims to reward customer loyalty, incentivize repeat behaviors, and increase customer lifetime value through loyalty programs, incentives, or personalized experiences. It involves identifying key customer segments or purchase behaviors, such as high-value customers, frequent purchasers, or brand advocates, and developing targeted loyalty initiatives, such as rewards points, discounts, or exclusive offers, to encourage ongoing engagement and retention. Loyalty marketing emphasizes customer satisfaction, retention, and advocacy to drive sustainable growth and profitability for businesses.
– When encouraging repeat purchases or building customer advocacy through loyalty incentives or retention strategies. – Particularly in understanding the motivations and preferences of loyal customers, such as reward preferences, redemption behaviors, and engagement patterns, and in exploring techniques to implement loyalty marketing programs, such as program design, reward structures, and customer segmentation, to enhance customer retention, increase purchase frequency, and maximize customer lifetime value in customer loyalty or retention marketing initiatives.
Experiential Marketing
Experiential Marketing is a marketing strategy that focuses on creating immersive, memorable, and shareable brand experiences to engage and connect with consumers on a deeper level. Experiential marketing aims to evoke emotions, stimulate senses, and foster meaningful interactions with the brand through live events, product demonstrations, pop-up activations, or interactive installations. It involves designing sensory-rich experiences that align with brand values, messaging, and target audience preferences, and providing opportunities for participation, exploration, or co-creation to enhance brand affinity and recall. Experiential marketing emphasizes storytelling, interactivity, and authenticity to create lasting impressions and drive word-of-mouth referrals, social sharing, and brand advocacy.
– When creating memorable brand experiences or engaging consumers through live events or activations. – Particularly in understanding the experiential preferences, engagement triggers, and social behaviors of target audiences, and in exploring techniques to design experiential marketing campaigns, such as event planning, immersive storytelling, and interactive technologies, to captivate audiences, foster brand loyalty, and amplify brand visibility in experiential branding or event marketing initiatives.
Cause Marketing
Cause Marketing is a marketing strategy that aligns a brand or company with social or environmental causes to create positive impact, build brand reputation, and drive consumer engagement. Cause marketing involves partnering with nonprofit organizations, charities, or social enterprises to support specific causes or campaigns through fundraising, awareness-raising, or advocacy initiatives. It aims to leverage consumer goodwill, altruism, or social responsibility to drive brand affinity and purchase intent, while also making a positive difference in society or the environment. Cause marketing campaigns may involve cause-related promotions, co-branded partnerships, or cause-driven storytelling to inspire action, mobilize support, and amplify impact for the chosen cause and the brand.
– When supporting social or environmental causes or building brand authenticity through purpose-driven initiatives. – Particularly in understanding the cause alignment, audience resonance, and impact metrics of cause marketing campaigns, and in exploring techniques to implement cause marketing strategies, such as cause selection, campaign messaging, and impact measurement, to create meaningful connections, drive social change, and enhance brand reputation in cause-related marketing or corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs.
Personalized Marketing
Personalized Marketing is a marketing strategy that delivers targeted messages, offers, or experiences to individual consumers based on their unique preferences, behaviors, or characteristics. Personalized marketing leverages data analytics, segmentation, and automation to tailor marketing communications and interactions at scale, maximizing relevance and engagement for each recipient. It involves collecting and analyzing customer data, such as browsing history, purchase patterns, or demographic information, and using insights to create personalized content, product recommendations, or marketing campaigns across various channels and touchpoints. Personalized marketing aims to enhance customer experiences, increase conversion rates, and drive customer loyalty through personalized interactions and customized solutions.
– When delivering relevant messages or customizing offers for individual customers through data-driven marketing. – Particularly in understanding the customer lifecycle, behavioral triggers, and data privacy considerations in personalized marketing, and in exploring techniques to implement personalized marketing strategies, such as data segmentation, dynamic content, and marketing automation, to optimize customer engagement, increase marketing efficiency, and improve ROI in customer relationship management or digital marketing initiatives.
Social Media Marketing
Social Media Marketing is a marketing strategy that utilizes social media platforms to reach, engage, and influence target audiences through organic or paid content, interactions, and community building. Social media marketing leverages the popularity, reach, and interactivity of social networks to promote brands, products, or services, and foster meaningful relationships with followers, fans, or customers. It involves developing social media strategies, content calendars, and advertising campaigns tailored to each platform’s features, audience demographics, and engagement metrics, and measuring performance through metrics such as reach, engagement, and conversion. Social media marketing aims to amplify brand visibility, drive website traffic, and generate leads or sales through effective use of social media channels and content formats.
– When building brand presence or engaging audiences through social media platforms or influencer collaborations. – Particularly in understanding the social media landscape, platform algorithms, and audience behaviors, and in exploring techniques to optimize social media marketing efforts, such as content creation, community management, and advertising targeting, to increase brand awareness, foster audience engagement, and drive business results in social media strategies or digital marketing campaigns.
Account-based marketing (ABM) is a strategy where the marketing and sales departments come together to create personalized buying experiences for high-value accounts. Account-based marketing is a business-to-business (B2B) approach in which marketing and sales teams work together to target high-value accounts and turn them into customers.
Ad Ops – also known as Digital Ad Operations – refers to systems and processes that support digital advertisements’ delivery and management. The concept describes any process that helps a marketing team manage, run, or optimize ad campaigns, making them an integrating part of the business operations.
Venture capitalist, Dave McClure, coined the acronym AARRR which is a simplified model that enables to understand what metrics and channels to look at, at each stage for the users’ path toward becoming customers and referrers of a brand.
Affinity marketing involves a partnership between two or more businesses to sell more products. Note that this is a mutually beneficial arrangement where one brand can extend its reach and enhance its credibility in association with the other.
As the name suggests, ambush marketing raises awareness for brands at events in a covert and unexpected fashion. Ambush marketing takes many forms, one common element, the brand advertising their products or services has not paid for the right to do so. Thus, the business doing the ambushing attempts to capitalize on the efforts made by the business sponsoring the event.
Affiliate marketing describes the process whereby an affiliate earns a commission for selling the products of another person or company. Here, the affiliate is simply an individual who is motivated to promote a particular product through incentivization. The business whose product is being promoted will gain in terms of sales and marketing from affiliates.
The bullseye framework is a simple method that enables you to prioritize the marketing channels that will make your company gain traction. The main logic of the bullseye framework is to find the marketing channels that work and prioritize them.
Brand building is the set of activities that help companies to build an identity that can be recognized by its audience. Thus, it works as a mechanism of identification through core values that signal trust and that help build long-term relationships between the brand and its key stakeholders.
According to inbound marketing platform HubSpot, brand dilution occurs “when a company’s brand equity diminishes due to an unsuccessful brand extension, which is a new product the company develops in an industry that they don’t have any market share in.” Brand dilution, therefore, occurs when a brand decreases in value after the company releases a product that does not align with its vision, mission, or skillset.
The brand essence wheel is a templated approach businesses can use to better understand their brand. The brand essence wheel has obvious implications for external brand strategy. However, it is equally important in simplifying brand strategy for employees without a strong marketing background. Although many variations of the brand essence wheel exist, a comprehensive wheel incorporates information from five categories: attributes, benefits, values, personality, brand essence.
The brand equity is the premium that a customer is willing to pay for a product that has all the objective characteristics of existing alternatives, thus, making it different in terms of perception. The premium on seemingly equal products and quality is attributable to its brand equity.
Brand positioning is about creating a mental real estate in the mind of the target market. If successful, brand positioning allows a business to gain a competitive advantage. And it also works as a switching cost in favor of the brand. Consumers recognizing a brand might be less prone to switch to another brand.
Business storytelling is a critical part of developing a business model. Indeed, the way you frame the story of your organization will influence its brand in the long-term. That’s because your brand story is tied to your brand identity, and it enables people to identify with a company.
Content marketing is one of the most powerful commercial activities which focuses on leveraging content production (text, audio, video, or other formats) to attract a targeted audience. Content marketing focuses on building a strong brand, but also to convert part of that targeted audience into potential customers.
One of the first mentions of customer lifetime value was in the 1988 book Database Marketing: Strategy and Implementation written by Robert Shaw and Merlin Stone. Customer lifetime value (CLV) represents the value of a customer to a company over a period of time. It represents a critical business metric, especially for SaaS or recurring revenue-based businesses.
Customer segmentation is a marketing method that divides the customers in sub-groups, that share similar characteristics. Thus, product, marketing and engineering teams can center the strategy from go-to-market to product development and communication around each sub-group. Customer segments can be broken down is several ways, such as demographics, geography, psychographics and more.
Developer marketing encompasses tactics designed to grow awareness and adopt software tools, solutions, and SaaS platforms. Developer marketing has become the standard among software companies with a platform component, where developers can build applications on top of the core software or open software. Therefore, engaging developer communities has become a key element of marketing for many digital businesses.
A digital channel is a marketing channel, part of a distribution strategy, helping an organization to reach its potential customers via electronic means. There are several digital marketing channels, usually divided into organic and paid channels. Some organic channels are SEO, SMO, email marketing. And some paid channels comprise SEM, SMM, and display advertising.
Field marketing is a general term that encompasses face-to-face marketing activities carried out in the field. These activities may include street promotions, conferences, sales, and various forms of experiential marketing. Field marketing, therefore, refers to any marketing activity that is performed in the field.
interaction with a brand until they become a paid customer and beyond.
Funnel marketing is modeled after the marketing funnel, a concept that tells the company how it should market to consumers based on their position in the funnel itself. The notion of a customer embarking on a journey when interacting with a brand was first proposed by Elias St. Elmo Lewis in 1898.
Funnel marketing typically considers three stages of a non-linear marketing funnel. These are top of the funnel (TOFU), middle of the funnel (MOFU), and bottom of the funnel (BOFU). Particular marketing strategies at each stage are adapted to the level of familiarity the consumer has with a brand.
A go-to-market strategy represents how companies market their new products to reach target customers in a scalable and repeatable way. It starts with how new products/services get developed to how these organizations target potential customers (via sales and marketing models) to enable their value proposition to be delivered to create a competitive advantage.
The term “greenwashing” was first coined by environmentalist Jay Westerveld in 1986 at a time when most consumers received their news from television, radio, and print media. Some companies took advantage of limited public access to information by portraying themselves as environmental stewards – even when their actions proved otherwise. Greenwashing is a deceptive marketing practice where a company makes unsubstantiated claims about an environmentally-friendly product or service.
Grassroots marketing involves a brand creating highly targeted content for a particular niche or audience. When an organization engages in grassroots marketing, it focuses on a small group of people with the hope that its marketing message is shared with a progressively larger audience.
Growth marketing is a process of rapid experimentation, which in a way has to be “scientific” by keeping in mind that it is used by startups to grow, quickly. Thus, the “scientific” here is not meant in the academic sense. Growth marketing is expected to unlock growth, quickly and with an often limited budget.
Guerrilla marketing is an advertising strategy that seeks to utilize low-cost and sometimes unconventional tactics that are high impact. First coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book of the same title, guerrilla marketing works best on existing customers who are familiar with a brand or product and its particular characteristics.
Hunger marketing is a marketing strategy focused on manipulating consumer emotions. By bringing products to market with an attractive price point and restricted supply, consumers have a stronger desire to make a purchase.
Integrated marketing communication (IMC) is an approach used by businesses to coordinate and brand their communication strategies. Integrated marketing communication takes separate marketing functions and combines them into one, interconnected approach with a core brand message that is consistent across various channels. These encompass owned, earned, and paid media. Integrated marketing communication has been used to great effect by companies such as Snapchat, Snickers, and Domino’s.
Inbound marketing is a marketing strategy designed to attract customers to a brand with content and experiences that they derive value from. Inbound marketing utilizes blogs, events, SEO, and social media to create brand awareness and attract targeted consumers. By attracting or “drawing in” a targeted audience, inbound marketing differs from outbound marketing which actively pushes a brand onto consumers who may have no interest in what is being offered.
Integrated marketing describes the process of delivering consistent and relevant content to a target audience across all marketing channels. It is a cohesive, unified, and immersive marketing strategy that is cost-effective and relies on brand identity and storytelling to amplify the brand to a wider and wider audience.
The marketing mix is a term to describe the multi-faceted approach to a complete and effective marketing plan. Traditionally, this plan included the four Ps of marketing: price, product, promotion, and place. But the exact makeup of a marketing mix has undergone various changes in response to new technologies and ways of thinking. Additions to the four Ps include physical evidence, people, process, and even politics.
Marketing myopia is the nearsighted focus on selling goods and services at the expense of consumer needs. Marketing myopia was coined by Harvard Business School professor Theodore Levitt in 1960. Originally, Levitt described the concept in the context of organizations in high-growth industries that become complacent in their belief that such industries never fail.
Marketing personas give businesses a general overview of key segments of their target audience and how these segments interact with their brand. Marketing personas are based on the data of an ideal, fictional customer whose characteristics, needs, and motivations are representative of a broader market segment.
Meme marketing is any marketing strategy that uses memes to promote a brand. The term “meme” itself was popularized by author Richard Dawkins over 50 years later in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. In the book, Dawkins described how ideas evolved and were shared across different cultures. The internet has enabled this exchange to occur at an exponential rate, with the first modern memes emerging in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Microtargeting is a marketing strategy that utilizes consumer demographic data to identify the interests of a very specific group of individuals. Like most marketing strategies, the goal of microtargeting is to positively influence consumer behavior.
Multichannel marketing executes a marketing strategy across multiple platforms to reach as many consumers as possible. Here, a platform may refer to product packaging, word-of-mouth advertising, mobile apps, email, websites, or promotional events, and all the other channels that can help amplify the brand to reach as many consumers as possible.
Multi-level marketing (MLM), otherwise known as network or referral marketing, is a strategy in which businesses sell their products through person-to-person sales. When consumers join MLM programs, they act as distributors. Distributors make money by selling the product directly to other consumers. They earn a small percentage of sales from those that they recruit to do the same – often referred to as their “downline”.
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a measure of the ability of a product or service to attract word-of-mouth advertising. NPS is a crucial part of any marketing strategy since attracting and then retaining customers means they are more likely to recommend a business to others.
Neuromarketing information is collected by measuring brain activity related to specific brain functions using sophisticated and expensive technology such as MRI machines. Some businesses also choose to make inferences of neurological responses by analyzing biometric and heart-rate data.
Neuromarketing is the domain of large companies with similarly large budgets or subsidies. These include Frito-Lay, Google, and The Weather Channel.
Newsjacking as a marketing strategy was popularised by David Meerman Scott in his book Newsjacking: How to Inject Your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage. Newsjacking describes the practice of aligning a brand with a current event to generate media attention and increase brand exposure.
A microniche is a subset of potential customers within a niche. In the era of dominating digital super-platforms, identifying a microniche can kick off the strategy of digital businesses to prevent competition against large platforms. As the microniche becomes a niche, then a market, scale becomes an option.
We can define pull and push marketing from the perspective of the target audience or customers. In push marketing, as the name suggests, you’re promoting a product so that consumers can see it. In a pull strategy, consumers might look for your product or service drawn by its brand.
Real-time marketing is as exactly as it sounds. It involves in-the-moment marketing to customers across any channel based on how that customer is interacting with the brand.
Relationship marketing involves businesses and their brands forming long-term relationships with customers. The focus of relationship marketing is to increase customer loyalty and engagement through high-quality products and services. It differs from short-term processes focused solely on customer acquisition and individual sales.
Reverse marketing describes any marketing strategy that encourages consumers to seek out a product or company on their own. This approach differs from a traditional marketing strategy where marketers seek out the consumer.
Remarketing involves the creation of personalized and targeted ads for consumers who have already visited a company’s website. The process works in this way: as users visit a brand’s website, they are tagged with cookies that follow the users, and as they land on advertising platforms where retargeting is an option (like social media platforms) they get served ads based on their navigation.
Sensory marketing describes any marketing campaign designed to appeal to the five human senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are enabling marketers to design fun, interactive, and immersive sensory marketing brand experiences. Long term, businesses must develop sensory marketing campaigns that are relevant and effective in eCommerce.
Services marketing originated as a separate field of study during the 1980s. Researchers realized that the unique characteristics of services required different marketing strategies to those used in the promotion of physical goods. Services marketing is a specialized branch of marketing that promotes the intangible benefits delivered by a company to create customer value.
Sustainable marketing describes how a business will invest in social and environmental initiatives as part of its marketing strategy. Also known as green marketing, it is often used to counteract public criticism around wastage, misleading advertising, and poor quality or unsafe products.
Word-of-mouth marketing is a marketing strategy skewed toward offering a great experience to existing customers and incentivizing them to share it with other potential customers. That is one of the most effective forms of marketing as it enables a company to gain traction based on existing customers’ referrals. When repeat customers become a key enabler for the brand this is one of the best organic and sustainable growth marketing strategies.
360 marketing is a marketing campaign that utilizes all available mediums, channels, and consumer touchpoints. 360 marketing requires the business to maintain a consistent presence across multiple online and offline channels. This ensures it does not miss potentially lucrative customer segments. By its very nature, 360 marketing describes any number of different marketing strategies. However, a broad and holistic marketing strategy should incorporate a website, SEO, PPC, email marketing, social media, public relations, in-store relations, and traditional forms of advertising such as television.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
