Blogging is a prevalent and well-established practice, with popular blogging platform WordPress powering many websites on the internet. While a few successful bloggers really make money, those who do usually monetize through affiliate marketing, Google AdSense (or other advertising platforms), sponsorships, memberships, or selling their own digital and physical products.
Monetization
Description
Examples
Advantages
Drawbacks
Advertising Revenue
– Display Ads: Earnings based on ad impressions and clicks. – Video Ads: Monetizing YouTube channels through ads and the YouTube Partner Program.
Google AdSense, Media.net, YouTube Partner Program
– Passive income stream. – Scalable with traffic growth. – No direct product promotion required.
– Ad blockers can reduce earnings. – Intrusive ads may affect user experience.
Affiliate Marketing
Promoting products or services through affiliate links, earning a commission on sales generated through those links.
Amazon Associates, ShareASale, CJ Affiliate
– Potential for high commissions. – Diverse product choices. – No product creation required.
– Dependence on external affiliate programs. – Income can vary based on audience interest.
Sponsored Content
Brands pay bloggers to create content that promotes their products or services.
Sponsored blog posts, social media collaborations
– Direct income from brand partnerships. – Opportunity for creative content. – Product exposure.
– Authenticity concerns if not transparent. – Limited control over content.
Selling Digital Products
Creating and selling digital products like ebooks, online courses, templates, or printables to the audience.
Selling ebooks, online courses, design templates
– Full creative control. – High-profit margins. – Passive income potential.
– Requires product development skills. – Marketing and promotion efforts needed.
Membership Sites
Offering premium content or a private community to subscribers for a monthly fee.
Patreon, Ko-fi, Substack
– Recurring revenue stream. – Community building. – Exclusivity for paying members.
– High-profit potential per session. – Expert positioning. – Global audience reach.
– Requires preparation and promotion. – Attendance may vary. – Technical issues can arise.
Merchandise Sales
Selling branded merchandise such as clothing, accessories, or niche-related products to the audience.
Selling branded T-shirts, mugs, or merchandise
– Brand promotion and loyalty. – Direct revenue from sales. – Creative merchandise options.
– Inventory management and fulfillment. – Initial investment. – Competition in merchandise sales.
Podcasting
Monetizing podcasts through sponsorships, affiliate marketing, and listener support.
Podcast sponsorships, affiliate partnerships, listener support
– Opportunities for sponsorships. – Listener support income. – Engaging audio content.
– Requires podcast production. – Finding sponsors can be competitive. – Building a listener base.
Selling Ad-Free Content
Offering an ad-free version of content to subscribers for a fee, enhancing the user experience.
Subscription-based ad-free content offerings
– Subscription-based revenue. – Improved user experience. – Reduced ad dependence.
– Limited appeal to some users. – Balancing free and paid content. – Building a subscriber base.
Blogging is a popular and evergreen way to make money on the internet and comes in many forms.
Affiliate marketing allows bloggers to earn a commission when a reader purchases through their link. They can also earn money through Google Adsense.
Sponsored posts are also a desirable option as many blog readers become increasingly sensitive to traditional forms of blog advertising. Blogs with traffic and/or revenue can also be sold in online marketplaces to entrepreneurs who want a ready-made solution.
Table of Contents
Affiliate marketing
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.
Affiliate marketing and blogging have a long and successful relationship.
Why? Because bloggers love to write about things that interest them and then recommend products to others. These recommendations usually take the form of an in-text link in which a tracking code is embedded.
When a visitor clicks the link and makes a purchase, the blogger receives a commission for each sale. For those participating in the Amazon affiliate program, bloggers receive a commission on any item a visitor purchases after clicking their link. For example, someone may click on an affiliate link for a coffee machine but then decide they want to buy sporting equipment instead.
Affiliate marketing enables you to earn a commission for promoting the products/services of another company or person on your blog.
The majority of my online income comes through affiliate marketing.
The main goal of affiliate marketing is to offer value that would benefit the readers and then promote relevant affiliate products.
It is an easy way to make money blogging as you don’t need to create your own product, instead promote other affiliate products relevant to your blog content.
I would strongly recommend you first go by affiliate marketing route, before creating your suite of products pouring in the efforts.
If you are wondering how affiliate marketing works, here’s how:
An advertiser or company agrees to give you a specific commission when a customer makes the sale of their product or service through your site.
Your site will contain links that will direct the reader to the website of the seller where they can make their purchase. Affiliate links can be placed directly in your content, or you could use banner ads.
Once the reader uses the affiliate link to buy a product or service, you will get a percentage of that purchase.
Research: The first step is to do extensive research to identify which products you want to promote. You are most likely to know which niche to focus on after checking out competitor sites and doing your due diligence.
Overall, research will help you identify a profitable niche that is going to make you money consistently.
If you already have a niche, you need to identify the top-performing pages on your site and look for places where you can promote your affiliate products.
Marketplaces: An affiliate marketplace is a site that connects advertisers and other vendors with affiliates. The marketplace is responsible for establishing easy communication channels, making affiliate links and payment processes more efficient.
If you are looking for products to promote, here are the best affiliates marketplaces that will give you access to numerous affiliate products:
ClickBank: ClickBank is very popular and is a great place to look for affiliate niches. They have digital offerings like online courses and e-books which somehow do better than physical products.
JVZoo: If you are in the internet marketing niche, you can consider exploring products on JVZoo.
Amazon Associates: If you review Amazon products on your blog, you can get started by joining the Amazon associates program.
There are also various other affiliate marketing marketplaces like ShareASale, CJ, Impact, and other in-house affiliates.
If a product owner does not have a publicly announced affiliate program, you can always reach out to them, and the chances of them set you up a private affiliate program will be more.
Google Adsense
Google Adsense is another blogging monetization staple still effective today.
Bloggers sign up to the Google Adsense platform and then insert code into various places on their blog. The code serves targeted ads which a visitor can click on and earn the blogger revenue via the cost-per-click CPC model.
The exact fee earned for every click depends on the advertiser and the keyword being targeted. Keywords (and by extension content) related to lawyers, insurance, mortgages, credit cards, and loans tend to attract the highest fees.
Advertising
One of the most common ways to make money is through advertising on your blog.
This is the most preferred revenue stream for first time bloggers because it is relatively easy and does not require copywriting skills.
Google AdSense is one of the easiest pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platforms. This program is also popular for placing the CPM Ads.
With Google AdSense, you need to put the banner on your site and Google will display ads that are most relevant to your site.
You’ll not have direct contact with the advertisers, but you can earn passive income—especially if your blog grows its readership and authority.
To increase your ad earnings, find your way to Adwords and check the cost-per-click of the keywords.
The key is to know how the competition is and how much the click costs.
This way, you will identify some worthwhile keywords that marketers pay high for, target them in your blog posts and thus boost your ad earnings.
Sponsored posts
In the blogging world, sponsored content involves a company paying a writer to create content around a product or brand. Writers may be compensated for articles, photography, videos, social media posts, emails, or all of the above.
In terms of the content itself, sponsored posts may look very similar to affiliate marketing posts. Both strategies describe a blogger using influence, voice, or authority to sell a product. While bloggers must now publicly disclose any relationship they have with a company, sponsored content is seen as less obtrusive than typical forms of website advertising.
Website flipping
Some bloggers also make money by purchasing websites and then selling them for a profit. Online marketplaces such as Flippa connect blog owners with entrepreneurs who want to invest in digital real estate.
Blogs with consistent and demonstratable revenue or traffic typically fetch the highest prices in these marketplaces. Selling websites with rare or desirable domain names can also make bloggers a lot of money.
Memberships
Content management systems such as WordPress allow bloggers to make money by charging readers access to exclusive content.
Essentially, this content is hidden from free users and unlocked once they pay for access. Membership content can be any content providing exceptional value relative to free content. It may include membership forums, training programs, video consults, personalized advice, or job boards.
Online Courses
Are you an expert in a particular field or you have a skill that you can confidently teach to other people?
You will be surprised at how many people are willing to pay to learn from your skills or expertise.
There is no better way to monetize your skill and share your knowledge than through online courses. Because, once you setup your course funnel, it’s more or less a passive income.
Once you identify a skill you want to teach, you need to research the course ideas, determine the angle, and validate the idea with your prospect students. This will help you ensure a target audience for that course.
Info Products
Are you looking to make a large profit margin with your blog?
If so, then you need to consider information products. Information products involve selling information or knowledge through eBooks or online courses. It requires less initial investment compared to creating say SaaS or physical products.
As a blogger, you probably have a lot of knowledge in a specific field. You can make money by turning this information into a product. Even if you don’t have a unique skill, you can begin with something you are passionate about.
You can choose to sell information products digitally through some platforms like Teachable, Thinkific or Udemy. You can also consider offering your readers to download it from your site. No matter what platform you use, learn the basics of online sales funnels as they are a great way to sell info products from your blog systematically for maximum conversions and effectiveness.
Sponsored Posts
Sponsored posts are, without a doubt, one of the best ways to earn money through blogging. Though very profitable, not many bloggers talk about it.
What is a sponsored post?
Well, a sponsored post is a content you write regarding the brand or product/services of a company, and they pay a fee for that.
A vital tip is to stay true to your audience when publishing sponsored posts and ensure that they provide real value to your readers. As long as you provide genuine value to the readers and adopt an SEO strategy to get ongoing organic traffic, you’re good to go.
Examples of Bloggers Making Money With Blogging
Pat Flynn
Pat Flynn is the owner of Smart Passive Income. He teaches readers proven strategies to optimize their online businesses for passive income.
When he was fired from his job in 2008, he used his knowledge from the LEED exam to launch an eBook and created an info product.
He then began his Smart Passive Income blog where he talks about passive income and shares his experiences.
Smart Passive Income has become very successful over the years thanks to affiliate marketing and selling info products. Also, recently, he launched the Smart Podcast player, which generated $9,646.70 in December 2017.
In the same month, 25% of revenue was collected from course sales while 63% came from advertising.
If you are one of those people who believe that blogging generates no money, then you have not heard of Alex and Lauren.
These two are the founders of Avocadu and Create and Go which generate revenue of $75,000 a month.
Initially, Alex was a personal trainer, and Lauren was an accountant.
However, they were both dissatisfied with corporate life, and this is when they decided to try an online business.
Currently, this couple makes money from their blogs through the selling of their eBooks and courses.
They also generate revenue through ads and affiliate marketing. The couple also attests to the power of Pinterest which has helped their sites grow further.
Kristin Larsen from Believe in a Budget
Kristin Larsen is the author of Believe in A Budget and co-creator of Pinterest Presence.
In 2015, Larsen began her blog Believe in A Budget which is a personal finance site.
The blog made under $100,000 in the first year. However, this changed when she started using Pinterest, and the monthly page views of her blog drastically increased from 5000 to 230,000.
Kristin managed to achieve success because of multiple income streams.
Her income comes from affiliate marketing, ads, and courses. She also sells her products and gets traffic through Pinterest and Google.
Bottom line
Whether you are passionate about writing or you are trying to earn a living from blogging, the above tips and examples come in handy.
Just find what works best for you, your blog readers and what doesn’t.
Also, be sure to build a relationship with other bloggers, sponsors, and affiliate marketers to develop your network which is your net worth and further promote your blog.
I hope you found this post helpful. If you have any doubts, make sure you leave them in the comments section.
Key takeaways:
Blogging: A prevalent practice powered by platforms like WordPress. Successful bloggers can monetize through various methods.
Affiliate Marketing:
Bloggers earn commissions by promoting others’ products through affiliate links.
Affiliate marketing and blogging have a strong relationship as bloggers can recommend products that interest them.
Effective way to make money by promoting relevant affiliate products.
Google AdSense:
Bloggers earn revenue by displaying targeted ads on their blog.
Ads generate revenue via the cost-per-click (CPC) model.
Relevant keywords and content impact the earnings per click.
Sponsored Posts:
Companies pay bloggers to create content around their products or brands.
Sponsored content is less obtrusive than traditional advertising methods.
Sponsored posts involve using influence, voice, or authority to sell products.
Website Flipping:
Bloggers buy and sell websites for profit.
Blogs with consistent revenue or traffic fetch higher prices.
Rare or desirable domain names can also yield substantial profits.
Memberships:
Blogs charge readers for access to exclusive content.
Membership content includes forums, training programs, personalized advice, and more.
Readers pay for access to high-value content.
Online Courses:
Bloggers can create and sell online courses to teach skills or expertise.
Platforms like Udemy and Teachable facilitate course creation and sales.
Passive income stream once set up.
Info Products:
Bloggers turn their knowledge into information products (eBooks, online courses).
Selling information products requires less initial investment.
Platform options include Teachable, Thinkific, and Udemy.
Examples of Successful Bloggers:
Pat Flynn: Generates revenue through affiliate marketing and info product sales.
Alex and Lauren: Make money through eBooks, courses, ads, and affiliate marketing.
Kristin Larsen: Uses multiple income streams like affiliate marketing, ads, and courses.
Key Takeaways:
Blogging offers diverse ways to generate income, from affiliate marketing to online courses.
Affiliates earn commissions by promoting others’ products, often with in-text links.
Sponsored posts involve creating content around a product or brand.
Website flipping involves buying and selling websites for profit.
Online courses and information products are valuable sources of income.
Building relationships with other bloggers and sponsors enhances network and earnings.
TikTok, owned by the Chinese tech giant ByteDance turned as among the most successful native micro-video platforms, and it became the go-to platform for millions of young users. Thus, the “TikToker” has already become the evolution of the “influencer” from platforms like Instagram. Those TikTokers make money in a few ways, such as monetary gifts, sponsorships, advertising agreements, affiliations, and more.
Online influencer marketing is a relatively new creation, but it has fundamentally changed how brands communicate with consumers. People with targeted audiences are now the focus of advertising efforts. Influencers can tap from small to larger audiences thus, giving companies another way to promote their products. Indeed, influencers make money by selling digital products via sponsorships and affiliations, brand ambassadors programs, and physical products.
Podcasts make money in several ways. The primary sources of revenues from podcasting come from affiliate marketing, advertisements (in the form of pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll), sponsorships, selling your own products, or by using podcasting to sell consulting services. Podcasting is an effective marketing and distribution channel, and it can be integrated within a business model.
Influencer marketing involves the marketing of products or services that leverages the popularity, expertise, or reputation of an individual. Influencer marketing is often associated with those who have large social media followings, but popularity should not be confused with influence. Influence has the power to change consumer perceptions or get their audience to do something different.
Instagram makes money via visual advertising. As part of Facebook products, the company generates revenues for Facebook Inc. overall business model. Acquired by Facebook for a billion dollar in 2012, today Instagram is integrated into the overall Facebook business strategy. In 2018, Instagram founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, left the company, as Facebook pushed toward tighter integration of the two platforms.
TikTok makes money through advertising. It is estimated that ByteDance, its owner, made over $17 billion in revenues, for 2019. While we don’t know the exact figure for TikTok ads revenues, given it counted over 800 million users by 2020, it is a multi-billion company, worth anywhere between $50-100 billion and among the most valuable social media platforms of the latest years.
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.
