12 Marketing Tactics: How to Use Effective Marketing Tactics

Marketing tactics are specific concepts and methods that a company employs as part of a larger marketing strategy. Also known as advertising tactics, marketing tactics are tailored toward the stated objectives of a marketing campaign. Such objectives might include building brand awareness, acquiring new customers, improving lead generation, advancing sales conversion rates, and launching an e-commerce platform.

Effective marketing tactics closely align with specific objectives. For instance, a company striving to reach a younger audience might spend its online marketing budget on the social media platforms favored by people within the target age group.

Although the terms “marketing tactics” and “marketing strategy” may be used interchangeably, their meanings are distinct:

• Marketing strategy: A marketing strategy is an overarching plan for how a company will direct its marketing efforts and spend its marketing budget. Also known as a strategic marketing plan, it establishes specific marketing goals, names a target audience for an ad campaign, and sets out to deliver a marketing message to that target audience.
• Marketing tactics: Marketing tactics describe the specific ways that a marketing team executes its marketing strategy. For instance, if a marketing strategy is to use digital marketing to reach news junkies, a marketing tactic might be launching an email marketing campaign that features a daily summary of the morning’s news—intentionally crafted to appeal to an identified set of potential customers.

The following marketing tactics can help startups, small businesses, and large corporations achieve their marketing goals.

1. 1. Start with market research. For your very first tactical marketing activity, research the marketplace you’re about to dive into. Learn about existing players and how much market share each currently controls. Brainstorm what will give you a competitive advantage and help you stand out among potential customers. Once you understand the market and your potential place in it, you’ll be better empowered for a successful marketing campaign.
2. 2. Create a customer profile or buyer persona. A buyer persona is a fictional representative of the target customer base a company seeks to engage. Companies develop buyer personas through data gathered from phone calls, questionnaires, sales metrics, and profiles of existing customers.
3. 3. Focus on qualified leads. A qualified lead is a potential client who you've determined is a likely new customer for your product or service. When qualifying leads, look for clients who can afford your product, need your product, and are looking to make a purchase soon. In addition, you want your specific contact at a potential client company to be the decision-maker who has the authority to approve the sale.
4. 4. Commit to a marketing mix. Today’s marketing landscape is defined by segmentation; you simply cannot advertise via a single marketing channel and hope to reach the total population. Successful marketers embrace many types of marketing—digital ads, social media, traditional commercials, partnerships, social selling, direct mail, email marketing, and more—to achieve their marketing objectives and reach their business goals.
5. 5. Embrace social selling. Modern social selling uses social media marketing channels and forums to create a personalized customer experience. Connect with potential customers in these forums, and ask questions that help you understand their pain points and personal needs. You can build rapport with customers by using this method, and that will help you nudge them toward a sales conversion.
6. 6. Optimize for smartphones. Entrepreneurs know that much of today's e-commerce takes place on smartphones, both through web browsers and dedicated apps. Make sure your digital marketing strategy accommodates those who mostly access the internet through their phones. In many cases, digital platforms will do this for you. Make sure your own website loads smoothly on a smartphone, especially if that is where you conduct most of your commerce.
7. 7. Differentiate on price. Many retailers use pricing as a value proposition that distinguishes them from competitors. Use pricing research and case studies to help your company find an acceptable price point for a new product. You may be able to disrupt the market with amazing discounts; conversely, you might distinguish your company as a premium brand by charging near the top of the market.
8. 8. Invest in content strategies and SEO. A combination of content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) can bring customers to your site via organic reach. This is also known as pull marketing or inbound marketing. Examples of content marketing include maintaining a blog on your website, hosting a podcast, and hosting webinars Use SEO best practices to increase the odds that a piece of content will rank highly in search engines and also appear via backlinks on other sites. Through sustained content creation, you can drive organic traffic to your website, and this can lead to more sales.
9. 9. Partner with social media influencers. Influencer marketing now plays a significant role on social media channels. You can hire influencers either with a flat per-ad rate, or you can use a referral system, where they get a commission when they provide a custom referral code or custom URL that goes to your site’s landing page.
10. 10. Solicit testimonials and product reviews. A testimonial from an existing customer offers social proof of a product’s value and efficacy. Person-to-person referrals carry a lot of weight, as can reviews on a product website.
11. 11. Respect the power of video content. Video creates a more interactive user experience, and it may linger with potential customers for longer periods of time. It may require a greater marketing investment, but it can offer greater yields over the long run.
12. 12. Try A/B testing. In A/B testing, you show different types of ad messages to similar customers and see which message leads to better click-through rates. Once you’ve seen campaign results, engage in retargeting to reach an even wider span of new customers.

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