What is marketing? More than a series of one-off campaigns or initiatives, marketing is the glue that holds everything together - from your product or service to your customer experience to your visual identity. When marketing is done well, it creates a seamless and consistent experience for consumers, no matter how they interact with your brand.
A thorough explanation to the question, “what is marketing?”
Your brand is the sum total of all of your interactions with customers, from your website to your social media presence to your customer service. Marketing is the connective tissue that helps all of these efforts fit together and tell a consistent story about your brand. It's how you create awareness, generate interest and build relationships with potential customers.
Effective marketing:
- Creates a unified customer experience. When all of your marketing efforts are aligned with your brand, it creates a more seamless and consistent customer experience. This in turn helps your target audience easily recognize and trust your brand.
- Reinforces your brand identity. Your marketing should be consistent with your brand identity in terms of tone, voice and visual style. This helps to reinforce your brand identity in the minds of customers.
- Builds brand loyalty. When your target audience feels a connection with your brand, they are more likely to become loyal customers. Marketing can help to build this connection by telling stories that resonate and by creating opportunities for customers to interact with your brand.
Examples of businesses who use marketing well:
- Apple is known for its innovative products and its sleek, minimalist design. This brand identity is reflected in all of Apple's marketing materials, from its product packaging to its advertising campaigns.
- Nike is known for its focus on athletic performance and its inspirational messaging. This brand identity is reflected in all of Nike's marketing materials, from its product endorsements to its advertising campaigns.
- Disney is known for its family-friendly entertainment and its magical experiences. This brand identity is reflected in all of Disney's marketing materials, from its theme parks to its movies to its merchandise.
You too can use marketing to make your brand more memorable, more meaningful and more successful.
“It's not what you sell that matters as much as how you sell it!"
– BRIAN HALLIGAN
A few tips for using marketing effectively:
- Have a clear understanding of your brand identity, including your brand’s values, tone and voice and visual style. What do you want your brand to be known for? What makes you unique? Once you have a clear understanding of your brand identity, you can use it to guide all of your marketing efforts.
- Make sure your marketing efforts will resonate with your target audience. When your brand identity and marketing plan are informed by your ideal customers' values, interests, challenges, habits etc., you will reach more people, build stronger connections and increase loyalty.
- Create integrated marketing campaigns that work together to tell your brand's story. This means using a variety of marketing channels, such as out-of-home advertising, social media, content marketing and public relations to reach your target audience with a consistent message.
Are you ready to create a more effective marketing plan?
Here at MSS Media, Inc., we’ve been providing Education, Government, Real Estate & Lifestyle clients with succinct, optimized, and successful marketing solutions for more than 15 years. Consider MSS Media, Inc. a full-service, one-stop shop for all your Media and Public Relations needs. Your goals are our motivation. And our mission is to propel your message, further and faster, to achieve the outcomes you’re looking for. If you found this blog post helpful, please share!
