Introduction
What is marketing? The Oxford Dictionary tells us that marketing is the 'activity of presenting, advertising and selling a company's products or services in the best possible way'.
Why do you need marketing? You might have the best product or service ever but if your customers don't know about it, you won't make a penny let alone a profit. Develop a successful marketing strategy and your product will fly off the shelves.
Not sure how to go about marketing your product? Marketing blogs are a good starting point for developing your knowledge and building a successful marketing strategy.
An Overview of Marketing
The Types of Marketing
There are five main types of marketing and most brands will use a combination of some or all of them.
- Influencer marketing: This is relatively new but becoming increasingly common on the back of social media. Brands link up with regular posters who have a large following and who have influence over their readers. A strong way of getting your message out to potential customers (especially the younger generation).
- Viral marketing: This is often linked to influencer marketing and social media. People see something they like and want and pass the message on. It rapidly spreads to become 'viral'. Influencing at its best.
- Relationship marketing: Have you got a loyalty card (or two ...)? Who hasn't? From the occasional free coffee to vouchers arriving regularly in the post (how do they know what I want to buy?), brands want to create a relationship with their regular customers.
- Keyword marketing: You need people to visit your website. You need them to convert to sales. How do you do this? By getting SEO and keywords right so when they search for a product, they're led straight to you. Probably one of the most cost-effective marketing tools.
- Guerilla marketing: Unconventional. Fun. An occasional one-off. Something that makes your brand stand out from the crowd. Street art, pavement stencils, holographs, messages on staircases - we've all seen examples of successful guerilla marketing. Google it and you'll find some you recognise.
Marketing - The Four Ps
Marketing gurus talk about the four Ps - you should have two in place already, the other two should be part of your ongoing marketing strategy.
- Product: This might be something tangible or a service. Both are referred to as the 'product'.
- Place(ment): This covers getting your product to the customer (distribution) as well as ensuring they know about your product - your marketing strategy.
- Promotion: How you go about getting potential customers to become actual customers. A good promotion should be easily measurable in terms of engagement, conversion and profit.
Our Pick of the Marketing Blogs
Hubspot
Search for marketing info and you'll hit a Hubspot post. It's the go-to resource for anything related to valuable content. Hubspot publishes daily (or more) and has nearly five million monthly readers!
Neil Patel
So good is Neil Patel at marketing that Fortune 100 companies look to him for advice. He regularly posts written, video, and podcast content that is always engaging and useful.
Ahrefs
Publishing weekly or more, Ahrefs is a good marketing blog if you want to develop your SEO skills. It has something for both marketing newbies and skilled professionals.
Backlinko
There is very little Brian Dean doesn't know about marketing and SEO. The main focus of his Backlinko blog is traffic-related tips.
Content Marketing Institute
Publishing seven days a week, the Content Marketing Institute offers great advice on building your audience and the latest developments in content marketing.
SEMrush
SEMrush delivers great insights into optimizing your website for click and convert as well as everything else you need to know for building great marketing strategies.
Google Webmaster Central Blog
If you want to know how to feature high in Google rankings, then go to Google itself. While a bit more technical than other blogs, the Google Webmaster Central Blog keeps you up-to-date on crawling, indexing, and ranking.
greatcontent
greatcontent is a leader in content creation and we share our knowledge of everything marketing and SEO related in our regular blog posts.
A Great Product Needs Fantastic Marketing
Get in touch with greatcontent now whether you want great writing for your blog or landing pages, your marketing material expertly translated, or want to develop your own SEO skills.
