MARKETING: Then And Now

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TGFLIP MARKETING AGENCY

November 18, 2020

Content:

1. Introduction to Marketing.

2. Evolution of Marketing.

3. How Marketing occurs in the Past.

4. Marketing in the 21st century.

5. The need of the 21st century.

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1. Introduction to Marketing:

According to Oxford:

"Marketing is the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising."

Therefore marketing is not just a drop, it is like an entire ocean in a drop. Marketing comprises of the different strategies you go through to promote and advertise your business.

Basically, marketing is the process of understanding your customer's needs and behavior and looking to build a long-term relationship. The main aim of successful marketing is to understand its customer instead of approaching them with direct selling behavior.

Marketing deals with the deep psychological understanding between the business and its customers. Successful marketing strategies start with listening to what exactly the customer wants instead of just pushing them to buy your product.

"The brands who win customers are the ones who put their customers ahead of their desire to sell more stuff."

No doubt the concept of marketing evolves around advertising and promotion but great marketers are great teachers. They guide their customers about the advantages as well as disadvantages of certain products. This lead to the creation of a deep relationship which is more valuable than a one-time sale.

2. Evolution of Marketing:

The concept of Marketing is not new. Marketing has existed since ancient times when merchants used different ways to promote their products. However, since the very first-day marketing has been evolving. Evolution in marketing means a change of medium, strategies, and approach towards customers.

Until the 1950s, marketing was mostly done using magazines, posters, billboards, printing, etc. But with the evolution of the medium that is the invention of the radio, TV, etc it also evolved. Till the 1980s, the main mediums for marketing were TV, radio, and telephone.

However, as computers were invented and added to mainstream usage, the marketing strategies also shifted towards computers and mobile phones. Later with the development of the internet, the whole concept of marketing changed, resulting in "digital marketing".

Digital Marketing is referred to as the most successful form of marketing as it has a high ROI and a low input value as compared to other forms of marketing. The evolution of marketing doesn't mean that the old forms of marketing are removed from the stage, in fact, marketing through telephones, newspapers, TV, etc is still there but not as functional and effective as digital marketing is.

3. How Marketing occurs in the Past:

We will cover the details of the most commonly used marketing mediums in the near past.

1. Newspaper Marketing:

Newspaper advertising has a long history of reaching audiences and building relationships between the business and its potential customers.

Advantages:

• A. Trust:

As newspapers are something people interact on daily basis, therefore, marketing through newspaper make it easy to craft a trust relationship.

• B. Consumer Usage:

Print form of advertising has an advantage of long-term visibility to potential customers. Once the ad is printed, it is in the hand of the customer for as long as he wants.

• C. Multiple Options:

Advertising through newspapers equips you with different options like the choice of a certain place for your ad, display options, brochure, etc. You can also utilize creativity skills in this type of advertising. 

Disadvantages:

• A. Targeting:

You can not target a particular number or group of audiences through a newspaper. As

newspapers are available to all format, therefore, targeting a specific group is quite difficult. 

• B. Decreasing Readership:

Newspapers are one of those platforms whose utilization is decreasing rapidly. People are increasingly shifting towards digitalization and rapidness, resulting in less readership of newspapers. Moreover, the interaction rate of the newspaper is also less as compared to smartphones and the Internet.

• C. Cost per Reader:

The cost per reader is very high for newspapers as compared to digital marketing. Similarly, the return on investment(ROI) is also not as efficient as it is for digital marketing.

2. Billboard Marketing:

One effective form of traditional marketing is billboard advertising. Despite the presence of social media and online marketing tools, combining these with other methods to create consumer awareness proves to yield results.

Advantages:

• A. Visibility:

The visibility factor of billboard marketing is very dominant. Billboards are placed strategically along with highways and motorways. This results in increasing the possibility of exposure to the consumer. Consumer recall is also present in the medium of billboards, as most people take the same route daily.

• B. Access to Targeted Audience:

Billboard advertisement is done after placing them in the right area where the ideal customer belongs. This leads to the fact that it targets the right group of the area or you may say, people.

• C. Audience Conversion Rate:

As billboards are placed on the side of roads, they help in the conversion in a very unique way. People passing through them can have a look at them and then decide to instantly visit the nearest store to buy the advertised product.

Disadvantages:

• A. Cost:

Billboard marketing is extremely expensive as it is like paying for every day that your ad is up. Moreover, the additional cost for maintenance and repairs also constitutes the high-cost marketing form.

• B. No Feedback:

In marketing, consumer feedback plays a vital role in the betterment and development of future marketing strategies. There is zero feedback through billboard marketing. You can not know about the consumer's response and reviews on your ad. 

• C. Limited Information:

Billboards offer limited information about your product to the consumers. As in digital marketing, there is a long chain of redirected links that provide complete insight into your product.

4. Marketing in the 21st Century:

Now we are going to discuss the marketing platforms that are most commonly used today.

1. Search Engine Marketing:

Marketing through running ads or ranking your website on search engines is called SEM.

"set of tools, techniques, and strategies that help optimize the visibility of the website and web pages through search engines."

This can be paid as well as organic.

Advantages:

• A. Precisely Targeted Audience:

SEM is very effective in targeting the audience precisely. It filters the right consumers and shows your ad to them. This ensures that the traffic would be made up of people that are genuinely interested in your product.

• B. Business Visibility:

The Internet has turned the world into a global village. SEM provides visibility to your business throughout the world. As anyone from any part of the world could access your product.

• C. No Need for Large Investment:

SEM offers a plus point of working and promoting your business even on a low budget. This point is extremely useful for small and local businesses.

Disadvantages:

• A. Competition:

SEM has a high level of competition as every business is moving toward digitalization. You need to be extra smart and strategic to take the lead. Strategic means your choice of SEO, keywords, etc should be very effective.

• B. It's Interruptive Sometime:

While working on your SEM strategy you have to figure out whether it is interrupting the consumer's personal space or not. The automation in digital marketing is very impressive but too much automation results in annoying the consumer. That is not our goal. 

2. Social Media Marketing:

Social media marketing plays an important role in building relationships with your consumers. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc are really helpful as they offer in-time feedback and conversion.

Advantages:

• A. Low Cost:

This is one of the key advantages of social media marketing over traditional marketing. It is free to join social media platforms but it does cost a little to run your marketing strategy on social media. But in reality, the cost per conversion is very much less than traditional marketing cost. Therefore, a high ROI is there.

• B. Fast:

Social media is all about the internet and therefore it is a very fast form of marketing. You don't have to wait for weeks for results and reviews. It is now a matter of minutes. This factor is too beneficial in choosing the right strategies for your business.

• C. Precision:

There is a very vast audience present over social media but not all are your potential customers. Social media gives you a chance to precisely target the right audience concerning age, gender, location, search, activities, etc.

Disadvantages:

• A. Routinely Update:

You need to update your content regularly. This requires a lot of research and hard work as you have to craft something new regularly. For that, you need to study your ideal customer's behavior and psychology and target that thing with your content. You can hire someone for that purpose too.

• B. Risk of Negative Reviews:

Social media is rapid and fast. The reviews of customers arrive within seconds and are visible to all. Therefore, when developing your strategy you need to go through a lot of research and then selecting something reasonable. You can also try experimenting and testing before formally working on a strategy.

5. The Need of the 21st Century:

The 21st century is evolving with a constant concept of a contactless and digital world. Every business needs to adopt this change to survive in the long-term. This adoption is not difficult at all as so many ways are there to help you out. 

Digitalization is now becoming a necessity instead of being just an option. That's the reason every second matters.

Starting from building your own online space that involves a website, social media presence, etc is extremely necessary to get in touch with your customers and potential customers. This thing requires research into your ideal customer like if your ideal customer is someone "formal" setup for your website and social media platforms. Similarly, if it's kids related then you need to attract their attention.

You can hire any marketing agency for this purpose or perform it by learning yourself.

(Side note: TGFlip Marketing Agency is always here to help you out and craft an amazing marketing strategy for your business)

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