50 Marketing Tactics You Should Know

There are about as many marketing tactics as there are brands and companies—that is to say, there are a lot of them. While they all work in their own way, not all of them are meant for every brand or company.

If we are discussing tactics, we must also touch on strategy, sometimes these two are mistaken for one or the other.

Though a better way to see it is in terms of tactic existing within a strategic plan. A combination of tactics in varying formations are what make up an overall strategic approach. That being the case let’s look at some key marketing tactics.

• Article Marketing is when companies show consumers their knowledge and expertise by creating high-quality, informative articles.
• Free Sample Marketing is when a company provides free samples to consumers to encourage them to purchase the full-sized version.
• Close Range Marketing is when a business takes advantage of Wifi and Bluetooth in order to send promotional messages about their business to the smartphones and tablets of people near where they are located.
• Alliance Marketing is when two or more business come together to create a larger marketing campaign to increase the sales of all the businesses involved.
• Direct Marketing is when a company sends prospective customers information by mail, email, texts, flyers, or similar methods.
• Newsletter Marketing is when companies promote themselves and their niche via a newsletter.
• Cult-tural Marketing takes advantage of the ideas of “cult followings” that brands can sometimes develop by playing on the psychological and behavioural components behind these occurrences.
• Humanistic Marketing differentiates between a person’s various needs—physical, social, and individual—to better market products and services.
• Evangelism Marketing is when consumers love a brand so much it becomes a part of them and they become a sort of “ambassador” for you, telling everyone they know about your company or products.
• Mass Marketing is the most common strategy. Instead of focusing on a specific group, the company will send advertisements to everyone they can possibly reach in as many ways as possible.
• Cross-Media Marketing makes use of multiple marketing platforms, including print and online advertisements.

Are you ready for another group? This next group of marketing tactics can really help you to start to build a brand and build authority. And at a certain point (right now) you want to start building authority so you can start to get inbound leads. Let’s explore those.

• Social Media Marketing makes use of sites and apps like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to promote their company or product.
• Viral Marketing is when companies create something about their products that people love so much, it gets shared, again and again, becoming viral, and bringing in a lot of web traffic.
• Promotional Marketing is when companies use things such as contests, coupons, and free samples as a way to promote their business to the public and creating more brand awareness.
• B2B Marketing is when a company promotes themselves to other companies in order to create business partnerships that can gain them more exposure and business.
• Search Marketing takes advantage of much-used search engines to make sure their company gains the notice they desire, usually through SEO-optimization on their websites.
• Drip Marketing is when a company sends pre-written messages, usually by email, over a period of time.
• Content Marketing is similar to the previous example, as it allows you to educate consumers about a specific brand or service.
• Database Marketing uses databases to compile a list of customers and potential customers to better  generate personalized messages to promote the brand or products the company offers.
• Mobile Marketing is a strategy that takes advantage of mobile devices, which have location services as well as constant connectivity.

Affinity marketing, community marketing, Brand love marketing, these are terms that as a small business you may not be particularly familiar with, but I hope that when as you are reading this information you start to comprehend and start to appreciate the value that they can add to your business. Let’s explore up some of these:

• Affinity Marketing is when two or more brands that work well together form a partnership or an alliance, to generate more sales, create new customers, and increase brand awareness for the involved brands.
• Tradeshow Marketing is when companies present their products at a dedicated booth to give consumers an up-close and personal look at what they are offering.
• Community Marketing is when the company encourages their customers to take a more engaged role with the brand by promoting brand loyalty. This form of marketing usually ends up leading to word of mouth marketing as well.
• Brand Love Marketing works by creating a strong emotional connection, a sense of belonging, and a sense of loyalty between customers and the products and services you offer. The more they feel connected, the more they will share their love of a product or service.
• Offline Marketing is when companies take advantage of other forms of technology to help promote their products and services, and usually, gives people a chance to see them in person.
• Direct Mail Marketing makes use of various marketing channels that include everything from text messages to billboards and mail catalogs.
• Freebie Marketing is when companies promote giveaways or sell products at very low rates to create a solid customer base and help boost sales.
• Cloud Marketing is when a company puts all of their marketing resources on an online platform, where customers can handle them themselves.
• Relationship Marketing focuses on building a relationship with customers, rather than just trying to get them to buy more. When you create a brand that people can relate to or feel connected to, then they are likely to spend more buying your products or services.

This next group involves knowing how to engage with the tools that you have at your disposal, primarily things like social media. Gorilla marketing really works well with social media and we can explore that in a later article. Also consider reverse marketing, here we are really wanting to get people to come to us. Let’s explore a couple of these:

• Reverse Marketing is when customers seek out the business, rather than being directly targeted by marketers. In other words, the company will not focus on presenting an actual product, but a related idea.
• Guerrilla Marketing is a grassroots approach that is low in cost, and dependent on creativity, large crowds, and the ability to surprise people.
• Word of Mouth Marketing depends on consumers sharing their love for a brand or product with people around them, who will then do the same. It is more of a grassroots effort to gain a customer base and is common with local businesses.
• B2C Marketing is when a business is marketing directly to consumers in an aggressive manner, meant to convert them into paying costumers.
• PR Marketing occurs when companies work with the media as a way to create brand and product awareness.
• Personalized Marketing is when a company tries to make product offerings more unique by playing on each customer’s individual needs or interests.
• Outbound Marketing is when a company makes a list of prospective customers and then beginning to reach out to them via targeted advertising.
• Niche Marketing is when a company focuses on a small section of a larger category, allowing them to target a more specific group of people. Some clothing companies market themselves as being meant for surfers or skaters.
• Scarcity Marketing is a technique used when obtaining the materials of a product is difficult, or when companies choose to make the product or service accessible to a certain number of customers. Because the product will be seen as “scarce,” it is likely to sell faster.

Read moreCombining video and social media to reach more people.

When you start to consider some sophisticated marketing tactics, by now you have a pretty good grasp or an understanding of the more fundamental marketing tactics, It will help you as you build out your holistic marketing strategy. When you start to think about marketing, firstly think about every point of contact that your brand comes in contact with a prospect. And in every one of those points of contact there needs to be a marketing mechanism to attract and draw people in. Let’s go through these:

• Undercover Marketing is when a company tells consumers just enough about them to make them curious and want to learn more—by going to their store or website.
• Transactional Marketing is the opposite of Relationship Marketing; the focus is simply on selling more products and services to consumers. This can be done by offering coupons, discounts, liquidation deals, and sales to draw attention. Many big-name stories use this technique to keep their sales high.
• Inbound Marketing is when companies take advantage of customers calling for help, in order to offer them additional products or services.
• Call to Action uses text, graphics, and web design to not only draw customers to their website but actually encourage them to purchase something or join their mailing list.
• Cause Marketing is when companies find a cause that both they and their customers believe in—clothing companies, for example, may donate clothing to people in need with every purchase made.
• Online Marketing is when companies place ads on various parts of the Internet, either as banners, videos, or textual links.
• Email Marketing is still online, but it focuses specifically on sending company information to consumers via email newsletters.
• Event Marketing provides a chance to give customers more of a reason to shop. So, by hosting an event, you are likely to bring in more sales.
• Ambush Marketing is when a company tries to associate their products at an already sponsored event, without having to pay any of the fees themselves. This, however, can lower the value of the original business.
• Seasonal Marketing is when companies take advantage of holidays or seasons to better market themselves to consumers.
• Diversity Marketing takes customers’ cultural differences into account to better target advertisements towards them.
• Telemarketing is an extremely well-known form of marketing, where representatives call potential customers to get them to buy a product or service.

This list only contains 50 marketing tactics, but there are no doubt others that companies can use. But, like with so many things, the effectiveness of these tactics depends greatly on how well they are used. It also helps to keep in mind what tactic is best for your brand or company, and what your audience is going to respond best to.