Marketing Speak: Getting the Translation Right.

Advertisement is a general term referring to the communication of ideas to specific groups of customers or consumers where the end objective is persuading them to change their behavior in a manner in keeping with the objectives of the advertising message.

There are many forms of advertising, including traditional advertising as well as digital or online advertising. Advertising can also be categorized as either consumer advertising or trade advertising.

Affiliate marketing is the term given to the practice of promoting other companies’ products via independent websites in order to earn a commission on the sale of those products.

The strategic marketing process used by companies who sell their products or services to other companies. While many of the same general principles used in consumer marketing are employed, the specific tactics used are different.

Any third party individual or firm that possesses specialized knowledge and practical experience in a given field and uses it to assist a client or client organization on a special project basis.

Content marketing is the use of multiple online communication tactics in order to achieve a series of essential marketing objectives. Online content marketing tactics leverage social media, blogs, streaming video, email campaigns, text campaigns, landing pages and other digital options. Conventional media can also play a role. These objectives include:

a. Establishing awareness within a target consumer or customer that they have a problem or need that needs solving.

Providing information which will be evaluated by that customer or consumer as they work through the decision making effort of selecting how the need will be solved.

Providing a ‘buy-decision’ trigger, such as communicating a short-term purchase incentive, or communicating a success story from a consumer who selected the promoted brand/ product.

Providing opportunities for satisfied consumers to communicate their support for the promoted brand.

Content marketing strategy creates trust-based, value-based relationships between consumers or customers and product or service providers. Unlike traditional advertising, communication between the promoters and the promotees is

permission based/ non-interruptive

authentic

customer/ consumer focused rather than brand/ product focused

These objectives include:

1. Establishing awareness within a target consumer or customer that they have a problem or need that needs solving.
2. Providing information which will be evaluated by that customer or consumer as they work through the decision making effort of selecting how the need will be solved.
3. Providing a ‘buy-decision’ trigger, such as communicating a short-term purchase incentive, or communicating a success story from a consumer who selected the promoted brand/ product.
4. Providing opportunities for satisfied consumers to communicate their support for the promoted brand.

Any marketing activity that relies on Web 2.0 technology to communicate a marketing message to a prospect customer or consumer.

Email marketing is another tactic within the overall digital marketing universe. It relies on a list of known contacts and is often used as part of a ‘drip-campaign’ to remind prospects about a company, product or service, and build relationships which will eventually lead to business. Email marketing often incorporates text, photos, videos, links to landing pages and other elements. They are often one part of a multi-part ‘sales funnel’.

Although many people confuse the terms ‘Sales’ and ‘Marketing’, Marketing is a separate discipline having to do with the overall discipline used in persuading a select group of customers to adopt a product, service, or idea (could be plural in each case).

The discipline encompasses sales activities, public relations, advertising, new product development, and distribution.

Any third party individual or firm that possesses specialized knowledge and practical experience in the marketing field and uses it to assist a client or client organization on a special project basis.

Frequent uses of marketing consultants includes but is not limited to:

A. Planning and implementation of product launch campaigns

1. Promotional – digital (web related) and traditional (print, broadcast)
2. Package design
3. Sales collateral
4. Market research
5. Media planning
6. Other

B. New product development

C. Development of new distribution channels

A description of methods an organization will use to accomplish its marketing objectives. It includes:

1. Situation Analysis – A robust situation analysis will review the company’s strengths and weaknesses and the environment’s opportunities and threats. It also includes a strategic review of the company, it’s competitors and its customers
2. A list of underlying assumptions about how the coming business period may differ from what has preceded it
3. A listing of specific objectives that the strategy will accomplish
4. A description of the activities planned for the coming period which will accomplish each objective
5. The timing of each activity
6. A summary of all available resources

Marketers typically include five major facets in their marketing strategies; products, places (distribution), price (includes short-term discounts and other dollars-based purchase incentives), promotion (includes traditional and digital advertising) and people.

Successful marketing campaigns are built on facts, not opinions. These facts come from two general sources: information that was previously collected, information that is being collected for the first time. The planning and implementation of this data collection is called market research. So is the effort to analyze and interpret the results of the information.

Market research is used to inform marketing decisions. While it represents an investment, it is potentially far less expensive than running a business and making decisions without the benefit of accurate and especially projectable information. The entire point is to minimize the risk which is inherent in any new marketing effort.

Frequently, companies will use market research to improve decision making in the following areas:

1. New product development
2. Ad testing
3. Target marketing
4. Price setting
5. Product launches

A marketing strategy a general description of the method an organization will take to accomplish its marketing objectives. It is provided in full detail in a document called a ‘Marketing Plan’. Generally, a marketing strategy looks at combinations of products or services and customers or segments/ industries in order to achieve a defined and measurable goal within a specific period of time

Marketing activities that rely on smart phone functionalities to communicate marketing message to prospective customers or consumers.

Online reputation management includes tactics which influence and control the reputation of a company, product, service, or individual. Frequently posting information to social media pages and writing blogs are two important tactics used to establish awareness and improve the reputation of the thing or person being marketed.

Search engine marketing is a form of Internet marketing that improves the visibility of the optimized web page, primarily through paid advertising.

Search engine optimization is a branch of internet marketing which is used to improve the ranking of any given web page on search lists created by internet search engines.

It uses carefully identified themes, key words and key phrases and places them in on-page text, meta descriptions, SEO titles, and anchor text.

A second major category of tactics makes use of back-links from high-traffic websites back to the page being optimized in order to improve the page’s ranking.

A marketing strategy which relies on social media posts and other content to achieve the marketing objectives of a campaign. Social media strategies are built on several pillars including:

1. An audit of competitive social media activity and an understanding of what works and what doesn’t within each competitor’s campaign
2. A robust understanding of the brand’s/ company’s target consumers (referred to as the ‘buyer persona’)
3. Selective use of social media options within the ‘four zones’ within the social media universe; this includes the Social Zone, Publishing Zone, Entertainment Zone and Shopping Zone.
4. Development and publication of the proper mix of communication types within each zone, as relevant to the brand’s target consumers.
5. Development and publication of the proper messages as relevant to the information needs of consumers as they progress through each stage of the consumer journey.
6. Development and executing the right Social Media Experience as is appropriate for the preferences of target consumers.
7. Sufficient frequency.
8. SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, time-bound) goals, and on-going program management to achieve those goals.

The use of a number of social media platforms and a number of different types of content (photos, text, video, infographics etc.) to achieve the objectives of a social media campaign.

Also see social media strategy.

Video marketing is component within the overall set of marketing tactics that comprise a complete campaign. Because they engage multiple senses (visual and auditory), they are most effective when the products or services being marketing are complex or highly visual. Video marketing has become very commonplace because today’s Web 2.0 environment provides opportunities to communicate to prospective customers and consumers. Streaming videos are in heavy use across multiple hardware platforms, including desktop and laptop computers, tablets and smartphones. Statistics show that consumers much prefer video to any other way of

The creative processes related to building a website.