11 Types of marketing strategies you didn’t know about

Key Takeaways:

  • All types of marketing strategies aim at improving its value proposition in different dimensions.
  • Gaining insights from these brand strategy stories is a good way to understand new and varied marketing tactics.
  • There is no structured way to apply these marketing strategies. Brands always use them in creative combinations to excite and attract customers.

Every type of marketing strategy creates a novel brand strategy story! Marketing strategy is essentially the game plan for reaching out to prospective customers. A marketing strategy contains the company’s data on target customer demographics,  key brand messaging, value proposition and other essential elements. In this evolving world, the industry has evolved at breakneck speed, sprouting many more types of marketing of which we are not even aware of. From search engine marketing to account-based marketing, every brand can use a combination of these tactics to attract its target audience and generate more revenue. To know more about different marketing techniques, click here

The ultimate objective for all types of marketing strategies is to communicate and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage over other rival companies. Any type of marketing strategy should revolve around the company’s value proposition, which communicates to consumers what the company stands for, how it operates, and why it deserves its business.  All types of marketing strategies serve to fulfill promotional quests at different levels of human interaction.

Various types of marketing strategies are used by businesses to promote their products and services. It is also employed to inform the customers of the features, specifications and benefits of the company’s products. The real end goal of applying any type of marketing strategy is to encourage the target population to buy those specific products and services. The marketing strategies might be innovative or they can be previously tried or tested strategies. Effective marketing tactic develops a remarkable brand strategy story. Brand strategy stories are always exciting because they personalize these efforts in perfect alignment with their brand personality and company objective to communicate their message which stimulates high brand recall value.

To bring to your notice these are the top 11 types of marketing strategies that you didn’t know about, however, brands have been creatively applying them to deliver the message to their potential customers. These unique strategies form exciting brand strategy stories which are interesting to discover. Let’s unfold these 11 types of marketing strategies and their application by brands:

1. Evangelism marketing
Evangelism marketing is a strategy in which a base of already existing loyal customers willingly promotes the product for the brand. These loyal customers are fan customers who become advocates for that brand and represent it as a part of their own identity. It is an advanced version of the word – of – mouth marketing.

A perfect brand strategy story applying evangelism marketing is Harley Davidson. It chooses to invest in its customer community. The company created ‘Harley Owners Group’ and emphasized the lifestyle that comes with riding it.

2. Alliance marketing
Alliance marketing is a strategy where a joint venture is formed between two or more companies to pool resources with an intention to promote and sell products/services. This type of marketing strategy is usually adopted to amplify reach to their potential customers which otherwise they would not have access to. It is essentially a blend of companies coming together to share profits and the mutual benefit of their network.

Uber’s partnership strategy story fits in absolute collaboration with Spotify. Uber wanted to provide an enhanced and enjoyable experience to its riders while taking a ride. Thus, it kicks the riders stream with Spotify playlists, what a combination it is – music and drive! This makes the experience more personalized and encourages Uber riders to subscribe for Spotify premium.

3. Relationship marketing
Relationship marketing is about investing in your potential customers to form a long-lasting connection that goes beyond just merely buying the product or service. It is a long-term play that focuses on engagement and customer loyalty instead of acquisition. It serves to establish and nurture the relationship with their customers. The essence behind this type of marketing is that repeated customers bring more revenue than a one-off sale. Thus, their main focus is on the retention of existing customers.

This type of marketing creates an amazing brand story for Starbucks. Along with a free Wi-Fi facility and making it a comfortable hang out place, it also provides cups bearing your name so that you never forget your order. Starbucks developed a relationship by giving a more personalized and enriched experience to its customers. It came out to be the third home for its customers.

4. Subliminal marketing
Subliminal marketing is another type of subtle marketing where the brand puts subliminal messages in its advertisements, packaging or logos by using words or images that consumers do not detect consciously. The key here is to help the message sink into the subconscious mind for better recall.

Tostitos logo subtly fits in very well where the two “Ts” in the middle of words are perceived as two people eating Tostitos and dipping it in salsa sauce. With this logo, the brand encourages its consumers to consume the product.

5. Drip marketing
A drip marketing strategy refers to sending a preset of promotional emails to a mailing list. It is an automated version of email marketing, though other media outlets can be used as well. It is associated with a lead magnet. The aim is to sell a high-end product or service through emails.

A great example of a drip marketing strategy is done by Airbnb. If you show interest in a particular place but do not book it, you receive an email with similar places of your preference. Their main objective of using drip marketing is to bring you back to the app to recapture your interest and raise the possibility of the user going back and finishing the booking. 

6. Experiential marketing
Experiential marketing strategy encompasses in-person virtual events, experiences, and interactions that forge lasting emotional connections between a brand and its target audience. It is a type of marketing that provides its product/services through an immersive experience in real-time. It is very effective to attract engagement because good experiences are memorable. 

Redbull’s brand strategy story revolves around experiential marketing. In ‘Supersonic freefall campaign’, the brand shows the world’s highest parachute jump and daredevils Felix Baumgartner passed the speed of sound. It’s like a supersonic parachute jump made from space.  

7. Stealth marketing
Stealth marketing is an indirect way of marketing that focuses on creating buzz among the people without actually letting people consciously realize that products or services are being marketed by them. The environment in which marketing is done has a significant impact on inculcating curiosity in the minds of the people. In this case, awareness and developing customer’s interests is the priority rather than sales. It is a low-cost business marketing strategy where ethics can be a matter of concern.

Sony Ericsson brand strategy story tells us how the brand used a stealth marketing strategy for the T68i camera model as this was not well known to most consumers. In this phone marketing campaign, Sony employed actors who secretly represented the brand by giving them a platform to interact with strangers and promote products in non – obvious ways.

Another example is of a famous fashion entrepreneur Daymond John, who applied stealth marketing for FUBU Clothing Line. Initially, it had no operating budget and scope for traditional advertising and asked hip hop stars – Run DMC and LL Cool J to wear FUBU clothes during their MTV concert appearances. This in fact attracted a massive audience without the brand spending much on its advertising space.

8. Undercover marketing
Undercover marketing is a type of marketing strategy that implies using intrigue to develop interest for something and tap into the human desire to know more information on it. It is designed to tease people where marketers reveal only partial information about the product or service and not give away the whole game at once. The idea is not telling everyone to create a great source of buzz.  Marketers try to convey the message in “hidden words” without looking obvious. This type of marketing works well in movies, teasers and promos to generate curiosity that shows subtle instances of the main product/service/messages being communicated.

Starbucks predominantly created an undercover marketing strategy story when Game Of Thrones was the most viewed TV series in the history of cinemas. It was a fiction based drama about ancient kingdom times. However, a cup of Starbucks coffee was clearly visible in one of the scenes. Yes, it made itself eligible for memes and this proved to be a huge publicity stunt by Starbucks which attracted attention from all over the globe.

9. Native marketing
Native marketing strategy occurs when brands customize their ads to fit in perfectly with the feel, look and function of the platform on which they are being published. Most of the time, brands do collaborate with publishers to create and distribute sponsored content for their target audience in their ad space. These are paid ads that are often found in social media feeds and web pages. Advertisers love native ads because the click-through rate tends to be much higher and attracts stronger engagement. The catch is native ads aren’t supposed to look like ads!

The partnership between Netflix and Spotify is a classic example of a native marketing strategy. Both these brands are well known for utilizing user-generated data to develop unique, creative and relevant experiences. Post the premiere of Netflix’s Stranger Things series, Spotify users found that they could enter into “Stranger Things” mode on the platform and based on the listening patterns they were assigned a Spotify playlist based on the character that best matched from the show. This display of content was sponsored and adapted to Spotify’s platform and aesthetics.

10. Neuromarketing
Neuromarketing type of marketing strategy refers to the study of how our brain reacts to various forms of marketing and activities to gain insights into consumer decisions and predicting their behaviour. Deep use of neuromarketing involves the use of tracking eye movements, analyzing brain scans and tracking physiological functions in order to respond to marketing stimuli.

This type of marketing strategy is especially used to understand consumer behaviour patterns. The responsive advertisement is intended to include excitement, passion, humour, emotional attachment, etc. to light up and respond to unconscious thoughts. Neuromarketing is an effective technique that directly helps in probing minds without demanding or any kind of participation from the consumer. This type of marketing is newly emerging and reliable because it digs out the unconscious mind of the consumers.

Ebay’s PayPal utilized neuromarketing to get more e-shoppers to use their online payment services. PayPal discovered that advertorials and commercials that emphasized distinct features such as speed and convenience that triggered a significantly higher response in the brain as compared to promoting functions such as safety and security. Thus, PayPal used these insights when creating their new ads and campaigns for the online payment services.

11. Augmented Reality marketing
Augmented reality marketing strategy aims at providing an immersive real-life experience to interact with the product or emphasize brand properties. It is about overlapping the real world through technology-simulated design or objects. The whole idea here is to provide that ‘extra’ value to a proposition through an additional and innovative offer. Thus, by laying extra benefits and experience to the consumer it increases the chances of sales. This type of marketing is usually seen in retail industries.

Burger King uses augmented reality marketing strategy in the “Burn that Ad” Campaign in Brazil. It used AR technology which provides a special feature to customers to set their rivals Ads on fire simply by pointing the smartphone camera at the Ad. This gave them access to a free Whopper. The purpose of this ad campaign was to retain existing customers by offers, make potential customers download the app to place orders easily; notify them of future offers and create brand awareness. It reminds customers about Burger King’s signature flame–grilling cooking technique.

To understand about brand strategy stories and how they apply marketing strategies, 

[https://cultbranding.com/ceo/52-types-of-marketing-strategies/]

It is astonishing to discover these types of marketing strategies and how brands use them to their full leverage to attract customers wherever it fits well in their style. There is no right or wrong way to do marketing. Most of the brands use a combination of these types of marketing strategies to generate more leads, acquire and retain customers. Thus, the best pick for any marketer is what works best for their potential buyers, niche, budget and available resources.

To know more about other types of marketing strategies, click here – https://www.instagram.com/p/CP8JD5ZnB88/?utm_medium=copy_link

Khyati Henia

Content writer

Vanshaj Kaushik

Graphic designer

Riha Parikh

 Editor 

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