Some of your favorite marketing campaigns may not sell a single product. Consider this: How often do you see ads that are funny and creative, but you have no idea what product they are selling? The ads don’t meet the advertiser’s basic needs and don’t get their points across. They don’t reach the target audience, the message isn’t clear, and they don’t tell the consumer why they should buy the product. But wow, they sure are neat to look at.
Most marketers jump right to the cool, fun stuff without having an underlying foundation of marketing basics.
You absolutely need creativity, but not before the fundamentals. Knowing the basics, beginning with marketing terms, creates the foundation and framework for the creativity. Media Relations Agency understands the basics and practices them daily in a way that other agencies don’t. We use them to create a universal language that all of our employees understand, so they can actually communicate with each other. They are the starting point for all of our strategy. If you start off with cool as your foundation, you can miss the mark.
Many people who work in marketing – the graphic designers, writers, advertising experts, digital technicians, even the marketing managers – don’t know basic marketing terms. Ask them to define the word “brand”. They probably can’t do it. How about product life cycle? Or innovation adopter curve? If you don’t understand basic marketing concepts, are you really a professional marketer?
Try this quick quiz and see how well you know your marketing terms:
1. List the the categories of the innovation adopter curve:
1____________ 2____________ 3____________ 4____________ 5____________
2. Define a unique selling proposition. ______________________________________
3. What are the five promotional mix channels?
1____________ 2____________ 3____________ 4____________ 5____________
4. If you have a display of energy drinks with a minibike perched on top, what promotional strategy is being used?
a. Market segmentation b. The push strategy c. The power strategy d. Immediate purchase
5. Name four market segmentation strategies.
1____________ 2____________ 3____________ 4____________
Quiz Answers:
- Innovators, Early adopters, Early majority, Late majority, Laggards
- A claim your product can make that none of your competitors can.
- Media coverage, website, social media, advertising, personal selling
- Push marketing strategy
- Undifferentiated, Concentrated, Multi-segmented, Micro-segmented
