Marketing 101

Sahail Ashraf posted on 5 December 2022

Marketing hasn’t changed an awful lot over the decades, but the way we do it has. In this post we look carefully at the key elements of marketing in the here and now.

While marketing has been part of business life, it has always defied expectations. One minute you’re using strategies and channels that are simple and straightforward, the next you have to get used to a marketing strategy that involves new technology. However, right at the core of marketing there are a few principles that make it very easy to get by as long as you follow them. This post will look at the very basics of marketing. This is the stuff that forms the foundation of everything you do.

SEO

This has always been the granddaddy of online marketing. Optimising your site and or other assets for search engines means that your brand will be found for the right reasons. You will then develop authority in your industry, and then it becomes a lot easier.

There are plenty of ways to boost your SEO, and most brands know what they are. However, ensuring little extras like website speed and UX issues are dealt with consistently means that people will keep coming back. And don’t forget that if your website is on the first page of Google, it has a chance of being seen. If it is on the second page, that chance drops by roughly 99%.

Social media marketing

This is an area that has become more important in the last few years for brands. Promoting your brand and its work on social media is now an absolute essential, a non-negotiable. More and more people are on social media and accessing it every minute of the day, so not being there is simply not an option.

The sheer potential of social media marketing means that it has taken top place among all of the other marketing channels available to brands. The only reason we haven’t ranked the channels in this post is that we’d have to put social first, and we do talk about it a lot at Locowise.

Every minute of the day there are millions of people using social media and potentially seeing your posts and your ads. That’s right, ads are now as much a part of social media marketing as a well-written post, and that situation is only going to become more pronounced as time goes on.

PPC

Talking of ads, pay-per-click advertising is now a major part of a brand’s marketing work. This is because PPC isn’t just about selling. It is also a great way to drive traffic and build engagement with a brand.

Some brands do, of course, choose to sell through PPC. Others decide to focus on building brand awareness. A great ad that drives traffic to a strong landing page can bring huge engagement and eventually customers. 

Do with PPC what you will, but if a budget is in place, a brand can easily turn it into a huge part of its marketing arsenal.

Email

Marketing through email has had a bit of a renaissance in recent years, and it is still seen as the most successful channel to use if you want to reach audiences through direct response copy. This is where you are asking recipients of your emails to do something, whether it’s join a course or sign up for a loyalty tier, or a host of other actions.

From a marketing point of view, you can use email marketing to build brand awareness and engagement. Newsletters, or just simply personalised messages can all be facilitated through email and help customers bear you in mind the next time they want to buy your product.

Content marketing

This is where your brand creates content that is comprehensive, and designed to help your audience solve a problem they have. 

That’s essentially it. From eBooks to long-form blog posts, your customers will digest your content and then begin to see you as an expert voice. Include this as part of your overall marketing campaign and you’ll have another effective aspect of your work to engage audiences.

The above are the basic components of marketing. They haven’t changed much over the years. Social arguably has become faster paced and more complex, but in the end, if you’re able to engage your audiences through high quality marketing activities, you’re doing the right thing.

Are you a marketing professional? You need Locowise. It gives you all of the actionable data that you need to get the most out of your work. Give it a try today.