4. Direct marketing

Nowadays more and more companies are making use of direct marketing. It is a special combination of old principle and modern technology.   It is a form of marketing with as goal to sustain and build relationships with customers or establishing transactions in which business rely on direct communication and direct delivery.  A few examples of terms that relate to direct marketing are:

1. Database marketing – It uses databases of customers or potential customers to generate personalized communications in order to promote a product or service for marketing purposes.

2. Interactive marketing – It evolves trend in marketing whereby marketing has moved from a transaction-based effort to a conversation

3. E-commerce - Consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks.

4. One-to-one marketing – A marketing form based on the idea of enterprises knowing its customers.

5. Maxi marketing – It is a combination of direct marketing and mass marketing, aimed at the maximization of marketing efforts.

6. Relationship marketing – It involves the pursuit of sustainable relationships between seller and buyer, focusing on the satisfaction of mutual needs and desires

7. Customer relationship management (CRM) - Refers to the methods and tools that helps businesses manage customer relationships in an organized way.

3. Viral Marketing

An alternative of guerilla marketing is viral marketing. It is a marketing technique that encourages web sites or users to pass on a marketing message to other sites or users. Viral marketing strongly depends on a pass-along rate from person to person. If a large percentage of people forward messages to a large number of friends or family, it will increase brand awareness or achieve other marketing objectives. 

This method enables companies to spread their messages through customers. A good example would be email messages forwarded from one customer to others. Sometimes customers receive rewards, if they make other customers ware of the products. 

You can compare it to a virus. It is a strategy that takes advantages of rapid multiplication of message to thousands even millions. On many internet websites it has been referred to as "word-of-mouth”.   But word-of-mouth, chain letters with warnings and leaked information are example of viral marketing techniques.  

2. Guerilla Marketing

One of the most interesting subjects I came across during my research on different marketing subjects was “guerrilla marketing”. A term I had never heard before. It is more or less unknown to large corporations, although some of them are catching up. It is rarely practiced by big companies. 

Guerrilla marketing is basically marketing techniques (shortcuts) that provide small businesses with alternatives to standards expensive marketing, so they can increase their profits with a minimum of expenses and a maximum of smart plans. Before I continue, I would like to give a few example of what distinguishes guerrilla marketing to what in this case I will call traditional marketing:  

• Primary investments o guerilla marketing should be time, energy and imagination instead of money.
• It is directed to small business owners with big dreams and/or limited money.
• Guerilla marketing measures how well it is doing by profits.
• It asks small business to temporary forget about competition and spot opportunities to cooperate with other businesses and support one another in a mutual goal or profit.
• It requires you to use a combination of marketing instruments instead of focusing on one instrument.
• It embraces technology.

It is clear that small businesses do not have the amount of money as big business does. To survive or become successful they most use a different approach to marketing.  And that is when guerilla marketing steps in. With guerilla marketing entrepreneurs need to examine all the opportunities available to them. Their costs for testing their marketing tactics should be low and a fraction of the price paid by big companies.  

 

Heineken: Guerilla Marketing - Real Madrid vs AC Milan

2.1 Stealth marketing

Stealth marketing is a subset of guerilla marketing. It is also known as undercover marketing and buzz marketing. Stealth marketing is a form of marketing where customers/audience are not aware that they are been being marketed to. The opinions on this type of marketing differentiate from it being fun and interesting to being a deceptive.  It is known for being less expensive and the most effective way of advertising.   

1. What is marketing?

Before starting with random subjects it seemed to me that it would be a good idea to explain what marketing is.  It came to my attention that although many people know the word. They often do not know the true meaning of it.  

Marketing is a very broad concept. There are many ways to define what marketing exactly means. In short, marketing includes all activities that bring the buyer and the seller together.  These activities include all the decisions and actions of the buyers and sellers in a market of the situations they are in during an exchange process.  Marketing traces unfulfilled needs and desires.  It defines, measure and quantify the size and earnings potential of the target group, and analyzes the most appropriate market segments for a company.