Elements of a marketing strategy

[Dave A]

Marketing is more than just advertising. It can touch virtually every aspect of business.

Given the current discussion on powerful, affordable advertising here I thought it might be an idea to generate a list of elements to think about in your marketing strategy.

I'll kick off with some obvious one:
Packaging
Labels
Print media adverts

What else are elements of an effective marketing strategy?

Thinking caps on - I'm hoping some really out-of-mainstream ideas might pop out.

[Ryan S]

to quote myself -

Honda was one of the first companies to use social marketing. Car companies try to capture the youth because they believe the first car you own will very likely establish you as a brand loyal customer for at least a couple more purchases in your life. So the aim for all car manufactures is for their entry level cars to be desired by the youth. In the US Honda's entry level car the Honda CRV wasn't popular at all. So, after a lot of research, they changed the name of the car from CRV to Crave and created a microsite to host a competition that challenged people to submit a picture of their 'favorite crave' along with a few lines about why they craved it. The top half of the page was filled with thumbnails of the entries. viewers could mouse over the image and vote on how good the entry was. Now the cool thing was people that submitted an entry told their friends and family to go to the site and vote for their entry. When they did they were inspired to upload their own entry and tell everyone they know to go and vote for it. They wrote about it in their blogs and on their myspace page, they put links to the site and tagged in on digg and del.icio.us and the site got top ranking with goggle. The traditional media found is very interesting and wrote stories about the site (not adverts). it was even talked about on TV. The micro site cost Honda a few thousand $ but brought millions in free publicity. Over a very short period the CRV went from nowhere to one of the top 10 selling cars in the us.

Thats the power of web 2.0. 'Marketing 2.0' is basically a way to tap into the the best form of advertising. Word of mouth.

Norri, do you still want more examples?

[Norri]

Of course, Ryan!

And for those with GMarketing.com accounts...

http://www.gmarketing.com/articles/read/176/100_Marketing_Weapons.html

[Dave A]

I love external links to members only content on other sites
Are they free to join (hopefully quicker to ask than search)

Here are a couple more:
Logo
vehicle signage
staff uniforms/dress code
sex tape for "unauthorised release"

[Ryan S]

Similar to the Honda story, Jeep was looking to create some awareness for its entry level vehicle. The Jeep Patriot. Most people who buy SUVs imagine themselves hurtling across open terrain even though in reality they would never leave the tarmac. The young mail target group for the Jeep Patriot were those who led a particularly vivid fantasy life, had a tendency to geekiness and adored comic books and graphic novels.

Jeep Ran an online competition that would get these young guys immersed in the brand for a long period of time. A partnership was formed with marvel comics and the first four pages of a comic were created and published on a competition microsite. To win the competition, you had to write a story that completed the comic, and it had to star four friends in their jeep patriot. Visitors could read the entries and vote for them. The Prize? 15 seconds of fame!! The twelve winning stories would all go in to production at marvel, and the be published with the writer credited on the title.

The great thing about this competition is that participants that wanted to win spent hours studying the cars technical specs and features so they could accurately represent it in their story. They put links on their blogs and on social networks and much like the CRV campaign, immediate brand awareness, millions in free publicity, great search engine rankings and once a month for a year a comic book was published about the Jeep Patriot.

[Norri]

I love external links to members only content on other sites
Are they free to join (hopefully quicker to ask than search)

Yep, I'm pretty sure it's free to join. The newsletter is also awesome. Tell me you know who Jay Conrad Levinson is, please. If you don't, I'm afraid we can't be friends anymore :P

[Dave A]

Guerrilla marketing guru - Heard of him and it, but I've never gone hunting it down. I guess now's the time to change that.

It looks like you get a 1 month free trial. I'll take a closer look once I'm past all my month-end routine.

[Alta Murray]

I liked the sex tape idea, that alone will ensure hits really tut-tut

I believe in image and exclusivity. on the latter excellent case study in property and selling puppies.

[Dave A]

I liked the sex tape idea, that alone will ensure hits really tut-tut

Just trying to shake out some imaginative thought on this. So far I reckon we've barely scratched the surface.

[Yvonne]

Pest Control.
Have replica's of a cockroach made in chocolate - with a fun "pun of pests" advert, hand them out at your local supermarket! You will be remembered!

Hey! Sex tapes! - (I am a prude!) - I hope the sex depicts "pests"!

What about being "hot-wired" in the electrical field!

Hygiene - could also have a lot of fun with this one!

Viral - basically means being remembered and promoting conversation!

Yvonne

[Alta Murray]

So now that we know how your imagination works Dave, let's explore the different ways advertising taps into the human scratch

In psychology it is stated that the no1 fear is rejection. I strongly question that as I have seen people sail through rejection if they have a bigger vision. It is my personal opinion that the no1 fear is to look stupid. I have not to date met a person who likes to look dumb. See Vodacom ad campaign etc.

The no2 fear would be the feeling of being left behind -- we have a very strong herding instinct -- so brand & label become important.

If then 3 actions determine retention of information, visual, audio, and here Dave's tape is still going strong and physical interaction, sorry Dave, no score on the tape there, you have the equation of coming up with good advertising ideas.

Also take into account the Age we live in (see Agricultural, Industrial, Information,Individual ) Some people are stuck in the Information age, some have moved onto the Age of the Individual, hence the popular 'pay lines ' 'You're worth it' etc. that you find in all the motivational self-development books. Think of 'Just do it' or the washing powder ad that doesn't hone onto cleaning but getting dirty. Underlying message -- it is okay to have fun.

I firmly believe that we have moved onto a different Age, as is reflected in the development of products -- I am not very imaginative to come up with names, but it makes me think of multiple threads or the Age of Femininity. No Dave that does not mean another score on your tape Promise I am done teasing.

It is the 'pay line' that sinks into the sub-conscious if it hits the target, and that is what one should aim for.

So what if we reverse the process, and come up with pay lines? The one that was patented with my sofware was 'by excellence only' but i think it has become dated.