Marketing Strategy Examples + Writing Guide

Getting ahead in the business world requires a broad understanding of many different business principles and systems. Moreover, that business acumen may be just what you need to one day launch your own business. A better understanding of marketing can be vital for enhancing your long-term career success.

In this article, we'll examine marketing strategy examples for small businesses and their important role in the business world. We'll also explore 17 top marketing strategy examples and offer some guidance that can help you create your own marketing strategies.

What are marketing strategies?

A marketing strategy is a plan that outlines how a company will deliver its message to the target audience and convert people or businesses into customers who purchase goods or services. 

Great examples of a marketing strategy will always focus on a company or product's unique value proposition and include components like product, place, price, and promotion – otherwise known as the “four Ps” or 4 pillars of marketing strategy.

When designed and executed effectively, these strategies enable companies to achieve measurable advantages over competitors.

Why are marketing strategies so critical for success?

Without marketing strategies, companies would struggle to create and implement consistent marketing plans. A sound marketing strategy will provide the big picture narrative that every company needs to present to its customers. 

In addition, effective marketing strategies can help a company:

• Ensure that its strategic approach is aligned with its goals

• Help team members remain focused on shared objectives

• Identify and target the correct audience

• Tailor messages to that target audience

• Create and maintain a consistent company brand

• Appropriately allocate and direct budget resources to achieve the target return on investment

• Deliver consistent results that meet short- and long-term goals

The best marketing strategies tend to reflect a company's values, operational mindset, and commitment to meeting customers' needs.

Marketing strategy examples you need to know

Before you can create your own marketing efforts, it is important to familiarize yourself with the various marketing strategy examples commonly used by modern companies. As you might expect, these different strategies use nearly every known communication mode, from simple verbal messages to more complex technological systems.

1.      Email marketing

These days, one of the most recognizable marketing strategy examples involves the use of email communications. This direct-to-customer form of marketing is often used by companies as part of a relationship-building strategy. To effectively use this strategy, companies need to target the right customers with the right messages and the right frequency of communication.

2.      Digital marketing

Examples of digital marketing strategy abound in the modern marketing landscape thanks to the explosive growth and reach of the internet. To succeed in this modern era, companies need to deliver their promotional messages through a wide variety of digital channels, ranging from their own websites to social media, online video, and more.

Just as important, these digital offerings need to be compatible with a broad range of different digital devices, to ensure easy customer access to the marketing message.

3.      Content marketing

Some of the easiest-to-understand examples of content marketing strategy include articles, posts, and other informational content that companies disseminate online or in newspapers and magazines. This content tends to provide useful information to consumers, without directly attempting to promote or sell a company's services and products. They're all about raising brand awareness.

4.      Pull marketing

One of the most common pull marketing strategy examples involves pharmaceuticals. Many drugs are advertised on television and in online venues, along with a call-to-action that suggests the patient ask their doctor about the product.

Unlike strategies that use traditional product pushes, the pull strategy bypasses marketing middlemen and directs the call-to-action to the consumer. The goal is to create enough interest that consumers seek out the product for themselves.

5.      Global marketing

There are many different global marketing strategies these days, as more and more companies market their products around the world. Global strategies require companies to focus on appealing to the broadest possible audience to maximize potential customer acquisition and sales activity. 

6.      Social media marketing

Social media marketing is exactly what you'd expect: a strategy that uses an array of online social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram to effectively communicate content directly to any target audience of potential or current customers. Companies often combine this strategy with viral or content marketing techniques to forge deeper connections with their audience and build brand loyalty.

7.      Proximity marketing

Proximity marketing is a form of close-range marketing that targets audiences within a specific area around a business location. Companies typically use short Bluetooth signals to deliver messages to nearby customers. One example of this marketing strategy might involve a store sending digital notices about a sale to customers within a several-mile radius of its location.

8.      Offline, direct marketing

Direct marketing strategy examples can be found nearly everywhere, since many companies still employ these tried-and-true techniques for reaching customers. With direct marketing, you reach out to customers using offline mediums like mail, flyers, and other physical marketing pieces. If you've ever had a roofing company leave a flyer on your door handle, then you're familiar with this type of marketing.

9.      Diversity and inclusion marketing

The trend in diversity, equity, and inclusion has led to many companies adopting diversity strategies for their marketing efforts. These strategies typically focus on demographic groups by emphasizing how products and services might impact those target audiences. 

10.              Relationship marketing

Relationship marketing strategies rely on data-driven, customer-centric efforts to create strong bonds of loyalty with existing customers. Companies can use data to send messages on customers' birthdays or anniversaries, maintain rewards programs, or offer special sales to honor loyalty to the company brand.

11.              Word-of-mouth marketing

Word of mouth marketing is an age-old strategy that relies on satisfied customers sharing their experience with others. For example, movie studios rely on a host of expensive marketing efforts to ensure that their films get noticed. Despite that, much of a film's success is based on customers who liked the movie recommending it to their friends and family.

12.              Viral marketing

Viral marketing strategies focus on encouraging customers to share news about a product or service with their online friends and followers. It's like word-of-mouth marketing, except that it takes place entirely on the internet.

13.              Inbound marketing

Inbound marketing can include incoming phone or website traffic from customers who want more information about, or help with, a product. These strategies rely on messaging that encourages customers to contact the company at their convenience, rather than more assertive outbound marketing techniques.

14.              Paid media marketing

Whether in the real world or online, paid media marketing involves the purchase of promotional space on outside platforms. This strategy can include paid advertising on social media sites and pay-per-click links.

15.              Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing strategies employ individuals and organizations to promote services and products in exchange for commissions from sales. Like other strategies, this affiliate model can be applied to real world marketing and digital campaigns.

16.              Scarcity marketing

Scarcity marketing strategy examples are designed to heighten anticipation for consumers by making products or services scarce. One well-known example is the McDonald's McRib, which is only on the company's menu at specific times of the year. The product’s entire marketing strategy is focused on creating customer anticipation for a product that is not available on a regular basis.

17.              Business-to-business marketing

B2B marketing is a strategy that involves one company marketing its products or services to other businesses, rather than directly to consumers. Nearly every medium and large company in the United States relies on other companies for materials, parts, and services.

How to create a marketing strategy

If you want to learn how to write your own marketing strategy, it is helpful to understand some of the basics. The following tips can help you to get started with your efforts:

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Gather market data

It’s always important to use the most current data when you’re designing a marketing strategy. You can use a variety of methods to collect information about your industry and its customers, including industry reports, customer surveys, and interviews.

Define your goals

When defining these vital goals, your company needs to focus on more than just increased sales. Your strategy should be focused on broader objectives like increased customer acquisition and engagement, new customer lead generation, and establishing your firm as an expert and leader in your industry. Make sure that your goals are well-defined and SMART.

SMART goals are:

• Specific – Each goal you set should be clearly defined so that you know exactly what you’re trying to accomplish.

• Measurable – There should be clear metrics that you can use to track your progress as you work toward each goal.

• Achievable – Make sure that your goals can be achieved in a reasonable amount of time.

• Relevant – SMART goals need to make sense for your company, so choose objectives that align with the company’s broader mission and vision.

• Time-bound – Always make sure that you set clear deadline expectations for each goal.

Identify your unique value proposition

Take the time to figure out what differentiates your company from your rivals. That difference is your unique value proposition and needs to be a major part of your marketing narrative. To understand your company’s UVP, you’ll need to:

• Define your product or service’s core benefits to customers

• Differentiate your offerings from competitor products and services. What makes your products and services stand out from rival offerings?

• Craft a clear statement that explains the unique value your products and services provide to customers.

• Evaluate your unique value message with your intended customer audience to obtain critical feedback that you can use to refine that UVP message.

Identify your target audience

Identify your ideal customers. What problems are your products and services designed to solve and whose problems are they? Just as important, figure out where that audience is and how you can reach them in the most efficient way. This identification process will require you to:

• Spend time analyzing your target demographics, paying attention to key details like customer age, income, education, gender, location, and past buying habits.

•  Research key customer personality factors like lifestyle choices and personal interests.

• Create buyer personas that reflect your company’s ideal customer and focus on refining those basic personas as new information is gathered over time.

Research and analyze your competitors

Make sure that you research your competitors' strategies too. What strengths and weaknesses do they have? Are there customer needs that they’re not fulfilling? Pay attention to these marketing strategy examples and try to identify why successful campaigns worked and why others failed. If you can figure out why certain strategies succeed, you should be able to adopt some of those ideas.

Establish your marketing mix

Your marketing mix will include all four of the marketing Ps, including Product, Place, Price, and Promotion. You’ll need to establish a Four P framework to guide your marketing strategy and ensure that you properly position your product in the marketplace, with the right product differentiation, distribution strategy, strategic pricing, and effective promotion.

Product: Identify your offering’s primary benefits and how it meets customers’ needs.

Place: Figure out how your products will be delivered to customers – either in stores, through direct or affiliate sales, or online.

Price: Decide how you want to price your product or service offering. Are you focused on affordability or a premium pricing model?

Promotion: Which marketing channels will you use to communicate with your target audience?

Establish metrics for success

Don't forget to include metrics that enable you to monitor and measure the success of your strategy over time. More importantly, don't be afraid to revisit your strategy and make modifications to address any deficiencies.

Understand common marketing strategy examples to improve your marketing efforts

As you learn to recognize the various marketing strategy examples you see in use around you, you'll develop a better understanding of the important role they play in any company's long-term success. That knowledge and insight can provide you with invaluable business acumen that can help to fuel your career advancement.

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