With the Marketing Magic event tonight, some people might be asking themselves, “What really is marketing?” For a seemingly simple question, there are a lot of answers. Today, I want to dive into the meaning of marketing, what types of marketing exist, and how everyone can use marketing in their daily lives.
So, what is marketing? According to Oxford Languages, marketing is “the activity or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.” In other words, marketing is how people or companies try to get you to buy from them. This ranges anywhere from newspaper ads to influencer sponsorships. When marketing, businesses must consider both what they’re marketing and also who they’re marketing to.
What are the different types of marketing? When deciding what kind of marketing to use, a business must first consider who it’s marketing to. Teenagers might not be paying close attention to their local newspaper, but might see an Instagram ad pop up. Your grandma probably isn’t paying attention to a YouTube sponsorship, but she probably watches the news. Knowing who you’re trying to reach allows you to decide what to use. The main categories I’m going to discuss are traditional marketing, digital marketing, and in-person marketing. Of course, other kinds of marketing exist–there are almost as many kinds of marketing as there are businesses. This is a crash course.
First, there’s traditional marketing. Traditional marketing is a category of marketing that contains the marketing your parents grew up with. It contains TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, and even direct mail. Traditional marketing is useful when you’re trying to reach older adults.
Next, there’s digital marketing. Digital marketing includes social media marketing, email marketing, influencer marketing, and video marketing. Digital marketing is a constantly growing field, and is especially useful when trying to reach a younger audience. All those Instagram ads? Yep, that’s digital marketing.
Finally, we have in-person marketing. This contains a wide range of marketing techniques, but all of them (you guessed it) involve being in person with your target audience. Tabling, guerrilla marketing, and experimental marketing are all forms of in-person marketing. Tabling is one you are probably very familiar with. Most organizations on campus market using tabling; if you ever see an organization sitting at a table with a poster behind them, you’re seeing tabling in action. Guerrilla marketing isn’t advertisers going to war; instead, guerrilla marketing is shocking, in-person publicity stunts. Experimental marketing uses the senses to create a memorable experience for the audience.Â
Although it’s not a category of marketing, one critical element of marketing is managerial marketing. Managerial marketing involves planning brand strategies and determining how consumers will best be engaged. On the flip side, creative marketing is the actual ideas and creation. These marketers design the ads, table at campuses, and create videos. Both are critical for companies to effectively get the word out.
Why does marketing matter? If you’re not a marketing major, you might be wondering why you need to know all of this. Well, there are a few reasons. First, we see marketing all the time in our daily lives. Knowing what marketing is helps us effectively determine when something is being sold to us, and can help us de-influence ourselves. Marketing is also useful even if it’s not what you’re going to school to study. If you’re trying to find a job, how you portray yourself on your social media will affect how your potential employers see you. That’s a form of marketing–you’re marketing yourself to these companies. If you’re working for an organization, you might want to figure out how to get the word out about an event. Should you table? Post on Instagram? Write an article? Put up posters? Knowing what kinds of marketing exist helps you advocate for the groups or causes that you’re a part of. No matter who you are, marketing matters.Â