Marketing is vital for any successful business venture. Through marketing, business firms or entities can reach their target sales as through marketing they can reach clients or customers who are able and willing to buy their goods or services. In basic terms marketing is the way businesses present their products or services by advertising, product description, explaining the benefits of their products or services in such a way that convinces customers that whatever they are offering is the best suite to satisfy their needs.
Marketing began in the 20th century and has been evolving over recent years hence there is traditional marketing and modern marketing. Traditional marketing entails a number of strategies, which include broadcast, print, and referral. Broadcast marketing is done by advertisements in Televisions and radios. Broadcast despite being as a traditional way of marketing is still being used often over the world. On the other hand, print business firms advertise their goods or services through advertisements in newspapers, newsletters, magazines, brochures, flyers, or any printed material. In referral, the business firms rely on their clients to spread their services to other potential customers by a word of mouth.
Modern Marketing is more of making clients understand business products through creativity, strategy, technology, and analysis. Philip Kotler is acknowledged as the “Father of Modern Marketing”. He is a Professor of International Marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellog School of Management.
Social Media Marketing is one of the vital strategies in modern marketing as it has users all over the world. Email Marketing is sending product descriptions and offers or services by business entities to clients via emails. In Email Marketing, the emails of the target clients should be valid to ensure the message is conveyed. Internet Ads entails advertising on the internet through Adwords, PPC (Pay Per Click), and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Product Placement is also known as Embedded Marketing. It is a modern marketing strategy where products or services are included in other works like a film, movies, series, or a television program with the objective to sell out the product or service to people engaging the programs.
In the new era, many people own smart phones meaning they can access the internet as well as social media. According to some data, around 1.56 billion smart phones were sold worldwide in 2018. In the old era, people would hardly access the Internet but in the new era many people can access the internet with much ease hence the new era of marketing requires new skills. The new skills required in the new era of marketing include:
1. Content Marketing
Business Firms should have marketers who can produce authentic, unique, simple, engaging, and creative content. Therefore, nowadays there are a lot of agencies like Pro-Papers, which produce perfect targeted content. Such content helps firms to explain their products to clients and attract them to acquire products from them. In content marketing: content creation and management, web analytics, and Digital Project Management skills are very vital.
2. Search Engine Marketing
In the new era, many people can access the Internet through laptops, computers, and smartphones. Therefore, content made for the Internet users should reach many people and this can be done through SEO, PPC, and Web Optimization as they attract big traffic (the number of people visiting a site)
3. Blogging
Blogging is a very essential skill of marketing in the new era. Through blogs, organizations can publish content that market their products. The more the blogs published about a product, the more the people will visit the blog thus attracting vast traffic, which in return promotes the sale of goods. Any blog writer should be creative, possess copywriting skills, and should produce original content.
4. Good in Social Media
Many people all over the world are social media users. In 2019, it is estimated that there will be around 2.77 Billion social media users around the globe up from 2.46 billion in 2017. Social Media is a platform where
organizations can market their products. The social marketer should possess these essential skills: Strategy Planning should have understanding how content works on a social web, optimizing content and technology, creativity, writing skills, analytical skills and leadership, and communication skills.
5. Technological Proficiency
Technology is being updated over and over hence marketers should polish their technical skills to fit in the technological world. Updated Technology is very vital in the Marketing sector as many people move with trends and prefer other platforms that others thus as a marketer one should use updated technology and the most used all over the target geographical area.
Changes are being introduced in the marketing sector in order to reach many people hence marketers should be flexible to fit in the marketing world and keep it attractive.
