Marketing is a term frequently encountered on social media, podcasts, YouTube, and blogs, often paired with words like digital marketing, e-commerce, direct marketing, email marketing, and social media marketing. But what exactly is marketing?
According to Google, marketing is defined as “the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.” The American Marketing Association offers a more comprehensive definition, describing it as “the act, set of institutions, and process of creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for clients, co-partners, and society itself.”
In simpler terms, marketing is the process of communicating to clients and customers a solution to their problem. It’s a way for you to demonstrate the value of your product or services to the right clients who could benefit from them.
There are two major types of marketing: traditional and modern. Traditional marketing is what most people think of when they see a billboard on a highway, an ad on TV, or hear an advertisement on the radio. It typically follows a “spray and pray” approach, where a message is sent out to millions of people, knowing that only a small fraction might be interested in the product. The focus of traditional marketing is often more on building brand awareness rather than generating immediate sales.
While traditional marketing remains important, it has two significant drawbacks. First, it’s nearly impossible to track the return on investment (ROI). Second, you’re typically paying to show your marketing to many people who don’t need to see it at all. These issues have led to a steady decline in traditional marketing over the past 20 years, coinciding with the rise of the internet and social media.
Modern marketing, on the other hand, focuses more on understanding what customers want and need, then delivering that exact product to them. The most common form of modern marketing is digital marketing. With digital marketing, you can identify the exact customers who need your product and show your ads only to them. You can also track your ROI down to the dollar.
Common types of digital marketing include:
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
- Email marketing
- Social media marketing
- Affiliate marketing
Digital marketing has become one of the most valuable skills to learn, whether you’re aiming to be an employee, a freelancer, or own your own business. For those interested in learning more about digital marketing, there are numerous resources available, including masterclasses and interviews with professionals who have successfully built careers in this field.
