Indirect marketing is something that is definitely worth knowing and applying. Do you want your company to succeed in today's competitive market? She will need much more than just a great website. While this is essential, you also need a foolproof way to attract your target audience there. This is what marketing campaigns are for. So what's the problem? Many modern customers are fed up with endless obvious promotions. So see why indirect marketing can be more effective.
Consumers are bombarded with messages every day in the form of TV advertisements, PPC advertisements on the Internet, or e-mail advertisements. We have come to the point where most of us simply drown out commercial content. We stop paying attention to them. What does this mean for your company? Should you just opt out of advertising and hope that someday people will stumble upon your website by accident? Absolutely not. Marketing will always be a key element in the company's development.
Marketing will always be a key element in the company's development.
Take care of it. We will help.
However, your promotional activities do not have to be limited to cold phones or placing advertising banners on the network. There are more subtle ways to connect with your audience, build relationships, and improve your brand reputation. All of this with indirect marketing.
Indirect marketing - definition of the concept
Indirect marketing is a tactic by which companies can showcase their services, products, and even their identity without clearly promoting them. They don't spam potential customers with requests to buy products. They do not send e-mails with directly formulated sales content. Instead of this offer your target market useful information. Their intention is to interest the recipient enough to want to learn more about the brand.
While direct marketing is focused on conversions, indirect marketing is all about building brand awareness and creating a sense of familiarity with potential customers. For example, suppose a business wants to increase interest in a logo design service. Instead of sending potential customers an email describing the costs of their projects and what it has to offer, they can create a logo podcast, for example. As part of the recording, it provides audiences with useful information about the things they should be looking for if they want a great logo. Recipients gain valuable information that they can use. At the same time, the company that is the author of the podcast, subtly underlines its position as an industry leader. Indirect marketing also allows you to freely refer to your brand during the podcast, telling about your experience in designing for other companies or highlighting interesting case studies.
Why is it worth it?
Indirect Marketing Activities provide immediate value target audience through entertainment or education. At the same time, these strategies mean that in the minds of customers, the company is perceived as the one that has something really valuable to offer. Indirect marketing allows you to provide information about the techniques used by the company and satisfied customers. As a result, new customers will feel connected with the brand before they reach the decision stage in the sales funnel.
Basically, direct and indirect marketing ultimately aim to do the same thing. Both are designed to improve financial performance and sales support. However, direct marketing tends unceremoniously to its goal, and Indirect Marketing focuses on developing relationships with your audience. In other words, in this case, increased sales are a side effect of the efforts made, not the main goal.
Advantages and disadvantages of indirect marketing
For customers who are tired of the ubiquitous advertising, indirect marketing is an attractive alternative. Think of a brand you've come to love over the years. Could it be that she wasn't just focusing on obvious direct advertising campaigns to attract the attention of your audience? Perhaps it simply showed how to solve the consumer's problem, and "incidentally" had the appropriate resources to remedy it?
Many brands, including top brands, have achieved success through gradual bond building with your target audience. Some of them do not use and did not use traditional TV commercials. It has established its presence in the social space in a different way, which means that people talk about them all the time. The involvement of such companies in various campaigns and activities related to corporate social responsibility make the media eagerly publish on them. According to one of the recognized experts in the modern world of marketing, Seth Godin, the task of modern, engaging marketing campaigns is to tell a story that "resonates" with your customers. This is exactly what indirect marketing allows. Instead of focusing on getting people to buy immediately, it ensures that the brand provides customers with the information and excitement they have lead to the purchase.
Of course, as with any advertising strategy, you must consider the advantages and disadvantages of indirect marketing, which is valuable but not ideal. One of the most important problems with indirect marketing is that it is difficult to track campaign results. There is no way to test different keywords or see which activities had a direct impact on your bottom line. Indirect marketing is more about creating intangible benefits for your brand. Strengthens the company's reputation, increases credibility and makes it easier to increase sales in the long run. However, this cannot necessarily be represented in graphs and figures that could be shown to the company's shareholders. Another issue that can pose a challenge to indirect marketing is constantly changing SEO algorithms and social media.
Indirect marketing - application examples
Indirect marketing can take many forms, from a social media post to content marketing, SEO, and even PR. These are just some of the options that can be used if you want a more subtle approach to your promotional activities. Content Marketing is one of the most obvious examples of indirect marketing to date works best. According to the American Content Marketing Institute, it is also the most effective way to promote a company. The main goal of content marketing is to present the keynote of the brand, and at the same time provide customers with valuable knowledge. You can also create content based on what your audience needs and is looking for.
In a world driven by younger generations such as Millennials and Generation Z, corporate social responsibility and sustainable development are becoming more and more important. Customers are tired of buying from companies that just want to make money. Therefore, if the company manages to convince its recipients that it tries to positively influence the environment with its actions, they are more likely to support it by buying its products and recommending them further. Example? Toms Shoe Company, producing shoes known to the general public as TOMS.
It works
The brand is constantly using its One for One social initiative to its advantage. What is it about? When someone buys a pair of shoes, the company automatically donates another pair of shoes to a poor child in Africa or South America. This unique business model grabbed customers' attention giving them extra incentive to buy as each product sold helps. The media is eager to write about the company's initiative, and the whole action gained recognition from the public. So the company takes notes very good sales results in a relatively saturated market.
Another strategy that most of us probably associate with indirect marketing is the presence of the brand on social media. Activity on social networks can make that the company is number one among your target audience. Even if it does not publish about its products and services. To achieve this, she needs to find out exactly which portals her clients spend most of their time on. If a business performs better when communicating through images, it may, for example, perform better on Instagram than on Facebook. When a brand finds the best social channel for itself, it should use it to build a stronger connection with its audience.
direct marketing vs intermediate
Since both direct and indirect marketing have their pros and cons, it is often the best idea to use both techniques at the same time. For example, a business might use what it learned about its customers on social media. Thanks to this, it can drive more targeted marketing campaign direct via e.g. Google Ads.
The brand can also use initiatives as part of its activities public relations or CSR to strengthen relationships with target audiences. This means that the next time she launches a campaign, she knows that customers are more likely to trust her. Rather than engaging in just one style of marketing, many leading companies realize they need to appeal to their audience in many different ways. It provides achieving the best results. Need support? PR agency will surely provide it.