Marketing has long been an integral part of world trade. Specialists are doing their best to satisfy market needs in order to extract the greatest possible profit from trade. Marketing can be different, it all depends on its purpose. Supporting marketing plays an important role.
What is it?
Marketing is the process of creating, promoting and presenting a product or service in such a way as to satisfy the needs of the target audience and organize relations with the buyer for the common benefit.
Many believe that the concept itself is quite new to the world, but for the first time, lectures on this subject were held back in 1902. Since then, marketing has been studied and developed, so now there are several dozen of its types.
Types of marketing
Supportive marketing is one of the types of this industry that can be classified according to the state of demand in the market. The most popular in this area is conversion marketing, which is used in conditions of negative demand. In this case, specialists try to process the service or product in such a way that buyers stop giving up on it, but rather are interested. Often in this case, they use cost reduction, effective promotion or alteration of the product.
Thanks to specialists in this field, remarketing is also known, which renews the interest of buyers in the product. Synchromarketing deals with a seasonal product. Counter-marketing works to reduce the audience’s interest in the product, and often concerns alcoholic beverages and tobacco products.
Definition
Supporting marketing is considered by many to be the most balanced. Due to this, it is often used in conditions of stable demand and without much influence of new competitors. In this case, the organization will be satisfied with the volume of trade, the indicator of profitability and the amount of net profit.
For what?
If the situation is perfect, why do you need a supportive type of marketing? The market situation is never stable. Once the seller relaxes, his product has already lost demand or has been criticized. To prevent any force majeure, it is extremely important to engage in supporting its popularity.
Need to maintain demand for the product. If its stability is beyond doubt, then growth in its popularity can be expected. Accordingly, you need to take care of a possible increase in production in advance. Also, thanks to this type, it will be possible to maintain stability during changes and the influence of competitors.
This option is relevant if the level of demand corresponds to the level of supply. Only in this case can we work on a reasonable pricing policy and profitable advertising.
Targets and goals
So, this type of marketing requires special methods that would help maintain the formed level of demand. The main advantage of this situation is the balance between profitability and sales. But if you incorrectly manage this trading process, you may encounter problems:
- in a competitive environment;
- production volumes in relation to demand;
- organizational effectiveness.
By the way, such problems arise both with increasing and decreasing demand. Therefore, it is extremely important to maintain balance. The objectives of supporting marketing are:
- work with competitors' marketing strategies;
- work with the target audience, research on customer behavior;
- readiness for the emergence of new competitors in the field.
If a product or service has really become stable, then maintaining its balance is simply necessary. You should not expect that a new competitor will come or the user will change his tastes, it is important to predict all the surprises that may occur with the organization.
What do we have to do?
Demand is critical in supporting marketing. To preserve it, it is extremely important to use different tools. But in order to work with different methods, you need to understand your company very well. First you will have to conduct an accurate analysis of the market segment.
After receiving and analyzing the data, it will be possible to work with tactics and strategy. Remember that for this type of marketing the main task is to maintain the level of consumer demand, so based on this it will be possible to regulate the use of tools.
So what needs to be done for supporting marketing:
- constantly interested in the pricing policy of competitors;
- monitor market trends and marketing activity;
- monitor and verify the effectiveness of costs for marketing a company;
- work on the formation of a bright and recognizable brand in the market;
- study the target audience, its behavioral factors, respond to changing preferences, etc .;
- establish feedback with sellers, the dealer network in order to analyze the data received and quickly respond to changes.
Examples
There are a lot of examples of supportive marketing. There are many companies in the market that have consolidated their positions. The most classic example is the fate of General Motors. The company as early as the 1920s was able to boldly fight with Ford. She managed to maintain popularity due to the fact that experts arranged the release of unusual bright cars, while Ford continued to work on standard black models.
It is also worth mentioning the fate of Coca-Cola. A huge job marketers had to do to create a vivid and memorable image in the company. The peculiarity of the strategy is that the drink was never aggressively imposed on the consumer. Moreover, it is popular both in summer and in winter.
In advertising, the company uses standard cases that are clear to every customer. In the summer, he can quench his thirst with a delicious bubbly drink. In winter, Coca-Cola will give him the sensation of the approaching New Year and Christmas. By the way, in winter the company often holds promotions, thanks to which everyone can get a themed toy.
Another striking example of supportive marketing is home sales. Regardless of the company, this segment is constantly maintained due to the balance of supply and demand. Of course, the economic crisis can shake this situation, but in stable periods everything looks very good for this area.
To maintain this situation, marketers usually use advertising on all existing sites: newspapers, radio, TV, the Internet, etc. They are also engaged in outdoor advertising on buildings under construction and already finished.