The 5-steps marketing approach

07/03/2024

If you’re here, it’s because you’ve already heard of the 5 steps marketing approach and want to know more. Or maybe you’re a marketing pro looking to hone your skills.

Either way, you’ve come to the right place! 😇

In this article, we’ll explain what the marketing approach is, why it’s so crucial to the success of your business and how you can implement it effectively.

So fasten your seatbelts and get ready to travel into the marketing age. 🚗

What are marketing approaches ?

The marketing process, also known as the “marketing approach”, refers to all the steps and actions taken by a company to understand, attract, satisfy and customer loyalty.

It is based on a market-oriented approach and aims 🏹 to create added value for customers, while at the same time achieving cost savings business objectives.

Here are the different marketing approach:

1️⃣ Market analysis.
2️⃣ Definition of audience.
3️⃣ Marketing strategy development.
4️⃣ Implementation of marketing actions.
5️⃣ Monitoring and assessment.

Don’t worry, we’ll go into more detail about these steps later in the article. 😇

It’s a framework that guides companies in their quest 🌟 to meet customer needs.

Why use a marketing approach?

The marketing approach is essential for companies for a number of reasons, as it makes a major contribution to their long-term success.

However, here are some of the main reasons, for your enjoyment: 👀

🟣 Customer understanding: understanding needs, preferences and behaviors.
🔵 Value creation: helps create value by offering products or services that solve their problems or fulfill their desires.
🟣 Market differentiation: a company can stand out from the competition by highlighting its competitive advantages, brand and unique value proposition.
🔵Optimization of resources: marketing makes it possible to allocate company resources more efficiently by targeting the most relevant market segments and using the most appropriate distribution channels.
🟣 Company growth: contributes to company growth by targeting the most relevant market segments and using the most suitable distribution channels.
🔵 Adapting to change: involves constant monitoring and study of the market and competition, enabling the company to adapt to rapid developments and changes in the business environment.
🟣 Creating long-lasting customer relationships: establishes solid, lasting relationships, fostering loyalty and word-of-mouth.
🔵 Performance measurement: monitor and evaluate the performance of marketing activities.

The 5 steps of marketing approach

Each step represents a crucial stop on the 🛣️ road to success. By following the GPS and following each stop correctly, your company will be better equipped to evolve in an increasingly competitive market business environment in constant evolution.

Without further ado, let’s get to the heart of the matter. 5 steps of your marketing approach. 👀

1) Situation analysis

Analyzing the situation is the first crucial step in the marketing process.

What’s it for? 🤔

It involves collecting, examining and interpreting a wide range 🪭 of information to better understand the context in which a company evolves.

This analysis 🔎 encompasses various aspects such as the market, competition, trends, needs, opportunities and threats.

To do this, you can use various tools, such as the SWOT for example. 🤗

By examining the market, you will be able to identify the size, growth and market segments.

💡 In-depth knowledge of the competition enables us to know who the major players are, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and how they are positioning themselves in the market.

As you can see, market trends, whether economic, technological or socio-cultural, help us to anticipate future developments and make informed decisions. 🕯️

2) Defining the target audience

The second and not least important step in the marketing process is… 🥁 defining the target audience.

It involves identifying in precise detail the specific groups of people or market segments that the company wishes to reach with its products or services.

To define its target audience, a company must take into account several criteria including: 👇🏼

🌍 Demographics (geographic location).
🧠 Psychography (values, attitudes, behaviors).
🧚🏽‍♀️ Socio-demographics (education, profession, marital status).

Note that all this information helps to create a detailed profile of the the ideal buyer.

💡 In short, this enables the company to tailor its marketing strategies to meet the specific needs and preferences of this group.

This maximizes the effectiveness of marketing efforts and, a big plus, it can focus resources on different areas communication channels messages that resonate with this audience. 👀

3) Developing the marketing approach strategy

This stage consists of devising a detailed plan to achieve marketing and sales objectives of the company. 👀

As you can imagine, this step indicates several key elements:

🔳 Value proposition.
🔳 market segmentation.
🔳 Marketing mix (4P).
🔳 Objective S.MA.R.T.

I’ll say no more, and leave you with a little chart to help you understand what I mean, with an example of an eco-friendly cosmetics company. ⬇️

Strategy element	Description	Example
Value Proposition	Identify what makes our products/services unique and valuable to the target audience.	To offer a range of eco-friendly beauty products, featuring natural ingredients and eco-responsible packaging.
Market segmentation	Divide the market into smaller segments to target specific customer groups.	Identify segments: environmentally-conscious women aged 25 to 40, men aged 18 to 30 who love skincare products, etc.
Marketing mix (4P)	Determine product, pricing, distribution and communication decisions.	Product: Launch of a new line of natural skin care products.Price: Slightly higher than our high-end competitors. Distribution: Online sales via our website and partnerships with eco-responsible boutiques. Communication: Advertising campaigns focusing on sustainability and natural benefits.
SMART objectives	Set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound objectives to evaluate the strategy’s success.	SMART objective: Increase sales of the new skincare line by 20% by the end of the year by targeting identified segments.

Discover more about marketing strategy

4) Action implementation

Once you’ve defined your strategy, it’s time to take action.

But, how do you do it, you might ask? 🤔

Well, it’s quite simple: you need to set up a few key points🔑 and, here they are:

Execution plan ➡️ draw up a detailed plan specifying who does what, when and how.
Marketing mix➡️ set up product design, production, pricing, distribution and communication campaigns.
Communication ➡️ set up advertising campaigns, public relations and digital marketing activities.
Monitoring and adjustment ➡️ regularly monitor performance against targets.
Resource management ➡️ effectively manage human, financial and material resources to ensure smooth, cost-effective implementation.

As you can see, implementation requires a meticulous management effective communication and responsiveness to market changes. 👀

5) Assessment and control

Last but not least, evaluation and control. They enable the company to remain agile and adapt to market changes, while ensuring that its marketing efforts are aligned with its business objectives. 😇

💡 This is an essential step in ensuring the long-term success of your marketing approach.

Without further ado, here are some examples and key elements of this last phase: 👇🏼

Measuring results: collect data and measure performance against set objectives, such as KPIs for sales, market growth, brand awareness or return on investment (ROI).
Analyze results: understand what worked and what didn’t.
Readjustments: modification of tactics, reallocation of resources.
Reporting and communication: maintaining transparency and ensuring that all stakeholders are kept informed.
Continuous improvement: learn from experience and improve regularly.

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The 4 main marketing approaches

There are 4 main marketing approaches, which are actually distinct strategies that companies can adopt to approach their market and reach their objectives.

Each of these approaches has its own characteristics and priorities. Without further ado, let’s discover the different characteristics. 👇🏼

1) The transactional marketing approach

This approach focuses primarily on making immediate sales and individual transactions. 👀

It aims to encourage customers to buy 💸 or product or service, thanks to incentives such as promotions, price reductions or sales-oriented advertising.

Please note that long-term relationships are not a priority in this approach, as it is often used for everyday consumer products or services. ✨

💡 The main objective is to generate short-term income by favoring immediate transactions.

2) The relationship marketing approach

This approach focuses on creating and maintaining long-term relationships. 📈

In fact, it seeks to build loyalty customers by offering a customer experience by personalizing interactions and developing a high quality mutual trust and loyalty.

As you can see, this goes far beyond a single transaction, and is designed to encourage repeat purchases. 🔄

In particular, it aims to :

Loyalty programs.
Personalized offers.
Communication continues.

💡The main objective is to establish lasting relationships that benefit both the company and its customers in the long term.

3) The societal marketing approach

This marketing approach broadens the traditional vision of marketing by integrating social and environmental concerns into the marketing process marketing strategy.

It aims to meet customers’ needs while minimizing the negative impact on the environment society and the environment. 🌴

This societal marketing approach integrates ethical values, social and environmental responsibility into marketing decisions.

It can include: 👇🏼

🥇 Promoting eco-friendly products.
🥈 Taking part in charity events.
🥉 Respect for ethical standards in advertising and production.

💡 The main objective is to achieve a balance between commercial profitability, social and environmental responsibility and satisfying needs.

4) The holistic marketing approach

This last approach, known as holistic marketing, takes a global perspective, considering the whole company as a single entity interconnected entity.

Okay, let’s talk in simple words. 😅

It helps align all aspects of the business, from the corporate culture to its marketing strategy, with the aim of providing customer experience consistent. ☺️

It ensures that every action you take with the customer shows that you still have the same identity and the same values which reinforces the brand’s consistency and recognition, and we love that! 🫶🏼

💡 The main objective is to provide a harmonious, consistent customer experience at every interaction.

Example of a marketing approach with Apple

What better way to illustrate our point than with a little example? Well, in this case, we’ve chosen to use an apple, but not just any apple, the world-famous apple… do you have it? 🍎

Yes, we’re going to talk about Apple, the American multinational. 🇺🇸

Enough talk, let’s blow up the board. ⬇️

Apple marketing approach chart

Stage of the Marketing Approach	An example from Apple	News & Events
Situation analysis	Apple analyzes the market for smartphones and computers, taking into account the growth in demand for technology products and current trends.	Apple has also analyzed the challenges of global semiconductor shortages and adapted its production accordingly.
Defining the target audience	Apple identifies users of high-end and creative products as its target audience, based on demographic and behavioral criteria.	Apple focused on customers interested in data confidentiality, highlighting its privacy protection policy.
Marketing strategy development	Apple’s strategy is based on innovation, differentiation and premium pricing.	Apple has drawn up a strategy to strengthen its ecosystem of interconnected devices and services. This includes the development of Apple HomeKit for the connected home, deeper integrations between iPhone, iPad and Mac, and the launch of services such as Apple Music and Apple Arcade.
Action implementation	Apple produces and markets its products via its Apple Stores and online, uses iconic advertising campaigns, and provides high-quality customer support.	The company opened new Apple stores in emerging markets and invested in advertising campaigns focusing on the environmental sustainability of its products.
Assessment and control	Apple regularly monitors its sales, market share and customer satisfaction, adjusting its strategy accordingly.	Apple has stepped up its efforts to measure its carbon footprint and has announced ambitious targets for reducing its environmental impact.

How about a recap?

As you can see, the marketing approach is not static: it adapts to market developments, new technologies and the concerns of society.

You could say that it aims to create value for customers while contributing to the company’s long-term success. 🍾

Finally, the marketing is a powerful tool for any company seeking to :

🥊 Staying competitive.
💟 Create customer loyalty.
❓ Responding to changing market needs.

Frequently asked questions

You thought we were done with this article? Well no, we’ve got a few resources to share with you. I promise, it’s quick. 😇

What are the 2 stages of the marketing approach?

In case you hadn’t realized, the marketing approach and the sales approach mean the same thing. The first two steps are the same:

1️⃣ Analysis of the general situation (market, trends, opportunities and threats).
2️⃣ Defining the target audience.

What are the 3 objectives of marketing?

They are specific to each individual and each company, but there are some fundamentals that I think we can all agree on 😅 :

🤑 Generate sales and revenue.
💙 Customer loyalty.
❇️ Create positive brand awareness and reputation on and off the web.

What is positioning in marketing?

In marketing, the positioning means the way a company or brand presents and positions itself in the minds 💭 of its customers targets in relation to its competitors.

💡 Positioning aims to create a different image, clearly defining the value and benefits of the company’s product or service in the eyes 👀 of its customers.

Now you know what is the 5 steps marketing approach ! 🐉