Marketing Types

What is Magnetic Marketing

With people increasingly using the Internet and other technologies, many traditional marketing methods are failing to achieve the same results they once did. The main reason for this is technology has closed the communication gap between businesses and customers that once existed. Instead of people waiting to learn about new businesses, products and services, they actively search for information whenever they want. Magnetic marketing is one form of marketing that can help a small business benefit from this change.

Traditional Marketing

Many traditional marketing efforts such as radio and television advertisements attract attention to a business by shouting or pushing a product or service-related message at targeted potential customers. Small business owners often don't see the outcomes they're hoping for with this type of marketing, as some members of a targeted audience deem it intrusive or uninteresting. These members ignore the message as a result or become so annoyed that they decide to shop elsewhere. If they share their negative experience with their social network, a business can suffer the indirect loss of potential customers and even reputation damage.

Attraction Marketing

By comparison, magnetic marketing efforts, also known as attraction or sticky marketing efforts, don't shout or push messages at potential customers. Instead, magnetic marketing pulls customers to your business like a magnet by using modern communication tools to provide them with engaging information they're attracted to, actively searching for or value. The idea is that if you engage customers with content they value, they're more likely to associate your business with memorable, positive experiences and remember you as an expert in your industry and a trusted resource. Those you've attracted are more likely to repeatedly shop at your business or provide positive reviews that attract others to it.

Customer Motivations

Before small-business owners create magnetic marketing engagement strategies, they learn from various sources such as market research and feedback surveys what interests or events shape the buying decisions of their customers. This data reveals much, including the types of content customers are likely to value and websites they probably will visit. For example, a customer buys colored tissue paper at a paper outlet to create a piata for a birthday party. One motivation that shapes her decision to buy is the party and another is creating a homemade piata. This customer probably will value tissue paper or piata craft content such as articles featuring tissue paper tips or videos with birthday party piata-craft instructions, and will visit craft-related store, magazine or blog sites looking for information.

Engagement Methods

Magnetic marketing engagement methods are limited only by the technology available. Besides offering informative articles and videos, small-business owners engage their target audience with e-newsletters, blog posts, online contests, polls and surveys. They open up dialogues on social networks and topic-specific forums and post content wherever they believe a customer will expect it or visit. For example, content would be posted on their business websites, partner websites, if possible, and frequently visited social or content-focused sites such as Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Ustream. In addition, owners attract customers with game, utility and information mobile technology apps.