What Is Marketing? Definition and Types

Marketing – what is it?

As we can see, marketing is a broad concept, encompassing a range of activities that ultimately lead to sales. This means the definition alone does not tell us very much – after all, every company takes its own path towards this goal.

To choose the right activities, we therefore need to understand the types of marketing suited to particular situations.

Types of marketing

There are many forms of marketing, and new ones continue to emerge (Wikipedia listed 19 types in 2017, 23 in 2021 and 29 in 2026). This is largely a result of increasing digitalisation.

The simplest distinction is between digital and traditional marketing.

Digital marketing

Inbound marketing involves creating valuable content that audiences discover for themselves.

Examples include informative blog articles, infographics and webinars. Potential customers come across these useful resources and, in the process, learn about the brand and what it offers.

This is an effective way to reach people who are more likely to make a purchase.

Outbound marketing

By contrast, outbound marketing relies on showing people adverts they have not actively sought out.

Examples include television adverts, banner adverts and Google Ads campaigns. This approach allows businesses to reach a specific audience quickly – unfortunately, at the expense of lower conversion rates.

Interestingly, marketing can also be classified by its underlying framework. One of the most popular is the marketing mix, which consists of four pillars (the 4Ps): product, price, place and promotion. Its popularity stems from the way it clearly sets out how a company influences the market. The concept has also been developed into models such as the 8Ps and 4Cs.

Which type of marketing is best?

There is no simple answer to the question of which type of marketing to use. The right choice depends on four factors:

• Your industry
• Your target audience
• Your company’s resources, such as brand awareness and the size of its website
• Your marketing budget

Each of these has a significant influence on the most suitable marketing strategy.

The definition of digital marketing is straightforward: it uses the internet as its main channel. Its branches include:

• Content marketing – activities that use engaging, useful content to establish a brand’s expertise and improve its website’s search rankings.
• Remarketing – a type of marketing that involves showing adverts to people who have previously visited a website and are already familiar with the brand.
• Buzz marketing – used on various online forums, where relevant discussions are sparked to create opportunities to promote a product or service.
• Social media marketing – activities on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn that engage users and encourage them to buy products or use services.
• SEM – search engine marketing, comprising two elements: SEO and PPC. The first involves optimising a website for search engines to increase its visibility and generate organic traffic. The second involves displaying Google Ads to attract customers and generate paid traffic.

Traditional marketing

Traditional marketing, also known as conventional marketing, is equally easy to understand. It includes offline techniques used before the internet was invented, such as distributing leaflets and advertising in newspapers, as well as:

• Sports marketing – using sports-related sponsorship, for example by showing an advert during coverage of an event or displaying a brand on an advertising banner.
• Sensory marketing – engaging the senses to create associations with a brand. Its most popular forms include audio marketing, which appeals to hearing, and scent marketing, which appeals to smell.
• Shopper marketing – taking place directly in a shop. Its aim is to persuade potential customers at the point of sale to make a purchase.

Inbound marketing

We have listed types of marketing according to the medium they use, but they can also be classified by how they reach their target audience.

We can now clearly see what marketing means in practice: using sales-driving activities that suit a company’s circumstances and capabilities.