Marketing is a way of informing people about your brand and your products and services. Through digital marketing, your brand can reach new and potential clients while maintaining relationships with your current customers.
Updated June 3, 2022
There are two types of marketing: internal and external. Your brand must understand—and practice—both types of marketing.
This article dives into the importance of external marketing and how small businesses can include it in their overall content marketing strategy.
What Is External Marketing?
The type of marketing that most brands know is external marketing.
Simply put, external marketing is promoting your brand’s identity, products, and services outside of your brand’s physical confines.
Small businesses use external marketing to communicate with their target audience and expand their brand’s reach.
External marketing is done using different kinds of materials and content on different platforms.
Some examples of external marketing are:
- websites
- social media interaction
- print, TV, and radio ads.
Through external marketing, you build your brand equity or value by addressing your customers’ questions and concerns.
Effective external marketing builds rapport with potential clients and strengthens your brand’s current ones.
External vs. Internal Marketing
While external marketing focuses on creating connections with your customers, internal marketing focuses on strengthening your brand’s bond with your staff.
Internal marketing is equally important because it deepens your brand’s relationship with those working in your organization.
External marketing aims to connect your brand’s values, products, and services to customers. It encourages people to choose and buy your products and services.
On the other hand, internal marketing is about creating a positive culture within your brand. Through internal marketing, you promote to your staff your company’s values and encourage your staff to grow with your brand. Internal marketing helps create a healthy working environment inside your organization.
The good practices happening internally in your organization will spill out and create positive marketing strategies externally.
Additional Reading: 'Internal Branding: 5 Strategies to Motivate Employees'
Importance of External Marketing and External Business Communication
External business communication is an important part of external marketing.
External business communication involves the exchange of information between your brand and your customers, both current and potential. It also includes communication between your company and potential partners.
Benefits of External Marketing for Your Target Audience
1. Information Dissemination
External communication facilitates business through sharing of information that relates to customers, suppliers, stakeholders, etc. This spreading of information may be done through print and online communications that bring up bring awareness.
2. Image Building and Management
How your customers and stakeholders see your brand impacts your brand’s success.
Through external marketing, your brand presents the positive image you want your target audience to appreciate and relate to.
You connect with your customers through external communication. It also manages your brand’s image and brand voice by addressing your customers’ concerns and questions.
3. Expanding Your Brand’s Reach
External marketing is casting a net to reach your target audience or demographic. It not only serves to keep the interest of current customers but encourages potential customers to try your high-quality products and services.
With external marketing, your brand can tap into new partnerships and encourage collaboration with other brands.
External Marketing Strategies
What external marketing strategies can you do?
1. Advertise
Advertising is an important part of your external marketing strategy; it tells your customers what your brand offers.
But take note: your advertising strategy also depends on where your customers are most often interacting with your brand. Are they mostly online? Or are your customers more likely to see your ads on TV?
To nurture customer relations, you can have opt-in emails where they could receive news about your products and services.
Check out our latest survey report on small business advertising trends.
2. Present Brand Information
Presentations of your brand information can be done not just with your customers. Your brand can also participate in expos to reach new customers and tap potential partners.
These marketing efforts can be done through case study examples or other social media content that can attract potential customers.
3. Network
Build connections for your brand through a networking campaign. This can be done through events such as seminars, demos, and expos.
Your brand can also network online through social media, PR company contacts, news outlets, and social media influencers.
Set up specific brand metrics that can quantify this external marketing process.
External Communication: Making Connections
Here are different types of external communication methods that work with marketing tools:
1. Online Content
This refers to your website content and the use of SEO, as well as blogs. Your customers and partners must be able to get information about your brand and offerings online.
Online content can also refer to video content and website design elements. For external marketing purposes, ensure that all types of content are user-friendly for site visitors.
2. Emails and Newsletter Subscription
Sending digital newsletters and email updates to your subscribers helps your brand to stay connected with your target customers. Online updates can serve as advertising.
Use email marketing strategies while focusing on user experience when drafting newsletter content.
Read this: ‘What to Include in Your Email Branding Guide’
3. Social Media
Social media is an essential tool for information dissemination and marketing. It helps your customers reach you. In turn, your brand can quickly respond to your customers’ concerns.
Focus your company's external marketing energy on social media channels that hit your target audience.
4. Press Releases
Press releases include magazine or newspaper write-ups as well as TV and radio advertising. Having your content released to a known media outlet allows for a wider reach. This can also factor in as one of your marketing campaigns.
5. Live Events
Live events such as product demos, seminars, conferences, expos allow people to see your product and services for themselves.
External marketing in-person can attract people to look beyond their smartphone.
Helpful External Marketing Tips
Have a Comprehensive Practice Management System
A comprehensive practice management system enables you to organize the ways your customers hear about you.
A management system shows you which marketing methods are suitable and effective for your brand, thereby allowing you to allocate the necessary budget. Include an email marketing program to make bulky information distribution easy.
Start a Loyalty Program
Apart from making it easy for your brand to identify your target market, loyalty programs strengthen your brand’s relationship with your customers.
Studies show that loyalty programs make customers feel more connected to your brand and offerings. Companies have been able to add a new layer of value and address consumer problems through loyalty programs.
Source: LoyaltyLion
Through a loyalty program, your brand can give rewards to your long-time customers. In return, you will be able to secure trusting, loyal brand supporters.
External Marketing Casts a Net and Strengthens Foundations
External marketing enables your brand to reach a wide range of customers and maintain your brand’s relationship with existing clients and partners.
External marketing can take many forms and be done in different ways. You should identify which external marketing strategies will most accelerate your brand’s growth.
Hire a digital marketing agency to assist with your in-house and external marketing services.
Additional Reading: