Are you hearing a lot of new marketing terms lately? Drip marketing, engagement marketing, loyalty marketing, trigger, and omnichannel marketing. What do these terms mean? Whether you are doing print or digital marketing, these concepts are essential to understand. Let's look at these five common marketing terms and what they mean to you.

1. Drip marketing: Some purchases happen spontaneously. A buyer is enticed by a coupon or a direct mail offer, and they make a purchase right away. More often, however, buyers arrive at a purchase decision over time. They get a direct mail piece. They see an email a week later. They see an online ad or receive a follow-up mailing. Drip marketing feeds buyers bits of information over time until they are ready to buy.

2. Trigger marketing: Buyers may also receive information based on what they do or the marketer's knowledge about them. An upcoming lease expiration triggers a trade-in offer on a new vehicle, for example, or the first anniversary of a pet's vaccination triggers a reminder to come in for the next round. Triggers can also be based on customers' behavior. If someone downloads a white paper, they might receive a follow-up phone call later that day.

3. Loyalty marketing: Once you have gained a customer, you want to keep them. Loyalty marketing is designed to engage customers with the brand, often through discounts, incentives, and rewards.

4. Engagement marketing: This is the process of creating meaningful interactions with the buyer. This differs from loyalty marketing because the goal isn't always to make a sale. It's to create an emotional bond. You might use stories about the brand's mission or encourage users to share their content through social media—anything that makes people want to continue interacting with you.

5. Omnichannel marketing: Your customer wants to receive a consistent brand message regardless of their channel. Whether direct mail or email, social media, or your website, the mission, messaging, and branding should be consistent across them all.

See one of these concepts that catch your eye? Great! Give us a call, and let's talk about it.