Upstream marketing refers to the strategic process of identifying and fulfilling customer needs. Upstream marketing takes place at a much earlier stage by developing a clear market segmentation map and then identifying and precisely defining which customer segments to focus on. It analyzes how the end-user uses the product or service and what competitive advantage will be required to win the customer and at what price point. It is done very early in the product or service development cycle and is one of the missing links for generating revenue growth at many companies.
Downstream marketing, by comparison, is what most people visualize as marketing, and involves advertising, promotion, brand building and communicating with customers through public relations, trade shows, and in-store displays. While these activities are extremely important — they are primarily downstream in nature — that is, they enhance the acceptance of a product or service that already exists. Further, companies spend an inordinate amount of money on downstream marketing activities and ignore critical upstream marketing activities.
How To Create A Winning Millennial Marketing Strategy [Infographic]
Organizations understand that millennials command an exponentially increasing percentage of discretionary spending and influence. The attached infographic from Salesforce discusses some key steps in creating a millennial marketing strategy.
How To Develop Powerful Consumer Insights
Consumer insights are the foundation of every successful brand strategy. The building blocks of developing consumer insights generally include: exploring customers and their needs, segmenting the market, optimizing concepts and finalizing the offering. This broad-to-narrow, quantitative-to-qualitative pattern works across virtually every industry.
Nine Reasons Why Your Brand Needs Qualitative Research
Listening to your customers is both an art and a science. Well-conducted qualitative research will allow your brand to make something amazing out of something subtle. Here are 9 reasons why you need to conduct in-person qualitative research regularly.
What’s Your Self-Driving Vehicle Brand Strategy? [With Jeff Eckerling from SP+]
Autonomous vehicle technology represents a major source of disruption in virtually every industry. We interviewed Jeff Eckerling, Senior Vice President of Revenue and Growth at SP+ Corporation, to discuss the potential impact of autonomous vehicles on marketing, branding and operations in various industries. SP+ (NASDAQ: SP) manages parking facilities with more than one million parking spaces across the United States and Canada.
