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UNDERSTANDING MARKETING IN PLAYA DEL CARMEN, MEXICO
What is Marketing?
Marketing derives from the word market – and this is what, in its core, marketing does. Selling products or services, and all the processes that are involved in getting a product or service from the seller to the consumer. This implies studying the designated market and its consumers. Who is likely to purchase the product? Which is the best way to promote the product? The goal is to find the right method for a company to get consumers interested in your product or service, retain them and convert them into loyal customers. Marketing includes everything that the consumer encounters when it comes to your business. From product development to distribution methods, sales, and advertising. Often, marketing is confused with advertising. It’s important to understand that advertising is only one aspect of it.
The 4 P’s Of Marketing In Mexico And The Riviera Maya
Marketing is often described by the 4 P’s, which are Product, Price, Promotion, and Place. While they are globally known as the standard marketing mix, they need to be adapted to the country and the market you are operating in. Let’s have a detailed look at how the 4 P’s work in Mexico and the Riviera Maya.
Product – And its Characteristics in Mexico and the Riviera Maya
The product is the core of any marketing strategy. It includes more than just tangible goods. Products include physical objects, services, places, ideas… After you came up with an idea for a product you want to offer, you want to sell it. Your marketing team will do all the necessary market research for you to sell it successfully. First of all, you need to know who is interested in your product, or, in other words, who is your target audience. For example, hiking shoes or stilettos have a different target audience.
Besides of meeting the needs of your target audience, you also need to consider the consumer’s cultural background and adapt your product to the local market. For example, McDonald’s is a global company, selling burgers and fries all over the world. However, in Mexico, McDonald’s burgers come with chili sauce. Also, Mexico is a country where most people work 6 days a week with a minimum of holidays, meaning that they are interested in products that are time-saving and convenient. The Riviera Maya moreover, is a great location to sell luxury products, since not only tourists with spending-power visit, but also many of the locals dispose of more money and seek for a luxury experience.
Knowing all this will help you understand the demand for your product or service and thus increase your product’s quality and sales. At Marketing Ag Shop, we know the Mexican market like the back of our hand. We are your experts in the Riviera Maya to position your products successfully in Playa del Carmen and all Mexico.
Place – Adjust your Marketing Strategy for Playa del Carmen, Mexico
It’s critical to know where and how to sell your product or service. You can sell it online or at a retail location or both. You can sell it nationally or internationally. And so on.
Distribution chains is a keyword here, and they change in each country. Marketing Ag Shop knows who would like to sell your products and services to businesses, retailers and wholesaler or if it’s recommendable to sell directly to consumers. We will adjust your marketing strategy to suit the needs of Mexican consumers, or to the more international users in Playa del Carmen.
Price – Develop a Competitive Price Strategy for the Market in Playa del Carmen
The price of your product or service is another crucial fact. At what price do your competitors sell? How much are your ideal customers willing to pay? If you sell it too expensive you might lose customers, if the price is too low you might lose money. Marketers do all the necessary research and analysis to gauge an optimal price range for your product or service.
Especially in the Riviera Maya, pricing is a complex task, since certain services and products are higher priced here than in the rest of Mexico, due to availability and quality. At Marketing Ag Shop, we take all the different aspects into consideration, to sell your service at a competitive price, that boosts your ROI.
Promotion – How to Reach your Mexican Customers in Playa del Carmen
Now that you know what you want to sell to whom, where and at what price, the last P is probably what you expected from Marketing. Promotion is all about online or print advertisements, social media promotions, public relation campaigns, sales events, discounts… Any strategy that increases awareness and interest in your product or service and ultimately leads to more sales.
Of course, advertising messages have to be adapted to the language, cultural attitudes, and other local characteristics. In Mexico, you need to consider that consumers are very aware of brand names, that mostly the wives are in charge of the family’s purchase and that consumers are looking for convenient products, that help them save time. Focus your efforts on building trust and build a strategy that is based on loyalty and on building relationships with your customers.
At the moment of geo-targeting, keep in mind that in Mexico, most digital consumers reside in urban centers. In Quintana Roo, Playa del Carmen and Cancun are among the most affluent locations, followed by Puerto Morelos, Tulum, and Chetumal.
Understanding Digital Marketing in The Riviera Maya in Mexico
Online marketing or digital marketing refers to all marketing actions on the internet. In other words, promoting brands and products online and through digital channels. Part of digital marketing is social media marketing, search engine marketing (SEO), website marketing, email marketing, viral marketing, to only name a few. Being able to use the internet, changed the approach and especially the reach and ways of analyzing marketing measurements.
A Brief History of Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is relatively young since internet only was used by a broader part of the population in the late 1990s. Since then, available channels and communication possibilities have changed and developed massively.
The Early Days of Internet Marketing
At its beginnings, the internet was a rather static world and used a one-way communication: users could get all the information they searched for, but they couldn’t share it. There was no interaction. Agencies mostly used the internet in the same way they used offline marketing. It was simply another platform with more reach to publish commercials and advertisement.
Bit by bit, new technologies made their entrance to the digital marketplace and changed the scenery. 1998, Google was founded, and blogger came a year after. Social networking sites made their debut, with Myspace and Facebook being the first ones. Soon, companies realized the huge potential these social sites were. It was a completely new way to communicate directly with the consumers.
Google also expanded and improved their search engine, and marketers learned about the importance of the Google ranking and thus how to optimize their strategies. AdWords and AdSense where born and are important marketing tools until today.
But the internet not only revolutionized marketing in its way of communicating with consumers but also in the new possibilities to analyze content as well as target users. Targeted ads were invented, where users only see ads relevant to their interests. An important part of this was the invention of the “cookie”. They make it possible to collect user data – which had an enormous impact on the digital marketing world. Cookies became an indispensable part of e-commerce.
Digital Marketing and Social Networking Today
Slowly, the web evolved. Audiences were no longer just passively receiving information. Users can now interact with each other and businesses. The internet became a social world, and social media took a leading role in it, together with SEO. Nowadays, sites like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, WordPress or LinkedIn are essential parts of everyday life and revolutionized the ways of marketing.
The next communications revolution came in form of smartphones. They provide us with a permanent source of distraction and have a huge impact on all our lives and profoundly changed the marketing industry. Advertisers can now send real-time, location-based messages to consumers. 2008, the app store was launched and soon after, marketers discovered the possibility of including advertisement into free apps. Traditional banners where replaced by overlays, videos, and native ads, which are the “sponsored content” in social media.
Personalized advertising and anticipating a consumer’s need have become a key point in marketing, with social media marketing being the most important branch.
Developments in technology will continue to change the marketing world and we at Marketing Ag Shop have a head start!
Digital Marketing Tools
Search engines like Google, Yahoo or Bing allow users to find the content they are interested in. Search engine optimization and search engine marketing, or short SEO and SEM, ensure your website or blog will rank high on these engines, meaning people will find you easily. Part of every SEO strategy is the content marketing, that consist of all activities that focus on creating attractive information in form of website content or blogs.
Display advertising is all about banners and similar forms of advertising that occupies an area on a website and captures your interest in form of text, video, or image.
Email marketing is one of the first digital marketing techniques that are still highly effective, mostly in combination with other strategies. Besides being able to contact the consumers directly with discounts and other information of their interest, it’s an excellent way to collect data.
Social media is among the most important part of digital marketing. Studies show that users spend several hours daily on the different social media platforms. Besides, they adapt perfectly to the consumer’s changing habits and demands, which makes them the perfect platform for advertising.
Digital Marketing in Mexico
Mexico is the second largest economy in Latin America, with 95% of its companies being SMEs (small and medium enterprises). Especially since 2008, there have been huge changes in the digital landscape of the country. Nowadays, it ranks 10 in the number of internet users worldwide and among Spanish speaking countries, Mexico is the country with the most internet users. Plus, the consumer behavior evolved over the last years, as the country became wealthier. 2017, 63% of the population is online, which is more than 70 million people. E-commerce is growing accordingly fast, and valued at over $17 billion USD at the moment, with a growing number of e-buyers.
All these numbers show Mexico is a very interesting market that clearly offers many opportunities for businesses.
In the digital marketing world, some nations are more advanced in adopting technologies. Usually, innovations that are rooted in the United States, are adopted in Mexico only a few years later.
Within the last few years, Mexico also became a popular place for big international companies to delegate their digital needs. They approach Mexico because of the trained personnel within digital agencies, that offer marketing solutions at lower costs. The growth of partnerships between Mexican marketing agencies and international companies is expected to continue.
When entering the Mexican market, as in any market, the use of social media platforms is inevitable. But while in other countries Instagram and Snapchat are getting more popular, in Mexico, Facebook is still the most used social platform. People use it for their search inquiries and to communicate with brands. In Mexico, your Facebook presence is even more important than your website. It is common for Mexican users to contact you through Facebook and seek direct communication, rather than checking out your website. In fact, today, only one in ten SMEs even have a website, but 80% have a presence in social networks, mostly on Facebook and Twitter. It is essential to provide a channel of communication with the users and to promptly answer any inquiries.
Digital Marketing in the Riviera Maya
The Riviera Maya is evolving into a digital marketing powerhouse, with uprising companies and talents. The industry here is young, and professionals from all over the world saw their opportunity and started to offer their services here. While most marketing agencies are located in Playa del Carmen, also Puerto Morelos, Puerto Aventuras, and Tulum have now their fair share of professionals.
A characteristic of the market in the Riviera Maya is the importance of the English language, due to many expats living here, international companies, and the influence of the growing tourism. Tourists and their spending powers are not only a lucrative target audience, but the fact that a large part of the population works in tourism-related fields must be considered since it influences the consumer’s behavior.
The mix of international marketers makes these agencies especially knowledgeable, one of them being Marketing Ag Shop. With marketing experts from several countries, combining cultural experience and professionalism.
What Can Marketing AG Shop Do for You in Mexico
When it comes to everything digital marketing related in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Marketing Ag Shop is your experienced partner. We are a small team of digital marketing professionals, that will take your brand to new heights.
To be successful in the competitive online world, it’s important to have experts assisting you. With a professional online presence, you will attract more potential customers, and we assist you on every step. Starting with the concept creation and the implementation of your online marketing campaigns, to increase your brand recognition, drive maximum traffic to your website, and boost your online sales.
We are your experts in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, when it comes to social media marketing, SEO, PPC, and content marketing, bridging the gap between your business ideas and your goals. Furthermore, we are multilingual, offering our services in Spanish, English, Hebrew, German, and French. We identify your target audience, reach them in the most cost-effective way, and develop the best strategies to convert them into loyal customers. Always in a comprehensive and transparent way.
Social Media Marketing in Playa del Carmen
Social media has become a part of people’s everyday life and is thus indispensable in any digital marketing strategy. It’s a great tool for any business to connect with their customers. Our social media experts run your platforms, consult you in any social media related question, or just run your social media campaigns.
From the creation of your social media channels to the community management, we are your partner. We know which platform fits your company’s needs, how to best use them, and how consumers think. From Facebook ads to campaigns that include Instagram, Google+, Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn, we are looking forward to finding creative solutions for you to reach your target audience.
If you look at the market, most businesses are active on different social media platforms, but only a few know how to use it strategically to their advantage. Many even don’t have any strategy at all. We built a strategy specifically for your brand that is based on your target audience’s needs and ensures a long-term increase of your reach and a high ROI (return of investment).
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in Playa del Carmen
SEO should be part of every business’ online marketing strategy. It is essential that your customers find you! We position your website on top of the search engine results and thus ensure you more clients and more revenue.
Just having a website and being present in the online world isn’t enough. People need to look for you and then find you, too. Most people nowadays use Google to find what they are interested in. But how to get your page in the top rankings?
We thoroughly analyze your website and its visitors to know what needs to be optimized. What changes does your website need? What content did visitors like? In doing so, we also distinguish mobile users and their distinctive interests and needs since Google has special guidelines for mobile searches.
In a next step, we optimize the keywords, determining the right combination of search queries by people looking for your product or brand. Depending on your business model, we especially make sure that you are found by local search queries.
Content marketing is an important part of SEO. We provide you with the content for your blog or website that not only cuts through the noise but also grants you a high ranking. Moreover, we do so in several languages, adapting the content accordingly.
Online Ads in Playa del Carmen
We get your brand the exposure it deserves by placing your ad in competitive locations in front of the right audience. Be it in form of banners, skyscrapers, AdWords, or any others, to increase the traffic to your website.
Based on an analysis of your target audience and your keywords, we build your effective banner advertising campaigns. Our team at Marketing Ag Shop is your experienced partner for the design of effective visual ads for placement on the internet. We take your digital campaigns one step further by adding specific targeting and thus improve your return on investment drastically.
To also drive qualified audience back to your website, so-called retargeting, we work with AdWords Interface and targeted display ads. For example, imagine that a user visited your website where you sell sneakers, but he left without buying. By “following” the user with an implemented cookie, they will later see targeted ads of your sneakers, to encourage them to go back to your online store and buy.
Cross-Media Campaigns in Playa del Carmen
Any advertising can only be as successful as the channels that are transporting the message. While a few years ago you could simply reach your audience with maybe a product brochure, today there are many more different ways where and how to communicate with your customers. And they are more active than ever!
Therefore, at Marketing Ag Shop, we also offer cross-media campaigns, adapting the message to the channel, to make sure to reach your audience. We work with paid, owned and earned channels to reach your audience wherever they are along the customer journey.
For any services Marketing Ag Shop offers, it’s a priority to always work in a transparent way. Therefore, we provide you with reports showing which measurements lead to which results.