Incremental Marketing

Marketing strategies are never without risk, whether a large company or a smaller startup is
involved, the reaction of consumers hangs in the balance. Incremental marketing minimizes the
risks involved in rolling out a new marketing campaign to consumers. Incremental marketing is a
marketing approach that is built on making small and gradual changes to a marketing strategy.
It involves a steady increase in finances allotted towards advertising and product exposure
over a prolonged period of time. Incremental marketing implements milestones and benchmarks
as goals that need to be achieved before moving to the next step, rolling out the next phase of
the campaign, and releasing more funds. This breakdown of a large-scale project into attainable
components is what makes incremental marketing less of a risk.
Purpose
As already mentioned, incremental marketing minimizes risk. Many smaller companies find
incremental marketing approaches to be advantageous because the risk of blowing their smaller
the budget on a product that has the potential to fall flat with consumers can save them time and
money. As businesses with smaller pockets attain certain achievements or benchmarks, then
more money can be added to product advertising and other costs instead of going all in at
one time.
Big businesses and successful brands can and do use this strategy to test the waters of the
consumer market. By executing their marketing plan in phases, or small steps, a company can
feel out the consumer’s response to the initial phases and begin planning for, and executing the
next phase.
Incremental marketing can also boost a business’s competitive edge because of the slower
pace of this approach. There is more time to gather data, change, adjust, and beat out the
competition because there is a steady stream of information flowing in that companies can use
to enhance their process and adjust their goals.
Making these small and gradual improvements to a marketing campaign based on changing
consumer preferences and attitudes is a benefit of utilizing incremental marketing processes.
Process
How does Incremental marketing work? As stated, incremental marketing involves a process of
small gradual changes and budget increases depending on achievement. It all starts with
planning everything from budget to how to proceed once a new milestone is reached. Some
companies may choose to continue immediately to the next step, while other marketers may
tread with caution and plan based on the success of the first step and then move on to
implementation.
The process of incremental marketing is slow and steady resulting in more attainable success.
The process includes budgeting and timelines that should be open to flexibility depending on the
results.
The first step once milestones and budgets are determined and approved is to identify and
understand the target audience. This comes with researching, gathering data, and following
consumer trends. This is the key to gaining a competitive edge.
Next, a marketing team needs to identify opportunities for improvement and prepare a plan to
implement the necessary changes and adjustments. Customer experience and many other
contributing factors all play a role in determining areas of improvement and change.
The following step is to test it out and experiment. This is where the rubber meets the road and
all of the tedious planning is put into action, but not in grandiose waves, instead small
experiments are conducted. An example of this is testing out a marketing message with a
smaller target audience rather than the entire or broad audience. This enables a marketing team
to assess the reactions and experiences of consumers and prepare for the next step.
Making the necessary changes is the next step in the process. These changes are gradual and
manageable. The continuation of making small improvements over time results in success.
Measuring Success
The success of any marketing campaign, including incremental marketing can be determined by
using methods such as web traffic data, customer surveys, market research, sales, etc. For
larger companies, this may be a bit more complicated due to all of the influx of information and
running multiple campaigns. In any case, incremental marketing strategies are measurable
especially due to the aggregated information from small achievements that show success over
time.
Results
Incremental marketing enables businesses to stay relevant in an ever-changing market. By
going at a slower pace, there is wiggle room to make improvements based on how the market
may be altered by different events and consumer habits. Staying on top of market trends is
crucial in maintaining a competitive edge and incremental marketing strategies provide the
opportunity to analyze these trends and changes. By setting small goals, and taking incremental
steps, a business can yield results over time and maintain success long-term.