{"id":45307,"date":"2021-05-25T10:00:56","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T17:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clearvoice.com\/resources\/what-is-proactive-marketing\/"},"modified":"2025-06-23T16:48:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T23:48:36","slug":"what-is-proactive-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clearvoice.com\/resources\/what-is-proactive-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Proactive Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is proactive marketing? Proactive marketing, also known as predictive marketing, allows marketers to meet consumers\u2019 needs by unearthing latent requirements and predicting future actions. This is done by using data analytics to study consumer behavior.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gaining knowledge of what a consumer might do next week or six months down the line doesn\u2019t require Tarot readings, fortune tellers, or crystal ball gazing.<\/p>\n

Rather, it is accomplished through proactive marketing, which includes the dedicated use of data analytics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The analytics\u00a0help marketers determine strategy direction before they create and launch a specific marketing or content plan<\/a>. That plan then offers satisfactory solutions when it comes to solving consumer problems.<\/p>\n

Learn how you can tap into the underlying and future needs of your consumer base and provide solutions before they even know they need them with proactive marketing.<\/p>\n

\"multi-dimentional<\/p>\n

What is proactive marketing?<\/h2>\n

Proactive marketing, also called predictive marketing, goes beyond the usual 4 Ps, or the 7 Ps of service marketing (product, price, place, promotion, process, physical evidence, and people).<\/p>\n

Specifically, proactive marketing allows marketers to understand consumer pain points not by focusing on their current needs but by unearthing their latent requirements and predicting future behavior and actions.<\/p>\n

Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. could be considered the poster child for proactive marketing. He\u00a0famously pointed out that Apple\u2019s job is to figure out what customers want before they even know. This strategy brought society the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, to name a few Apple-specific products.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t need to be Steve Jobs or the equivalent to be successful at proactive marketing. You can, however, outthink your competition<\/a> by using your outstanding customer data to make predictions about future behavior, then target your content efforts<\/a> to align with their upcoming actions.<\/p>\n

\"why<\/p>\n

Proactive marketing vs. reactive marketing \u2014 what’s the difference?<\/h2>\n

One good way to understand proactive marketing and how it works is by discussing its opposite action. This is reactive marketing, and, as it implies, it\u2019s, well, reactive.<\/p>\n

Rather than anticipating consumers\u2019 future requirements,\u00a0reactive marketing is conducted\u00a0in response to a sudden, unforeseen event or action by the competition.<\/p>\n

For instance, if a company hires a celebrity spokesperson to market a product, the competitor\u2019s reactive marketing action might also involve hiring a celebrity spokesperson.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take another look at a specific reactive marketing example, as demonstrated through Company A, an apartment market data company. Company A collected information, which included construction, unit numbers, and rents, then sold it to brokers and developers.<\/p>\n

But Company A found itself in reactive marketing mode when its competition, Company B, put more money into its advertising budget to build brand awareness. Company A wasted a great deal of time and effort in counteracting Company B\u2019s actions (not to mention creating a great deal of angst among Company A\u2019s leadership).<\/p>\n

While reactive marketing isn\u2019t necessarily always a \u201cfollow-the-leader\u201d focus, it generally occurs in response to something external. In the case of Company A, the external trigger involved its competition\u2019s increased ad budget.<\/p>\n

Company A would have been better off with a proactive plan, which might have involved studying the underlying or future needs of its clientele obtained through great data. Then Company A could have developed content to show clients both the latent needs and solutions to those needs.<\/p>\n

In other words, rather than reacting to an external factor, Company A would have gotten more bang for its marketing buck by gaining a better understanding of its clientele<\/a> and then creating content to demonstrate that understanding.<\/p>\n

Benefits of proactive marketing<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s face it. Attempting to ascertain consumers’ latent and\/or future requirements and needs is hard work, requiring a great deal of effort. The achievement of any successful proactive marketing activity depends on great data.<\/p>\n

This means developing and maintaining an accurate data collection method<\/a> that captures consumer behavior and feedback. Once that information is collected, it then requires analysis. Because of the time-consuming nature of predictive marketing, reliance on reactive strategies can be much easier.<\/p>\n

But reactive marketing is not always better. In addition to the potential of coming in second-best to a competitor\u2019s marketing efforts, even the most successful reactive marketing strategy can reach a plateau.<\/p>\n

This, in turn, can lead to a mad scramble for yet another market or content strategy<\/a> to attract and retain customers.<\/p>\n

So, while proactive marketing requires a great deal of up-front and ongoing effort, it yields\u00a0many of the following advantages.<\/p>\n

\"ClearVoice<\/p>\n

Stronger segmentation efforts<\/h3>\n

Segmentation<\/a> is absolutely essential for successful marketing. Proactive marketing provides the necessary data and information for more effective segmentation. The focus on future consumer behavior can also help propel prospects down the\u00a0marketing funnel<\/a>\u00a0more quickly and efficiently.<\/p>\n

More effective content creation and distribution<\/h3>\n

You could create and post the most readable, engaging content. But that won\u2019t mean a thing if your audience doesn\u2019t access or read it. Using data to anticipate your consumers\u2019 latent requirements or future needs not only provides important topics on which to base content creation.<\/p>\n

It can also help you track what is working versus what needs to be tossed into your computer\u2019s recycle bin.<\/p>\n

Additional opportunities for upselling and cross-selling<\/h3>\n

The good news about data? It can be used for more than one purpose. Specifically, you can use it to upsell and cross-sell current consumers who are already familiar with (and like) your product or service. The collected data provides insight into buying patterns, allowing you to anticipate other products or services your customers might like.<\/p>\n

Making proactive marketing content work<\/h2>\n

By now, you\u2019ve most likely gotten the point that good data is the foundation on which a successful predictive marketing effort is based.<\/p>\n

Company A, mentioned above, could have used client data to figure out buying patterns and could additionally have relied on surveys to collect information<\/a> about topics, such as the time of year during which the product was most useful.<\/p>\n

Data also could have told Company A when a higher number of subscriptions were renewed and why. With that data, Company A could have developed content to encourage clients to extend their subscriptions, add on to their services, or even provide incentives for coming over from the competition.<\/p>\n

Company A is in a business-to-business field, but the same proactive marketing techniques are useful with B2C services<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Proactive marketing example<\/h2>\n

If you operate a company that sells scented soaps, candles, and detergents, you might notice that one customer, Elisa Buyer, increases her purchases of pine-scent products in November in anticipation of the year-end holidays.<\/p>\n

You know this because you\u2019ve analyzed her previous behavior<\/a>. She arrived at your website last November via an organic search and ordered your pine-scented products.<\/p>\n

This year, rather than waiting passively (or reactively) for Elisa to return to your website, you can use your data analysis to develop the following content strategies.<\/p>\n