Shoppers see thousands of brand messages every day, but only a fraction cut through. What separates the brands people remember from the ones that don't make an impression? In some cases, the difference is a structured marketing strategy.
Seven marketing functions form the backbone of an effective approach. Each builds on the others to create a robust strategy you can rely on to generate interest and conversions. Learn more about these seven functions and how to piece them together for your business.
What are marketing functions?
Marketing functions are the essential activities businesses use to connect their company’s products with the right target audience. They’re the foundation of a company’s marketing mix, aligning research, product development, and promotion to meet customer needs and fuel growth.
When done well, marketing functions help businesses anticipate market demand and boost customer satisfaction by creating offerings people genuinely want. From crafting effective sales promotion campaigns to refining marketing communications, these processes ensure your brand message resonates with your audience. Every ad, story, and interaction works in harmony to build a consistent brand image that inspires trust and loyalty.
Effective marketing functions make it possible to expand reach through smart distribution channels, opening doors to new markets and prospective customers. By determining the right marketing channels for your business, you can meet customers where they already are. Whether that’s online, in stores, or through social media (or a combination of all of the above), you can turn brand awareness into lasting relationships that drive revenue.
7 marketing functions and how they work
- Marketing information management
- Product management
- Pricing
- Promotion
- Selling
- Distribution
- Financing
Each of the following functions meets different marketing objectives to serve customers in the best way possible. Let's take a deep dive into the seven marketing functions and see how Shopify merchants approach them:
1. Marketing information management
In marketing information management, you gather data about what customers actually want, what competitors are doing, and where the market is going. This groundwork paves a clear path for all of your other marketing processes.
Do thorough market research before making any major moves. Once you have that intel, you can build products people care about, create marketing campaigns that target the right audience, and spot opportunities before your competition does.
That's exactly what Nadya Okamoto did when she co-founded the period care brand August. “The most important thing we did pre-launch was conduct a lot of community conversations,” she says. Those conversations helped her launch a company that makes sustainable period products from 100% absorbent cotton. And they continue to help August create new products that serve its customer base.
2. Product management
Launching a product isn't a one-and-done event. You're continuously refining it based on feedback, market trends, and adapting as customer needs evolve and competitors bring new products to the table. Product management in marketing keeps your offering fresh and relevant so people don't just choose you once; they keep coming back because you're solving their problems better than anyone else.
Toothbrush company SURI co-founder Gyve Safavi explains their process to launch a sustainable toothbrush: "We did quite a few iterations, probably like 20 iterations before we launched.” Every iteration was based on conversations with real dentists and sustainability experts, culminating in a sleek, minimalist toothbrush that improved the user experience and hit sustainability goals.
Evolving your product through testing and feedback is an essential component of staying top of mind as your business grows.
3. Pricing
How much should you charge? This is about balancing what customers think your product is worth against what it costs you to make and what competitors are charging. High prices can cause potential customers to walk away, while exceptionally low prices might make people question the quality. Pricing strategy is about finding that sweet spot where customers feel good about paying, and you're making the profit you need to grow.
Claudia Snoh, co-founder of premium coffee concentrate brand Kloo, found out what price works best for her product with a soft launch of the brand. “We conducted a massive survey where a lot of people said their biggest roadblock was the price per bottle,” she explains on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. This insight led her to lower the price of a bottle from $35 to $32 and create an incentive for subscriptions by discounting buying seven bottles at a time.
“We were able to really satisfy our customers' needs...and now we're also seeing that we have a much, much higher conversion rate as well,” Claudia says.
4. Promotion
This is how you get the word out. You're creating awareness through ads, relationship marketing, social media, PR, or whichever channels make sense for reaching your audience. Even incredible products need promotion. Promotion puts your offer in front of people who need it, tells them why it matters, and gives them reasons to care. Done right, it builds recognition, communicates value, and nudges prospects closer to actually buying.
Promotional strategies are also about narrowing down on your message. Kloo co-founder Claudia recommends making a list of all your value props. Then, “really prioritize the one thing that you want to be known for.” She says, “Repeat that story everywhere on the website, on social, email, SMS, in your elevator pitch.” Consistency is key to getting your message across.
5. Sales
Someone might know about your product and even like it, but that doesn't mean they're pulling out their credit card yet. This function is about closing that gap by answering questions, addressing concerns, demonstrating value, and making the buying process as smooth as possible.
Sometimes, it takes evaluating your entire marketing strategy to pinpoint what's just garnering brand awareness and what is nurturing potential customers through the sales funnel. That's what men's jewelry line CRAFTD London did when they noticed influencer marketing, podcast sponsorships, and celebrity partnerships did a good job of boosting brand visibility, but not translating to actual sales.
Danny Buck, co-founder of CRAFTD London, explains that the business pivoted. “We took all that money [from the year before] and we put it into advertising on Facebook, Google, a bit of Snapchat, and that brought more profitable growth in 2023,” he says on Shopify Masters. This is where using marketing attribution software like HubSpot Marketing Hub can help you understand which points of your customer journey lead to sales.
6. Distribution
Distribution means getting your product into customers' hands reliably and efficiently. You're managing logistics, fulfillment, shipping, retail partnerships, physical distribution, or whatever it takes to make sure people can actually get what they want. If your distribution is clunky, customers experience delays, frustration, and errors. When it's dialed in, it's frictionless. Orders just show up on time, and customers are happy.
T-shirt company Life is Good turned to automation in order to ensure its distribution channels became a well-oiled machine as the brand scaled. President of the company, Tom Hassel, explains that they implemented robotics into their factory and fulfillment center. “As a result, while we have just as many employees as we had in the past, everything is so calm and so smooth that it's hard to believe we ship over 4,000 orders a day,” he says on Shopify Masters.
7. Financing
Deciding where your marketing dollars go is key to hitting marketing goals and business outcomes. It means tracking which channels drive real results, cutting what's not performing, and doubling down on what is. Marketing costs money, and this function ensures you're investing it wisely. Without proper budgeting, your marketing campaigns may not reach the right audiences at the right time.
One of the main ways to assess the efficacy of your marketing budget is to develop a plan for measurement. Dan Grey, CEO of Vendry, suggests using CRM tools that can help you measure what's working. “This is where implementing various Shopify apps that attribute users across their journey, as well as apps for post-purchase surveys, will help you recognize the high-leverage channels to scale,” he says.
This way, you can ensure you're making data-driven decisions as you allocate your budget.
Functions of marketing FAQ
What are the seven main functions of marketing?
The seven main functions of marketing are marketing information management, product management, pricing, promotion, selling, distribution, and financing.
What are the 4 Cs of marketing?
The 4 Cs of marketing are consumer, cost, convenience, and communication. Consumer refers to understanding and fulfilling customer needs. Cost considers the total expense to the buyer, not just the price tag. Convenience looks at how easily customers can find and purchase your product. Communication replaces one-way promotion with two-way engagement that builds relationships and trust. Together, these principles help businesses align their marketing strategies with customer expectations.
How do you improve your marketing?
You can improve your marketing in quite a few different ways. Look closely at your sales funnel to identify where potential customers lose interest, then make strategic adjustments based on data. Use analytics tools to see which campaigns, platforms, and messages drive the most conversions and refine your targeting accordingly. Experiment with A/B testing for your ads, emails, and landing pages to find what performs best. Gather customer feedback to uncover unmet needs and improve messaging or offers.
