Basic Marketing an Entrepreneur Needs to Become Successful – When you created a value for your product and services, how do you let people know what that value is? This is the time to learn basic marketing.
The problem with starting a business is this: If you build it, they won’t necessarily come. They have to know about it first. That’s where marketing comes in. Marketing is, in many ways, the life force of your business. The goal of marketing is to communicate your message to your potential customers as quickly and efficiently as possible at the lowest possible cost.
Marketing can help you achieve several strategic goals:
1. Awareness: Unless others know your business exists, it will never attract customers.
2. Image: Your next goal is to develop and nurture a positive company image. One of the major reasons that a pair of designer jeans is more expensive than a generic brand is the image associated with the designer. Decide what image you want to project, then design your promotion to reinforce this image. Do you want your company to be perceived as high quality and high priced, or as a low-cost alternative? It’s important to keep your message consistent throughout your promotional activities.
3. Sales: The third marketing goal is to persuade potential customers to purchase from you. This is known as “triggering the buy response.” Once
customers know who you are and what you sell, you must give them the incentive to try your product or service.
4. Loyalty: The final and ongoing aim of marketing is to remind your customers to continue buying from you. One of the best ways for a company to increase profits is to develop loyal customers.
Marketing Tools
Every method you use to promote your business is a form of marketing. One of the key elements to your success will be not just getting your message out there, but creating a strong, strategic marketing plan for your promotional activities.
There are a lot of marketing tools available to any and all businesses. Some are expensive, others aren’t. Take a look at some options:
1. Advertising: This is the most prevalent type of promotion. It involves using media such as newspapers, radio, TV, and the Internet to get your message
to your ideal target market. Advertising is generally costly and can be labor intensive (if you opt to create the advertisements yourself).
2. Promotional events or specials: These are activities designed specifically to trigger a buy response. Examples of sales promotions include buy-one-get-one- free, taste tests, free samples, coupons, rebates, and customer appreciation tie-in gifts. A sales promotion is designed to increase sales quickly and create brand loyalty.
3. Public relations: News stories, press releases, and press conferences are all forms of low or no-cost publicity. The downside of publicity is that you have
little, if any, control over how or when the message is delivered to your target audience.
4. Personal selling: One-on-one interaction with your customers — via face-toface meetings, telephone calls, letters, and faxes — can offer exposure to your target market. Personal selling allows you to customize your message to specific customers and gives you the benefit of quick feedback, but the cost
per contact can be very expensive.
Marketing can be very time-consuming and expensive — but it doesn’t have to be. Planning well will make all the difference.