Starting a Business? Why You Need to Know Marketing
Every business owner engages in a mix of advertising and marketing methods to varying degrees of success.
Unfortunately, most do not understand marketing well enough to make the best, most cost-effective decisions or to evaluate the numerous opportunities available for reaching their market.
Effective marketing is far more than simply placing an ad in the Yellow Pages.
It requires a comprehensive knowledge of the industry, competitors, and target markets along with a willingness to track and evaluate every marketing dollar.
Most entrepreneurs have an intellectual understanding about the importance of marketing.
Obviously, this is how you introduce your product, attract customers, and grow your sales.
But the details of how marketing actually works, when it works, are often elusive.
The result is often a mixed bag of convenient advertising and light networking and luck...
not exactly a formula for guaranteed success.
Scout the Competition Before you can define an effective marketing plan for your venture, a good amount of research must be done.
You need to thoroughly scout the competition.
If you can't find any direct or indirect competitors then you have one of two problems -- your research is incomplete or there actually is no market for your idea.
Checking out the competition will provide insight into the methods and messages that seem to work...
and those that do not.
In addition, you will be able to clearly articulate the benefits of your product over the alternatives, a message that will become the core of your best marketing messages.
Understand Your Target Market Second, you need to know all you can about the people most likely (and even possibly likely) to buy your product.
The more you know about where they go, what they do, and how else they spend their money, the easier it will be to find a way to reach them.
This information is critical for your primary target customers, but also important for minor market segments.
That is, if your primary target market consists of cubicle workers, home office workers may also be a viable target.
Although there are far fewer home office workers, a focused marketing effort toward those individuals could increase sales dramatically.
But the only way to reach them is to know how and where to find them.
Plan the Best Route to Your Customer Once you know where your business stands in the industry and who your customers are, you need to find the best marketing routes for getting your business out there.
There are a number of marketing routes beyond advertising that can be effective for most types of businesses including direct sales, sales promotions, and public relations.
Even within the topic of advertising there are an enormous number of options that should be investigated before the first marketing dollar is spent.
The advent of the internet has made marketing both easier and more difficult all at once.
While there are dozens of new platforms available for advertising and getting the word out, there is also a volume of marketing messages bombarding consumers like never before.
There is a wealth of knowledge an entrepreneur should possess to effectively use the opportunities available online, from the most basic website to social marketing to pop up ads.
Without a fundamental understanding of what is available and the effectiveness of those options, it is very easy to waste hundreds to thousands of dollars on useless marketing efforts.
Have a Well-Developed Marketing Plan A well-developed marketing plan will incorporate a number of different methods, with each selected to meet a specific marketing objective.
In addition, each marketing effort should include a clear evaluation procedure such that you are able to analyze the bottom line outcome of every dollar spent on marketing.
Before you can develop an effective, cost-conscious marketing plan, you have to know the basics of marketing, from researching your standing in the marketplace to evaluating the best advertising opportunities.
Above all, need to understand how it all works so you can evaluate the efficacy of your marketing program.
A huge chunk of your venture's cash will be spent on marketing, so developing the knowledge to make the right decisions is just common sense.
Unfortunately, most do not understand marketing well enough to make the best, most cost-effective decisions or to evaluate the numerous opportunities available for reaching their market.
Effective marketing is far more than simply placing an ad in the Yellow Pages.
It requires a comprehensive knowledge of the industry, competitors, and target markets along with a willingness to track and evaluate every marketing dollar.
Most entrepreneurs have an intellectual understanding about the importance of marketing.
Obviously, this is how you introduce your product, attract customers, and grow your sales.
But the details of how marketing actually works, when it works, are often elusive.
The result is often a mixed bag of convenient advertising and light networking and luck...
not exactly a formula for guaranteed success.
Scout the Competition Before you can define an effective marketing plan for your venture, a good amount of research must be done.
You need to thoroughly scout the competition.
If you can't find any direct or indirect competitors then you have one of two problems -- your research is incomplete or there actually is no market for your idea.
Checking out the competition will provide insight into the methods and messages that seem to work...
and those that do not.
In addition, you will be able to clearly articulate the benefits of your product over the alternatives, a message that will become the core of your best marketing messages.
Understand Your Target Market Second, you need to know all you can about the people most likely (and even possibly likely) to buy your product.
The more you know about where they go, what they do, and how else they spend their money, the easier it will be to find a way to reach them.
This information is critical for your primary target customers, but also important for minor market segments.
That is, if your primary target market consists of cubicle workers, home office workers may also be a viable target.
Although there are far fewer home office workers, a focused marketing effort toward those individuals could increase sales dramatically.
But the only way to reach them is to know how and where to find them.
Plan the Best Route to Your Customer Once you know where your business stands in the industry and who your customers are, you need to find the best marketing routes for getting your business out there.
There are a number of marketing routes beyond advertising that can be effective for most types of businesses including direct sales, sales promotions, and public relations.
Even within the topic of advertising there are an enormous number of options that should be investigated before the first marketing dollar is spent.
The advent of the internet has made marketing both easier and more difficult all at once.
While there are dozens of new platforms available for advertising and getting the word out, there is also a volume of marketing messages bombarding consumers like never before.
There is a wealth of knowledge an entrepreneur should possess to effectively use the opportunities available online, from the most basic website to social marketing to pop up ads.
Without a fundamental understanding of what is available and the effectiveness of those options, it is very easy to waste hundreds to thousands of dollars on useless marketing efforts.
Have a Well-Developed Marketing Plan A well-developed marketing plan will incorporate a number of different methods, with each selected to meet a specific marketing objective.
In addition, each marketing effort should include a clear evaluation procedure such that you are able to analyze the bottom line outcome of every dollar spent on marketing.
Before you can develop an effective, cost-conscious marketing plan, you have to know the basics of marketing, from researching your standing in the marketplace to evaluating the best advertising opportunities.
Above all, need to understand how it all works so you can evaluate the efficacy of your marketing program.
A huge chunk of your venture's cash will be spent on marketing, so developing the knowledge to make the right decisions is just common sense.
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