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MARKETING IS TAKING YOUR BUSINESS TO MARKET
Marketing has many definitions, but the most meaningful description for any business, is that marketing is the process of taking your product or service offering to market, writes John Boyle Marketing involves researching the marketplace, shaping and pricing the product or service so that it is appealing, communicating the proposition and finding the right delivery channels to ensure that you get to market efficiently. If you want to attract new customers, increase profits or raise awareness of your offering, marketing can offer you really useful and creative ways to do that. And it doesn’t have to cost a fortune because a little imaginative thinking goes a long way. There are many ways to market your business and there’s no one formula for success. Except, perhaps, ‘be your own customer’. In other words, try to see everything from your customer’s point of view. MARKETING ELEMENTSMarketing can include the following tools; market research, pricing, advertising, distribution, selling, after-sales service and much more. Each will contribute to the overall success of your business. Some will gain business quickly and others, for example, public relations (PR), aims to generate goodwill towards your business though not necessarily an immediate sale. Press coverage, open days, sponsorship, newsletters and public speaking are examples of PR.Marketing is not the same as selling; rather marketing creates the conditions for the sale to take place. It’s not just advertising either, although advertising might play an important part in your overall marketing effort. FOCUS ON THE RIGHT MARKETThink hard about what’s right for your business. This depends on your brand profile, your business sector, your competition and the age of your business as well as the amount of money you have available. You should also take the time to stand back and ask yourself if you’re focusing on the right markets. Are you communicating with people in the right way? Are you maximising opportunities at every touch point or at every point at which your brand can interface with the customer?Take a look at your business in this way every six months or so and don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you’re too busy to market your business. If you fall into a fallow period for business development, then you may be too late. Assign a time of the day or week for marketing planning and implementation and stick to it. You will find it a rewarding exercise, even in terms of keeping your business thinking fresh and for re-energising your proposition to the market. A COMPETITIVE EDGETo succeed, you must have an advantage over your competitors, and you must tell your potential customers what it is. What benefits can you offer? When you’ve worked out which ones make you stand out, use them whenever you come into contact with potential customers.PRICE ISN’T EVERYTHINGSuccess does not come from simply reducing your price to unrealistic levels. Unless your overheads are significantly lower than your competitors’, you should never try to compete on price alone as you’ll have to work much harder to make a profit. Remember that price is not the only reason for people to buy a product there’s also convenience, brand and personal service for example.PLAN AHEADPlanning ahead is a vital skill in many areas of business, none more so than in marketing. Small businesses are particularly prone to ignoring the need for forward planning because it takes up valuable time. But in the long run, it certainly pays to focus on the future and to be prepared to adapt as the market evolves and changes.Set a year-long plan of action. This stops you from making short-sighted and expensive marketing decisions during quiet periods. Decide on measurable targets for increasing sales or number of customers, or generating awareness of your business; this lets you see later whether or not you have been successful. Author: John Boyle, Head of Marketing, Ulster Bank Corporate Markets. If you would like to talk to Ulster Bank about your options for expanding your business why not drop into one of our local branches and talk to an Enterprise Adviser or call us on 1850 314151 Published in the September 2007 Issue of Irish Entrepreneur | back to top | back
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| © 2007 Irish Entrepreneur Irish Entrepreneur is published by Morrissey Media Ltd. 3 Dublin Road, Naas, Co. Kildare. T: + 353 45 866200 F: + 353 45 883709 E: info@irishentrepreneur.com |
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