Marketing drives sales for businesses of all sizes by ensuring that customers think of their brand when they want to buy. Marketing helps a new business to become better known and attract and retain customers so it can survive and grow. Marketing can be used for many specific reasons, for brand awareness (especially useful for new markets or countries), to drive traffic to a specific webpage or store for an event or product purchase and also for company business, such as marketing for PR purposes, new job vacancies.
Do your market research
Effective marketing is underpinned by sound knowledge of the market. Only by knowing exactly what your customers want can you hope to satisfy them, and look to use that knowledge to develop new products and services along the way.
Carrying out market research for your start-up business needn’t be complex or expensive. Find out what potential customers think about your products and prices, considering what they think of your brand compared to competitors, including your website and other front-line marketing tools.
As well as your target market you also need to weigh up the competition. Start by carrying out online search to find out who they are, what they offer and how. If possible, ask their customers what they really think about them and what would make them switch.
Such market research can be done using social media, asking customers on their views, maybe in a survey form or through a competition/giveaway or by sending out free samples and getting feedback that way. You could host some workshops, offer an incentive for people to attend and discuss your product. This can be especially useful for new products to market.
For business to business marketing, you can utilise Linked In to network with like-minded people and groups to get involved in discussions. It is also a good idea to get involved with your local Chamber of Commerce to attend networking events (particularly if your product or service is local to your business).
Marketing and promoting your business
Marketing success is underpinned by the Four Ps: Product; Price; Place (ie distribution channel); and Promotion. They form the ‘Marketing Mix’. Get the right combination and you’ll maximise your success. You also need strong messages and a unique selling proposition (USP) that convinces customers to buy from you and not another supplier.
The key to promotion is a combination of both online and offline marketing for any business, and getting the combination right for your specific offering.
Online marketing involves making best use of your website (including optimising it for search engines) as well as lead generating through newsletters, social media and competitions and using these leads to form email marketing campaigns. Online advertising comes in the form of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and again you can use social media websites such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram and Vine for additional online advertising. You could enter into affiliate marketing deals with other businesses, while some small businesses even raise their profile through content marketing (including blogging). Blogging can be great to increase brand awareness and show you as an expert in your field.
Key offline marketing options include advertising, direct mail, leafleting, public relations (PR) and networking (opportunities include fairs, trade shows and exhibitions). The most potent advertising comes from satisfied customers, ie word of mouth recommendations so it is vital to earn this type of marketing as much as possible by nurturing those key customers.
Once you know which customers you are targeting and how, you can put together a marketing plan, which sets out your objectives and explains your approach (marketing strategy).
Marketing must be part of the everyday fabric of your business. You need to assess your sales and marketing activity continually, learn from your mistakes, build on your successes – and continue to change your business and product/services based on what your potential customers want.
Article from The Guardian on why marketing agencies can also be useful for starts-ups http://www.theguardian.com/best-awards/why-startups-need-marketing
LAB Marketing 