Marketing Is A Matter Of Choice
| Category: Marketing | Date: 2001-08-30 |
It is my experience that Marketing is the most misunderstood and consequently misused tool of any business-particularly the small business. Yet, when used correctly, marketing can allow your business to stand up and boldly make and keep promises your competition wouldn’t dare to make. So what gives?
Unfortunately, marketing for small businesses generally goes one of two ways. There is the let’s give this a try this week approach. In this approach, there is the great idea of the week thrown to the winds of the marketing gods to determine if it works. This assumes of course there would be some method to determine if it worked. The problem with this approach is it can’t achieve any degree of success unless you can create a hurricane on the winds of the marketing gods and if you can afford that, I suggest mutual funds and world travel as an alternative.
The other commonly used approach is to just say no. In this approach, you know nothing works so you do nothing. You’ve tried a few things and lost your shirt, so you hang in there on your selling skills because after all that’s what you know.
Ok, I know I’ve been a bit hard on you and your experience is nothing like what I’ve described. So let’s go over there to the corner of your desk and pull out that marketing plan so we can have it handy for this lesson on marketing development. Well I mean you do have a marketing plan? Maybe I run in the wrong circles, but I have yet to come across a small business owner with a fully developed marketing plan. So relax, you’re not alone.
Marketing Development is not simply the creation of a marketing plan either; in fact, it could be more aptly described as an attitude rather than a document. Commit this next sentence to memory and you will be well on your way to creating a marketing strategy that may propel your company to greatness. Your business must choose to focus on a very specific market for a very specific reason in a very specific way to provide a very specific result. To do what? To alleviate a key frustration this segment of the market, who have like characteristics, is having. If true, there is only one way your business or any business can accomplish this alleviation. You must be absolutely positively sure of who buys, why they buy, and where they buy. Then you must attract their attention, communicate your differentiating proposition and fulfill your promise precisely as it was issued each and every time.
You can divide marketing development into two distinct phases. The first is planning or developing your Marketing Strategy. The second, equally important, step is the action or Lead Generation, Lead Conversion and Lead Fulfillment.
For the purpose of this article, I would like to focus on planning. The fundamental steps in planning or developing a marketing strategy pertain to every business. The action steps of marketing however, are unique to industries, distribution channels and forms of businesses.
The key planning steps to the development of a marketing strategy are as follows:
Identify and define your target market including your central demographic model, central psychographic model and trading area description. Limited space in this discussion makes it impossible to go into detail about how you can easily accomplish the above, but any good book devoted specifically to market research or most marketing professionals could guide you through the process. Essentially, what I am asking you to do is identify your most probable customer.
Develop a positioning strategy, including a Unique Selling Proposition. This is what sets your company apart from all the rest that may be competing for your customer’s attention. Positioning is merely your customer’s perception of your business and its products/services. Think about companies you do business with and how often your purchasing decision is based on something like, I just like the way they do. That is the basis of your perception and it is unlikely that it is there by accident.
Your Unique Selling Proposition or USP is simply a short phrase that conveys what it is about your business that brings emotional gratification to the customers in your target market. A good USP conveys why you’re different at the unconscious level. For example, Coke - It’s the real thing. I don’t have a clue what that means, but it appeals to millions and millions of people with the promise to deliver something on the emotional level. Notice their USP has nothing to do with soft drinks; see the difference?
Your Sensory Package. This is the combined look, feel, smell and taste of your business and your products/ services. It’s the way your customer experiences your business. Your sensory package must be developed with the needs and preferences of your target market in mind. It doesn’t matter what your favorite color or shape is, everything in your business that touches your customer either detracts from or enhances their experience with your business at the unconscious level and you better understand that. This includes how you answer your phone, your company name, your facility (inside and out), your people and of course your printed materials and advertising messages. Go into any business with this notion and take note of how many things impact your visit from the colors on the walls to your actual transaction. Truly great companies just do the little things well. Some call things you can’t even notice the little things, but, when it comes to your customer’s perception, nothing is little.
Marketing mix. This is where, armed with knowledge from the previous steps, you determine all your marketing activities in each of your target markets. A company’s marketing mix can have any number of elements, but they will all fall into four categories:
1. Product - defined from the customer’s viewpoint,
2. Promotion - communication about your product- communication that is the right kind, at the right time, in the right place,
3. Pricing - is it value, cost or market driven and
4. Fulfillment - keeping the promise. For best results, all elements of your marketing mix should be firmly grounded in your positioning strategy and make effective use of your USP.
Finally, your marketing strategy will need to include a thorough understanding of your competition and key indicators to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing strategy.
There is nothing easy about what I have described above, and that is all the more reason you should do it because your competition won’t.
Once you develop an insightful understanding of your customers and markets, you will be able to put together a marketing strategy precisely designed to appeal to your target market. You will be able to present an image of your company that differentiates your business in a stunning fashion.
So now it’s up to you. Is it more rudderless wandering or more just say no-or will your business come alive and grow by making and keeping promises your competitors don’t even know how to make. It’s your choice.
About the Author
John Jantsch is the president of BrandWorks, a brand building marketing firm based in Kansas City, Mo., and creator of the marketing column - The Marketing Coach.
:To contact see details below.
JohnJ@BrandWx.com
http://www.brandwx.com
Unfortunately, marketing for small businesses generally goes one of two ways. There is the let’s give this a try this week approach. In this approach, there is the great idea of the week thrown to the winds of the marketing gods to determine if it works. This assumes of course there would be some method to determine if it worked. The problem with this approach is it can’t achieve any degree of success unless you can create a hurricane on the winds of the marketing gods and if you can afford that, I suggest mutual funds and world travel as an alternative.
The other commonly used approach is to just say no. In this approach, you know nothing works so you do nothing. You’ve tried a few things and lost your shirt, so you hang in there on your selling skills because after all that’s what you know.
Ok, I know I’ve been a bit hard on you and your experience is nothing like what I’ve described. So let’s go over there to the corner of your desk and pull out that marketing plan so we can have it handy for this lesson on marketing development. Well I mean you do have a marketing plan? Maybe I run in the wrong circles, but I have yet to come across a small business owner with a fully developed marketing plan. So relax, you’re not alone.
Marketing Development is not simply the creation of a marketing plan either; in fact, it could be more aptly described as an attitude rather than a document. Commit this next sentence to memory and you will be well on your way to creating a marketing strategy that may propel your company to greatness. Your business must choose to focus on a very specific market for a very specific reason in a very specific way to provide a very specific result. To do what? To alleviate a key frustration this segment of the market, who have like characteristics, is having. If true, there is only one way your business or any business can accomplish this alleviation. You must be absolutely positively sure of who buys, why they buy, and where they buy. Then you must attract their attention, communicate your differentiating proposition and fulfill your promise precisely as it was issued each and every time.
You can divide marketing development into two distinct phases. The first is planning or developing your Marketing Strategy. The second, equally important, step is the action or Lead Generation, Lead Conversion and Lead Fulfillment.
For the purpose of this article, I would like to focus on planning. The fundamental steps in planning or developing a marketing strategy pertain to every business. The action steps of marketing however, are unique to industries, distribution channels and forms of businesses.
The key planning steps to the development of a marketing strategy are as follows:
Identify and define your target market including your central demographic model, central psychographic model and trading area description. Limited space in this discussion makes it impossible to go into detail about how you can easily accomplish the above, but any good book devoted specifically to market research or most marketing professionals could guide you through the process. Essentially, what I am asking you to do is identify your most probable customer.
Develop a positioning strategy, including a Unique Selling Proposition. This is what sets your company apart from all the rest that may be competing for your customer’s attention. Positioning is merely your customer’s perception of your business and its products/services. Think about companies you do business with and how often your purchasing decision is based on something like, I just like the way they do. That is the basis of your perception and it is unlikely that it is there by accident.
Your Unique Selling Proposition or USP is simply a short phrase that conveys what it is about your business that brings emotional gratification to the customers in your target market. A good USP conveys why you’re different at the unconscious level. For example, Coke - It’s the real thing. I don’t have a clue what that means, but it appeals to millions and millions of people with the promise to deliver something on the emotional level. Notice their USP has nothing to do with soft drinks; see the difference?
Your Sensory Package. This is the combined look, feel, smell and taste of your business and your products/ services. It’s the way your customer experiences your business. Your sensory package must be developed with the needs and preferences of your target market in mind. It doesn’t matter what your favorite color or shape is, everything in your business that touches your customer either detracts from or enhances their experience with your business at the unconscious level and you better understand that. This includes how you answer your phone, your company name, your facility (inside and out), your people and of course your printed materials and advertising messages. Go into any business with this notion and take note of how many things impact your visit from the colors on the walls to your actual transaction. Truly great companies just do the little things well. Some call things you can’t even notice the little things, but, when it comes to your customer’s perception, nothing is little.
Marketing mix. This is where, armed with knowledge from the previous steps, you determine all your marketing activities in each of your target markets. A company’s marketing mix can have any number of elements, but they will all fall into four categories:
1. Product - defined from the customer’s viewpoint,
2. Promotion - communication about your product- communication that is the right kind, at the right time, in the right place,
3. Pricing - is it value, cost or market driven and
4. Fulfillment - keeping the promise. For best results, all elements of your marketing mix should be firmly grounded in your positioning strategy and make effective use of your USP.
Finally, your marketing strategy will need to include a thorough understanding of your competition and key indicators to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing strategy.
There is nothing easy about what I have described above, and that is all the more reason you should do it because your competition won’t.
Once you develop an insightful understanding of your customers and markets, you will be able to put together a marketing strategy precisely designed to appeal to your target market. You will be able to present an image of your company that differentiates your business in a stunning fashion.
So now it’s up to you. Is it more rudderless wandering or more just say no-or will your business come alive and grow by making and keeping promises your competitors don’t even know how to make. It’s your choice.
About the Author
John Jantsch is the president of BrandWorks, a brand building marketing firm based in Kansas City, Mo., and creator of the marketing column - The Marketing Coach.
:To contact see details below.
JohnJ@BrandWx.com
http://www.brandwx.com
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