Is Business Marketing A Major
When we refer to marketing, we usually mean advertising or telling people about your business or product. This is not always the case though!
Business owners sometimes get stuck in this idea that marketing only means advertisements or telling others how to use your products or services. A larger term for this is marketing communication. This includes everything from creating content online and offline, posting comments and messages, engaging in conversations, doing photoshoots and videos, etc.
These are all part of marketing communication and it is important to have them done well if you want to see results. They each play an integral role in shaping perceptions and opinions around your company, they influence other individuals to interact with your brand, and they increase exposure which can lead to new customers.
There are many ways to market your business but no matter what type of marketer you are, everyone needs to know how to do at least one of these things to feel comfortable promoting their product.
Components of marketing
As we have seen, marketing is a very general term that includes several components. Some experts will even go as far to say that there are five main types of marketing. But you do not need to know what each one is, nor are they all needed for every business, especially small ones.
What most people refer to when they talk about marketing is advertising. This can be done via different media such as billboards, TV commercials, online ads, etc. Advertisements are typically cost-effective ways to draw in new customers or retain current ones.
Another important part of marketing is promoting products through various channels. These may include community groups, social networking sites, blogs, etc.
The final type is direct sales. This could be something like hiring an assistant coach for a sports team or offering a professional services job such as those listed above. Or it could be giving presentations or workshops on how to be successful in business.
When talking about marketing, some people also emphasize the importance of relationships. This could be with potential clients, colleagues, members of the community, etc. Companies that build strong relationships tend to enjoy more success than others that do not.
Marketing strategy
Writing your business’s marketing message is one of the most important things you will do for your company. The first way to organize this content is by creating an introductory sentence that directly addresses the audience, then a main body followed by a conclusion.
The main body should tell your readers who you are and what you offer them through the service or product you sell. This introduction and explanatory material is called the “branch” of your marketing message. After the main body, the conclusion restates the theme and reminds people of how to contact you.
After the introductions and main bodies, there are two more parts to emphasize when writing business messages: the bullet point and the paragraph. A bullet point is like a headline with no underline or italicization. It is typically three lines long and uses a, b, c format.
Using these bullets, create additional bullet points to make up the main body of your message.
Creating a marketing plan
Even though you may have all of these tools at your disposal, that is no guarantee that your business will succeed. What I mean is, even if you have every tool in the world to promote your business, you can still be unsuccessful unless you use them properly!
Just because someone else does something well doesn’t mean you should too. You must determine whether or not what they are doing works for their company and their market, and then figure out how to make it work for yours. – Jonathan Smith
In other words, don’t just take things about marketing from others without making changes to fit your business and your target audience. If you watch TV, listen to radio, read magazines, etc., about marketing, then you will get some ideas, but you will also learn a lot about different industries and what makes them successful or not.
That is why it is so important to surf around online looking at blogs, listening to podcasts, reading articles, and talking to people about ways to do business. There are always new tricks being shared, as well as success stories and lessons learned.
Marketing processes
Another important part of marketing is knowing what kind of market you are targeting and how to effectively promote your business through media, communications, and relationships.
Businesses often get mixed up when it comes to defining what makes them unique or special. This can be tough as there’s always something that at least one other company does better than you. To truly stick out though, you need to go beyond just describing your product or service and explain why people should use yours instead.
You have to make yourself seem worth buying rather than buying because others are “good enough.” You will have to highlight the benefits of your products and services over those of the competition.
This is called advertising. It is telling, promoting, calling attention to, convincing potential customers about your goods or services. A well-placed ad or advertisement could influence someone to buy from you!
Advertising is very expensive, which is probably another reason most businesses don’t do much of it. But investing in advertising is still worthwhile since you get some return on your investment. Even if you spent a thousand dollars to gain two new customers, it was all worth it.
Identifying your target market
A marketing strategy that is not targeted well will fail to produce results. Before you start any type of marketing, you must first identify who your target audience is! This is arguably one of the most important steps in marketing.
You should know what kind of people are involved with your product or service. Who uses your products or services? What types of things do they use yours for? How much money do they make? All of these questions help determine who your ideal customer is.
Your ideal customer is someone who experiences success using your products or services. You can test if this person exists by looking at your current customers- anyone who has ever purchased anything from you is an potential buyer.
By asking yourself these questions and studying your answers, you have now identified your target market.
Determining your target audience
The second step in business marketing is determining your target audience. This is very important because it determines what messages you will use to reach your customers.
For example, if your target market is teens, then advertising about saving money or how to do their own makeup may not work as well. You would have to change your advertisements and tone of voice to match this new audience.
Instead, ads that talk about fashion tips or how to organize your room might be more fitting for this audience.
Developing your brand
As we have discussed, branding is an important part of marketing any business. But what does it mean to develop your brand?
That is defining who your company is and making sure everyone else can identify you as that person or entity! This includes things like changing your company logo, picking out your favorite colors and merchandise collection, and developing stories about your company’s history and mission.
It also means establishing relationships with others in your industry so people view you as an authoritative source and trust what you say. You will want to stay informed by reading related publications and listening to conversations around you to confirm that perception.
Running your business according to ethical standards will help build your reputation even more.
Creating your website
A well-crafted online presence is like having a beautiful house that people can visit to see how you live, learn something about you, or just admire as a work of art. Yours comes with an audience!
With the explosion of technology today it’s easy to make the assumption that all businesses have a web site and are therefore accessible to everyone. This isn’t always the case though.
A lot of small business don’t have websites because they think everything will go away if they don’t include one in their marketing strategy. They believe that potential customers will find them somewhere else, more quickly.
This thinking puts the responsibility for sales onto other people, instead of coming from within yourself.
Businesses need to recognize that creating a strong internet brand is an integral part of success. It’s not enough to put up pictures and some copy and call it a day. You have to invest time and energy into developing what makes you unique and attractive to your ideal customer.
This could mean making funny, informative videos or posting stories that appeal to your niche. It could be writing an ebook or journal article that sets out your company values.
Whatever you choose to do, make sure it adds value to your business and you personally. If you’re no good at drawing or painting, write a diary entry offering your services as a painter rather than someone who does both.
