Marketing your Business

Starting your own business can be a daunting experience; it is one of the biggest decisions you will ever have to make.

The easy part is starting the business, the hard part is staying in business, it is estimated that 90% of new businesses fail in the first year.

Planning and preparation before you start up is crucial, you need to know your market.

If you are a hairdresser with overheads of $300 every week, and you charge $30 for styling someone's hair, it means you need to get 10 customers a week just to break even. How do you get those 10 customers and more? Marketing.

Marketing your Business

There are four key stages to marketing.

1) Market research

2) Strategy

3) Planning

4) Implementing

Market Research

How will market research help you?

Market research will help you to find out:

Whether there is a market in your area for your product or service.

The value and volume of demand for your products

Trends currently affecting your market sector, possible future developments, For example, proposed legislation or technology changes that may affect your ability to trade.

Specific information about your targeted customers, including who they are, where they live, what gender they are, age, employment status, how much they earn, buying habits.

Your competition, their strengths, and weaknesses.

Potential business partners.

Market research can be carried out in different ways, but with the emergence of the Internet, it has become much easier.

For example before I started my business, I researched some local stats I found on the Internet. Houses in my area 150,000 percentage who own computers in UK 70% that let me know that I had a possible customer base of approximately 105,000, with only 1 competitor in my area it is easy to see that there is plenty of business out there for both of us.

Marketing Strategy

When developing a marketing strategy you must take the seven P's into consideration.

Product

Price

Place

Promotion

People

Process

Physical evidence

Product

Your product should fit the task your target consumer wants it for, it should work, and it should be what your consumers expected to get.

Price

Your product should always be seen as good value for money. This does not mean that you have to be the cheapest available, because customers are usually prepared to pay a little more for something that really works well for them.

Place

Your Product should be available from wherever your target group of customers find it easiest to obtain supply. This could mean a high street store, mail order, or even doorstep delivery.

Promotion

Advertising, public relations, sales promotion and personal selling should all put across your company's message in a way that fits what your target consumers would like to hear- whether it be informative or appealing to their emotions.

People

Nearly all services rely on people to perform them, very often dealing directly with the consumer. For example the actions and attitude of a waitress in a restraunt forms a crucial part of the total experience for the customer, in essence the waitress is a part of the product that you are selling.

Choosing the right people for the right tasks is very important.

Process

Since services are usually carried out with the consumer present, the process of delivery of the service is critical and what the customer is also paying for.

For example

There is a great difference between a silver service waitress in an up market restaurant and a hamburger bought in a fast-food outlet.

A consumer out for an evening might prefer the slower process of the restaurant.

Physical Evidence

Almost all services contain some Physical elements- For example; a restaurant meal is a physical thing, even if the bulk of the bill goes towards providing the intangible elements of the service (The decor, the atmosphere, the waiters, even the dish washers)

Developing A Marketing Plan

A marketing strategy is vital if you are to stay ahead of the competition and it needs to be constantly updated to keep up with local trends, legislation, technological changes, and other fluctuations in the market place.

Your marketing plan should contain the following:

Summary

A brief summary of your plan. To show the contents of the plan enabling the reader to investigate more fully within the main body of text.

Marketing Objectives

A statement of the objectives that the plan is attempting to achieve, a plan will be needed for each business unit, product, or brand, depending on how you divide your organisation, each will have its own objectives. Smaller businesses probably only produce one.

Market Characteristics

This section will look at the current situation within your market and consider the product, competition, brands, and characteristics of the market, types of buyers, trends, and distribution.

Competition Overview

Details of the competition, its strengths, and weaknesses showing what you are up against, and how you will differentiate yourself from them.

Product Position

This section of your plan outlines the strategy for outlining and communicating your products to your customers.

Distribution methods

This explains how you will get your products to your customers.

What will make the chosen mechanism effective, what percentage of products will go through each mechanism.

If using agents and associated companies, state how you plan to motivate them to ensure the sale of your product.

Selling Plan

The selling plan includes targets for sales persons, areas and offices, relationships with the distribution network, sales control and information, roles and responsibilities of the sales force.

Communication Plan

This will detail how you will distribute your products, pricing and discount strategies and promotional techniques you will use.

Timetable

Give details of timings that are realistic and easy to understand.

Responsibilities

A plan is nothing more than a piece of paper if action is not taken to make it happen. This will set out who will do what and when.

Budgets

As well as looking at cost and intended action, your plan must also consider the financial outcomes of the plan as a whole.

Implementing Your Market Plan

To put your marketing plan into action you have to communicate your offer to your customers - cost effectively and in terms that they will understand.

Use the most appropriate communication channels and manage the process.

listen to your customer and act on their feedback

monitor how you are doing against your marketing plan.

Interesting Consumer Facts

Only 4% of customers complain others either suffer in silence or go elsewhere.

people who stop buying or dealing with a particular business do so because:

1% die

3% move away

5% seek alternatived or develop other business interests

9% begin doing business with competitors

14% are unhappy with product or service

68% are unhappy with the treatment they have recieved

coming soon preparing a business plan