All businesses exist to make a profit.
To be able to do that it must be able to attract the attention of enough potential customers or clients and then get enough of them to actually buy in order to produce the revenue necessary to produce a profit.
Yet far too many business owners and managers focus almost exclusively on their product itself – whatever it is. The truth is that the actual product or service does NOT matter as much as the Marketing of that product or service does.
While it is true that the product or service needs to be at least sufficient to add value to the customers/clients who buy it – beyond that it matters not so much as the marketing of it does.
Why?
Because even if it were absolutely the best of its kind – it would not matter much if at all if no one ever even knew it existed. The company would still fail.
On the other hand, an average product marketed effectively can absolutely thrive and be extremely profitable.
With that in mind let’s look at 12 things every business owner needs to know and do to help market their businesses.
- DEMAND – You must assess the market accurately and determine there is a demand for the proposed product sufficient enough to provide it. Many violate this principle to their own foreseeable doom.
- PRICE – The market determines the price. You must be able to provide the product at a low enough cost and get enough profit to justify the effort.
- SOLUTION CLARITY – People have very short attention spans and even less patience. Get to the point quickly and clearly.
- VALUE CLARITY– Buyers must be shown what the value is and how it will help them.
- SIMPLICITY– If it takes more than five seconds to explain, it’s probably not simple enough.
- FINDABILITY– Website, got to have it these days – and once there it must be easy to find the specific product they need.
- AUTHORITY– Buyers must comfortably and fully believe the seller knows what they are doing.
- TRUST– Similar to authority, and more critical. Customers must believe the company will stand behind its products and always make things right if there are any issues.
- RISK REDUCTION– Remove the fear of making a bad purchase with guarantees and warrantees – and TRUST as in number 7 above.
- PROMOTION– Various methods must be used to get the word out to the world the product is available and how they can get it.
- DEMONSTRATION– Show the thing in use and specifically how it works. Video, Infographics, audio and even live demos when applicable.
- ALWAYS BE WELCOMING– This one is violated often too by clueless people – when a potential customer/client makes contact in any way – all company representatives need to make them feel very welcome and important. Thats not what happens with rude and incompetent staff who make the customer feel anything but welcome there. True on the phone and in person, and through any other manner of contact too.
Practical Applications
Let’s say that you run a car repair shop. It should be obvious that you need to locate it somewhere there are actual customers in sufficient numbers to keep you busy. You would not succeed if you opened a shop way out in the county near a dying town with no jobs, no traffic and few if any residents left – and already another shop near there.
On the other hand, you choose to open a shop in an area with a large number of people, plenty of jobs, and expanding growth rate (lots of new homes being built and sold, businesses of all kinds coming in opening up shop and doing well). That is one illustration of DEMAND.
Next you have to do a comparative market analysis and see what the likely rate per hour would be for your shop – and look at the labor costs for that area and the availability of trained mechanics (or trainable candidates if you are capable of training them or having them trained by a third party).
Marketing materials must describe your services quickly, simply and clearly so prospective customers know exactly what to expect from your shop “Tires, brakes, oil changes and all filters in under an hour by trained and skilled technicians…” just as an example.
Value – “Lowest prices guaranteed – we match any competitors price and discount that to be the lowest in town, always giving you the best value for your dollars!” Beyond that, have guarantees, warranties – promises that they will be taken care of in the event anything goes wrong.
You have to make sure they can find the shop easily – and that it is already in mind when they need it so it’s their first thought we they need something the shop can do.
When customers call or stop by they need to find an inviting, clean, organized and brightly lit place – with happy and welcoming people who immediately acknowledge their presence and wait on them expeditiously too. Here is an example of how NOT to do it…
One day I noticed I had a slow leak in one of my tires and found a tire shop a few miles away. I went there as fast as I could safely and legally do so – and the shop advertised they closed at 5PM. I even called and told them I was coming, and the lady that answered the phone sounded very unhappy to hear from me. She said fine, so long as you are here before 5 and hung up the phone.
She was not friendly at all – and she acted like I had just pissed in her flowers or something equally as offensive to her. She was definity not a happy camper.
As soon as I pulled into the parking lot, I looked at the time on my phone – 455pm – five minutes before 5…
What do you think happened?
A female saw me turn in and park – and she jumped up from behind her desk – ran to the door and locked it – turned the sign from Open to Closed and closed the blinds!
What do you think I did?
Most people would have just walked away shaking their head and probably cursing under their breath. Not me. I calmly walked up to the door – checked the time again – still three minutes left, so I knocked loudly on the door.
Eventually a technician (not the office girl) opened the door and said, “What do you need?” I told him for now I just need some air – tomorrow I will need a new tire. They put air in my tire, and I did buy a tire the following day – but I have since found other shops to help me because of their lack of professionalism – I do not like or trust them very much, and I certainly will not refer any business to them either.
Reviews also go a long way toward getting – or losing customers.
I am sure you can probably share your own stories and perhaps demonstrate some of the other principles we have talked about here too – how they were followed well or not at all.
About the Author
L.D. Sewell is the founder and owner of a consulting and training company called TRS (Transport Resource Solutions LLC), this site, and multiple other business and entrepreneurship focused websites. He is an author, instructor and entrepreneur who focuses on teaching online courses, live in person classes, live workshops, and creating content to help other entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs across multiple platforms. You can connect with him through www.ldsewell.com and you can also find many of his courses on Udemy.