Putting the marketing basics in place Part 1
Putting the marketing basics in place Part 1
So, I thought I’d write this two page article about the basics of marketing to see if you’ve them in place in your business – and it also makes me think about whether I’ve got them in place too.
And by the way, I’m sure everything I’ve listed below you’re already aware of. But do you really apply it to your business? I think there’s a real difference between knowing things and actually doing them – and even if you checked something when you first started your business, things might be completely different now!
So, let’s look at what the basics of marketing are:
1) Who are your customers?
When I ask you this question can you tell me exactly who your customer is; their likes and dislikes and everything about them or is your answer “anyone” or “everyone”? The first basic of marketing is for you to be able to say in detail who your ideal customer is. You see, you can’t possibly appeal to “everyone” – they’ll always be someone who won’t be interested in what you do. So, why waste your time trying to find people who don’t want your product or service? Wouldn’t you rather find people who want your product or service and want to buy it now? If the answer is yes, who are these people? What can you tell me about them? Nothing? Well, you need to go and find out!
2) Why people buy
Once you’ve defined who your customers are, the next step is to work out why your customers buy. And the reason THEY buy might not be the reason that YOU think they buy. Let me give you an example. Let’s say your company sells printers. Why might customers buy printers?
Now as a customer, I probably won’t buy a printer unless there’s something wrong with my current one. I might:
• Not currently have a printer and decide that I need one
• Find my current printer doesn’t work with my new computer
• My current printer may have broken down and I’ve decided to replace it
• My current printer may have broken down and I’ve tried to repair it, but can’t
In other words, there’s a reason for me to go and buy a new printer now, as opposed to last year, last month, last week. It’s not that I WANTED a printer; it’s that I felt I NEEDED one and this is what prompted me to act.
So what makes your customers buy your product or service? What makes them act now (as opposed to last year, last week or last month)? Understanding this is vital so that you can push the right buttons and find these customers and is the second basic of marketing.
3) What do you do?
I’ve lost count of the number of businesses that I’ve met who tell me they do x, and they also do y and sometimes that they also do z too. Usually these products or services are all different from one another too. Now as a potential customer, how do I know what you really do and how you can help me and also why should I have the confidence that you can do a job really well for me, if you’re not confident enough to tell me that you specialise in just one thing? If you’re currently running two or more different businesses, you need to look at this and come up with ONE thing that you specialise in.
The main problem that people find with this is that you’ll need to let go of some of the areas that you’ve built up and there’s a real fear that one business won’t give you the income you want or that you won’t have enough clients.
Actually, the opposite is true – if you focus on just one business, you’ll find that you get more customers and more income because you’ll be spending all of your time concentrating in one area and customers will see and respect that. Plus, they’ll be able to refer customers to you because they know what you do!
Next week, I’m going to talk about the other three things you need to have in place in order to know your marketing basics. See you then.
Putting the marketing basics in place Part 1 - To learn more about this author, visit Helen Dowling's Website.
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The other day, I was working with a client and talking about their marketing. All the questions that I asked, they were able to answer and I realised that they had all the marketing basics in place and they were ready to move onto the next level. That gave me an interesting thought – THEY might have the basics in place, but do I – do you?
So, I thought I’d write this two page article about the basics of marketing to see if you’ve them in place in your business – and it also makes me think about whether I’ve got them in place too.
And by the way, I’m sure everything I’ve listed below you’re already aware of. But do you really apply it to your business? I think there’s a real difference between knowing things and actually doing them – and even if you checked something when you first started your business, things might be completely different now!
So, let’s look at what the basics of marketing are:
1) Who are your customers?
When I ask you this question can you tell me exactly who your customer is; their likes and dislikes and everything about them or is your answer “anyone” or “everyone”? The first basic of marketing is for you to be able to say in detail who your ideal customer is. You see, you can’t possibly appeal to “everyone” – they’ll always be someone who won’t be interested in what you do. So, why waste your time trying to find people who don’t want your product or service? Wouldn’t you rather find people who want your product or service and want to buy it now? If the answer is yes, who are these people? What can you tell me about them? Nothing? Well, you need to go and find out!
2) Why people buy
Once you’ve defined who your customers are, the next step is to work out why your customers buy. And the reason THEY buy might not be the reason that YOU think they buy. Let me give you an example. Let’s say your company sells printers. Why might customers buy printers?
Now as a customer, I probably won’t buy a printer unless there’s something wrong with my current one. I might:
• Not currently have a printer and decide that I need one
• Find my current printer doesn’t work with my new computer
• My current printer may have broken down and I’ve decided to replace it
• My current printer may have broken down and I’ve tried to repair it, but can’t
In other words, there’s a reason for me to go and buy a new printer now, as opposed to last year, last month, last week. It’s not that I WANTED a printer; it’s that I felt I NEEDED one and this is what prompted me to act.
So what makes your customers buy your product or service? What makes them act now (as opposed to last year, last week or last month)? Understanding this is vital so that you can push the right buttons and find these customers and is the second basic of marketing.
3) What do you do?
I’ve lost count of the number of businesses that I’ve met who tell me they do x, and they also do y and sometimes that they also do z too. Usually these products or services are all different from one another too. Now as a potential customer, how do I know what you really do and how you can help me and also why should I have the confidence that you can do a job really well for me, if you’re not confident enough to tell me that you specialise in just one thing? If you’re currently running two or more different businesses, you need to look at this and come up with ONE thing that you specialise in.
The main problem that people find with this is that you’ll need to let go of some of the areas that you’ve built up and there’s a real fear that one business won’t give you the income you want or that you won’t have enough clients.
Actually, the opposite is true – if you focus on just one business, you’ll find that you get more customers and more income because you’ll be spending all of your time concentrating in one area and customers will see and respect that. Plus, they’ll be able to refer customers to you because they know what you do!
Next week, I’m going to talk about the other three things you need to have in place in order to know your marketing basics. See you then.
Putting the marketing basics in place Part 1 - To learn more about this author, visit Helen Dowling's Website.
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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