Marketing for Growth
Posted on 14th July 2020
We are living in a very competitive world and as the world starts to emerge from the Covid-19 Lockdown, it's vital that you don't stop marketing. New products and services are constantly being developed and all businesses need to make sure they are up with and, preferably, ahead of the competition ...
"To grow your business you need to market your business, both on and offline, and do it consistently".
Here are a few tips to help your marketing message get through to potential customers:
Offering -vs- Benefits
You might be surprised to discover that a large number of your prospects are simply not buying from you because they don't fully understand what you do or, most importantly, how it benefits them.
Trying to sell your product or service by focusing on its features won't cut it. Instead, you must explain to your target market what the benefits are to them if they purchase from you rather than a competitor.
Always Follow Up
One of the most common mistakes made by businesses is being too slow on following up on potential leads. However, you can use this to your advantage! Differentiate your firm by following up on each and every opportunity in a timely manner. The more you follow up, the more effective your marketing efforts will be. You will start to stand out from the crowd.
An Offer That's Hard to Refuse
Your offering to customers must be appealing. It doesn't have to be the cheapest but it should be the best fit for them.
What Is Your USP?
What can your business do or provide that your competitors do not? One of the keys to getting people to buy is to make it easier for them to say "yes" than to say "no". What guarantees do you offer? What could you offer?
Understand Your Clients
The biggest marketing asset you have is your existing client base. Talk to them and ask them for help. Hold a focus group of your top clients in order to find out what really matters to them. Get your finger on the pulse of the people you're marketing to.
Analyse Your Competitors
Do you really understand who your competition is? It's not always the most obvious.
See what is appealing about their product or service offering. Perhaps there are aspects that you can include in your own products or services in order to broaden the appeal of your firm. If you find that you can't find that many differences between you and your competition, then what can you do better?
Many businesses put marketing barriers up and at our initial meeting and it's common for me to hear phrases like "I don't have time", "customer service comes first", "I have family commitments" and "that's not what I do!"
Here's what the most successful businesses do and it just takes a little effort to implement many, if not all of these ideas for yourself:
Get focused and set targets for growth over the next 12, 24 and 36 months.
Appoint a full or part time marketing person or create some time to do the marketing yourself. It's not going to happen by itself!
Get a marketing plan to meet your growth objectives. Ask yourself:
What do we need to do to keep our existing customers coming back?
How do we sell them additional products and/or services?
How do we get them to buy more often from us?
How do we get them to refer us new customers?
What do we need to do to let potential customers know we exist and that we have products/services they may like?
How do we differentiate ourselves from similar businesses?
Have we got a database of existing and potential customers?
Write down your plan then decide how you are going to action it. How are you going to do it? What marketing materials do you need?
Gather your marketing materials together. Develop a brochure of products/services information. Keep up to date information on your website and consider sending letters, postcards and emails to your database.
Adopt a distribution plan. Decide when and how you will let existing and potential customers know you are here and what offers and products /services you have.
Manage Feedback. Review how effective your marketing activities have been. Be flexible and be prepared to try out different ways of marketing.
"If you want to grow your business, invest in your marketing activities!"
Of course, you could create the time in your busy day to do all this, or you could hire a professional, like me, to do some or all of it for you. Call me on 07521 790284 and let's see how I can help you!
Until next time ...
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