5 Marketing 101 Reminders for Entrepreneurs
Last night I attended the Jacksonville SCORE Chapter’s Achieve Your Business Dream workshop series on Marketing.
The presenters, Mary Habres from Encore Perception Marketing and Elizabeth Pampalone from Jax Computer Chic, spoke to hopeful or brand new entrepreneurs about marketing strategy.
While the ladies shared a lot of great information for the newbies, Mary’s presentation, in particular, got me thinking about going back to the basics when it comes to marketing. She reviewed a lot of basic marketing rules of thumb that a lot of us have either forgotten or choose to ignore.
So we’re going to take it back a bit to Marketing 101; where all your marketing efforts should truly stem from, whether it’s traditional or online.
1. What is marketing?
Mary started off with answering a simple question: what is marketing? Marketing, in and of itself, can be complicated and a bit overwhelming. But it can be boiled down to: how your product or service solves the problem(s) of your customer. Share the solution with your ideal customer and focus on benefits, not features.
2. Define your business
In order to understand how your product/service solves a customer’s problem, you have to do two things: 1) fully understand your product or service and the industry you’re in, and 2) fully understand your customer. So do your research.
Find out:
- Who are your competitors?
- Who is your target market?
- Who is your customer?
It’s important to know your customer…really know them.
- Who are they? (Age? Race? Gender? Other demographics?)
- Where do they spend their time? (Especially online)
3. Focus on a niche
Now that you know who your ideal customer is, it’s important to focus on them. As Mary put it: “there are riches in niches.” Narrowing your focus on a niche target audience allows you to be the expert on that audience. Having “everyone” as your ideal customer is unrealistic, impractical, and frankly a waste of time and money.
4. Tell a story
A lot of marketing isn’t about the story, but the way you tell it. For example, incorporating imagery and powerful phrases on your website that hit the root of your customer’s problems is a great starting point. Make sure you use your blog and social media to its full advantage by sharing interesting information Also, incorporate testimonials everywhere: your website, your proposals, your contracts…even your invoices.
5. Price vs. Cost
Money is a tough subject…especially if you offer a luxury product or service. Make sure that the price you charge is worth the cost to your ideal customer…easy as that.
What are your best Marketing 101 tips and tricks?