Excellent Marketing

As I’ve mentioned before, I love Success Magazine and think there’s something in it for any business person. This month it’s all about the most important element of business: marketing. The most important part? According to Darren Hardy, the publisher of Success, there are four main categories of business success – the product, the management, the profit margins, and marketing. Yet, the one that stands out as the most important is marketing. With quality marketing, even mediocre products can be sold, make lots of money and while management can be really, really good, the product can still fall short.

So, you get it – you have to market your business. However, just marketing isn’t going to do the trick. You have to use the right type of marketing, the right message, and send it to the right people. Wow. That makes it harder, doesn’t it. How are you supposed to know all that? A lot of it is trial and error. You try, and it works or it fails. Then you either move on or do the same thing over again. Then, it’s also important that you work with those who have better understanding of what good marketing is all about. Mentors, programs that teach you, groups that work together to collaborate and to share ideas: these are all methods that will help you learn what is better versus bad marketing. But the most important thing to remember in any marketing effort: NEVER stop learning what your customers and/or potential customers want.

Find your target niche (who it is that wants what you have to offer) and then market to them where they are. Two types of marketing are the niche market and then there’s also shotgun marketing. Shotgun marketing, like it sounds, is when you shoot and the message lands who knows where. This is actually a waste of money as you never know if the person reached has need of your product or service.

It’s also important to create a series of marketing programs using both online and offline techniques. According, again, to Success, approximately 46 million people check their social media sites several times a day. This is a great way to quickly, inexpensively and effectively touch bases with your market. However, it is also a known fact that it takes more than seeing your name, phone, email, ads, in order to get someone to choose you over the competition. It is also more effective to use a variety of techniques such as email, direct mail, social media, telephone and more. You need to find what works the best for your market.

The most effective marketing however is when you build relationships with your customers. It is much easier to get someone to want what you offer when they understand it, like you (your brand) and feel that they can trust you. This is great news: you just have to make your customer your friend, and they’ll buy from you. Not as easy as it sounds. It takes time (and we’re all in a hurry to get that sale), and it takes effort. You need to pay more attention to what you can do for them, than what they can do for you. If you give what your customer wants, then you become successful as well, but not overnight.

In the end, if you provide great marketing support, a super product at a good price break and run your business with knowledge and understanding, you are going to be one of the lucky ones! You’ll have a successful business.