“Marketing is the process that companies use to get consumers interested in the products or services they're selling.” There. That’s a good starting point for a small business marketing discussion. The key word in that definition is “process,” because marketing involves a number of basic steps, including defining your target audience and pricing, promoting and selling your product. And speaking of selling.
That process includes several fundamental steps, including:
If, after reading the bullet points above, you’ve found yourself thinking “I need a plan,” you’re spot on. In order for marketing efforts to be successful, even a small business must draw up a well-thought-out marketing plan. That plan should include research and analysis as well as definitive objectives, strategy and tactics. (You can find information on creating a marketing plan here .)
There’s no disputing it: The Marketing and Sales functions of your company are joined at the hip. One can easily argue that everything Marketing does is for the purpose of facilitating sales – identifying and finding prospective customers, communicating with them, and persuading them to buy your products and services.
In most cases, the marketing process precedes the sales
process,
“softening the beaches” for your selling efforts. Market research can identify and
locate your target audiences. And marketing communications can establish a dialogue
with
them through various tactics, including advertising, public relations, social and
digital media, to name a few.
Those tactics can jump-start your sales process by conveying key selling points of
your
product or service to various audiences. That type of lead generation can make
selling a
lot easier.
Marketing can also aid in sales forecasting. By aggregating data from sources such
as
U.S. Census figures, market research, and your company’s own research efforts, you
can
generate an intelligent estimate of total potential sales volume.
How does marketing compare with advertising? With public relations? With social and
digital media? To use a simple baking analogy, marketing is the pie representing
everything you do to facilitate an exchange between your company and prospects and
customers. The pieces of that pie are the above tactics; each plays a distinct role
in
the marketing recipe.
Advertising attempts to influence the buying behaviour of your
customers by providing a
persuasive selling message about your products and/or services. It can include
placing
ads in newspapers, yellow pages, billboards, TV, radio and the Internet. Since
advertising is often the most significant expense in a marketing strategy, it’s
essential to precede your efforts with a well-thought-out plan that defines your
target
audience, including their wants/needs (which will determine what you say) and their
location (which will determine where you say it).
A cousin of advertising is promotion, which also serves to call attention to your
products. There are two components to promotion: a promotional tactic, such as a
discount, rebate, premium offer, coupon, contest or sweepstakes; and the medium by
which
you communicate that tactic, such as catalogs, point-of-purchase displays, trade
show
booths, direct mail pieces, catalogs and brochures. You may produce these materials
in-house or hire an agency or freelance professionals to do it.
As opposed to advertising and promotion, which are intended to lead directly to
product
sales, public relations is all about creating a strong public image of your company
and
its products to the outside world. Good public relations can turn a new business
into a
success, give a declining company new life – all through messaging that paints the
company, not the product, in a favorable light. Typical tactics can include press
releases, events, talk shows, articles and columns in trade publications. PR is a
popular tactic, especially in small businesses, because it is typically less costly
than
advertising.
We couldn’t conclude this discussion without speaking of the hottest tactics in
today’s
marketing mix: digital and social media. These include your website ,
blog and email
marketing (digital) as well as posting on Facebook , Twitter, LinkedIn and social
media
channels (social). What makes them so popular among small businesses is their cost:
Digital and social tactics are a relatively inexpensive and easy way to ensure that
your
business and product receive high visibility. And if your company does business
beyond
your local area, online tactics such as these make it easy for people to find your
company and purchase your product/service from anywhere in the world – essentially
making your small business a larger one.