Marketing for Business: Where do you begin?

“Focus on the core problem your business solves and put out lots of content, enthusiasm and ideas about how to solve that problem.” — Laura Fitton

‘Marketing’ is a word that is used loosely and most often misrepresented. Many people claim to be marketing experts and use the term marketing as though it’s just another word for advertising or promotion. Neither is true. In reality, marketing is a much larger topic, and one that is essential to the success of any business.

Good marketing can separate you from the competition and help your audience discover and fall in love with you. Likewise, a poor understanding of marketing can lead to feeling like nobody cares about your product or service, and often results in wasted time and money. Whether you are an expert marketer or have little experience in this area, I hope to help ease the pain of unpacking how marketing can help grow your business.

Broadly speaking, marketing is knowledge about the market you’re in, determining how you will bring your product/service to a market, and executing on that plan. Marketing is essentially how your product interacts with your market.

The marketing decisions you make have far-reaching consequences on your business, and will impact brand development, product/business development, pricing strategy, customer service, promotions, digital growth, and more. As a result, it’s crucial to do this work ahead of time, to ensure that the above areas are aligned with your vision of what your business should be.

You will need an abundance of creativity, imagination, product knowledge, determination and endless energy. Don’t stress though, regardless of your background, the strategy for marketing is still fundamentally the same. Let’s get started!

1.Take a deep-dive into the research. The foundation for every marketing plan is simple: confirming there’s actually a market for your product! Does your business solve real problems for real people?

Don’t be afraid to do the unglamorous research of interviewing potential customers, creeping on competition to understand where they’re failing, and attending trade shows or trade association meetings during this process. Ultimately, the best marketing plan in the world won’t be effective if the fundamental product is flawed.

Once you’ve confirmed market need, congrats! You’ve saved yourself a massive headache down the line. Now it’s time to come up with a plan.

2. Create a plan of attack. Once you’ve confirmed market need, write down your specific marketing goals such as; increase sales, build brand awareness, and reach a new demographic. You’ll always need to keep what’s driving you at top of mind; for some it’s making a difference in the world, for others it’s becoming the next Elon Musk. Whatever it is, your marketing goals should reflect your desired business outcomes . After you’ve laid this foundation, you’re ready to create your marketing plan.

The best marketing plans include:

• Product description (what is your product/service and what makes it unique?)
• Target market (who are you selling to?)
• Customer demographics (age, location, where do they hangout? What motivates them?)
• Price (what price will your customers buy at?)
• Competition (who are your competitors? What are they doing that you aren’t?)
• Go-to-market Plan (how will you find your first customers? How will they discover you?)

3. Execute your plan! Depending on your product and specific marketing plan, you may want to start out testing under the radar to ensure product/market fit. Pick a small sample of customers (ideally, those you spoke to in Step 1), and get their feedback. You can then start to slowly sell to individuals at markets or trade shows and, then work your way up. Once you’ve ironed out the initial kinks and have a good sense of how big your potential market is, then it’s time to start investing heavily into your marketing. Use your go-to-market plan, knowledge of your competition’s shortcomings, and the rich understanding you have of your customers to ensure that as many people as possible are ready to experience what your product or service offers.

Your launch date is your grand opening. It is the day your customers will (hopefully) be lining up on the street or in cyberspace to purchase your product. At Bookik, we’ve found that a presence at physical events can concentrate attention and conversation, even for a digital product. Of course, thanks to your complete marketing plan developed in Step 2, you’ll have a more thorough understanding of where the best places are to meet your customers, and generate attention. Depending on your business model, a giant launch party might not be necessary at all.

Knowing your market (your customers) is the key to strong and effective marketing. A successfully marketed business is entirely customer-focused. At its base level, your business should identify what your customer wants and/or needs, and then supply it at a price the customer is willing to pay. Great marketing combines knowledge of your customer, their motivations/desires, and how your product fits into their lives. With any luck, your customer will go from never having heard about your product or service, to wondering how they ever lived without it!

How has going back to the marketing basics worked for your business? Can you think of how you can use your product or service to solve problems or desires for your customers, and communicate that in language they’ll understand and get excited about?