Do you have a marketing strategy for your business?

Marketing is not selling.

Marketing is knowing who your competitors and customers are both today and tomorrow. Marketing is about what is happening in your marketplace and industry and where you are positioned within that context. This helps you to deliver products/services to connect with and satisfy your customers to give your business a competitive advantage.

Focus on your customers. This means placing emphasis on the value you create for them. Assist your customers in becoming more successful by seeing the world through their eyes. Minimize your costs and become more convenient and reliable for your customers. Give them something extra at no charge.

Have a marketing approach that crystallizes all your planned outcomes. Incorporate this into your improvement plan. Ensure that you have outcomes for each of the positioning, packaging, and promotion aspects of your business. While you are working through your overall business improvement plan (including marketing), keep the focus on your customers.

This will have the effect of shifting the outlook of your whole business and that of your staff so that all activities are focused on the impact on the customer - the value added!

 Some Marketing Actions:

• Identify your target market and competitive advantage
• Develop a niche market
• Market to connect with your customers
• Determine your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
• Develop a ‘Positioning Statement’
• Develop an inbound digital strategy, if relevant
• Develop a referral strategy
• Check and measure your marketing effectiveness
• Promote your business in person