Marketing basics

If your skills and experience are focused on delivering your products or services and you need to find new customers, how will you find them?

Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news.  The bad news first – it is likely that there are companies already offering the same products and services as yours.  The good news, however, is, that if you apply some basic marketing principles, and you do this consistently over a period of time, you will be successful in winning new business opportunities.

A simple definition of marketing is; communicating the right message to the right people at the right time, with the right information according to where they are in the buying cycle.  So let’s take a closer look this principle.

The right message

Much has been written about what to say to potential clients, as well as how to say it.  The key point to keep in mind is that your potential customer must see the benefit to them in buying your product or service.  Generally when businesses (and consumers) are buying, they either want to move away from an undesirable situation, or move toward a situation they would like to be in. Your messages therefore need to reflect this.

Pay particular attention to your headline. This is the part that will either make people want to read on, or switch them off.  Top copy writers typically spend 75-80% of their time working on the headline for their message.

Your writing should use the words ‘you’ and ‘yours’ – and should talk about solving your prospect’s problem rather than about what your product or service is.

The right people

Whether you sell to other businesses or to consumers, you should be very clear on which businesses and individuals will want and be able to buy from you and on who will make the decision to buy.

Consider these two very different examples.

A company that sells buildings maintenance services will want to target companies that own their own buildings.  Larger buildings-maintenance companies will target companies with multiple sites, and possibly also more complex maintenance requirements.  Smaller companies will be better targeting single-site businesses where the needs are easier to meet.  In many cases this company will contact the Facilities Manager – or in smaller businesses the Managing Director or another senior person.

A retailer that sells luxury bathrooms and kitchens will want to target people in the kind of geographic areas with this type of residence.  As this company offers a complete service from design, materials selection and installation, they will be targeting people who may be very busy with other aspects of their lives.

The right time

People will buy your services if the time is right for them to buy and the product or service you are selling matches a need that they have – these are perfect ‘leads’ for your business because the potential customer is ready to engage with you now.  If they are not at the point of making a decision stay in contact with them and cultivate the opportunity until they are ready to buy.  Being pushy when your prospect is simply not ready will just switch them off.

Understand how frequently your potential customers will buy the product or service you are offering.  In the case of buildings maintenance, contracts are often renewed annually, so you would need to be in touch with Facilities Manager in the run up to the time they review their contracts.  In the case of the luxury bathroom and kitchen example, the cycle is likely to be a number of years or more.

The right information

The information that will interest your prospects will be governed by where they are in their buying cycle.  Appealing to your prospects with the right information at the right time will keep them engaged with you at each stage in the buying process and will give you a greater chance of higher conversion rates.  Getting this wrong may under or overwhelm your prospects and will increase the chance of them buying from someone else.

In conclusion

For many business owners, the marketing can appear to be confusing or just too difficult to master.  However, it is well-worth investing some time to understand the basics of how best to market your business.  Once you become practiced at it you will be pleasantly surprised by the results you can achieve.

If you like what you have read and would like to learn more about marketing and how it can work for your business I recommend you take a look at the marketing essentials training course.  Improving your business skills is just a click away – we’re ready when you are, come and join us.