Let’s get straight into it…
You’ve got a great idea for a product or service for a target market.
You’re ready to break free and be your own boss.
This could be the start of something big.
But one thing that 9 out of 10 budding entrepreneurs don’t think about early enough is marketing.
Writing a full marketing strategy or conducting extensive research isn’t necessary at this point however thinking about your options for developing, promoting and selling your product/service will help you decide if your ideas are worth pursuing. `
Let’s cover the basics first…
What does marketing mean?
Marketing is the process of understanding customers’ needs and meeting those needs to make a profit.
It includes a mix of activities such as:
market research
product development
promotion
As such, it provides a great framework for thinking about both promoting and selling your products.
People often use the word ‘marketing’ to mean ‘promotion’ or ‘advertising’ but marketing is so much more. Your marketing efforts actually need to start before you’ve put a single item into production because your marketing efforts can help shape your product/service.
Evaluating the 4P’s of marketing
Marketing has some core fundamentals when it comes to looking at your own marketing efforts. The 4P’s of marketing allow you to create a competitive advantage for your business.
These are Product, Place, Promotion and Price
Product
This is the most important part of the marketing mix. Having a great product or service that people want to buy is the cornerstone for starting a successful business. Market research – such as focus groups and surveys - can help you develop and refine your product by uncovering insights such as:
whether they like the idea of your product
what they think it would be useful for
the problems it can solve in their everyday life
alternatives or improvements to your original concept
what they currently buy instead
Market research can also help you develop your marketing messages. Your messages will hold the information you’re going to communicate to potential customers to get them excited about what you offer.
Remember that customers don’t just buy features, they buy benefits and outcomes, so make sure you highlight both. For example, someone who buys walking boots is buying comfort for long hikes features like waterproof fabric and sturdy soles help the user creat a healthy lifestyle through outdoor adventures - and warm feet!
Shifting your mindset to what your customer needs, is the first step to creating a desirable product or service.
Place
Place covers how and where customers buy what you sell.
For product-based businesses, this can mean physical and digital spaces where customers buy your items, as well as distribution channels.
For service-based businesses, it means where people purchase and experience your service (for example, customers of an online service will experience everything online).
There are so many options to consider and there is no one-size-fits-all. It is important to think about where your ideal customer is likely to shop and what is realistic for your business.
You may want to have a physical shop on a high street but you might be starting at your dinner table, mailing out your products to start with depending on your budget.
Here are some places / ways you might be able to sell physical products.
Shop
Having a physical premises on the high street can be a great way to sell products. You’ll catch passing traffic and be able to showcase everything you offer however overheads can be high.
Pop-up shop/stall
Pop-up shops are a temporary retail space that you take over for a specific short period of time. Often, they spring up around holidays (Halloween, Christmas) to sell products that aren’t in demand all year round. They’re a good way to enjoy the benefits of a high street shop without the long-term commitment.
Specialist fairs
Trade fairs, craft fairs, Christmas fairs etc are all great options for people who want to reach relevant customers or maximise sales at certain times of the year. You can do these alongside other sale efforts such as direct mail, running an online shop. These are also good to do if you’re looking to expand into new locations (towns, cities, regions, etc)
Your own website
For product-based businesses, selling via your own website is a relatively affordable way to reach your market. And because you own the site, you won’t be subject to commission or selling fees. However, you are responsible for the cost of building and maintaining the site, and you won’t have a readymade market of shoppers and browsers. For service-based businesses, this is your customer portal where they can engage with you, consume and buy services. This can become a large beast very quickly but with organisation and patience it can become your greatest tool.
Online store platform
There are lots of platforms where you can be online and selling fast. Gumtree, Facebook, eBay, Amazon, Etsy and others provide a free or low-cost way to promote your products. However, you will be limited in terms of presentation, be bound by their T&Cs and there fees.
Mobile premises
Lots of businesses are mobile. Think coffee carts, street food vendors, pet groomers, car valeters. Investing in a van, truck or even a trailer can be a great way to catch footfall without investing in a shop or to take services direct to your customers.
Promotion
Promotion focuses on how you attract the attention of your ideal customers. You’ve already worked out the perfect product and place to offer, what now?
Unfortunately, customers won’t just arrive by chance. You need to plan a range of promotional activities to let your potential customers know who you are, what you do and how you are going to make their lives better and easier.
Here are some common approaches to promoting your business, this list isn’t exhaustive.
Content marketing
Content marketing is used to attract customers to you and start building know, like and trust so they’re ready to buy from you sooner. Content marketing is creating and sharing content designed to appeal to your ideal customer online. Concentrating on what your ideal customer might be searching for online and publish content that answers their questions is the winning formula. The secret to successful Content marketing is simple, commitment. Producing content consistently and on an on-going basis to build your brand and reputation.
Social media advertising
Social media advertising is great for start ups because it offers an affordable option for most startups to get their message in front of a highly targeted audience. Facebook and Instagram might work for selling directly to customers, but Twitter and LinkedIn might be better for reaching out to businesses.
Special offers
This covers any kind of special offer that you use to increase sales. BOGOFs, discounts, time-limited offers, competitions. The sort of thing that makes you fill your basket with bargains and things you never knew you needed every time you go to the supermarket.
Social engagement & promotion
One way that many small businesses use sales promotion is via social media. If you’ve ever ‘liked, shared and commented’ on a post on Facebook to win a luxury food hamper or weekend glamping, you’ve had first-hand experience of a social sales promotion! In fact, this type of sales promotion is particularly clever because it builds the business’s audience too and improves the reach of future posts. Win-win!
Influencer marketing
This isn’t an obvious one but really worth exploring even on a small budget. Have you ever bought something because you’ve seen/heard celeb, blogger or vlogger use it? That's influencer marketing in action. Influencer marketing is powerful for a number of reasons: chosen carefully, influencers provide a targeted route to your ideal audience; people are more likely to trust the opinion of a third party than your own marketing and many people want to be like their favourite influencers.
Direct marketing
Email lists, social media followers and cold calling are all examples of direct marketing. The best thing is they’re all relatively cheap, your owned lists and fully under your control. Organic lists and followers are more valuable because they’re technically warm leads and they already show know, like and trust in your business, products and services. Some of them have a bad rap, but conducted ethically and within legal guidelines, they can be a great way to speak to your target market. You’ll need to consider who you want to target, how you’ll acquire your list, what you’ll offer, and how you’ll receive and process orders.
Referals
People are far more inclined to trust what other people say about you, rather than what you say about yourself. So encouraging positive word-of-mouth is a helpful way to build trust in your brand. Positive referrals don’t have to come from influencers with thousands of followers. Two easy ways to get existing customers to become advocates for your brand are:
Online reviews - Ask happy customers if they’d leave a review on your Facebook page or an external site like TripAdvisor (online word-of-mouth is sometimes called word-of-mouse!)
Referral programme – Encourage your current customers to find new ones for you. A good example is when your gym offers you a free month for every friend you introduce.
Price
How much are you going to charge for your product or service? At its simplest, you can work out how much it costs to produce your offering, the cost to promote it and add on a percentage for profit (margin).
The most successful startups think more strategically about price. How will perception of your price affect sales?
Go high: Will your price seem too high for your target customer?
Go low: Will it look suspiciously low that people just disregard you?
Would people prefer to pay more for a brand that is perceived ‘high end’?
Is there a gap in the market for an affordable option? Can you use a lower price to undercut competitors and win customers quickly?
Alternatively, could you place a buy-one-get-one-free offer into the market to attract customers without cheapening your brand?
In summary
Consider all the above areas, strategically, will make sure you spend your marketing budget and time wisely whilst getting the biggest impact for your business. Try not to procrastinate on this too much but do give it plenty of consideration, this can grow your business quickly and allow you to pivot when required.
That’s it’s for today, as always if you have any questions please get in contact we’d be happy to start a conversation today to help you achieve your financial and time freedom goals.
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