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Basic Marketing

Marketing is defined as ”a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging value with others”.

There are two important principles to remember.

1. Everything the company does and say’s should be directed to customer satisfaction.
2. Sales volume profit is more important that maximum sales volume.

The best way to use these principles is to:

1. Market research - Determining the needs of your customers
2. Market Strategy - Analyze their competitive advantage
3. Target Market – Select a specific market to target
4. Market mix – Determine how best to satisfy customer needs

Let’s talk a little more about market research. To be successful at marketing requires market information that is timely and relevant. A survey given to current and prospective clients can reveal large amounts of information that can help tremendously with dissatisfaction and new product or service.

Market research will also help identify trends that affect your bottom line. Shifts in populations, legal developments, and the local economic situation have to be monitored to identify opportunities and problems. It is imperative you keep in tune to competitors marketing strategies.

With that we need to talk about marketing strategies. What is a marketing strategy? A marketing strategy identifies customers into groups so that a business can better serve them than its competitors. It also tailors product offerings, distribution, promotional efforts, prices, and services to these market segments. Realistically the marketing strategies need to address customer needs that are not met that result in potential profitability. An ideal marketing strategy will help a business focus on the target market it will best serve.

Now let’s look at the target market. Limited resources are available to small business owners. Getting the most return for a small investment is essential. A small business needs to concentrate on one of the key market segments-target market.

1. Geographical Segmentation – a specific geographical location that a business would concentrate on serving the customer needs.
2. Customer Segmentation – identifying the people most likely to buy your product or service and targeting those groups.

Absolutely every marketing program needs to contain FOUR key components:

1. Pricing
2. Products and Service
3. Promotion
4. Distribution

Price: Maximizing total revenue is crucial to any small business. To do this the pricing has to be right. Research into your competitors pricing will help you to set your pricing right.
Product & Service: Strategies for products could include a narrow product line, specializing in a specific product or service, or providing a package containing an unusually high quality service.
Promotion: Because funding is limited in small businesses they have to have top salesmanship. Strategies for promotion need to include advertising and direct customer interaction. The telephone book is important means of advertising, along with direct mail being an effective low cost medium available to small businesses.
Distribution: A small business must decide how to distribute their product or service. You must find a good location depending on weather the product or service is an impulse purchase or not. For example a website would enable a business to market to a larger market.

Lastly we will talk about market mix or performance. Owners must evaluate its performance after starting a marketing program. Every program started should have targets or goals to compare to actual results. You need to research industry past and present performance to help develop the right standards.

Small business owners should evaluate their company’s performance at a minimum of Four Times a year. The most important questions for the business owner to ask are:

1. Is the company as customer oriented as it can be?
2. Are customers satisfied and leave wanting to return because of their experience with your employees?
3. Can the customer find what he or she wants easily and at a competitive price?

1. Everything the company does and say’s should be directed to customer satisfaction.
2. Sales volume profit is more important that maximum sales volume.

The best way to use these principles is to:

1. Market research - Determining the needs of your customers
2. Market Strategy - Analyze their competitive advantage
3. Target Market – Select a specific market to target
4. Market mix – Determine how best to satisfy customer needs