Marketing Basics for the Small Business

Marketing Basics for the Small Business
By Laura Lake,

The essence of marketing is to understand your customers' needs and develop a plan that surrounds those needs. Let's face it anyone that has a business has a desire to grow their business. The most effective way to grow and expand your business is by focusing on organic growth.
You can increase organic growth in four different ways. They include:
• Acquiring more customers
• Persuading each customer to buy more products
• Persuading each customer to buy more expensive products or up selling each customer
• Persuading each customer to buy more profitable products
All four of these increase your revenue and profit. Let me encourage you to focus on the first which is to acquire more customers. Why? Because by acquiring more customers you increase your customer base and your revenues then come from a larger base.
How can you use marketing to acquire more customers?
• Spend time researching and create a strategic marketing plan.
• Guide your product development to reach out to customers you aren't currently attracting.
• Price your products and services competitively.
• Develop your message and materials based on solution marketing.
The Importance of a Target Market in Small Business
When it comes to your customers keep in mind the importance of target marketing. The reason this is important is that only a proportion of the population is likely to purchase any products or service. By taking time pitch your sales and marketing efforts to the correct niche market you will be more productive and not waste your efforts or time.
It's important to consider your virtual segmentation by selecting particular verticals to present your offerings to. Those verticals will have the particular likelihood of purchasing your products and services. Again, this saves you from wasting valuable time and money.
Small Business Marketing and Large Business Marketing are Different
If you are like the majority of small business owners your marketing budget is limited. The most effective way to market a small business is to create a well rounded program that combines sales activities with your marketing tactics. Your sales activities will not only decrease your out-of-pocket marketing expense but it also adds the value of interacting with your prospective customers and clients. This interaction will provide you with research that is priceless.
Small businesses typically have a limited marketing budget if any at all. Does that mean you can't run with the big dogs? Absolutely not. It just means you have to think a little more creatively. How about launching your marketing campaign by doing one of the following:
• Call your vendors or associates and ask them to participate with you in co-op advertising.
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• Take some time to send your existing customers' referrals and buying incentives.
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• Have you thought about introducing yourself to the media? Free publicity has the potential to boost your business. By doing this you position yourself as an expert in your field.
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• Invite people into your place of business by piggybacking onto an event. Is there a concert coming to town, are you willing to sell those tickets? It could mean free radio publicity. If that is not your cup of tea, how about a walkathon that is taking place in your area, why not be a public outreach and distribute their material?
When you do spend money on marketing, do not forget to create a way to track those marketing efforts. You can do this by coding your ads, using multiple toll-free telephone numbers, and asking prospects where they heard about you. This enables you to notice when a marketing tactic stops working. You can then quickly replace it with a better choice or method.
Getting Started with Small Business Marketing
By being diligent in your marketing and creating an easy strategy such as holding yourself accountable to contact ten customers or potential customers daily five days a week you will see your business grow at an exceptional rate. The great thing is it will not take a large marketing budget to make it happen.

Marketing, Advertising, Sales - Who Does What?
Sunday September 27, 2009
It's so easy for the confusion to begin when you start talking about advertising, marketing and sales. Truth is most individuals don't understand the difference. The good news is there is a difference and each of these components have a part to play in the success of a company. Today, I want to clear up the confusion.
I started to see the misunderstanding of these roles when I was spending time browsing and sorting through job listings. It is not uncommon for sales jobs to be listed in the marketing jobs classifications and the same was true when it came to jobs that pertained to advertising.
I'm going to say it one more time, before getting into the details - they are not the same.
Let's take a look at the defining differences:
Marketing: The systematic planning, implementation and control of a mix of business activities intended to bring together buyers and sellers for the mutually advantageous exchange or transfer of products.
Advertising: The paid, public, non-personal announcement of a persuasive message by an identified sponsor; the non-personal presentation or promotion by a firm of its products to its existing and potential customers.
Sales: The sales process is everything that you do to close the sale and get a signed agreement or contract. The sales process consists of interpersonal interaction. It is often done by a one-on-one meeting, cold calls, and networking. It's anything that engages you with the prospect or customer on a personal level rather than at a distance. Advertising and marketing lay the ground work to warm up the lead and prepare them for the close of the sale.
When you are looking to place job listings, be sure to list them in the right category and you will more than likely detour the chances of getting applicants that don't fit the requirements for the positions you are listing.
When it comes to the world of corporations and business structure look at the different roles and use them to help define how departments can work together with the other departments and the role that each department plays when supporting the others.
All three of these components are necessary when it comes to the success of a business, but having a deeper understanding of their purpose can help in organization and planning for that success.
For a greater understanding of the differences use the following resources:



What is the difference between marketing and sales?
Let's think about this question for a moment. Without marketing you would not have prospects or leads to follow up with, but yet without a good sales technique and strategy your closing rate may depress you.
Marketing is everything that you do to reach and persuade prospects. The sales process is everything that you do to close the sale and get a signed agreement or contract. Both are necessities to the success of a business. You cannot do without either process. By strategically combining both efforts you will experience a successful amount of business growth. However, by the same token if the efforts are unbalanced it candetour your growth.
Your marketing will consists of the measures you use to reach and persuade your prospects that you are the company for them. It's the message that prepares the prospect for the sales. It consists of advertising, public relations, brand marketing, viral marketing, and direct mail.
The sales process consists of interpersonal interaction. It is often done by a one-on-one meeting, cold calls, and networking. It's anything that engages you with the prospect or customer on a personal level rather than at a distance.
Your marketing efforts begin the process of the eight contacts that studies show it takes to move a prospect or potential client to the close of the sale. If marketing is done effectively you can begin to move that prospect from a cold to a warm lead. When the prospect hitsthe"warm" level it's much easier for the sales professional to close the sale.
Do you see the cycle?
As you see in my explanation above it takes multiple contacts using both sales and marketing to move the prospect from one level to the next. That is why it is import that you develop a process that combines both sales and marketing. This will enable you to reach prospects at all three levels; cold, warm, and hot. It's all about balance.
Are you unsure of how to integrate your marketing and sales?
Try this. Take a few moments and divide your prospect lists and database into categories of cold, warm, and hot leads. Then sit down and identify a strategy on how to proceed with each individual group.
For example you could try the following methods of contact:
• Cold Lead Strategy - Send out a direct mailing or offer them a special promotion
• Warm Lead Strategy - Try a follow-up call, send out a sales letter, or schedule a special seminar or training session to get all of your warm leads together.
Once you've moved your prospect to the "warm" level it's time to proceed in closing the sale. This will be easier to do if you somehow engage the prospect. You can do this by conducting a one-on-one call, make a presentation, or present a proposal, estimate, or contract.

What if you are uncomfortable with the sales or marketing process?
An alternative that often proves successful is to partner with someone that possess the talents that you feel you lack in. You can do this by creating a partnership, subcontracting, or hiring in that talent.
Remember the key to success in marketing and in sales is balance!

Is There a Difference Between Marketing and Advertising?
There are many technical and complicated definitions of both advertising and marketing and the differences between them. But it can be stated rather simply:
• Advertising tells a story about something to attract attention. Advertising is a step in the marketing process.
• In business, “marketing” is the planning of, and steps taken, to bring merchants and consumers together.