Easy guide for easy marketing

When it comes to running a successful business, you have to think about the background runs and what is really driving that success.

A big focus for all the leading brands will always be having a solid marketing campaign leading and driving their sales. Within it, no one will ever know about the products or services available. So if you have a business or are thinking about starting one of your priorities should be focused on your marketing.

If you’re reading this then you probably already have a product or service that you are looking to market correctly and you probably understand that it takes following certain steps to achieve a successful scheme. Marketing doesn’t have to be complex and complicated. Have a look at this easy guide for easy marketing for some help with getting started on your journey to a successful marketing campaign.

Start market research

The first thing you should be doing is putting a plan in place and starting market research it’s a key part of developing your marketing plan. If you don’t conduct some sort of research you are just blindly going to be trying to throw together a campaign. It’s going to work much better for you if you collect information that provides an insight into your customer’s thoughts, buying patterns, and location. Not only that, but market research can also help you to create a forecasted interest in your products and services to help you gather an idea of potential profits and help you to keep a watchful eye on your competition.

Who is your target

Quite simply, your product and services will rarely identify with every single person so therefore attempting to promote them to everyone would be a cost that you don’t need and frankly ineffective. You should try separating and grouping together your potential customers based on certain aspects and features it will help you have a more focused marketing plan. Have a think about grouping in ways such as:

• Location: Where are they based? Are the majority of your customers in the UK or are the global? Are you starting off locally and expanding?
• Demographics: Age, gender, educational level e.g college, university, school, income, occupation, families, couples etc.
• Behavior: Attitude, buying styles, buying amounts.
• Lifestyle: Personal values, social class, disposable income.

Remember that there should be a need for your customer to feel like need to buy the product or services you’re offering if this isn’t there, then chances are you won’t be successful. Make this part of your business plan.

What makes your unique

Often referred to as USP (unique selling point)  is the unique reason your customers buy from you instead of your competition – it’s basically what makes your business stand out on the market. You should always highlight what you do differently and be successful in being able to convey what message to your customers. It’s not only a reflection of your company but also your knowledge and skills. If you’re unsure about where you can start with identifying your USP try answering these questions about your product or service:

• What do you like about them?
• What skills and services do you have to offer? How are they specialized?
• What makes you better than the competition? Why will your customers choose you instead?
• Is there a benefit for your customers?
• When talking about your product or services what features do you highlight to them to draw them in?

These are just a few questions to get you started, there are many other things you can start to think about once you have a basic USP for your product.

Think about your budget and goals

Setting your goals is the first step in achieving a successful marketing campaign. Your goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based. Not only this you will need to consider your budget and how you’re going to allocate this across the different aspects of marketing. Some of the things to consider are:

• Hiring a web developer and maintenance.
• SEO strategy.
• Branding
• Promotional Materials such as flyers, business cards, and posters.
• Advertising- Using social media can be a good way of getting this for free.

You should look to allocate around 5% to 10% of your annual turnover to marketing, although if you are a start-up you may need to think about allocating more to get your set up and started.

Develop your brand

No matter the size of your business you will still need to have a brand. When marketing you will need to think about this beforehand. This is more than just a logo or a name so you should spend some well deserved time thinking about it. It should be all about portraying who you are, what you stand for and what your business message is to your customer.

Where are you going to use your marketing

Your target audience and the demographic will have a massive impact on where and when you choose to market your products and services. Some of the most popular options include:

• Website: Most customers now look for a website for anyone they choose to use so this is a priority.
• Social media: Using platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter is becoming more and more popular nowadays and should most definitely be used in marketing.
• Blogging: Having a blog that can drive traffic to your website with interesting and relevant content is a brilliant way to market for low costs.
• Others to consider: Brochure and flyers, networking events, print advertising, word of mouth, cold calling and letter drops.

Monitor and review

It’s highly advisable for you to regularly perform performance checks on your marketing. You need to know whether you are hitting targets that were set out and that your strategies are doing what they’re supposed to do. Try starting out with reviewing it every three months and then once you’re established you can review your plan when and if you introduce new products or services. You should consider looking at things such as your sales figures, the audience you’re hitting and the reach your campaigns have actually hit.