Marketing? What's That?
Article by: Nikisha Thompson
It amazes me how often people will come up with great business ideas, develop elaborate plans, and fail to be successful because of a lack of sales. Once you've planned how your business will run, you need to make sure that you have enough customers to stay in business. Unless your company is not-for-profit, your overall goal is to make money. You cannot do this without a steady stream of business.
Marketing ensures that you are not leaving your business future to chance. You must make concentrated, dedicated, and consistent efforts to make sure that everyone in your target market knows who you are and the benefits of your products or services. There are several ways that this can be achieved, but the most important thing to remember is that it cannot be ignored.
Ever heard the phrase "never put your all your eggs in one basket"? Well this concept definitely applies to marketing. You will want to have several methods in place at once because people respond to different types of stimulation. Think about the cheapest routes first, for instance, email marketing and word of mouth. Door - to door advertising can be very time consuming, but is inexpensive and fairly effective. Flyers, postcards, door hangers, and classified ads are other inexpensive forms of advertising that can produce great results when sent to the right people. VistaPrint offers the BEST value for marketing products, hands down. They have many products that are absolutely free, including business cards and logos.
Don't neglect the Internet as a viable resource. You can advertise through blogs, newsletters, article submissions, and webites with decent search engine rankings. These days, you can setup websites for free through sites like Microsoft Office Live. You can even post videos that allow you to showcase your product or service.
The important thing to remember is that you need to choose the best avenues to reach your potential customer base. For instance, you wouldn't reach baby boomers through an ad in a college magazine. Study your customers. Know where they shop, what they do for fun, what they read, where they eat, etc. Once you know enough about them, you can choose a few advertising routes that will bring them to you.
Advertising for your business needs to be an ongoing thing if you expect revenues to be consistent. Put aside a percentage of everything you make for your ad campaigns. Don't let success pass you by because no one knows what you're offering!