What is marketing?

Marketing can mean many different things to many different people, and it can get high level and VERY expensive. To keep things simple you need to make sure you cover the basics. Put very simply, a good definition of marketing is:

• anticipating customer needs
• satisfying those needs with relevant products or services the customer is willing to pay for
• making a profit!

The marketing mix

The principles of marketing are broken down into the 4 'P's, which are collectively called the 'marketing mix'. These 'P's are:

• Product
• Price
• Promotion
• Place

How to decide what your business will sell

This is the 'product' element of the marketing mix.

It’s no good creating the best product in the world, even if people do need what you are delivering, if they're not prepared to pay for it. Conversely, if a product or its packaging or marketing is not exceptional, but it’s fulfilling a need, people will be likely to buy it. A good example of this is a local show jumping club close by - their results website was never updated, the parking was appalling and the organisation passable at best, but because it was the only show jumping venue in the immediate area and it held classes on summer weekday evenings it was always full to bursting with entries.

There’s another moral in this tale, which is: don’t strive for perfection or you’ll never get anything done. As we’ve seen from the example above, even a badly delivered product can be successful if it has no competition and satisfies customer needs.

It’s essential to know what’s going on in your market, what your competitors are up to and what your customers are looking for, now and in the future. Take advantage of being a small and nimble business that can react to market changes far more quickly than bigger organisations, and create a niche for yourself that others will find it difficult to break into.

How to decide what price to charge

This is the 'price' element of the marketing mix.

The price you charge for your product or service must:

• at least cover your fixed and variable costs
• preferably make you a profit
• be appropriate to the target audience
• be consistent with the brand image

In other words, you need to identify your target customers and understand their buying behaviour and decision making process. You also need to decide where to rank your product against other competing products and make sure your pricing policy is consistent with this. For example if you’re promoting a product as a luxurious, top-of-the-range item you need to price it high to maintain the image. Similarly, if you’re promoting a budget everyday product you need to price it low so it’s consistent with customer expectations. Running a ‘buy one get one free’ type of offer is appropriate for the budget brand but would do major damage to the luxury one.  A word of caution here – in an effort to get a quick income stream, many new businesses price their products and services too low and so will always fail to find their rightful position in the market. Worse still, this conflict between perceived value of the product and the price being charged creates elements of doubt or confusion in the minds of your customers so they might jist think twice about buying from you.

Deciding how to sell your product

This is the 'promotion' element of the marketing mix.

How you choose to promote your business is often based on cost, particularly in the early days. You need to consider who your most likely target customers are and then consider where and how they are most likely to hear about your services. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that printed advertising is essential for your business – it can be very expensive and there are many other ways to raise your profile that will cost you much less and will be far more measurable. For example writing press releases for your local paper or other appropriate publications, providing articles for relevant magazines or websites in return for mentioning your company name, sponsoring the sports kit of a local football team, getting involved in community run activities, or painting your company name on the side of your car.

You should ensure your promotional materials are consistent with the image you want to portray. For example, if your product is high price/high quality this needs to be reflected in the language you use and the imagery and quality of any printed materials. If, on the other hand, you’re providing a budget dog walking service simple flyers pushed through local letterboxes are probably sufficient.

To promote your product successfully you need to consider what aspect of your product makes it more attractive to your customers than your competitors’ products. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes – why should they buy from you? What will your product do for them? Why is it better than another similar product? These reasons a customer buys from you rather than your competitor are known as your unique selling points (USPs).  It's critical that you identify these and that they are used consistently throughout your various promotions.  That way you will ensure you are selling the benefits of your product rather than just describing what the product is.

Your USP could be your response times, your convenient delivery times, your after sales service, the exclusivity of your design and so on. One golden rule is to try and not make price your USP as it's the easiest one for your competitors to beat you on and if you get into a price war your margins could be eroded to almost nothing in a very short space of time.

Make a point of asking each new customer how and where they heard about your business so you can identify which of your promotional activities are the most successful. And remember to stop spending time and money on promotional activities that aren't resulting in paying customers.

Deciding where to sell your product

This is the 'place' element of the marketing mix.

Where you sell your product or service should be dictated by who your target audience is and where they are most likley to by from you. You need to factor in whether your customers are local, regional, national or international. The places where you may choose to sell you product could be :

• face-to-face selling on the customer’s premises/home
• face-to-face selling via a retail outlet
• selling via the phone
• selling via direct mail campaigns or catalogues
• selling via your website

Later, as your business grows, you could also consider franchising your business as a means of extending your sales activity and coverage.