Introduction to Marketing for 1st time business ownersCopyright Ben Botes and My1stBusiness.com – 2003 – 2005
Marketing is determining which orders you would like to win. Selling is getting out there and winning orders once you have decided which orders you would like to win. Marketing is a continuous process of creativity, research, testing, analysis, development and implementation. We must stay close to our customers. We must satisfy our customers' needs and anticipate their wants. We love our customers and we always do that little bit extra for which we do not get paid.
Specialize and be excited in what you do
There is a strong relationship between high self-esteem and peak performance. The more you love doing something,
greater will be your success. All successful businesses specialize in their areas of excellence. Many unsuccessful people drift into areas where they do not have
excitement, enthusiasm, energy, knowledge, etc., to establish competitive advantage and find their market segment.
A few questions for you to answer at this point are:
Which product or service would you like to produce and sell? In which area of human activity would you like to improve
lives of other people? To which area of human improvement can you bring excitement and enthusiasm? What is your area of excellence? What is your core business? For which product or service are you prepared to be a product champion? What would you love to do to improve
lives of others for 16 hours each day, even if you received no financial reward? What is it that makes you feel valuable and worthwhile?
Differentiate for a competitive advantage
Perhaps
biggest question in any business is: why should anybody buy this product or service ... from me? This is in fact two questions. The first question is: why should anybody buy this product or service? What is
benefit? What is
improvement in
life of
customer? How is
customer's life enriched by acquisition of
product or service? If you cannot answer this question, then you do not know why a customer should buy your product or service. Remember
law of cause and effect. There is a reason for everything. There has to be a reason why your customer buys
product or service.
Segmentation or
creation of a market niche
If people buy from you because you are such a lovely person, then your market niche may well be your circle of friends and friends of your friends. If you own
village grocery store, then your customers are probably restricted to those living within a five-minute walk or two-minute drive, i.e.
local community. If yours is
best or cheapest product on
market, then this opens up huge opportunities. Who is your customer? Who buys this product or service? Identify your market segment. Describe your customer - age, sex, income, occupation, education, other interests, area where he or she lives, type of family, other products he or she buys, etc. Where exactly is your customer? Identify
geographical concentration, understanding that 80 per cent of your customers will be within 20 per cent of your catchment area. How is your product normally distributed? How would you expect your customer to buy your product or service? To which customers does your competitive advantage make a big difference? Is there a small segment of
market which you could dominate?