Preface: Decisively develop your marketing plan to better satisfy the needs and wants of your specific customer and client market segments. Marketing is about adding [strategic] value gains that better satisfy marketplace wants and need that segue developing enduring market yardage for you’re in business.
Marketing 101
Successful marketing is the science and art of understanding, developing, and adding value to better satisfy the needs and wants of your customers and clients. With careful research of how your business can profitably satisfy needs and wants, you can position and further your business as a leader in its respective marketplace. Marketing 101 – can you enunciate the unique strategic value(s) your business provides [or will/can] to the marketplace?
Marketing is expensive and time-consuming; and most often only performed by those businesses with a projected budget for such supplementary expenses. To quote Philip Kotler, an expert on marketing, “Companies worry too much about the cost of doing something. They should worry about the cost of not doing it.”
Yet, every business should be concerned about properly satisfying the needs and wants of your customers and clients. Selling your product or service is only the curl on top of the soft ice-cream cone of marketing. It might be the first thing you think about; but there is a lot more to it. Marketing is about adding more value to the customers and clients who transact business with you. While creativity is important to the art of marketing, the science of market research, market modeling, and predictive analytics provide valuable elements to the marketing equation.
Developing Marketing Policies
Why should anyone buy from your business? Your answer should be more than you are the lowest cost supplier or provider. Your answer should include how you best satisfy the needs and wants of your customers and clients, and include the benefits they receive from transacting business with you and your team, both during and after the invoice is paid or agreements signed.
Your business probably is not after a reputation for highest prices in the marketplace; but you should be striving for a quality reputation for highest value in the marketplace. This is ultimately what customers and clients want. If your business sells a commodity or staple, location is an important way you can provide value. Determine your prime location. Value added marketing concepts may include delivery with sales to local customers, or a breakfast café may use free Wi-Fi access for marketing their specialties, e.g. location [market maker]: if you’ve got an appetite in Newark Liberty Airport, you say in Terminal A, the Earl of Sandwich is the place to eat.
What reputation do you think the public has of you and your business? Maintaining a good reputation with current, prospective, and future clients and customers is an increasing necessity with the expansion of e-reviews. Help your employees understand the importance of this with continued reinforcements toward building quality customer and client relationships.
Your marketing plan should support your business plan and purpose statement. Make sure to integrate and lead your business objectives, goals, purpose and plans together.
Marketing: More Than Sales Theory
Decisively develop your marketing plan to better satisfy the needs and wants of your specific customer and client market segments. Again, marketing is not about only selling your product or service it’s about adding value with strategies that better satisfy marketplace needs and wants that segue into developing enduring market shares for your business.
The ultimate purpose of marketing is that when current, prospective, and future customers and clients have a need or want that your business can satisfy, they choose to do business with you.