The main aim of marketing is to get to know the needs of your customers and come up with a plan that addresses those needs. The desire of every business person is to see growth. One of the best ways for this to happen is through marketing because marketing helps you acquire more customers.
How can you the basics of marketing to acquire more customers?
Spend time researching and create a strategic marketing plan.
Guide your product development to reach out to customers you aren’t currently attracting.
Price your products and services competitively.
Develop your message and materials based on solution marketing.
The Importance of a Target Market in Small Business
When it comes to your customers keep in mind the importance of target marketing. The reason this is important is that only a proportion of the population is likely to purchase any products or service. By taking time pitch your sales and marketing efforts to the correct niche market, you will be more productive and not waste your efforts or time.
Sourced from: http://marketing.about.com/od/marketingbasics/a/smmktgbasics.htm
Marketing strategies are always the same. But because there are a lot of differences between small and big businesses, marketing strategies for the two cannot be the same. There are things like budget constraints, target market and even creative methods.
- Differences on Budget Constraints
In a small business, you already know one substantial difference between your marketing plan and those of the corporate titans that hover over you in every direction. These big guys have astronomical budgets. They talk about a few hundred thousand dollars as a routine issue. You talk about 200 dollars as an amount worthy of cautious consideration.
- Differences on Creativity
The top notch marketers routinely require six figures to produce ads with the single purpose of establishing brand awareness and market orientation toward their brands – frequently without a single hint about a specific price or product.
Small businesses adopt a significantly different method. They need to establish brand awareness just like the big advertisers, but their advertisements have to fulfill two tasks. Small business marketing expenditure has to provide direct and measurable marketing action. Each action has to stir adequate buying activity to compensate the expenditure involved in producing and running the advertisement in the first place.
Sourced from: http://www.retireat21.com/blog/four-marketing-differences-between-small-and-big-businesses
Marketing is not rocket science and anyone can do it. It is also important to note that it is not a one size fits all thing. You need to customize your marketing strategy so that it fits your business. You will need to identify your market target, the resources you have and how best you can utilize them.
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Making Marketing Work in Your Small Business
Get the know-how. Knowing what not to do when it comes to marketing is as important as knowing what to do. Let’s face it, the murky world of marketing can be tricky to navigate. So get the full know-how before you go jumping into building that flash website.
Put your customers first. Understanding who your customers are, what makes them tick and what they really want and value, and of course staying in touch with them long after the sale, puts you ahead of the competition.
Know your target market. ‘Anyone who is breathing’ is not a target market! Targeting your marketing activities fairly and squarely at the people who need and want your service or product is the secret to creating quality enquiries and getting prospects to open their wallet.
Sourced from: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/marketing-your-small-business-for-dummies-cheat-sh.html
