Marketing is one of the most critical components of your business’s success. You may have a fantastic product or service, but if customers are not aware it exists, there’s no point in continuing the line of work.
In order to make sure your product is exposed to your target customers, you need to develop a robust, killer marketing plan. Once you’ve spent time identifying the four Ps, start adding some elements and details to your strategy. Let’s look at the areas you should focus on when developing your marketing plan.
Validate the Market
How do you know you have a great product that will be of value to your customer? Answering this question is part of the validation process. You want to validate the market or make sure there’s a need for it. Here are a few questions to answer in order to help you do this.
- How large is the market locally, nationally, and globally?
- How often do people buy your type of product?
- How many customers are “in market” at any given time?
- Will your customers buy daily, weekly, monthly, annually, or every five to ten years?
The answers to these questions will: 1) tell you if you have a sustainable product, and 2) help inform your marketing plan and tactics. After you’ve validated the market, start delving deeper into your target market or customer.
Define Your Target Market
In order for your product or service to sell, you need to answer the question: who is your target market? And the answer is never, “anyone.” The best way to be successful is to develop a customer profile with as much detail as possible. Answer the following questions:
- How much income do your customers make?
- Where are they located?
- Are they male or female, or both?
- How old are they?
- What is their level of education?
- What jobs do they hold?
- Can you see the face of your customer? What do they physically look like?
Remember, the better you know your customer, the better your chances of making the sale. Once you’ve identified who the customer is, it’s time to articulate what makes them buy.
Create Customer Value
So many marketers and business owners are great at explaining what their product is and why it’s great. But very few know how to explain the product in a way that illustrates value to the customer. This is extremely powerful because if you can help the customer achieve a goal, the product sale will follow.
To do this, start by identifying what qualities your customers value most and least about your service. You must build your marketing strategy on customers’ perceptions of your product’s value to them. This approach is called WIIFM, or What’s In It For Me? It’s critical to keep your marketing plan customer-focused. By doing so, you are on the path to setting yourself apart from the competition.
Identify Your Competitors and How to Deal With Them
In today’s economy, it’s rare to find a product or service that has no competition. Your competition is targeting the same people you are, and as such, your message can easily get lost in advertising clutter and spam.
To avoid this, define what makes you special to your customers. Why is your product or service different and better? What is your competitive advantage? What do you offer that your competitor does not? Why should a customer hire you? Perhaps you offer a longer warranty than your competitor. Or you have proved results that another business does not. If you’re struggling with identifying your competitive advantage, the best thing to do is ask your customers why they bought from you.
Validating the market, identifying the target audience, creating customer value, and identifying your strengths from your competitors are the components that will shape the rest of your marketing plan. Once those steps are completed, it’s time to define the tactics you’ll use and determine your marketing budget.
Republished by permission. Original here.
Market Customers Photo via Shutterstock
I think the key is to get moving on these things. Don’t sit at your computer building spreadsheets and performing analysis on data. Get out and start making things, start selling them, listen to what customers say and more importantly to whether they’ll pay for what you’re doing. Actions speak louder than words.
These four steps are absolutely crucial in developing a healthy and successful business. With SMS and mobile marketing tactics, you can obtain information from your customers to learn about their needs, location, and responsiveness to certain events and promotions. Learn how your business can benefit from the instant communication that comes with SMS marketing. Check out this blog for more info: http://www.avidmobile.com/blog/sms-marketing-7-tips-for-success.php