PRACTICE
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Seven ways to market your business
Today many small businesses fall into the trap of not knowing exactly
who their customers are and how to target them. Lee Testone, sales and
marketing director, of Nvolve Limited based on past experience has
designed seven steps to market your firm.
1.Know your product
This may sound surprising but it is amazing how many small firms don’t know what they are selling – especially when it comes to the service orientated sector. The key to knowing what you are selling is to be able to express it clearly and concisely. Long winded and drawn out explanations will only put potential customers off. There is no need to detail every aspect of your business, consider your unique selling point (USP) and work from this.
Instead of falling back on quick service or price, instead focus on quality. Time, quality and cost are the three factors that you can sell to. Time and cost are the easiest to fall back on when you can’t come with anything else. Focus on the high value you can provide. It is not necessary to have a unique product, just one that is better than anyone else’s or one that is not offered in that area.
2. Know who’s likely to buy it
Again this seems like an obvious thing but you will find that there are numerous companies that don’t really know who there market is and how to target them. Countless times I’ve asked “who is your target market” and the response I got was “anyone who will buy it”! A previous business I worked with as a business consultant, sold cleaning services to the hotel trade. They targeted the hotel managers but we found out that the hotel managers were heavily influenced by the hotel inspectors. Instead I advised that they shift focus to the hotel inspectors who never bought anything but subsequently sales grew by over 30%.
3. Focus your business
Don’t try to cast you net too wide. It’s hard to let business go when you think that we could be selling into every sector but this only sends a message to your customers that you are clambering and half heartily trying for there business. Instead make yourself specialised in one section. This will allow your sales and marketing effort to focus and really hammer out a market. Remember that being a small business you can always change if it’s not working; but make sure you test and measure everything you do before disregarding it.
4. Design professional marketing material
Marketing material, especially business cards, is one of the most underrated tools in business as it creates the first impression of you and your business to the customer. With modern software packages available today it is simple to create a marketing material at very little cost. Why not try to get a young design student to pull something together for your business. This is very cost effective, can be good fun and very rewarding for both you and a young designer. Even if you are only doing business cards make sure you keep the design simple and make sure it’s good quality paper.
5. Design a straight forward simple website
Businesses today cannot afford not to have a web presence. Even if this through a listing site or something like the yellow pages. Website now have about 7 seconds to make an impact to passing traffic and about 30 seconds to make an impact on buyers looking for a product exactly like yours. So make sure you get what you want across in as little words as possible and keep it your key message on your homepage. Also, telephone is still people preferred communications medium so make sure your telephone number is on every page.
6. Get out and about
There is no better way to get to know your prospects needs than to sit down and discuss them in an informal environment. Initially grab every meeting with both hands. Even it’s a no, if you ask the right questions you are ultimately in a stronger position to sharpen up and increase your chance of winning next time round. The best marketing plan in the world is worthless unless it’s put into action.
7. Don’t waste money on advertising
All too often it is easy to think “I’ll call and ask the people at the magazine what is the best option for me?”. They won’t tell you, however, what they do tell you is the best option for them. Try asking other people in similar markets (watch out for competitors stealing your ideas) or business owners that have used advertising in the past. There’s no substitute for experience and people with experience will very quickly tell you what worked and what didn’t.
1.Know your product
This may sound surprising but it is amazing how many small firms don’t know what they are selling – especially when it comes to the service orientated sector. The key to knowing what you are selling is to be able to express it clearly and concisely. Long winded and drawn out explanations will only put potential customers off. There is no need to detail every aspect of your business, consider your unique selling point (USP) and work from this.
Instead of falling back on quick service or price, instead focus on quality. Time, quality and cost are the three factors that you can sell to. Time and cost are the easiest to fall back on when you can’t come with anything else. Focus on the high value you can provide. It is not necessary to have a unique product, just one that is better than anyone else’s or one that is not offered in that area.
2. Know who’s likely to buy it
Again this seems like an obvious thing but you will find that there are numerous companies that don’t really know who there market is and how to target them. Countless times I’ve asked “who is your target market” and the response I got was “anyone who will buy it”! A previous business I worked with as a business consultant, sold cleaning services to the hotel trade. They targeted the hotel managers but we found out that the hotel managers were heavily influenced by the hotel inspectors. Instead I advised that they shift focus to the hotel inspectors who never bought anything but subsequently sales grew by over 30%.
3. Focus your business
Don’t try to cast you net too wide. It’s hard to let business go when you think that we could be selling into every sector but this only sends a message to your customers that you are clambering and half heartily trying for there business. Instead make yourself specialised in one section. This will allow your sales and marketing effort to focus and really hammer out a market. Remember that being a small business you can always change if it’s not working; but make sure you test and measure everything you do before disregarding it.
4. Design professional marketing material
Marketing material, especially business cards, is one of the most underrated tools in business as it creates the first impression of you and your business to the customer. With modern software packages available today it is simple to create a marketing material at very little cost. Why not try to get a young design student to pull something together for your business. This is very cost effective, can be good fun and very rewarding for both you and a young designer. Even if you are only doing business cards make sure you keep the design simple and make sure it’s good quality paper.
5. Design a straight forward simple website
Businesses today cannot afford not to have a web presence. Even if this through a listing site or something like the yellow pages. Website now have about 7 seconds to make an impact to passing traffic and about 30 seconds to make an impact on buyers looking for a product exactly like yours. So make sure you get what you want across in as little words as possible and keep it your key message on your homepage. Also, telephone is still people preferred communications medium so make sure your telephone number is on every page.
6. Get out and about
There is no better way to get to know your prospects needs than to sit down and discuss them in an informal environment. Initially grab every meeting with both hands. Even it’s a no, if you ask the right questions you are ultimately in a stronger position to sharpen up and increase your chance of winning next time round. The best marketing plan in the world is worthless unless it’s put into action.
7. Don’t waste money on advertising
All too often it is easy to think “I’ll call and ask the people at the magazine what is the best option for me?”. They won’t tell you, however, what they do tell you is the best option for them. Try asking other people in similar markets (watch out for competitors stealing your ideas) or business owners that have used advertising in the past. There’s no substitute for experience and people with experience will very quickly tell you what worked and what didn’t.
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