Sunday, October 19, 2008

85 Ways to Market Your Small Business

With the advent of the internet, new and existing businesses would be foolish to ignore such a huge pool of potential customers. The world is becoming a much smaller place – the intimacy between business and customer more intense than ever before. So how do you go about your marketing strategy to encompass traditional methods, as well modernising for the internet? Thankfully, the underlying principles remain the same.

Research Your Market

Integral to a small business marketing plan, gathering comprehensive information about your potential clients, competitors and potential marketplace, will help you effectively package and position your product and service. This helps you can fit demand, rather than the other way round.

Understanding What People Buy

People buy products or services for an outcome, either to satisfy a positive or to avoid a negative outcome. What a person values is normally what determines their buying decision. These values are things that matter deeply to a person. Your values create mental filters which search for satisfaction when choosing a product or service. Company slogans sometimes choose a few simple words to satisfy their target market's needs. For example, Sainsbury's is ‘Making life taste better'.

Getting the Price Right

Setting a price is a balancing act. It has a strong influence on how you feel about the value of your work. Undercharging for your product or service may make you feel undervalued, or you may be perceived as being cheap therefore not so valuable. Overcharging can be as problematic. You may inadvertently price yourself out of the market or put yourself under pressure to deliver a high value product or service that equates to the price you're charging.

Making it Easy to Buy from you

As mentioned in the opening paragraph of this article, the internet as a purchasing vehicle means everything is expected in an instant. If you don't make the effort to hit between the eyes within the first few seconds, people won't make the effort to understand your product or service. Your communication message must be instantaneous and positive, within any industry. The easier it is to do business with you, the more business you are likely to do thus helping to grow your business.

Fine Tuning Your Marketing Plan

Revising your marketing plan means re-evaluating it every year and making changes for it to succeed. Re-evaluating means new goals and priorities, therefore you'll need to integrate these additional tasks with your original plans. This may need some flexibility, a contingency fund, or the benefit of trial and error to get it right. It's likely to alter your marketing plan.

At webooks.co.uk, users can read the full texts of over 150 books, at no charge or download the PDF or buy the hard copy of the book at our online store. Users can also sign up to the newsletter to receive alerts when new titles are added to the online library.