Before you spend any money on a flashy ad campaign, invest some time in researching your target market and your competition. Collecting this invaluable data will help you decide where to best put your marketing energy and dollars. Next you’ll develop a marketing strategy that takes into account how you want to position your brand, where you can best reach your customers, and how much you have to spend. Your ideal “marketing mix” could include a combination of ads & direct mail, promotions, social media, and public relations. And take into account that decisions may ultimately be determined by your budget.

Topics in This article

Research Your Business

First, know thyself. It’s time to make a clear assessment of what you offer, both the pluses and the minuses. This may seem obvious, but the more you understand about your products and services and the demand for them, the better you can market your company.

Consider specifics about the following:

• Your products and/or services
• Your location and geographic reach (local? national? international?)
• Your pricing (compared to industry averages)
• How you distribute your products
• How effective are your current promotion methods?
• How your products and services differ from the competition

Tip: Don’t ignore your negatives – customers won’t – instead, think about how to offer a solution or turn them into a positive.

In developing your brand, you probably gave a lot of thought to the “position” of your brand. Whether it’s about luxury or convenience or being reliable, your brand personality now comes into play, helping to state what is unique about your products and services, and why it’s the best choice in its category.

back to top

Research Your Target Market

Who are you selling to? And who do you want to sell to? Keep in mind that (1) it’s impossible to appeal to everyone and (2) there’s no sense in barking up the wrong tree, so it’s smart to focus your efforts on a target market. Even if you have more than one ideal group of customers, this essential research will help you appeal to them where they are more likely to hear your message.

A good way to think about marketing to a specific group is to ask, “How can my business satisfy their need?” If people aren’t interested in what you are selling, well… it’s better to find out what they are interested in.

Research the following aspects:

• Demographics: age, gender, marital status, income level, education level
• Activities and interests
• Attitudes and concerns
• Buying and shopping habits
• Media consumption

Where to do this research:

• The Internet, of course
• Trade associations and their publications
• Visit your competitors’ locations and see who’s there
• Read blogs related to your product or service
• “Listen in” on online communities and message boards
• Survey existing customers
• Use official census data
• Check out your chamber of commerce or local economic development agencies for demographic information
• Buy it – hire a market research firm or buy lists

Tip: Create a typical customer profile: “My ideal customer is a middle or upper class male in his 30s, suburban dwelling, with a strong interest in sports and technology.” Then find out what those guys are doing, listening to, watching, and spending money on.

back to top

Research the Competition

You can learn a lot from the competition. Because you have a similar product and share (or fight over?) a customer base, the success or shortcomings of their marketing efforts can clue you in about how your target will likely respond.

• Study their websites and how they present their companies
• Analyze their ads
• Visit their stores and observe the atmosphere, the customers, the displays, etc.
• Compare their prices
• Take note of their sales and promotions: when they run, who is targeted
• Is there an area or group that the competitor isn’t serving?

Think about your company from the customer’s point of view: why should they choose you over them? Once you have a clear picture of what the competition is offering and how, you can determine how your brand differs and better fulfills the customer’s needs. Then tell the customer this.

back to top

Marketing Strategy Overview

Now that you know everything you can about your brand, your potential customers, and your competition, you can start planning your promotional strategy. There’s certainly more to marketing than running an ad, and what really matters is where and how you can reach your audience. You want to choose the appropriate methods and media to which they are most likely to respond.

back to top

Ads – Online and Off

Unfortunately, we can’t just build it and hope they will come. We have to let them know we exist, especially if we’re running a business out of our home or otherwise don’t have a storefront with lots of foot traffic. And ads – in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and on websites, billboards, coffee cups, trash cans (apparently, if it has a surface, we will put an ad there), radio stations, and more – are one way to do this. Direct mail (and its online sister, the e-mail campaign) is another highly effective marketing technique.

But before we plunk down a chunk of change on developing and implementing a campaign, let’s make sure it’s a viable method for the business. Ask the following:

• Does the medium suit the brand’s position?
• Is the ad running where the target market will see/hear it? Is the mail/email targeted to interested prospects?
• Is it running often enough for the message to sink in? Can you afford to run it often enough for the necessary exposure?

back to top

Promotions

Sometimes customers need an incentive or a way to get excited about your brand. Promotions that can do this take many forms: product demonstrations, coupons, rebates, and contests.

Product Demonstrations: Participating in a trade show or doing a live demonstration at a store is an excellent way to show off your goods and answer consumer questions, but it can be expensive when all is said and done. If this isn’t possible, add a video demonstration to your website. Better yet, film a live demonstration and post that on your website. Also, post it on YouTube or another video sharing site with a link back to your website. This way, the investment of the one-time in-person demonstration isn’t lost when the booth is packed up.

Coupons & Rebates: Everybody likes to save money. We like getting a bargain, a downright steal even more so. Just be sure to set limits on your offerings: Limit one per customer, an offer expiration date, etc.

Contests: Ever dropped your business card into a jar for the possibility of a freebie? There’s a low cost option that supplies vital customer information. And while a small consultancy probably can’t give away a million bucks like a fast food chain, you can offer a chance to win a free gift or other service when customers forward your e-newsletter to 5 new people. And that’s one way to grow your mailing list.

back to top

Social Media

Everyone seems to be blogging and twittering these days, but how exactly can you use social media to promote your business? An excellent option for those on a shoestring budget, but be prepared to put some time in to make social networking and other methods pay off. And always consider the appropriateness of it. While there are a lot of tech-savvy seniors out there, if your service is aimed at the silver set, more traditional media could have more impact.

If you are already addicted to your BlackBerry or iPhone, microblogging on Twitter could be an excellent way for you to gain online visibility since you are “in touch” all day anyway. Adding a blog to your website is a great way to add fresh content which keeps visitors returning to see what’s new (and search engines like new content too), but if you aren’t able to post often, your blog could feel “neglected” – not necessarily the impression you want to make in a competitive environment.

A major component of using social media is that it turns the traditional advertising model of telling the consumer what to buy into a conversation with the consumer – about what they want. So social networking is not usually the place for the hard sell. Instead, share reliable insights about your products or area of business – this will position you as an “expert” and build trust among your customers.

Participating in any form of social media will help increase your company's visibility on the web so it’s more easily found – a major challenge in the vast world of the web. More social media options are described in more detail in our Online Business Promotion section.

back to top

Public relations

It’s more indirect, but a little PR goes a long way. For example, good press always validates your efforts, but then we don’t have much control over making it happen. Think about where you can be proactive: sponsoring an event or charity inline with the interests of your business or customers can convey your company’s values in a way ads can’t touch (and may attract press coverage!). Sending out press releases about newsworthy happenings can help inspire press coverage.

And remember that every customer interaction is a from of public relations and has the potential to generate valuable word-of-mouth.

back to top

Integrating Your Marketing

Just like your branding is consistent, so should your marketing be. Put it all together into an integrated plan so that the various tactics reinforce each other. In a general sense, the messaging should be the same across all promotions, online and off, broadcast and print. And working more than one front creates great impact.

OBSERVATION: Have you noticed that American Airlines knows why you fly, and has a website, TV commercials, and print ads to prove it? While an expensive multi-platform campaign like this may not be in your budget, staying “on message” with consistent branding throughout all areas of your marketing can reinforce your brand image.

back to top

The Marketing Budget

How much should you spend on marketing? There’s definitely no magic formula. Although some will suggest a certain percentage of sales based on the size of your business, this can vary widely and there’s no guarantee of accuracy.

Make realistic goals supported by what you can actually afford, which probably means you’ll be making a lot of tough decisions. A glossy national magazine may suit your brand perfectly, but it might be more practical to opt for a quarter page ad in the national while springing for a full-page ad in a local publication with more regional reach. Or perhaps there really isn’t a budget at all – then it may be up to you to invest in social networking – very low cost, but much more of a time commitment.

Tip: Gauge your campaign’s effectiveness. For example, ask new clients how they heard about your company. Also, coupons and discount codes can literally be counted when they are used, and online efforts such as Pay-Per-Click and eNewsletters will have tracking statistics you can analyze to see what’s working.

back to top