Browsing: Marketing

No matter how much you think you know about your business, no matter how much experience you have in your chosen field, without a clear understanding of the competitions in the market, you might as well be driving blind. Big companies spend thousands of dollars to conduct competitive market analysis, but fortunately for those of you on a tight budget, you can do quite a bit of this yourself, without spending much at all.

Gimmicks, tricks and tactics are quick fix approaches to marketing. They may get you the attention of the market, but they can never get you their affection. It’s one thing to be known [attention] is another to be liked [affection] and a whole different thing to be trusted [conviction]. These are the 3 levels of market engagement; each describes the kind of relationship a brand has with her target audience.

There is a big difference between referrals coming from customers than those coming from your network. Sales made through referrals from satisfied customers carry more credibility because it comes from a third party; people who know, like and trust your brand. While sales made through your existing relationships carry less credibility because it comes from a second party; people who know, like and trust you.

A company, product/service that simply describes a category or proclaiming anything generic is not a brand. Brands are specific, tangible, meaningful, unique and useful. Here is a simple test for you to know if a product/service is a brand or not. Simply write this question down and try to answer it for the brand;

Business Promotion Strategies: Many entrepreneurs fall prey to the best mouse trap illusion; your product/service can be the best ever, but it won’t sell itself until you find a way to get the word out. The aspect of marketing that deals with getting the word out is called promotion. Without this critical element of promotion in your marketing strategy, it doesn’t matter how extraordinary your product/service may be, if the market doesn’t know about it, it will definitely fail.