Marketing

What is Marketing?
There are many definitions of marketing but one of the easiest ways to define it is:

Marketing is not only about identifying and understanding your customer and giving them what they want or advertising and promoting your business. To market your business effectively is the result of exploring every aspect of your business and how it affects the consumer’s experience to the very end. Marketing covers everything you’ll need to do in order to bring your products and services to the consumer including research, planning, pricing, packaging, promotion, selling and distribution. Find out what programs are available to help you market your business effectively through Australian Government Funding options. 

Developing and implementing a marketing strategy is a necessary process for a successful business. As you start your business this process begins, and it must remain an ongoing process throughout the life of your business.

1. Know your product or service
2.  Know your competitors product or service better than they do
3.  Who are your customers?
4.  Identify a target market
5.  You will need a strong marketing message
6.  Know how to promote and advertise your business
7.  Make yourself visible to your target market
8. Build relationships with your customers
9. Get an advantage over your competitors

Find out what programs are available to help you market your business effectively through Australian Government Funding options. Phone 1800 785 972.

Marketing Plan
A marketing plan helps you to put together your total marketing endeavour. It ensures an orderly approach to developing products and services while assuring your customers’ needs are met. When you are writing a marketing plan you will need to be clear and realistic, including deadlines, providing budgets, allocating responsibility, meeting your objectives and how you will reach them.

Key elements to a marketing plan:
Breakdown of Your Current Market
Your Business Objectives (what you plan to achieve)
Key Plan
Steps to Achieving Your Goals
Anticipated Budget

Email Marketing
Email marketing is an important part of any business; it not only keeps you in touch with your customers while being extremely cost effective: It also allows you to alert your customers to future promotions, sales and new product release/arrivals. It keeps your customers up to date and in touch, it keeps you ahead of your competitors.

A good business owner knows the importance in retaining an existing customer as it will cost you 5 times more to find a new one. Customers are like gold, they should be treated like that, and an email will let them know that you haven’t forgotten them. Email marketing is not just about your product either; it can have handy hints and ideas that may be helpful for your customers as well.

For the novice there are plenty of free trials on offer where companies have already designed the templates, so all you have to do is simply put in the message you want then send it out to your customer (nice and easy).

The free trials for these usually last for 30 days, enough time for you to play around with them until you get it right or decide you would like to join up and continue using their services. It’s advisable to have a look at a few different companies that offer these services as they all vary in their templates, email us or call 1800 785 972 for more information.

See ‘Online Strategies‘ for more Internet Marketing information.