Marketing is the Lifeblood of your Company

From the SBDC Vault

By Michele Miller
NW IL SBDC Director

To Market or not to market. That is the question. There is no question about it. Marketing is the lifeblood of our business. How will people find out about you and your business if you don’t tell them?

At the Small Business Development Center of Northwest Illinois (SBDC) we believe the top five reasons for business failure are:

1.Poor planning or poor preparation. Lack of a well-written business plan.
2.No working capital (money)
3.Poor choice of locations
4.Not understanding your market (customer needs)
5.No marketing (let people know you are here)

When most people think of marketing they think of advertising and the different medias there are for that. While this is true and a portion of what marketing is, it isn’t everything. One mistake owners make is that they chose one advertising media and repeat the same materials over and over. The message is lost on there customers.

The Small Business Administration gives the following information about marketing to help your business:

To succeed, entrepreneurs must attract and retain a growing base of satisfied customers. Marketing programs, though widely varied, are all aimed at convincing people to try out or keep using particular products or services. Business owners should carefully plan their marketing strategies and performance to keep their market presence strong.

Marketing is based on the importance of customers to a business and has two important principles:

1. All company policies and activities should be directed toward satisfying customer needs.
2. Profitable sales volume is more important than maximum sales volume.

To best use these principles, a small business should:

•Determine the needs of their customers through market research
•Analyze their competitive advantages to develop a market strategy
•Select specific markets to serve by target marketing
•Determine how to satisfy customer needs by identifying a market mix.

Here is what marketing is really about: The 4 P’s-Product, Price, Placement, and Promotion. Product is your product or service. How is it packaged, how is it sold, how attractive is it, is it easy to obtain, are just a few of the questions you need to ask yourself about your product? The product, it’s design, the easy of it’s use, the value or perceived value of the product all help develop brand loyalty: The reason people keep buying your product or service.

Price=what’s it worth. A business can’t stay alive without profitability. Pricing a product or service to sell is a work of art. Price it too low and you loss money. Price it too high and no one buys, you loss money. Formulas, industry trends, buyer demands, supply available, are just a few of the ingredients that help you to find the right price to sell your product or service.

Placement-where do customers find your product or services? If your customers have to go on a hunt to find your products, it won’t be long before they loss interest and look to your competition. Where you sell your products and services makes a big difference. Here’s a good example: Your six year old sees a breakfast cereal they want. The shopping begins! But where do you look for that cereal at your favorite store? If your six your are looking at a level that matches you height, about 3 ½ feet high. That is you will find the kids cereal at the kids level. Watch out! Once that is discovered they will want it.

Promotion-how will you promote your product or service? Yes, advertising medias are one avenue, but there are many more. Other promotional avenues are: Trade shows, business expos, newspaper articles, brochures, flyers, posters, giveaways, wearable advertising, entertainment venues, and many more.

Marketing is everything to your business. It is not cheap or easy. It takes a plan, time, and money to market your company. But it can be done well for a lot less then you think. To start, look at what you currently have as marketing materials. Take a good hard look at it. Does it give the whole message and image about your business or the products/services that you sell? If not it’s time for changes.

Next look at other businesses that are your competition and those that you visit as a consumer. What is attractive to you about their marketing efforts? What don’t you like? Why is it working?

The Small Business Development Center of Northwest Illinois (SBDC) has many helpful tools, ideas, and suggestions on how to market your business. For more details and how you can get your business marketing to the fullest give us a call at 815-599-3654.