Are you marketing effectively? Successful marketing does not happen by chance. It happens with planned, consistent and co-ordinated activity.  You must ensure you are paying attention to the following to ensure you do not waste time and money.

• Understand your business

Can you answer these three questions objectively and honestly to make your business attractive to potential customers?

• What do you do or what is your product?
• Who wants it?
• Why should they bother?

You probably know more about your business than anyone else, so you need to start by making a list of:

• What you do well
• What you do not do well
• What do you do better than your competitors?
• What you do not
• What are your key strengths?
• What are your weaknesses?

Do this regularly as the marketplace and competition is constantly changing.

• Understand your  customers

To make the most of your marketing you must understand why customers buy from you. To do this put yourself in your customer’s shoes, think like a customer, talk like a customer. You need to find out more about your customers so you can look for more with the same characteristics. Ask customers why they buy from you rather than a competitor. Ask them what would they do to improve your business? Ask are you easy to do business with?
Make a list of the customers you like. What industry or industries are they from? What do you like about them? How can you attract more of them?

• Create compelling marketing messages

Now you understand your customers and your business you have to get noticed. Everything you do in your business sends a message to your customers and prospects from the way you answer the phone, to your premises, your vehicles and your service. Do not even think of this as marketing think of it as communicating with customers and prospects. Establish your three key messages, and use them everywhere. Make sure you have your 60 second description of your business that you can use anywhere. Ensure that you tell your prospects and customers what you want them to do when they have seen your material.

• Decide on your marketing materials

There are more and more ways to contact customers and prospects in today’s crowed world. So you must decide which is appropriate for your customers and prospects. Again think like the customer what do they read? Where do they spend their social and leisure time? What about the demographics, age, location, lifestyle? You could be using social media, a web site, and advertising in local shops or local magazines, newsletters, direct mail and networking. The possibilities are endless. Remember the power of repetition. Decide what you really need and how you are going to use it to ensure your budget is effective and affordable.

• Test your efforts

You must track and monitor your marketing activities to determine what is working and what is not. Then do more of the things that are working and drop the things that are not. Throwing out marketing activates and hoping for the best is wasteful of both time and money.

• Develop follow up activity

Most prospects do not buy the first time they see or hear a message. So make sure you have a follow up system in place for regular contact with both prospects and existing customers. You could do this by phone calls, with a newsletter or email or direct mail. Follow up campaigns help your prospects to get to know like and trust you.

• Expect a time lag

It takes time for marketing efforts to show results anything from 3 to 6 months is not unusual. So keep the momentum to ensure you do marketing activities regularly.

And a bonus. Stop looking for the secret. There is no secret or magic formula. It takes work and consistent effort over a period of time to succeed. For that you need to have a marketing action plan a budget and be committed to the plan. Do not stop either because you have had some early success or because things do not appear to be working.

Need personal help?

I will help you answer the question “what do I need to do to give customers what they want?” My marketing diagnostic can review and revitalise your marketing, suggest new ways and recommend changes. Give me a call on 01226 290288 or email gareth@gapmanagement.co.uk
Whether you need a lot of help or a little please call me. Tell me what you want to achieve and over what period of time. I will explain the most cost effective and efficient ways to achieve your goals.

About GAP Management

GAP Management helps business owners and managers to find, win and keep customers to increase sales and profits and to focus their sales and marketing activities.
Clients tell us that our work really works. They find working with us motivating and inspiring because we are good at finding out what they really need. We listen to them and come up with fresh ideas, and give them momentum and inspiration that helps them to increase sales and find new customers.