Bulls n Bears Entrepreneurship Zone :: How to market your business more effectively

[Bulls n Bears]

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 

 

 

First, a bit about us. Don’t click away, this is important. Last year DHL
shifted nearly four million tonnes of airfreight on behalf of around 2.7
million business customers. These are companies ranging from global
corporations right down to the classic teenager in his dad’s garage.

Like everyone else, they each started their business life with just one
thing – a good product or idea. And that’s where they’d stay, without
getting to grips with at least some aspects of the process known as
marketing. If you want to thrive, you need to put marketing at the very
heart of your business; here’s how you get started.

What is marketing? Is it just a fancy word for selling?

It’s way more than that. While selling is mostly about the transaction of
goods for cash, marketing concerns itself with the entire business process.
It embraces product development, the people who are most likely to buy your
product, your pricing structure, promotional techniques and more. If you see
a pattern developing here, you’re right.

The key principles of marketing all start with a ‘P’

It’s generally held that there are five Ps in what people call ‘the
marketing mix’. (Some stretch the term to include seven or even nine, but
there are five main ones.) Whether you sit down and construct a formal
five-year marketing strategy or do things a little more on the fly, you
should always be thinking about the five Ps: Price, product, people, place
and promotion. Let’s take an overview of each one:


1. Product


This is presumably why you’re here. You’ve got a good product and you want
to sell it. For the sake of brevity, our use of ‘product’ also includes
things like apps and services, and applies to business-to-consumer (B2C) and
business-to-business (B2B) sales. Right from the start, you need to forget
that you’ve got anything to do with the product at all. Instead, examine it
afresh from the perspective of a potential customer. Channel their thoughts
like this:

*         Hey, that looks cool. I wonder what it does?

*         I could use something like this in my study/garage/kitchen

*         I wonder if it’s available in black?

*         Maybe there are cheaper versions elsewhere?

*         This would make me look good to my boss/partner/kids

*         Not sure about that name. How am I supposed to pronounce it?

*         Why all this packaging? Don’t they know plastic is the enemy?

*         It would make a great gift. Maybe it’s cheaper if I buy several

*         Ah, the instructions. ‘Utilise’? ‘Enablement’? Who talks like
this?

By forensically examining every aspect of your product – maybe asking
disinterested observers to do likewise – you’ll find ways to enhance it or
make it more appealing to more people. You need to think ahead too. Just
about everything for sale has a ‘product life cycle’, a period after which
sales naturally decline. You must be ready for that, and plan to introduce
new and/or improved versions of the product long before your sales curve
starts to head south.


2. Price


Ever noticed anything odd about men’s grooming site, Dollar Shave Club?
They’re wildly successful at what they do, but nobody’s ever bought a razor
from them for a dollar. It can’t be done. Not once the cost of shipping is
included. That’s just one example of how a clever pricing strategy (together
with a catchy name) can reel the shoppers in. Determining the price of your
product is a balancing act. Set it too low and you might appear cheap and
inferior. Set it too high and people will quickly look elsewhere. There are
exceptions, of course. A Dyson fan will blow the same air around your living
room as a regular fan, but advanced technology and a unique design mean the
company can command a cost per unit many times higher than other
manufacturers. See also: Apple.

Rather than going with your gut feeling, do some research. Look at what
your competitors (if any) are charging and learn what your potential
customers would be willing to pay. Consider offering bulk discounts or
introductory offers, or adding value in other ways such as a user guide or
club membership.

Then consider which pricing strategy you should implement. There’s a range
of different strategies to suit different objectives and marketing
environments. Some of the main ones are:

Market penetration

This is where your initial price is set artificially low, then hiked once
you’ve achieved a pre-determined market share. New subscription services
like TV or broadband providers typically use this model. As we’ve seen, the
Dollar Shave Club is pretty much just the name on the door.

Price skimming

Price skimming occurs when a first-to-the-market company can afford to
charge a higher price, but then has to adjust its prices downwards when
cut-price competitors arrive on the scene. Most hi-tech items are
eye-wateringly expensive at launch.

Neutral pricing

Here, you set the price to match whatever the bulk of your competitors are
charging. It’s not a strategy to adopt if your products are demonstrably
superior to others.

Once you’ve settled on a price that brings the orders trickling in, turn
your attention to how you can modify your pricing strategy so that the
trickle becomes a stream, then a torrent, then a flood. Never stop testing,
in other words. (But always have that other P-word at the back of your mind
– profit.)


3. People


A lot of companies claim to be people-centric, but this should always be
more than a buzz phrase for your ‘about us’ page. People – individuals –
should be at the heart of everything you do, not just a consideration in
your marketing plans. Ask yourself:

*         What do people want from your product or service?

*         Are they using it in ways you hadn’t envisaged?

*         How are they interacting with your brand?

*         What are they saying about you on social media or review sites?

*         Do you value your customers or feel they somehow ‘get in the
way’?

*         How can you improve their experience of your website or products?

*         When was the last time you wrote a personal note to a customer?

You may call them crew, colleagues, team members or plain old employees,
but the people who work for you are vital to the success of your enterprise.
If you’re passionate about your business, you’ll clearly want people who
share at least some of your commitment. This shared idealism not only
creates a happier working environment, it also helps gives you a competitive
edge over less united rivals. This topic is explored in our article
investigating how to build your team for success.


4. Place


‘Place’ in a marketing mix context refers not to a single location but to
several: where your business is located; where your customers are located;
and any points in between such as warehouses, distributors and retailers.
How you get your products from you to the end user is, as with most things
in marketing, customer driven. You have to find out where your customers
are, where they might look to find your product, where they’d feel most
comfortable buying it, how long they’re prepared to wait for it to be
delivered, how often they’re likely to place an order and so on. Knowing the
answers will help you determine the best – i.e. quickest, simplest and most
cost-efficient – method of getting your stuff out there.

Now you could be lucky in that your business might thrive just through
selling handmade watches to a handful of high net worth individuals every
year. In which case, distribution is a pretty simple matter and your main
concern is ensuring you have hefty insurance. But for most SMEs, a more
structured system will be required. Depending on the nature of your
business, it could involve multiple stages:



It’s no exaggeration to say that distribution can make or break a business.
But help is at hand. Because when it comes to national or international
logistics, whether for global corporations or bedroom-based startups, nobody
can offer more hands-on experience or helpful advice than DHL. With offices
in over 220 countries and territories, we’re the first name in crossing
borders, reaching new markets and growing your business. And, as our
software aligns with many e-commerce platforms, your customers can see
shipping costs transparently. Quora has some interesting contributions about
‘place’ in the marketing mix.


5. Promotion


This is what most people think of when you talk about marketing, but
promotion is just the communication aspect of the marketing process and is
often one of the last steps you take. Promotion can take many forms:

Advertising

*         TV and radio

*         Newspapers and magazines

*         Posters

*         PPC (pay per click) advertising

*         Online banners

*         Email

*         Direct mail

*         Social media

Sales promotion

*         Money-off coupons

*         Loyalty programs

*         Product sampling

*         Competitions

*         Point of sale

Public relations

*         Press releases

*         Exhibitions and events

*         Sponsorship


6. Packaging


Unlike traditional advertising like television or press ads, digital media
lets you scientifically test the effectiveness of promotions very
accurately. You can launch a marketing campaign online and immediately see
how many people interacted with your ad, visited your website and bought a
product. The trouble is, your competitors can do exactly the same thing –
and their marketing budget might be bigger, meaning they can reach more
people, more often.

So it’s here that you balance the science of responsive marketing with
creativity and impact, so that your advertising stands out from the crowd
through the use of striking images or a distinctive ‘tone of voice’.
Incidentally, pay no heed to those who claim advertising ‘doesn’t work’ on
them. They’re often the ones who drive a VW ‘because it’s reliable’, wear
Levis ‘because they’re hardwearing’ or use Persil because it ‘washes
whiter’.


The importance of word of mouth


No form of promotion has ever bettered word of mouth. The internet has made
it a lot easier for you to harness its power, using social media platforms
such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. You could be a natural at engaging
with people online but, as with most other aspects of marketing, you may
prefer to get expert help.

And remember, in a changing world it’s vital that your marketing adapts to
new circumstances and stays relevant. That means keeping it refreshed and
never once thinking that it’s a box that’s been ticked.

This article was originally published by DHL.—Howwemadeitinafrica 



Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

 

Telephone:    <tel:%2B263%204%202927658> +263 4 2927658

Cellphone:      <tel:%2B263%2077%20344%201674> +263 77 344 1674

Alt. Email:    <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> info at bulls.co.zw  

Website:
<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bulls.co.zw&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AF
QjCNH8LYgdY55h-XKseuM8Kpr-JKdfhQ> www.bulls.co.zw 

Blog:
<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bulls.co.zw%2Fblog&sa=D&sntz=1
&usg=AFQjCNFoIy6F9IXAiYnSoPSgWDYsr8Sqtw> www.bulls.co.zw/blog

Twitter:                  @bullsbears2010

LinkedIn:               Bulls n Bears Zimbabwe

Facebook:
<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FBullsBearsZimba
bwe&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGhb_A5rp4biV1dGHbgiAhUxQqBXA>
www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe

Skype:         Bulls.Bears 



 

 

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: winmail.dat
Type: application/ms-tnef
Size: 314611 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20180917/adba9109/attachment-0001.bin>