The Essence of Strategy // The Essence of Profitability // The Essence of Marketing // The Essence of Funding // The Essence of Cash flow
Five by Five – Module 3
THE ESSENCE OF MARKETING
“The Money is in the Marketing.”
If you haven’t heard this before then stop and ponder on it for a moment, because understanding this statement is a key to succeeding in any business.
Imagine you own a hot-dog stand. What is the most valuable thing you can have? The answer is a hungry crowd lined up in front of your stand with money ready to buy your hot dogs! It doesn’t matter how good your product or service is, how great your price is, or how high your quality is; if you don’t have a ‘hungry crowd’ ready, willing and able to buy your product, then your business will struggle to succeed.
The essence of marketing is about making sure you always have a ‘hungry crowd’ patronising your business on a daily basis.
Many people who go into business do so because they have a skill or trade that they have developed while working for someone else. They are good at what they do and they believe they will be better off working for themselves than working for someone else. However, many who go into business do not understand the importance of marketing. They spend all of their money setting up their business, buying quality product, getting their premises looking fantastic, hiring the right staff and are left with little or no money to invest in bringing the ‘hungry crowd’ to their door.
Imagine you own a hot-dog stand. What is the most valuable thing you can have? The answer is a hungry crowd lined up in front of your stand with money ready to buy your hot dogs! It doesn’t matter how good your product or service is, how great your price is, or how high your quality is; if you don’t have a ‘hungry crowd’ ready, willing and able to buy your product, then your business will struggle to succeed.
The essence of marketing is about making sure you always have a ‘hungry crowd’ patronising your business on a daily basis.
Many people who go into business do so because they have a skill or trade that they have developed while working for someone else. They are good at what they do and they believe they will be better off working for themselves than working for someone else. However, many who go into business do not understand the importance of marketing. They spend all of their money setting up their business, buying quality product, getting their premises looking fantastic, hiring the right staff and are left with little or no money to invest in bringing the ‘hungry crowd’ to their door.
Let’s look at the steps to driving a ‘hungry crowd’ to your door:
1. Make sure you are selling what the ‘hungry crowd’ wants to buy.
You may be able to have some success by convincing customers that they want what you have, but this will be hard work. It is much easier to
simply have what they want in the first place. When deciding what sort of business you will create, or what type of product you will sell, make sure you do your homework so that you are supplying the products and services that people actually want. The best way to find this out is to simply
ASK your customers.
Successful marketing begins with knowing your market.
Make sure you put significant effort into understanding the people who will be your customers and what they want. Most business owners don’t do this and consequently they struggle to succeed in business.
simply have what they want in the first place. When deciding what sort of business you will create, or what type of product you will sell, make sure you do your homework so that you are supplying the products and services that people actually want. The best way to find this out is to simply
ASK your customers.
Successful marketing begins with knowing your market.
Make sure you put significant effort into understanding the people who will be your customers and what they want. Most business owners don’t do this and consequently they struggle to succeed in business.
2. Make sure the ‘hungry crowd’ knows where to find you.
The second key to successful marketing is getting exposure for your business in your market place. There are numerous ways to do this and many of the most effect ones are not the most obvious ones. You will need to spend some money promoting your business but make sure you get maximum mileage from your spending. When it comes to promoting your business there are two words you must never forget. They are ‘TEST’ and ‘MEASURE’. I don’t care what anybody says, the only ‘sure fire’ way to know what is going to work in generating leads for your business is to get out there and try stuff. Then test and measure everything you do.
Just do more of what works and stop doing what doesn’t work. Yes, it is that simple!
Just do more of what works and stop doing what doesn’t work. Yes, it is that simple!
3. Make sure you have a SYSTEM
Successful business people know the importance of having reliable systems to operate their business. This is most important when it comes to marketing. There are five steps to the marketing process and you want to have each step systemised.
These steps are:
These steps are:
Lead GenerationGetting the potential customer to come to you.
|
Conversion Rate
Getting the
potential customer to buy something. |
Number of Transactions
getting the customer
to come back and buy more often. |
Transaction Value
getting the customer to make larger purchases.
|
Profit
|
4. Make sure you know your ‘numbers’.
By numbers I mean, know exactly what it costs you for each step in your marketing process. What does it cost you to do each of the following?
· Generate a qualified lead.
· Convert a qualified lead to a sale.
· Convert a “one time” customer to a regular customer.
· Up sell to larger ticket items.
· Attract customers to your most profitable items.
Once you know your costs you can refine your processes. You will be able to maximise your profitability and scale up activity to generate the desired level of profits.
The essence of marketing is to know what your customers want and build systems that will bring customers to your door ready, willing, and able to buy.
The next step will be to have processes in place that encourage them to buy more often, in greater amounts, with larger profit margins.
· Generate a qualified lead.
· Convert a qualified lead to a sale.
· Convert a “one time” customer to a regular customer.
· Up sell to larger ticket items.
· Attract customers to your most profitable items.
Once you know your costs you can refine your processes. You will be able to maximise your profitability and scale up activity to generate the desired level of profits.
The essence of marketing is to know what your customers want and build systems that will bring customers to your door ready, willing, and able to buy.
The next step will be to have processes in place that encourage them to buy more often, in greater amounts, with larger profit margins.