You can’t just set up shop and hope for the best. Every year, small businesses create 1.5 million jobs across the U.S. In fact, they account for 64% of all new jobs, occupying somewhere from 30% to 50% of the commercial space in the United States.
The problem is, only 25% of newly opened businesses make it to 15 years or more. Whereas around 20% of them fail in the first two years, 45% during the first five, and 65% in the next 10 years, explained the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For a business to thrive, marketing will be a top priority. With a solid marketing strategy, you get to develop goods and services that offer the ultimate profit potential. By marketing your business, you get to discover areas impacted by organizational growth.
As a result, you get to form an organizational plan tailored towards the customer’s needs. If you have no clue where to start, we compiled 7 key steps to marketing that can prove useful. Here is all you need to know to take your business to the next level.
1. Carry Out a Substantial Market Research
Many experts focus on market research because it can create a practical advantage. Conducting market research is all about collecting key information on customer’s buying patterns, thinking, and location.
It is a critical component in developing a long-term market strategy. Before you can advertise your business, you should get a good sense of the market by researching the:
- Market size
- Pricing
- Demand
- Market saturation
- Economic indicators
By creating better marketing practices, companies can strengthen brand recognition and create meaningful marketing materials, stated the U.S. Small Business Administration.
With enough research, you can follow the latest market trends, forecasts, and general outlook on your competition. For example, freight revenues, characteristics, and future numbers centered towards a certain target market.
According to experts, to establish a foothold in your target area, you must understand the consumer base from the outset. Researching the market allows companies to decrease risks while their business is still in its starting phase. Thus, becoming a stepping-stone for success.
Besides, those who know how to do hefty research will have an easier time compiling their marketing resume. A proper marketing resume is a well-formatted and written piece of work. It will define your distinct value proposition and list key details of education and employment.
If writing a good marketer resume is not your forte, you can rely on professional resume writers to do the work for you. Resume writers know exactly how to make a striking resume with figures, stats, and useful information. All of which can leave a lasting positive impact. So, having professional resume writers to rely on can come in handy.
2. Profile the Target Market In Your Niche
Without a target audience, you will be spending too much to promote your product. Segmenting or grouping the potential clients according to their characteristics can help you save on costs. Typical grouping is based on the following characteristics:
- Client’s location
- Demographics (work, income, education level, gender, age)
- Behavior towards purchasing the product (how willing are they to buy it)
- Social, personal, and lifestyle values
Before selling a product or a service, you need to make sure that your target audience has the need for that product and is willing to spend on it. Profiling the market can give you that advantage and insight.
If you need extra help, you might want to consider online or in-person tutoring. Those who want to learn some extra information on business marketing can find more about Wyzant, a practical tutoring service. Wyzant is a convenient platform for matching tutors with students.
3. Find Your Business’s USP (Unique Selling Proposition)
What’s the unique benefit your company exhibits? Is there something that enables your brand, product, or service to stand out from the rest? Every startup must define its market and competition. The truth is, operating in a competitive market or niche marketing industry is no easy feat.
The USP will be your leverage. To succeed, you should make that unique selling proposition a cornerstone of the overall marketing strategy. Start by defining your distinct assets or characteristics that could be conveyed to future customers. The USP comes on top of the exceptional service.
For example, what would inspire clients to purchase your service over that of the competition? How will clients benefit from it? By answering these questions, you can get a step closer to identifying your USP.
4. Establish a Business Brand That Connects With Customers
Every business doesn’t matter how big or small, should have a brand. A brand is not just the tagline, color, or logo. It needs to be properly articulated so that it can resonate with the target audience. It should convey the goals and ideals of the business, what you stand for, and how you can deliver on what you offer.
Do have in mind, however, that building a brand takes plenty of effort. It can take 5 to 7 impressions for customers to remember a brand. Preliminary data shows that color boosts brand recognition by 80%.
While consistently presenting that brand on all platforms can boost revenue by not more than 23%. If you need to develop extra knowledge and marketing skills, you can find more about Wyzant. Private tutors service can help polish your career skill development.
5. Select Advertising Avenues
Entrepreneurs can take multiple avenues when marketing their business. From paid email marketing to building a social media presence, they can reach a wide range of audiences and promote product awareness. Today, most successful businesses combine both of these channels.
That’s why it is important for you to use every advertising avenue to your advantage. These choices include creating a business website, flyers, blogging, social media, letters, event networking, brochures, cold calling, and lastly, word-of-mouth.
With Wyzant private marketing tutors, you can learn to cover the basics of the different marketing avenues. You can find more about Wyzant and how they can help you polish your marketing skills.
6. Determine the Budget and Goals
Your budget will help you set the advertising goals. You should be spending between 3% to 5% of the estimated yearly turnover on advertising strategies. Anything more than that can be a costly investment. But, for a newly opened business, it is not uncommon to need to allocate a couple of extra funds to create the business profile.
The goals must be attainable, specific, measurable, relevant, and time-based. So, evaluate the expenses on your promotional material, website maintenance, development, sponsorships, and donations, before you undertake any marketing activity.
Don’t forget to regularly monitor your success and achievements. That way, you’ll make sure you are getting the desired results. Also, you will figure out whether you need to implement new tactics to tackle the arising issues.
For instance, if a new competitor entered the marketplace with a novel product. By reviewing and monitoring your activities, you can determine the efficacy of your marketing campaigns.
7. Pay Extra Attention to Loyal Clients
Your clients will be the key to your business’s success. Therefore, looking after them will boost loyalty and profit. By nurturing those who remain loyal to your product or service, you can set yourself apart from the competition.
Renowned companies always work towards building customer loyalty. You can achieve that by going the extra mile and giving the clients extra benefits with every future purchase. You can also use their complaints and feedback to amplify the quality of the products. With regular communication, you can go a long way. Focusing on customer loyalty can help you achieve that.
Final Thoughts
Due to the various marketing tactics, it is difficult to know where to start. But, unless you know where to allocate your funds, you can have a hard time achieving that success. By following the steps here, you can get a clear perspective on how to make that decision. These are all beneficial factors that can help a startup navigate through a highly competitive industry.