“The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.” The Chartered Institute of Marketing (aka CIM)
Congratulations. If you’re trading as successful SME (a small or medium sized enterprise) you are most definitely already doing some marketing. Our guess is that you have a website, you dabble in sending email newsletters & post frequently on social media. You might also be unsure how effective it all is.
Marketing can feel baffling, right?
We meet many independent business owners who understand the basics, but stumble over how to really make the most of it or optimise it for their business. That’s why our mission at The Narrative Marketing Agency is to make marketing easy. To bust the myths, breakdown the jargon & help independent businesses like yours thrive.
Here, we break marketing down to its most basic principles. Setting the scene with where it all began, a little look at the theory & finishing with 3 key takeaways you can work on today.
It’s likely that following will raise a question or two. If that’s the case send them direct to our founder michelle@narratieagency.co.uk.
So, let’s start at the very beginning.
Mass production.
The ‘consumer revolution’ was born out of the ‘Industrial Revolution’. Large-scale production & better transport systems meant that more people than ever could buy items previously only available for the wealthy.
This new culture of shopping inspired super early marketing techniques. Techniques like window dressing & visual merchandising. As well as the creation of leaflets distributed locally, known today as Direct Marketing.
Consumer demand only grew over the several hundred years that followed. So did the competition.
By the early 20th century the first examples of branding were used. Helping consumers differentiate products from one another other. By the 1960s businesses began investing even more energy & budgets into marketing; it was the age of ads & the birth of TV (if you haven’t seen Mad Men yet, add it to your list).
Then boom: the internet.
Search engines meant that consumers had never before been so equipped at making decisions about how & with whom to spend their cash. As computers became smaller, the internet became more accessible. Today 59% of the total global population are active internet users.
The basic principles: the 4 & 7 Ps
Despite how far media space (& media production quality) has come in the last 60 years, the basic principles of marketing haven’t changed that much.
Edmund Jerome McCarthy was an American marketing professor & author. In the 1960s he published a book that is still heavily used in education today; ‘Basic Marketing A Managerial Approach’.
McCarthy identified 4 key elements of marketing, widely known as the Marketing 4Ps:
Product
Price
Place
Promotion
Edmund understood that effective marketing meant delivering the right product, at the right price, in the right place with the right level of promotion.
More recently these 4Ps evolved to 7Ps. Catering largely for the progression of the service industry, but also highlighting the shift to a more customer-first approach.
People
Process
Physical Environment
In Practice
Now to build on those foundations. Here are 3 takeaways you can work on today to better improve the effectiveness of your marketing & ultimately drive business.
1. Reconnect with your mission
What made you first go into business? What value are you really bringing your customers or clients?
Over time it’s only natural to lose sight of your initial drive of going into business. Your outlook evolves & so does your business. Reminding yourself of the initial reason you set up in the first place helps to strip away the outside noise.
Remind yourself & your employees of the real value you bring to the lives of the people who use your goods or service. Ask yourself:
In what way am I helping them?
What needs or desires am I fulfilling in them?
How do they feel when using my goods or service?
Note down everything that comes to mind. This is the starting point of crafting your company or brand mission statement.
2. Define your aim
What is your biggest challenge right now? What does you business need?
The obvious answer is always money. Marketing is about digging a little deeper. A good marketeer will break down the barrier between what you’re selling & who’s buying, helping you to identify areas of opportunity.
Here’s a few examples of deeper aims & strategies on how to achieve them:
AIM: Increase repeat orders/customers
ANSWER: Create deeper brand loyalty from existing customers via a loyalty scheme
AIM: Acquire new customers ANSWER: Create valuable & relevant content for the target audience aimed at entertaining or educating them
Take a deeper look at your numbers & you’ll soon get a better feel for your strengths & weaknesses. Helping you to identify opportunities for your business as well as threats.
3. Understand & Connect With Your Audience
Who are they beyond their age, location, income? What are their interests, aspirations & pain-points?
Getting under the skin of your target audience will help you better connect with them. Understanding them as individuals will guide how you interact with them:
The media you use to reach them e.g. social media, email or print
The angle or message you use to gain their attention
The best way to understand someone is to speak with them. If you’re customer facing, use every opportunity to engage in two-way conversation. Alternatively, free online tools like Survey Monkey enable you to create a questionnaire. You could incentivise your customers to complete it. Or dig into your social media. Read all the comments & inbox messages sent to your business & all the posts or comments made about your business.
Aim to understand who they really are, what are there dreams & ambitions. What are their pain points. You’ll soon start to identity similarities in your customers. This is the beginning of your customer profile.
Final thoughts
Marketing can feel overwhelming, but chances are you’re already doing it! If you’ve ever set your business a goal or an aim, you’ve most definitely employed a marketing strategy in order to achieve it.
Your customer is at the heart of your marketing. Knowing who you’re talking to makes communication so much easier. It will help you to develop ways in which to reach your audience; the marketing or media channels available to your business. As well as defining the value your business brings to their life. Advising you on how best to capture their attention & motivate them.
Marketing - or reaching the people who could benefit from your business - has never been more accessible. For you & your competitor. Just a little attention on the execution of your marketing will soon make a real, tangible difference to your bottom line.
Have a question or two? Send them to our founder michelle@narratieagency.co.uk. Find more free tips, tricks & advise in our Free Marketing Tools section.
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