Keep Marketing Simple

It can be difficult to get started and to know what is the best route to market, to get to grips with how to market effectively.

1on1 Sales have put together some guidance which is hoped will simplify the process but is not really an alternative for a Marketing Consultant:

Step 1 Set Your Business Objectives

What is it that you are striving to achieve with your business; what are your short term, medium term and long term aims. Write these down and be clear about what you want the business to stand for and what you personally want from it.

Step 2 Define your business

Exactly what are you offering to prospective customers; What are you marketing? Is it a product or a service? Be clear about the types of medium you should consider to market to. Think about what you really need, it is more sales, more profit, both, a better or more regarded brand, more publicity perhaps.

Step 3 Set Priorities

You will know what needs to happen first in terms of the most important objectives that come before the others. Wite down what results that need to happen first to meet the most pressing aspects of your business.Consider the interaction between these and whether you need to logically group them into a plan. Its no good building the walls before the foundation!

Step 4 The Marketing Mix

This is about the 7 p's of Price, Promotion,People,Process,Product,Place and Physical.

Please go to the The Marketing Mix to read about these in more detail.

Step 5 Set Yourself Tasks

The marketing mix should have clarified that the whole recipe need to be right to create the best results.

But there is a lot to do so to make things easier then - Break Your Plan Into Bite-Size Pieces bearing in mind that they must conform to the logic you set up about what happens first.

To apply marketing techniques you really need to have a good understanding of the process. Consider what you might feel comfortable in understanding and doing yourself and consider getting expert help in areas that you do not feel capable in.

Don't try and do everything at once and in a hurry.You will simply end up going round in circles.

Step 6 Measure Results

In too many organisations the marketing budget is expalined away by phrases "we spent x on advertising and really pushed our profile",or "our corporate days plus tv advetising means that we now have more exposure that our competitors"

You can spend endless amounts on advertising on promotions on special offers on logo's on publications....the list goes on.

The trick is that once you have really understood the mix and the process then it is not usually too difficult to employ means to measure the effects of your efforts.It is so important to do this as you will not know other wise what measures to take and why to continually improve your marketing.

Oh and one last thing. The market place does not stand still, it changes with mood, technology, politics, war, competition and so on. The marketing processs needs to be continually assessed and adapted to meet the ongoing demands.

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