Marketing



Marketing strategiesIn any business, your success will be related to a successful marketing strategy. Your chosen strategy will depend on the size and age of your business and your budget. Every business is unique; therefore, different market strategies will work for other companies. With a marketing strategy you goal is to create awareness/demand for your business and products, through the various marketing tools and techniques covered in the guide.Before you develop a market strategy, you need to know your customer base; you need to know the demographics of what could work for them, their preferences and what could fail. Having a market strategy as part of your long-term plan helps grow a business and you as an entrepreneur. Your first step is to understand your niche market or “target audience”.38735266382500Review the questions we covered in the Guide and Workbooks:What is your brand? Position your business.Define your go-to-market strategy. 03810000Your strategy will help you focus your resources, in a consistent manner, with methods you can review and evaluate as your business changes. Take the time to learn about your customers and your competition. Consider factors like your location, how much access people will have to you, the standard of living, pricing, and quality. Ensure your product exceeds your target market's expectations. Your offering should be BETTER and answer why consumers should pick you rather than the competitors. Set a budget, basically how much you are willing to spend on marketing and brief the people in your team that will be making the marketing strategy work. Types of Marketing StrategiesChose a marketing strategy will work for you and your business. You can select more than one strategy and even change strategies along your business journey. Business-to-Consumer Strategies 29210771800These marketing strategies deal with the business going straight to the consumers or the intended market and can either be online or in-store. This strategy focuses on consumers and is driven by them, forcing you to know your consumers and potential consumers. Things like what kind of advertising works best for them, what type of social media and preferences they have, how much money they have at their disposal and how much they are willing to spend. For example: You walk into a mal and there are salespeople or people in a particular store that approach you and educate you about a certain product they have to offer. This happens a lot of gyms where they send out people into shopping centres and malls to recruit people. This is busines directly conversing with potential customers, no middle-man. Online marketing strategy would be when companies or businesses communicate with you using online platforms such as social media or even a website. Some stores now offer to email you things like your receipt and when they have your details hey end promotional messages using such online platforms. Example when a busines sends you emails and messages about upcoming sales and news about changes in the business if new stores are open and ways to make shopping easier for you. left19300 Employee Marketing StrategiesThis marketing strategy gives discounts to its workers, making them “brand ambassadors” for the business. The business provides the employees’ with discounts when they purchase or support the business, allowing them to get the best deals and represent the business when they are not at work.This strategy makes them ambassadors 24/7 as they will be using the product and can vouch for the business first-hand which is excellent because they can provide consumers or potential consumers an idea of the reality of using the products. They can spread the word and even post and boast about your product online or on social media platforms, sharing their experience and expectations. For Example: Employees in an insurance company getting 40% of when they ensure themselves and their assets with the company or employees in a gym being allowed to use the gym for free between certain hours. This will give them a first-hand experience at what the business has to offer and they can be able to give consumers answers based on knowledge and experience. Customer trust employees more, that is why this strategy works.Business to Business strategies left12995400This strategy is a simple one where a business provides goods or services to another company. An example of this would be a delivery service where you are a business, and you deliver products, material, machinery, or furniture etc. on behalf of other companies and to other companies.You would need to find ways to interact and communicate with other businesses to convince them to do business with you. You will need to have a relationship with them to conduct business and several steps and procedures must be put in place for this to happen. Example: Uber eats working with restaurants to deliver their food to customers boosting sales and business for both businesses. Direct selling left10795Products that are sold directly or “face to face“ to the intended market. Example of this would be how some gyms advertise in shopping centres by having personal trainers or, people who work at the gym, with some gym equipment and demonstrate how the gym equipment works. They provide one on one communication and explain how one can join the gym. Cause marketing 4807585889000Many businesses go for this type of marketing to boost their sales because they compliment their core business with a cause. Causes such as part of the money going towards an orphanage or helping with kids go to school. Example of this would be the “Hope Jar” at where customers have the option to donate R2 towards feeding a hungry child. Media and public relations left9875600This type of marketing strategy can be expensive. Business’s pay for large scale promotion on leading media platforms (television, newspapers, social media, billboards). Some businesses even have celebrities to promote their businesses. Example, a famous person is your business's face to boost sales because the person has a large following and has access to various clients customers and other stakeholders, which could boost sales for you as a business. Siya Kolisi is the brand ambassador of MTN South Africa and Adidas. 13090843697800Collaborations and partnerships Collaborating or working with people in the same industry as you, can be mutually beneficial to all businesses. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) use the strengths of the private sector to revive or build public services and infrastructure. PPPs are partnerships between the public sector and private businesses geared towards the efficient cost-effective delivery of public projects. Example: Free State social grants, this aims to provide pensions and other social grants in remote rural areas using wireless technologies. Through the additional use of an electronic fingerprint recognition system, efficiencies have improved and there has been a reduction in fraud. It is a collaboration with others for everyone to benefit. Internet and Digital Marketing left1016000Digital Marketing is when you use digital media across the internet and various social media platforms, blogs, email, etc. and is part of your overall marketing strategy. Ensure you post relevant information online to help market and promote your business to your customers and potential customers. I many ways this method is fast replacing brochures and flyers, as content and awareness about your product can be created by using hashtags and images. You can also post things that would be relevant to your consumers such as tips, better ways to use your products, market new and upcoming product, ask them for feedback and opinions about your product. You can also set up an order system via your website, an app or WhatsApp. An online presence is becoming more and more important during the current times when purchasing patterns have changed and more and more customers are shifting to online shopping. For example, Mary using her social media and website to market her goods. She could constantly be uploading news of her curtains, the prices and the sales that are happening. She would so use this to educate people on how to take care of curtains as well as how to clean them. She would also upload new designs and curtains that are available for purchase and answer questions from customers, helping them to make orders. left10491Point-of-purchase marketing Point of purchase marketing is when your employee tries to sell products to your customer base within the business. An example of this would be when you are out buying groceries at a place like Pick n Pay or Checkers, and they try to sell and promote a particular brand while you are shopping. 53957615808900When at the till, the customer will provide the teller the voucher or code for a discount on the “promoted” items the customer purchased. For example: You are about to pay for your groceries and the cashier alerts you that you can take 2 of the same product for a price one. Also when you are at a till and the cashier tries to sell you a product the store is promoting, Pick n Pay cashier asking you is you have a smart shopper account and if you would like one. Networking events left5631900Networking events can be online or actual events you can attend or host to meet potential stakeholders or clients. These events are an opportunity to inform people about who you are and to educate people about your business. The benefit is that the “network” will spread the word for you, which could result in greater opportunities for your business. An example would be Mary in the first chapter of the entrepreneur guide who went to a networking event and was able to meet people who later became a part of her business. She was also able to recommend Sipho to the other business men and women at the event. ................
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