Marketing – my three priorities

Introduction

Are you considering establishing your own small business, or perhaps you are currently operating a business that you bought or started yourself?  If you are, then we have found common ground.  My name is Jo Macdermott and I am writing this article about my own marketing journey in creating a business that does just that: Marketing.

The reason I started my own business is multilayered and I guess you have your own reasons as well.  Mine range from wanting to do something for myself, to being able to schedule my working day to suit my business and lifestyle, and to get back to what I really love, Marketing.

The journey of creating my own small business has been exciting, challenging, frustrating and sometimes overwhelming but I must say that it has opened up my eyes to a world of opportunities.  In this article, I would like to share with you what my three marketing priorities were to launch my own business and how these could also apply to your business.

Overview

Lets start by saying that my experience suggests that most small business owners have limited resources (both time and money). The task to grow their business in terms of sales, profits and customers can be challenging, particularly at the start.

To help you make the sometimes difficult choices of how to spend your marketing dollars, I would like to share with you what my three core marketing activities were that enabled me to launch my own business successfully.  Furthermore, how these three activities helped me to grow and establish the ‘Next Marketing’ brand in the Melbourne market.

My number one Marketing priority – establish a great looking brand

Having a stand out visual identity and brand is one of the core foundations to my business.  My brand and what we stand for at Next Marketing is drawn from this and the logo sets the tone and personality for everything we do.

For me, having a stand out brand has positioned my business as a solid and reputable organisation, even from the very beginning.  In my past life as a corporate Marketing Manager, I had predominately worked on brands that were well established. It was a pleasant surprise to learn first hand just how much traction a great looking brand and logo can give to a start up business.

From my perspective, a great looking logo is one that follows solid basic design principles such as:

• It must look good (clean and simple)

• Be functional

• Represent the company and visually represent what you do

• Is unique and enables you to stand out

• Allows your target audience to identity who you are, what you do and how you can help them in a matter of moments. 

All of these aspects can be conveyed in colours, imagery, illustrations and words. 

So how do you get a great logo?  The first step is to engage the services of a marketing advisor to help you make it happen.  It is not something that you can create yourself in clipart or publisher. Over time I have met a number of small business owners who have not made the investment in their logo. The result is usually substandard and doesn’t reflect the true value of their work or what they do. Your business is worth the investment in a great looking logo.

Number Two Marketing priority – develop a website and get one that you can change yourself

The online space is and will continue to drive the way to do business. Having a website for most industries and businesses is a must have.   From my own personal perspective, I do all of my research about people and businesses on line.  In fact, I rarely meet someone without having checked out their website or googled their name if not before the meeting certainly afterwards. 

When developing your website, it is important to consider the following:

• The company you are working with can develop a professional looking site that represents your brand and value in the market

• The navigation and layout needs to be easy to use

• The website provides all the information that your target audience is searching for

The second most important marketing decision I made in establishing my business was to commission the development of a website that I could change and update myself.  This can be done using a Content Management System, commonly referred to as a CMS system.  Having a site that can be updated in house means that you, or your clients, are not at the mercy of a web programmer or graphic designer every time a change needs to be made.  

For example, I organised an event called the Marketing Puzzle and within a day of setting the date and the speakers I had created a page on my website for that function.  This meant that I could immediately start to advertise and promote the event without delay or additional cost.  The investment in a CMS system has paid for itself in a matter of months.  This is why, in my business, I only recommend websites that have a Content Management System.

Number 3 Marketing priority – map out who your target audience is

One of the earliest tasks that I undertook in planning my business was to develop a list of customers (it could be customer names or customer types) who I wanted to work with.  In essence, I was developing a profile of my target audience.   The process took some time, involved a bit of trial and error and continues to be an evolving target.    It is really about understanding the types of customers that will buy from your business.  This is a difficult task to do, especially at the start.

The task of developing a target audience profile can be achieved by working through my Eight Step Plan. Here are the steps:

• Step One – Define your product offer

• Step Two – Define your position in the market

• Step Three – List all the customer benefits from using your product??

• Step Four – List all the groups of people who use (or you would like to use) your product

• Step Five – Prioritise the groups in step four to maximise your resources and get the best bang for your dollar

• Step Six – Select your target audience from the priority list and double check that group has the best fit for your product offer, and the best return

• Step Seven – Brainstorm as many ideas as possible in how to reach your target audience

• Step Eight – Develop a Marketing program from one of the ideas

I must stress that a ‘one size fits all’ marketing approach does not work.  Without identifying your target market and how to reach them, you will be wasting your valuable time, money and resources.  Even companies with large budgets and lots of money to spend do this activity in order to focus their spend on what works.

In summary, I know from my own personal perspective that in a small business we have limited resources and time to dedicate to growing our business.   My three marketing priorities to launch my own business were:

1.    Get a great logo and visual identity
2.    Launch a website with a CMS system
3.    Understand and identify my target audience

I believe that focusing on these three activities will set your business in the right direction and ensure that you get value for your marketing spend.

All the best in growing and marketing your own business.