Marketing, in a nutshell, is persuasive communication that makes your business stand out. When your business has a unique aspect to it, people take notice, whether they are currently in the market for your item or not.
Part of the marketing equation includes promotion (along with product, price and place). How should marketing promote your business or product?
- Communicates your message. The company’s message has to be consistent and visible in all communication to potential customers. This includes websites, newsletters, blogs, advertisements, social media, landing pages, etc. Without a consistent message across all your communication platforms, your customer can get confused and frustrated and leave without making a purchase.
- Answers your customer’s questions. Customers, especially new ones, have questions and they may not have the time to give your customer service a call. They want to be able to go to your social media outlets or your website to find their answers. Your marketing copy has to be informative so their questions are answered and they can move on to making a purchase decision. Answering questions can be as simple as a FAQ section on your website.
- Alleviates your customer’s concerns. This goes hand-in-hand with the previous point. When your customer has a concern, they want to be reassured that their purchase is going to be the right thing to do. Your communication needs to be reassuring and informative so your customer feels like their purchase is going to go well. Alleviating concerns can include an easy return policy, free shipping when the product is purchased and free shipping if there has to be a return or exchange, simple financing for large purchases, customer reviews, or any other information that reduces the perceived risk of purchasing your product.
- Provides your customer a low-risk action that is easy to take. When customers haven’t decided if your product is for them, a low-risk action could be the thing that makes them decide to go for it. A money-back guarantee is a great low-risk action.
- Captures the attention of your target audience. Not everyone will purchase your product, so your marketing has to target the customers that will be more likely to spend their money on your business.
- Grows social media presence. Social media is everywhere and it is a huge platform for marketing efforts. Just about every target audience is on a social media site, so it can be critical for a company to grow its following. Branding, general information, promotions, ads, etc can all fit into growing a social media presence.
- Improves SEO. Websites need to have good SEO strategies in order for potential customers to find a company that will fit their needs. If a customer searches for an item and a company does not rank on the first page of the search results, the company has probably lost the opportunity to connect to that customer. Strong website writing, with SEO in mind, enables companies to get their online presence front and center of potential customers.
- Increases brand awareness. Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Target, Apple. All these companies have used marketing to create strong brands that are recognized worldwide. Brand awareness is something that is always being defined and built and consistent marketing is how brands are built and communicated.
- Sells products or services. This is the ultimate goal of marketing and this is what most people think of when they hear about marketing. Sales is the ultimate goal because, without sales, there is no company.
Sales, which equates to revenue and profits, is the ultimate goal of any business. Companies need to have a strong marketing strategy to reach and influence their customers. Plus, businesses need to stand out from their competitors. Gaining new customers and turning current customers into loyal customers is always going to be the focus of any marketing technique.
