Are you an entrepreneur looking for ways to increase your business visibility and brand awareness online? Are you new to marketing and not sure where to begin? If yes, don’t worry, you’re in the right place.
Marketing can be complex because it comprises a wide range of disciplines, methods, and strategies, but once you understand a few key components, it’s not as difficult as you may think.
Future success, like so many other things, begins with the basics. Here are the 14 most important things you need to know before starting your marketing project—the 7P’s and the 7C’s of Marketing.
The Ps
The seven Ps of marketing evaluate the overall marketing strategy by taking into account the following:
Product
What you’re selling plays an important role in the growth of your business. Ask yourself, is this the right product for my ideal clients? Is this what my customers want? Is this what my competitors are selling? What makes my product unique? Am I solving a problem? Does this product highlight my skills? Make sure your product is in alignment with you and your business, as well as your ideal clients. The goal is to give your best offering to those who need it most.
Prices
The price of your product plays an important role in the success of your business. Make it a habit to review and reevaluate the prices of items and services you regularly sell to ensure relevancy in the current market. Keep track of costs to make sure you’re making a profit and keep track of sales. All of these numbers will help you shift as needed. For example, if sales start to dip on a particular offering, evaluate the reason why. Are you not promoting enough? Is no one interested in it anymore? Is it time to update a product?
Promotion
All of the ways you communicate to your customers and sell your products or services are called promotion. This includes newsletters, social media, ads, websites, and in-person networking. The promotion of your products and services plays a vital role in any business’s success because that’s how you reach your audience and build relationships.
Place
As an entrepreneur, it’s your job to try all outlets and see which one works the best for your ideal clients. Where do you see the most engagement? Facebook? Instagram? LinkedIn? You must choose the optimum platform for your ideal client to get critical buying information on your products and services.
Packaging
Packaging is another key component of marketing. Take a step back and examine every visual detail of your product or service’s packaging from a client’s point of view. How do you feel? Is your landing page visually appealing? Is the copy engaging? Remember that people create their first impressions of you or your organization within the first 30 seconds of seeing you or some aspect of it. Small changes to the packaging or appearance from the outside can visually lead to an influx of new customers. Yes, the packaging is that important.
Positioning
The degree to which how people perceive your brand influences how willing they are to buy your product or service and how much they are willing to pay. Position yourself as a leader. Share everything you know. Be open and vulnerable. Act in integrity—show up as the same person offline as you are online. Believe in yourself.
People
Whether you’re hiring your own team members or an outside agency, you must take the time to get it right. Hire slow and fire fast. Make sure that whomever you work with can get behind your mission and vision. Of course, they’re not going to believe in it at the level that you, as the entrepreneur, believe in it, but they have to be able to understand why you’re doing what you’re doing. They have to feel the urgency behind the mission.
The Cs
Consider the 7Cs as tools to help your business grow. There’s no denying that you need to market your company online, regardless of your industry and niche. The advantages are nearly endless, and the rewards are enormous. Here are seven compelling reasons to get your company online as soon as possible.
Credibility
People use the internet to buy products more than ever before. Having a website that thoroughly describes all of your services or products is a must! It’s your digital storefront—the place where you can showcase your qualifications and let people get to know more about you and your products which builds trust and gives you credibility.
Cost-Effective
Building a website for your business is cost-effective and simple. With various all-inclusive, plug-and-play online platforms, spending tens of thousands of dollars is no longer necessary. You can DIY a website within a few hours while sitting in the comfort of your own home.
Customers
Relationships are key to growth. Any heart-centered entrepreneur knows that it’s more important to have good relationships with customers and to see them as a person, not as a target market. Once you understand your customer, you can easily adapt your brand to appeal to the customers and grow in that direction.
Communication
The right brand message educates, informs, and earns trust. And once you’ve earned the trust of your audience, you’ve earned their loyalty. They’re bound to come back to you. Communication is key here. Show up consistently online with consistent messaging. Thoughtfully reply to comments and direct messages. Take the time to create visually appealing and valuable content. Show them that you care through your actions.
Close
Wouldn’t it be great to have a salesperson who never calls in sick, works around the clock, and always sends the same message to your customers? You can have that now by hiring just one person to handle your social media, and this way, your customers will never have to wait for a response for their query.
Customer Service
If you’re using the internet for everything related to your business, why not utilize the same platform to handle your customer service issues? Setting up an FAQ section on your website is one of the simplest ways to reduce customer service difficulties. Setting up texting on your website will give your customers answers to questions in real time. Create a system to reply to all reviews on Google, Yelp, etc.
Cash
Most entrepreneurs have more than one revenue stream. Developing an online aspect of your business can generate additional cash—passive income. It also transforms your company from a local operation to a worldwide company with limitless revenue potential. A website is all you need to increase your revenue and grow your business.
