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Marketing is an essential aspect of running any successful business. No matter what industry you're operating in, regardless of the size of your business, there's always an element of marketing that you capitalise on to help you grow.
When you say 'marketing' to someone, they will often think of one or two aspects of it or things in general terms, but marketing as a business tool is a broad spectrum and has many facets.
You can use it to help build brand awareness, engage and communicate with customers (new and old) and use it to ultimately drive sales to help your bottom line, but why is it so important to EVERY business?
What can it bring to your own business to help you grow and how can you utilise it effectively? Let's take a look.
Why Marketing Is Even More Important in the 21st Century
With the rise of digital technology, the internet, social media and the ubiquity of smartphones, there is now a multitude of marketing channels and media platforms that businesses can easily access and use to market their brand and reach their target audience, often for little or no cost.
Whilst they still exist, marketing no longer starts and ends with newspapers, radio or television advertising or relies on large marketing firms to launch your new product or build brand awareness.
With some knowledge and understanding of the industry and the marketplace, you can market yourself, often with fantastic results. Let's dive into what some of those results might be and how you can benefit from them.
1. Builds Brand Awareness
With the rise of the aforementioned social media and how easy the internet is to access on the go, getting people to become aware that your brand exists still has a number of challenges, but you should be embracing them all.
Now the whole world is your potential marketplace, building awareness of your brand should be a key driver when it comes to your marketing efforts and that's going to take an identity, a strategy to maximise it and the use of social media to spread the word!
That said, it's one thing to put your product or service in front of consumers, but they'll still be wary of buying it if they don't know who your brand is, what it stands for or why they should use it. To do that, you need a strong presence in the marketplace and that comes through marketing.
Brand awareness boils down to how recognisable your business, product or service is to consumers. Branding is more than a logo. It encompasses that of course but also incorporates your company style, your tonal voice, how authentic you are and your reputation.
Once people are aware of you and buy into your brand, they'll be more loyal and more likely to become repeat customers, becoming advocates for you often choosing your product over your competition, even if it's more expensive.
If you need any help creating a brand strategy, then please take a look at our website and then get in touch so we can show you how we can help you build something amazing.
2. Reach New Customers
Now the world has opened up, marketing provides the best way to reach all those potential new customers.
With all the marketing channels that are now open to you covering a wealth of formats, you have the tools to potentially reach a huge amount of new customers, no matter how mainstream or niche your business is.
Whether you're using your website, social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube or hosting events, you can really bring people to you that may not have heard of you before.
These tools give you the opportunity to not only reach new customers but the ability to actively engage and communicate with them directly, both online and in person.
You can speak to them via social media, communicate with the via comments on your videos or blogs, website live chat or through more obvious channels like telephone and email.
It's through these channels that you get to foster those relationships, especially when you can personalise your marketing, by presenting the best possible side of your business to the public and emphasising that you welcome them to your community, they can be your best marketing asset.
3. Drive Sales
Let's not kid ourselves, the ultimate goal of almost all marketing campaigns is to make money by driving sales, but it doesn't have to be so clinical.
The sale itself is the end product, but the real importance and benefit of the marketing effort that gets you there is that it can show the value you offer to customers, what differentiates you from your competition and the chance to inform anyone who'll listen exactly who you are and why they should buy from you.
Whether you're targeting individuals, groups or other companies, marketing is going to be the difference between a cursory glance and a completed sale.
It's also worth remembering that you're not always looking to market to new customers. Too many businesses forget their existing customers when it comes to marketing campaigns.
Offering discounts for your repeat customers or those who've signed up for your newsletter (but not purchased) are great ways to re-engage with them and get that revenue flowing again.
4. Stay Ahead of the Competition
In this increasingly competitive marketplace and challenging economy, marketing shouldn't be considered in isolation.
No matter what industry you work in, chances are, you have competitors. There will be other businesses, some smaller and some larger than you, but all will offer what you do or sell what you sell, maybe not EXACTLY the same, but close enough to be considered competition. Marketing helps you cut through that noise and gives you the opportunity to separate yourself for all the right reasons.
Even if you're in a crowded market and sell (or offer) something that a hundred other people do, marketing can help you stay ahead of the competition.
Creating an innovative marketing campaign that gets people talking, creating a social media post that goes viral or pushing the boundaries in your press or radio campaigns, then people will take notice.
If you can also show that you offer something different from the rest then they'll be attracted to what you do, even if it isn't that different from the rest.
Conclusion
"For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict" - Luke 21:15
As we touched upon earlier, marketing doesn't exist in isolation. Marketing is obviously important to any business in terms of driving sales and reaching your customers, but it's also about showing you know what your customers want and solving the problems they face, rather than who can offer the biggest discount.
The real importance to a business and the enormous power of marketing is that it isn't just one thing or exists in one place, it can be a thousand different things on a hundred different platforms that can reach a million people or more.
Technology has given us the tools to be able to run a business from a gadget we keep in our pockets, so embrace it and tell your story to the world.
If you're daunted by the power of a successful marketing campaign, don't be. It doesn't have to be grand or expensive to achieve your goals.
At P45 Consultancy, we have over 20 years of experience to call upon and having worked on countless campaigns across all forms of media during that time, I can tell you it's within everyone's grasp, including yours, to create something that works! I believe in you. #BelieveInSuccess
Which marketing techniques have you used in your own business? What worked for you? What didn't? Did anything you learn surprise you? Let us know in the comments below.
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If you need any assistance in building your brand strategy, coming up with a new marketing campaign or launching an event to launch your latest product, then please get in touch with us using the form below and let's make something incredible together!
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