Can you tell if your marketing strategy is going to be effective before you start? If so, how? Who can help businesses in this area?
Marc Barber, editor smallbusiness.co.uk
One of the numerous reasons "Sarf London's" finest entrepreneur, Del Boy, always failed to make his millions was because his schemes were based on gut feeling.
While you certainly have to go on instinct to an extent, some market research doesn't hurt. That can mean an email campaign, whereby you can track responses, or a direct mailing to your target audience.
Increasingly, companies send out teasers from bits of research they've put together (horribly referred to as "thought leadership" pieces or, even worse, "White Papers" – whoever asks for the full report effectively becomes a sales lead.
For a growing business, the best and most effective research will come from speaking to existing customers –or potential customers if you're getting a business off the ground. Again, going back to the flat-capped wheeler-dealer Del Boy, he may have talked the hind legs off the proverbial donkey, but he never listened either.
Many people who set up and run a company often struggle with the social side. Small fortunes will be spent on using marketing agencies, consultancies and dubious customer modeling systems, when the best and most insightful information always comes from the horse's mouth.
John Wright, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses
Your marketing strategy will only be effective with good old fashioned planning and research. Your marketing process should therefore begin long before you start trading your product. The strategy you build is a road map you can follow to the highway of success.
There are clear rules you should follow to ensure your marketing strategy is effective. Identify your ideal customer profile including age, spending power, where they live, family status and sex. Create a profile market – you need to recognise whether it is shrinking, what areas are doing best and why, and the long term trend. Market research will give you insight into what your competitors are doing to sell their products and what is working and what does not.
Once you have a wealth of market knowledge you can identify your unique selling point and devise strategies to reach your potential customers. This will neatly lead into how to best utilise a range of different targeted media outlets to advertise your product and your business.
Research and planning is the key to a successful marketing strategy, but if you have not designed a realistic budget your marketing strategy could fall flat on its face. Never question 'can you afford not to' but 'will the marketing return justify the costs?'
Clearly everyone would love to take out full page spreads in national newspapers, followed by a television advertising campaign and billboards across the country, but what big businesses have access to small businesses normally do not. Cost-effective alternatives – such as using the internet and search engine optimisation – can fulfil your brief leaving you reaping the rewards.Mark Addy, Business Link adviser
Market research should be a fundamental element of your marketing strategy. Whether you are selling a product or a service, you will need to identify your target market and understand your competitors and their offer.
Market research can help you to choose an appropriate price for your goods or services. If your product has a USP and is well regarded in the market place you may be able to command a premium price, but if you offer a similar service to other suppliers your price will need to be at least comparable.
Business Link can help you to find a cost effective research company from its supplier database or discuss ways you can do basic research yourself. Research can confirm or refine your target audience and therefore where you will be selling and promoting your product.
Your potential customers will need to hear about your company or product many times before they will consider you. It may be better to concentrate your promotional budget on multiple advertising and repeated mailings than to spread your resources too thinly.
Your marketing and promotion activity should be regularly monitored and adapted to increase its effectiveness, for example, by asking a customer where they heard about you.
For practical tips on marketing, to help save you time and make money, visit the Business Link website at businesslink.gov.uk/marketingstrategy, or call Business Link on 0845 600 9 006 for details of the advice and support available in your local area.
