Everyone has had at least had one million-dollar idea in their lifetime. If you’ve ever tried to market your idea, then you’ve had first-hand experience in just how difficult that can be. You could be offering the next revolutionary idea, but that means little if you don’t market your product or service correctly.
Marketing is one of the most important aspects of the success of your product or service. Therefore, we want to shed some light on interesting and creative ways SMMEs and start-ups can successfully market their businesses.
Firstly, perhaps the most important thing you can do in your marketing is to tell a story using your product. People have used storytelling for centuries to convey information. It might be art as old as time, but there is a reason it has survived this long; It works. Many businesses fall into the pitfall of trying to sell a product and not the experience and emotion behind it. People don’t want to buy your product; they want to buy the solution to their problem. It’s your job to convey that your product is that solution. Storytelling adds an extra sense of engagement and elicits a personal emotional response as opposed to listing statistics, benefits and features.
Secondly, know your audience. This is perhaps the most obvious marketing point, but you would be surprised at how often it’s overlooked. Know your target market before you market your product or service to them. Spend time researching your market as well as your competitors. Once you know who your market is, you can start planning on how to market to them. Look at their habits and behaviours. If your audience spends most of their time on Facebook, chances are that marketing via Facebook will be optimal for your marketing plan.
Additionally, it pays off to be different. Do what your competitors won’t do to stand out from the crowd. There are thousands upon thousands of products and services in the world and chances are that there is an established brand selling similar products or services to yours. To stand out, you need to market your brand in a markedly different way that your customers will remember as unique to your business.
On the topic of your customers, focus on customer relations. It is important to build relationships with your customers. Happy customers become loyal customers and will ultimately spend more money on your product or service. Unhappy customers, on the other hand, can hurt your brand’s reputation and lead to poor ratings or reviews and turn away potential customers.