Why Market My Business?
When it comes to any business, there is always room for improvement. Therefore, the need to market a company always exists. You may want to expand your current sales channels, grow your client base, or increase your market share. Maybe your sales have fallen and you need to generate more leads and opportunities. Or maybe you’re a completely new company with no existing brand or clients and you need to let the world know that your new business exists.
No matter the reason, marketing is crucial in order for a business to grow and thrive.
Who Should I Market To?
The first step in designing a marketing plan is to determine who you want to sell to. Who will buy your products and services? Or more simply stated, “Who are your ideal customers?”. Who is the specific group of people that you want/need to reach?
Your ideal client profile should be developed by considering the industry or population that your business serves.
- Are your ideal clients people (B2C) or other businesses (B2B)?
- How would you describe them?
- What do they have in common?
- What might motivate them to buy your product or hire you to perform your services?
If your business is new, think about why you started the company.
- Who do you want to serve?
- What products or services do you want to offer?
- How do you provide value to others?
If you’re still not sure who your idea clients are, it may be helpful to look for clues by researching successful companies that offer similar services to yours.
Where Do I Reach Potential Clients / Customers?
Once you know who you’re marketing your business to, it’s time to determine where to market your business in order to reach that ideal client. Think about how they will find you, where they will see and read your message, or how they might look for a business that provides your types of products or services.
Blanket Marketing
Have you driven around town and noticed the billboards on the highways, or passed by posters on telephone poles and banners on the sides of buildings? How about advertisements in newspapers or magazines you read? This is called blanket marketing, which is when a company markets to a very broad audience. Everyone who drives on the highway, or walks past their banner, or reads the newspaper will see their ad.
This method is most commonly used by large corporations with large matching budgets because it tends to be the most expensive type of marketing. Blanket marketing may also be used by local construction companies with a residential-service model (i.e. HVAC cleaning & repair companies) since a large cross-section of people (homeowners) may eventually need such a service. But most business cannot afford to spend so much on a single marketing strategy that must be maintained over an extended period of time. Unless your business provides a desirable product or service to a large portion of the population (think of brands like Coca-Cola and Ford), odds are that a blanket marketing campaign isn’t going to generate the desired results.
Targeted Marketing
The opposite of using a Blanket Marketing method is Direct or Targeted Marketing. With this method, using your ideal client profile, you only market to a specific subset of the population – your desired demographic. Building on our previous example, if you would like to market your HVAC cleaning & repair service to homeowners in your city, you could design a direct mail campaign that is delivered only to single-family homes. This would be a more effective use of your marketing dollars, compared to a billboard on the highway.
