Marketing - Lifeblood of a Business
Marketing - Lifeblood of a Business
So your business does its fair share of advertising, right? You
run commercials on the radio and on TV. You post ads in the
daily newspaper and in the weekly neighborhood tabloids. You
have a quarter-page ad in the Yellow Pages and are listed in the
Business section of the phone book. You have an Internet webpage
and can be found on all the major search engines.
Granted, most small businesses cannot advertise in all these
ways. Advertising normally requires a significant financial
investment, and volume advertising is typically out of reach of
the typical small business. But you probably are advertising in
some manner.
Say you run a skin care product service. Perhaps your business's
phone number can be found in the phone book or on its webpage.
Perhaps you have a magnetic sign on your car door or even a sign
in the yard.
So you're advertising...but are you marketing?
Marketing involves more direct targeting than advertising. It's
a more personalized approach to reaching customers and potential
customers. Marketing is essential to your business growth and
ultimately to your success.
When you market, you reach out to the specific people you want
to become your clients. You make contact with them:
face-to-face, voice-to-voice, interest-to-interest. You know who
they are and you focus the majority of your advertising effort
on reaching them.
If you place an ad in the local paper, it will probably cost a
pretty penny and who will read it? You don't really know. Maybe
everybody in the city; maybe nobody for miles around. On the
other hand, if you place a coupon or an ad in a small newsletter
that is handed out free-of-charge to customers at a nearby nail
salon, who will read it? Very likely people who are interested
in, surprise, skin care products! It may cost you a few dollars
to market in the publication, but chances are it will be less
expensive than an ad in the newspaper. And do you think it might
attract customers who will want to buy your products? You bet!