Marketing Your Business

What do you think of when someone says marketing? If you’re not sure, marketing is simply a way to spread the message about your business to existing and potential clients and customers.

Plan your Marketing

Make a plan to ensure that you do different marketing activities for your business each month. In the plan, answer the questions:

» Who do you want to reach?
» What is your message to them?
» How can you use marketing, PR and advertising to remind your target audience about your business several times over a few months?

Then plan in which marketing activities you will do each month. There are some ideas below to get you started:

Ideas for Marketing Activities

» Direct Mail
» Flyers
» Coupon promotions
» Insert Leaflets
» Sales Letters
» Newsletters
» Postcards

Ideas for Online Marketing

» Email Newsletters
» E-Blasts (short email reminders)
» Pay per click adverts
» Article marketing
» Banners

Content for Your Marketing

People who receive your marketing materials may not be expecting them. You need to use clear words and inviting pictures to draw people in to read your message and encourage them to act on it.

First, be clear about the BENEFITS of what you are offering to the person reading the message. Think about how you would answer if the person asked, “What would your product/service do for me?” Then, you may have space to describe a few FEATURES of what you offer. Focus on what makes your offering different to others. Finally, end with the ACTION you want people to take. This could be a number to telephone, where to find your premises or a call to buy.

Follow this guidance to create successful marketing messages. Plan to market your business on a regular basis and measure which ways of marketing work the best.