Promotion Part I

absolutely run to work with you. There are many ways to promote your small business. However, there are some basic concepts that form the foundation of success. The “marketing mix” or “4 P's of marketing” was first introduced in the 1960s. The marketing mix includes:

* Product/Service

* Price

* Place

* Promotion

Let’s look at each area a little closer.

Product/Service: What is your product or service, and what value does it bring?

To market your product(s)/service(s) effectively, you need to understand the problems it solves, what differentiates it from your competition’s product(s)/service(s), and what benefits it provides to buyers. You need to know:

* The features of your product(s) or service(s).

* The benefits you provide your customers.

* What needs your product(s) or service(s) meet.

* What makes your product(s) or service(s) different from/better than those of your competitors.

* Where your product(s) or service(s) are in the lifecycle. Is it new or established.

Price: The price of a product(s)/service(s) is an essential part of its marketing.

For example, marketing and advertising for a luxury product might emphasize quality, guarantee how long the product will last, etc. For a discount product, you’d emphasize the cost savings. You need to know:

* What is the perceived value of product(s)/service(s) like yours among your target customers?

* What types of prices do your competitors charge for similar product(s)/service(s)?

* If you want to charge more, what value/additional worth can you add to your product(s)/service(s) to charge a higher price?

* How price-sensitive are your customers?

* What types of promotional discounts can you offer and still make a profit?

Place: This refers to where and how you sale your product(s)/service(s).

This is also known as your distribution channels. For instance, you might sell to the local community in your store or sell to the world on your eCommerce website. B2B companies typically use salespeople to sell their product or service. You need to know:

* Where do customers typically learn about product(s)/service(s) like yours?

* Where are your product(s)/service(s) sold?

* How do you get your product(s)/service(s) to the customer?

* Do you sell your product(s)/service(s) directly or through resellers?

* Do you have in-house salespeople?

* How and where does your competition sell their product(s)/service(s)?

Promotion: The industry uses promotion interchangeably with advertising or marketing. However, in reality, promotion encompasses both activities, plus public relations, word-of-mouth and more. Essentially, promotion is everything you do to spread the word about your business. You need to know:

* Which promotional channels are right for your business.

* Which sales promotions (discounts, sales, etc.) would drive customers while remaining cost effective.

* What would be the best timing for promotions (for instance, offering discounts during the holiday shopping season)

How can you put what you understand about promotion and put it into action?

1. Paid Advertising

Whether your business is just starting out, or you are launching a new/updated product/service,  you are competing against established brands. You want to promote yourself in your local newspaper, on social media, in online ads, and maybe even through direct mail marketing (like coupons and flyers).

Consumers can’t buy what you are selling if they don’t know it exists.

2. Promote Online for Free

You might not have the same budget  as a larger competitor, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get your name out there. You can use a free social media strategy and search engine optimization, including an optimized Google My Business listing. Positive reviews across search and social will reinforce your promotion efforts.

Social media is one of the cheapest ways to promote your business. It is as easy as setting up business pages on the social media channels that make sense for the product(s)/service(s) you sell. Typically, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram are the top choices. These networks allow businesses to set up their own pages and thus create an online presence in these communities for free. However, if you’re going to set up social media profiles, make sure you tend to them regularly. Don’t just set up everything because you feel you have to. Focus on what you can manage and keep up the conversations there. Engage with other Facebook groups, search for hashtags on Instagram that are related to your business, join in discussions online and post interesting topics on your own pages. You can also use social media to share sales, discounts, local news and events, behind the scenes look at your business and much more. Plus, social media is a great way to communicate with your customers directly to solve any issues they may be having. When you’re ready, you can start paying to promote content or even doing social media advertising. For the best long-term results, invest in social media advertising as well as just posting for free.

Most marketing and advertising takes place online because that is how over 50% of people first learn about product(s)/service(s) they want to purchase. You can optimize your website for search engines by strategically using keywords and links. They help your site appear in customer’s search results. Optimizing your content for search engines seems complicated. However, there are a lot of beginner guides out there to get you started on this important long-term strategy. Optimizing your Google My Business page can help you rise to the top of local search results. Your business will also show up for local searches in Google with a unique format above the other search results. If unpaid search engine techniques aren’t working, you can try pay-per-click (PPC) advertising on search engine result pages. This will help attract the specific customers you’re looking for when they are ready to buy. While being more expensive than SEO, PPC is a fast, effective way to get more leads for your business now.

Across your local search results and your social media pages, there are opportunities for you to gather customer reviews. Seeing positive reviews help potential customers decide to buy from you or not. Excellent customer service builds customer loyalty. Loyal customers write positive reviews.

3. Build Customer Loyalty

You can use promotion is also a valuable tool to enhance customer loyalty. After customers have purchased from you, you need to keep promoting your business to encourage them to keep coming back. Ongoing promotion lets your customers know that your business is still ready and willing to serve them. Some techniques to build customer loyalty include:

* Offer excellent customer service in every aspect of your business.

* Send birthday cards, offer gifts, nice packaging, free shipping or anything else that they will truly appreciate.

* Be a valuable asset to the community.

* Using email marketing to stay in touch with customers, share news, and offer exclusive discounts.

* Consider implementing a customer loyalty program

 Building customer loyalty will help generate ongoing word-of-mouth promotion from your customers and help generate more positive reviews.

4. Email Marketing

Email marketing is great for long-term promotion of your business with new and existing customers. You can pique the interest of a customer by offering discounts and valuable content like eBooks, checklists, etc. Once a customer has asked about your product or service, get their permission to send them emails from your business.

Do you feel ready to promote your business? It’s not a matter of if, it’s how. You can use email marketing with social media, search engine advertising, reviews and customer loyalty. Search advertising will help you attract new customers, while email marketing can help you keep existing customers. Social media marketing can do it all. Now you just have to get started.