Friday, February 02, 2007 | startups 0to5
Product positioning
The trick to good marketing is getting your name out in front of the people who need to see it. Determine your critical customer base and start spreading the word about your company, whether it’s through traditional advertising, trade shows or a Web site.
Get the word out
By Shelia Watson, Contributing Writer
A marketing plan provides the roadmap
that can drive action and point the wayto identify which customers are the bestprospects, evaluate data in the industryor market and track results to learn what works best.
For many companies, especially new businesses, creating a marketing plan is often a daunting task, and unfortunately, the startup budget usually can’t accommodate a consultant to help with the task.
But marketing doesn’t necessarily require a huge expense. Jerry Thompson, retired from a marketing firm in New York and now living
on Kiawah Island, said effective strategic marketing comes down to a few practical steps.
Know your market. Sit down with pen and paper, or even better, gather a few trusted advisers and friends, and brainstorm over a few
questions:
* To whom are you selling?
* What do your customers need?
* Where do you want your company to be in a year? In five years?
* What makes your product or service different from your competitors and how can you make that difference more noticeable?
* What is the size of your market: your neighborhood, region, state
or worldwide? How does your product or service get distributed?
Thompson said the answers to these questions help form the core of the marketing plan.
For Gerri Brown, director of marketing for Southeast Integration Services, a specialized construction company based in Charleston, the
key to a successful marketing plan can be summed up in one sentence: Go where people are looking and get your name there.
“Right now we’re getting ready for a big expo, and we have to be aware of who that audience is,” she said. “We’re concentrating on getting our name out in front of them in ways that will make us stand out.”
Position yourself. You need to get word about what you do or what you make in front of the people who will buy it. Thompson said this is
where the line often blurs between promotion, advertising and public relations.
“In the end, you just want your customers to know who you are and where they can find you,” he said. Thompson pointed out that news releases are fine but sometimes advertising is more effective.
“A press release will give you a few inches in the news or may lead to a larger story,” he said. “But you can’t control the content. With an
ad, on the other hand, you do have control of the wording. You can say whatever you want, within limits of course, in your ad and drive people
to you.”
Thompson said to remember the collateral materials.
“Get your business cards, flyers and brochures together so you’ll have those to hand out,” he said. “They’re fairly easy to produce from your
desktop. And get a Web site, even if it’s very basic. Everyone is on the Web, and you don’t want to be missed by people who search that way.
If all you have to start with is your company name and contact information, then put that. You can always hire a professional later to make it
sizzle.”
Brown recommends variety.
“You really have to try a lot of different ways,” she said. “Get your name in print, get a Web site, try radio and TV. There are a lot of different avenues you can take, and not all of them are right for every company, so you have to analyze all of them and see which one works best
for you.”
For Brown, having people associate the logo and company name with the product or service is key.
“Corporate branding is so important these days,” she said. “You want people to hear your name or see your logo and know instantly what
you’re about.”
Set your goals. Knowing where you’re headed is part of making the plan work. Thompson said it’s best to define what you expect to accomplish by a specific date.
“Be as exact as you can be,” he said. “That way you’ll know how to measure it later.”
The plan need not be formal, but it should be written down, he said. And it should include the following:
* A summary of the goals.
* A list of target markets, including segmentations and niche areas.
* Expenses and resources needed, including collaterals.
* Competitive strategies, such as what you’ll do if a competitor lowers its price.
Thompson noted that it’s best to have a benchmark—something to measure your success against. This could be a similar company that is doing well, or an industry standard.
Measure the results. At various points—weekly, monthly, quarterly—you should take stock of your progress. Calculate the costs of marketing and weigh them against the benefits you’ve received. Tools such as Microsoft Excel or Access have templates that can help with
measurements.
“Remember, even if your results are positive, don’t rest on your laurels,” he said. “Markets change all the time and you have to be ready to
change with them.”
Reprinted with permission of the Charleston Regional Business Journal
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