Benefits of Marketing
Marketing is defined as the planning and execution of the production,
pricing, promotion and distribution of goods and services to create
exchanges that achieve individual and business objectives.
Put simply, marketing is about matching every part of your business
with your customers so that:
- You meet their needs.
- They are aware that you meet their needs.
- They are motivated to buy from you.
- They are motivated to keep buying from you.
If you don’t achieve these outcomes, customers won’t
buy from you and you will go out of business. It won’t matter
that you make the best product in the world or if you are very
good at bookkeeping and administration – poor marketers
go out of business.
Sell the Benefits
Customers won’t buy from you if they can’t receive
benefits from doing so. They are always asking “What’s
in it for me?” when deciding whether to buy.
When producing goods or services, make sure that you provide
customers with more benefits than your competitors. When pricing
make sure that customers are getting good value (in view of the
benefits and the price) and you are making a good profit. When
promoting, sell the benefits – make sure the benefits are
prominent in your message and are clearly explained. Distribution
should make it easy for your customers to buy the product and
enjoy the benefits.
1. Research your Market Environment
Research your industry and your competitors and establish who
your target customers or target market are for your goods and
services. Only once you know.
- |
who your customers are,
what their needs are and how much they are prepared to pay;
and |
- |
who your competitors are, what they
sell and at what prices, |
can you decide how to position
your goods or services in your target markets and develop
a marketing plan to achieve your goals. |
2. Develop and Implement your Marketing
Plan
Marketing covers much more than advertising goods or services.
When developing your marketing plan, consider how you will use
the elements of your marketing mix to attract customers, meet
their needs and keep them coming back for more.
The elements of the marketing mix are the 4 P’s:
- Product
- Price
- Promotion
- Place (distribution)
Product
To your customers, your product is all of the features, advantages
and benefits that they can enjoy from buying your goods or services.
Your product is not only the goods or services that your business
offers but also includes:
| - |
People within your business and the service
they give. |
| - |
The packaging of the product or service. |
| - |
The processes that you have to make buying easier and more
enjoyable. |
The product element is the customer’s entire experience
of dealing with your business from the quality of customer service
that you give, to the image, environment and facilities of your
business premises.
Price
Price relates to your pricing strategy that includes the setting
of prices for your products or services. Pricing should take into
consideration how much the market is prepared to pay (market demand
pricing) and mark-ups that are needed to cater for overheads,
other costs and profit margins. The provision of credit to customers,
the costs of credit and volume discounting and also aspects of
pricing.
Promotion
Promotion relates to how you make your customers aware of your
goods or services and the benefits that they can receive by buying
them. Promotional activities include:
| - |
Advertising
– where you pay for your message to be sent to your
target customers through newspaper, radio, television, magazine,
outdoor signage, web sites and telephone directories. |
| - |
Publicity -
comes from sending press releases to print and media, giving
interviews to the media and from favourable word of mouth.
From these activities, information reaches your target customers
through articles that are published in newspapers, magazines
and TV at no charge. |
| - |
Sales Promotions
- are short term non-routine incentives that a business
offers to encourage purchase of products or services that
include coupons and competitions. |
| - |
Personal Selling
- is the use of personal presentations and meetings to sell
products or services. Effective personal selling requires
the use of good interpersonal skills, excellent product
service knowledge and the ability to sell the benefits to
the prospective customer. |
| - |
Direct Marketing
- includes sending letters, emails and brochures to individual
target customers. Often followed by personal selling or
telemarketing, direct marketing activities normally use
a customer database to identify and contact target customers
and to record details about interactions with these customers.
(Please note: the option of promoting your business through
Direct marketing may be subject to privacy legislation). |
Place
Place relates to the distribution element of marketing and covers
issues such as methods of distribution, distribution channels
and the location of the business.
3. Review and Improve
After you have implemented your marketing plan, determine how
well it has increased your sales and profits and make any necessary
improvements.
If your marketing plan is written down it will be easier for
you to see how your plan has performed and where improvements
can be made. Where possible, establish goals and benchmarks so
that you can identify more clearly how well your plan has worked
and where improvements are necessary.
