Marketing is an essential aspect of any business, enabling you to get your product out there to as many people as possible and encouraging a successful business venture. However, with so much jargon and so many different strategies, effective marketing can quickly become overwhelming and appear impossible to achieve for a non-expert. To help you make to most of your business and market yourself successfully, here are four top tips for how to succeed in marketing.
- Educate yourself
The world of marketing does involve some common techniques and skills that help to maximize success. As such, it is a good idea to obtain some marketing education, especially if you are completely new to the world of marketing. A Marketing Strategy Certificate from the Kelley School, for instance, will provide you with a solid grounding in marketing principles, methods, and strategies, which will prove indispensable if you come from a non-marketing background. Armed with this marketing knowledge, you will be able to apply your newly acquired skills to your own business and marketing plans.
- Know your USP
Your unique selling point – or USP – is what makes your business different to its competitors and provides consumers with a clear reason why they should choose you. Your USP is the cornerstone of all your marketing strategies, and as such, it is essential that you take time to identify what your USP is properly. One way of doing this is to compare your business to your competitors – what are you doing that they do not? You could also analyze feedback and reviews from customers, perhaps creating customer questionnaires in order to get answers to specific questions. Once you have identified precisely your USP, take some time to develop it into a succinct tagline, which can then be used in marketing materials.
- Embrace social media
Social media is one of the most powerful – and cost-effective – marketing tools available to you today. With a majority of people having an online presence in the form of at least one social media platform, you can reach a huge audience by marketing your business on social media. Identify which platforms your target customers are most likely to use, and dedicate yourself to establishing a consistent presence sharing quality content. Set aside an hour each week to schedule your social media posts ahead of publication to ensure that your business has a consistent presence online without taking great chunks of your precious time.
- Know your customers
The key to a great marketing strategy is knowing who your customers are and what they want. There are several ways you can obtain this information. Firstly, analyze your web traffic to get information about your customers’ online habits. Then, produce questionnaires to get answers to more specific and targeted questions. Finally – and most importantly – engage directly with your customers online over social media. Not only will you be able to gain direct knowledge and information, but you will craft an important bond with your loyal customers.
