Sunday 28 June 2015

Good marketing makes good business

 "Don't tell me you don't do marketing. If you're selling a product or service of any kind you're marketing, but how about getting better at it?"
 
No. 1: What's marketing?
The best definition comes from my college textbook ally, Dr Philip Kotler:
“Marketing is getting the right goods and services to the right people in the right places at the right time at the right price with the right communications and promotion.”
 
No. 2: Your tool kit
Get marketing right for your business by using the tools of the ‘marketing mix’.  Even Tesco admitted this week "we must get our marketing mix right."

No. 3: A cake analogy
The marketing mix is like a cake mix.  You'll use various ingredients in varying quantities.  Blend the right quantities together and hey presto the perfect cake!  Too many eggs and the cake tastes tough.
Similarly with the marketing mix, put the right emphasis on each element to suit your business and you'll have the perfect strategy.
No. 4: Elements of the Marketing Mix
PRODUCT – What are you selling? Where does it sit in the ‘product life cycle’? IE; introduction, growth, maturity or decline?
PLACE – Where do customers buy your product/service from? In-store, online or via third party
PRICE – What price will your product/service sell at? What’s your pricing strategy; consider overheads, the market, competitors, what are customers willing/expecting to pay?
PROMOTION – How are you going to promote your product or service? EG: advertising, online, PR, direct marketing, sponsorship etc
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE – What are the material elements of the product? IE: packaging, uniform, tickets, literature
PROCESS – The procedure customers experience to find out information about or purchase the product/service
PEOPLE – Staff the customer comes into contact with to purchase your product
Which elements of the mix are key to your business?  Once you've got that sussed you can set the path to success.

Now you need some objectives, both for your business and specifically marketing.  Next time I'll help you set them.

Bye for now.

Monday 22 June 2015

What does this blog offer?


“A breath of fresh air”

The fantastic ‘blogger workshop’ I attended at the Winchester Writer’s Festival (#winwritersfest) yesterday http://www.emilybenet.blogspot.co.uk/ has inspired me to join the blogger community.

But what to blog about?  I’m a crap cook, there’s only so much healthy food I can stomach, I hate camping, I’ll never be super fit (no stamina!) and travelling seems to be the luxury of others!!

So … what to blog about?
I love writing, I love marketing and with over 25 years’ experience helping businesses do better marketing … why not combine all 3?


My blog will:
  • explain what marketing is … no more misconceptions … I’ll spell it out
  • provide tips and advice on “best marketing practice”
  • help you think about how to get newsworthy publicity
  • work out your target audience
  • get you thinking about setting some objectives
  • take a sneaky peak at those doing it well
  • take a sneaky peak at those doing it badly (much more fun!)

Roll your sleeves up  then … let’s get started.