Principles of Marketing 101

Marketing results should be measured in only one way ? increased sales. Marketing should not be considered an art form. Its mere existence is not enough. Marketing is the first step to the sale. There are seven underlying principles upon which to base your marketing strategy and efforts. Follow them and your business will be a raving success. Violate them and you will fail as so many small businesses do.

The seven underlying principles are Image, Differentiation, Repeat Business, Ease of Doing Business, Networking, Likeability, and Emotion. Let's begin with image.

Image

Much like people have an image so does their business. Some people are informal and likeable, as are some businesses. Some people are formal and aloof, as are some businesses. Your image is wrapped up in your packaging. The clothes you wear, the haircut you sport, the weight you carry, and the age you are, all create your image. The same applies to your business.

Every way your business presents itself to your customers adds to or detracts from the image you are trying to create with your marketing efforts. Decide on the image you wish to convey to the public and design your business to support that image. Your business cards, letterhead, website, advertising materials, and every other portion of your business which will come into contact with a customer must reflect the same image.

If you sell a product, your image is also reflected in your packaging, the colors, the box, the website, the store -- everything. If you sell a service, your image is reflected in your writings, your website, your proposals and your presentations. Make every interaction with a customer or prospect reflect the image you have for your business.

However, remember, it is far easier to create an unforgettable image by differentiating yourself from the competition.

Differentiation

Be as different as a zebra in a herd of horses. You must be different from your competitors in order to stand out. And, you must be able to convey that difference in all your messages to prospects. If you know you are different and don't convey it, you lose. You must leverage your differences to your advantage.

If you can't differentiate yourself, it's because of two general reasons. You think you don't have any competitors. Or, you have copied your competitors to the extent you all look alike to your prospects.

Thinking you don't have any competitors is a dangerous and naïve position to take. Even if someone doesn't sell the exact product you sell, they do compete with you for people's money. If a potential customer is spending money with someone else, they aren't spending it with you. Offer something different in product or service.

The second option, where you look just like your competition, is equally dangerous. In this situation, the only way to compete is by having the lowest price. Lowest price also translates to lower profit margin. This means you're working harder to make money than you have to.

Differentiating yourself from the competition is one of the hardest tasks to accomplish. It is also one with the largest positive impact upon your bottom line. Differentiating yourself will increase business. However, part of marketing is also hanging onto the business once you have it.

Repeat Business

A sale is great! But, two or more sales are even better!

A customer who buys once from you represents short-term revenue. Short-term revenue requires ten times more work. In this mode, you are in a constant search for new customers. A lifelong paying customer is your objective. If you offer a one-time event, you do not have a marketing process -- you have a single sale. A marketing process sells to clients over and over again.

One of the reasons businesses fail is because they don't stay in touch with customers. Frequency of contact can build trust and trust is a requirement for a sale. Set up a system to remind yourself to contact existing customers. This can be a regularly published newsletter, an email follow-up for input from the last sale, or a new product announcement. Keep in touch! Customers don't want to be taken for granted. Make your customers feel special and they will return to you, time and time again.

Another proven method for encouraging that second purchase is to be a business that is easy to do business with.

Ease of Doing Business

Having many ways for people to buy from you increases your chance of the first sale and subsequent sales. Your website should be easy to navigate. This includes having contact information on every page, multiple methods of paying you, product descriptions with customer benefits clearly spelled out, and an easy to understand return policy.

Many websites lose sales every day because they can't be contacted with questions or their order forms are confusing. Look at all the business systems you have established. These include the ordering system, the communication system, and the feedback system. Test them from the customer's standpoint. If you can't be objective, have relatives and friends test your systems and provide you with feedback. Remove anything they complain about, no matter how small it seems to you.

It can be hard enough to grow a business under the best of circumstances. Don't build your own roadblocks. Build networks instead.

Networking.

To increase sales, increase your network of contacts, both customers and suppliers.

We've discussed how customers can increase your business. They can return to purchase from you again. They will also tell others about you. But why network with suppliers?

Suppliers profit when you profit. They have a vested interest in your success. The smaller the supplier, the more they have invested in your success. If you establish a really good network with your suppliers, you will have first access to new products and special closeout sales. In turn, you will both be more successful.

This principle is also referred to as the principle of reciprocity. This works on the principle: "you scratch my back and I will scratch yours." It is not just about relationships, it is about the value of those relationships. Make yours count.

Likeability

People buy from people they like. This is a long proven sales axiom. If people don't know you, how can they like you? They need to like you before they will trust you. They must trust you before they buy from you.

Likeability is one of the most valuable assets you have. Does your marketing copy (on your website or in your advertising) come across as the type of person you would like? Would you do business with this person?

Is likeability subjective and emotional? Yes. But so are buying decisions!

Emotion

Marketing studies claim eighty-five percent of the buying decision is made from emotions. Buyers will then justify their purchase with logic. But emotion is where it starts! This means you must first connect with their emotions. Then give them the logic to justify what they bought. You cannot do one effectively without the other.

Your client's perception creates the sale. So many business owners think their service or product is absolutely great. They cannot understand why it is not selling. It is because they developed their product or service according to their perceptions and not their prospects' needs. Keep your prospects in mind at all times and you will succeed.

Remember, marketing is the first step to the sale. Keep these principles in mind and you will succeed. Nice doing business with you!

Michele Schermerhorn calls herself a "Corporate Freedom Fighter" dedicated to freeing cubicle prisoners to experience their own successful online business. She has over 30 years experience in the business world and over 12 years running her own successful online businesses. She is President of Online Business Institute Inc. (http://www.obinstitute.com), authors a sassy marketing blog (http://www.imarketblog.com), and regularly conducts free online seminars. Online Business Institute Inc. exists to "Create Successful Online Business Owners One Person At A Time".

____________________

Advertisement: Honest Riches - Click Here!

Advertisement: Lost AdWords - Click Here!

Advertisement: Get $1 Million A Month In Google Pay-Per-Click Ads Free! - Click Here!

Advertisement: Who Loves Money? - Click Here!

Advertisement: SEO Elite, the GrandDaddy of SEO Software - Click Here!

In The News:

---

Ace Marketing & Promotions Inc. Takes Proximity Marketing(SM) to ...
CNNMoney.com - 13 hours ago
Ace Marketing & Promotions Inc. (OTCBB: AMKT) announces that IMAX Theaters is piloting Proximity Marketing at its Palisades theater location in NY, ...

Merkle Inc., the Limited to team on database marketing
Bizjournals.com, NC - 9 hours ago
Database marketing firm Merkle Inc. has signed up the Limited as a new client in a three-year contract. The Columbia firm will analyze customer data to help ...
Merkle Selected by The Limited to Support Integrated Customer ... MarketWatch (press release)
all 17 news articles

Reuters
FedEx trims '09 marketing budget by 25%
Bizjournals.com, NC - 14 hours ago
United Parcel Service Inc. rival FedEx Corp. will cut its marketing budget by more than 25 percent for 2009, the company recently disclosed on its blog. ...
FedEx cuts marketing spend by more than 25 percent Reuters
FedEx to reduce marketing budgets by 25% Brand Republic
all 84 news articles

Bouvier Kelly wins health marketing awards The Business Journal of ...
Bizjournals.com, NC - 14 hours ago
Downtown Greensboro marketing firm Bouvier Kelly has won three awards from the Carolina Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Society for its work with ...

Wellstar/TMI Begins Marketing Imaging System to Long-Term Care ...
CNNMoney.com - 4 hours ago
TMI's marketing plan includes a program where LTC facilities can lease the equipment necessary to perform skin assessments and store the necessary data ...
Wellstar/TMI Announces Estimated Three-Year Revenue Projections MSNBC
all 9 news articles

Hawaii marketing to put Korea on hold
Bizjournals.com, NC - Jan 7, 2009
But the HTA will wait until at least late January to spend another $607000 on marketing to South Korea, as well as spending an additional $238000 for ...
Tourism agency holds back funds for Korea marketing Honolulu Star-Bulletin
all 9 news articles

Proton Laboratories Announces New Sales & Marketing Office
CNNMoney.com - 14 hours ago
Proton will start by marketing a variety of enhanced water products that provide health benefits for people and the planet as well as the commercial product ...

FIMA Completes Project in Veracruz and Begins Marketing Homes for Sale
MSNBC - 1 hour ago
The initial stages of marketing the properties for sale have already begun, and the Company will expand those efforts now that the properties are completely ...

Summit Realty Group marketing Dow property along 106th Street
Indianapolis Star, United States - 11 hours ago
With a team of 25 brokers and additional market research, marketing, and client support staff, Summit Realty Group specializes in office, industrial, ...

Tivo CEO says stepping up marketing partnerships
Reuters - Jan 7, 2009
O) plans to establish more marketing relationships with entertainment producers and retailers such as Best Buy Co Inc (BBY.N) in the current quarter and ...

marketing - Google News

First to Market Theory

AGE OLD QUESTIONBusiness scholars throughout the planet keep asking the same question and have come to the conclusion that being first into the market place is preferable.... Read More

How to Make Profits With a Commission Mailing Business

There are many mailorder publications that will list your nameunder this directory... "Commission Circulars Wanted"... List your name under this classification and dealers will mailbundles... Read More

How You Can Make Money From Competitors Easy

Are you market products and services using PPCs? PPC Advertising is one of the fastest and easiest ways to get visitors, capture email addresses and make sales.... Read More

Developing the Unique Selling Proposition

The "Unique Selling Proposition" advertising campaign was developed by Reeves in 1961. Reeves proposed that marketers offer products different from their competitor' offerings by developing products that... Read More

Why Your Sales Copy Should Be Written As If It Will Never Be Read At All!

What is enthusiasm?Well, consulting good ol' Mr. Webster, you could stake a claim that enthusiasm is "an absorbing possession of the mind by an interest, study, or... Read More

Using a Contact List Profitably- Part Two

Besides a survey, your contact list can be used to generate sales directly. Some of the following ideas must be done one-on-one and others can be done... Read More

Quick Postcard Design Tips

TIP #1: Avoid the "Too Much Information" Syndrome I've seen many a marketing postcard that just has too much information on it. Too many words... Read More

Know Thy Competition

BREAK FROM HO-HUM MARKETING ? IT'S TOO BORING! Once you break from ho-hum marketing, and learn to put your deeper beliefs and values into your promotion, a... Read More

Private Practice Marketing: A Soaking Wet Marketing Marvel

Last week I took our two boys on an all guy vacation to the Nickelodeon Family Suites Hotel in Orlando. It's the only one of it's kind... Read More

4 Steps to Successful Offline Drawings

There are many different ways to market offline, each important to your success. One of these being drawings. Not only does having a drawing bring attention to... Read More

Free Sample Sales Letter: Example of How to Write a Persuasive Business Marketing Letter

Here is an example of a business-to-business sales letter mailed to auto dealers by a firm that markets gift cards that replace paper gift certificates. Anything in... Read More

Sage Advice from a Marketing Expert!

An international hair-cutting chain opened a new store directly across the street from the small town's only barbershop owned and operated by a man affectionately known to... Read More

How to Add Warmth, Color & Texture to Your Advertisements

"?A powerful agent is the right word?" --Mark TwainAnd what true words those are! Your marketing efforts have the ability to succeed?or to fail?based on the words... Read More

Top Web Site Blunders by Coaches, Consultants and Experts

Of all the web sites belonging to coaches, consultants and experts that I have reviewed, more than three-quarters shared a very serious marketing blunder: Their potential clients... Read More

The Marketing Plan and the Four P?s

The Marketing Plan section of the business plan demonstrates how a company will penetrate the market with its products and services. The Marketing Plan should include "the... Read More

How to Save Time and Achieve More by Creating High-Leverage Marketing Assets

The single biggest, non-renewable asset you have is your time. There are only three things you can do with it: waste it, sell it, or invest it.... Read More

Wise Man Marketing

It's a sunny morning and you're sitting in your office. With a cup of hot coffee by your side and memories of your last holiday still fresh... Read More

Promotional Lanyards to Market Your Products and Services

It has become fairly common place to see Id badges dangling from a persons neck on a short cord, and on the cord or small rope itself,... Read More

Laws of Marketing ? The 10 Immutable

Most marketers believe that anything is achievable if you are energetic, creative or determined enough. But laws of marketing follow laws of business, and if you violate... Read More

SWOT Analysis -- Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

When conducting strategic planning for any company -- online and/or offline -- it is useful to complete an analysis that takes into account not only your own... Read More

Why Smart People Dont Know How to Market

As an educated professional, your success is based on what you know, your education, your intelligence, and your creativity. Even if you're just starting out, you've achieved... Read More

Web Site Marketing: 10 Little Known Upsell Strategies That Will Magnify Your Profits

What is Upselling?It means pre-selling any additional features of your products and services even before your customers make a purchase.For example, let's say you're selling a computer... Read More

New Years Revolution

No, that's not a typo in the title. Resolutions are easy; most of us make them at least once a year. A revolution, on the other hand,... Read More

Marketing on a Budget

A successful marketing plan doesn't have to include an athletic superstar, prime-time placement, state-of-the-art computer graphics or a massive budget. Being resourceful and smart can be just... Read More

Questioning the Data of Demographic Off The Shelf Marketing Products

I have been working on a direct mail campaign for our team in many areas and we are finding that the yellow page listings and business list... Read More

Pay for Performance Pricing Models for Search Engine Optimization

I do think that it is entirely possible for an SEO and client to work out a pay for performance pricing structure that is fair to both.... Read More