The U.S. Small Business Bureau recommends spending 7-8 percent of your gross revenue on marketing. However, for those entrepreneurs just launching their businesses, the figure can be difficult to determine. It is easy to focus on the other moving parts of launching a new small business, such as developing the perfect product, acquiring adequate financing, and budgeting for your startup. However, new businesses will lack visibility – and more importantly, customers – without a great marketing plan and marketing strategies. For many new business owners, it can be daunting to develop a marketing plan. However, by sticking to a few basics, you can develop a great marketing plan foundation and build from there.
The Importance Of Business Marketing For New Businesses
For new small businesses, visibility and constrained resources (financial and strategic) are some commonly encountered roadblocks in their marketing journey. With startup funding, entrepreneurs are expected to allocate their funds between product development, overhead expenses, and marketing. A new business also starts with a clean slate – i.e. no name recognition or brand name. Attracting customers, generating traffic, and turning leads into sales become difficult if customers are not aware of your brand.
This is where marketing comes in: it helps to build a foundation for your business brand. Investing in business marketing at your launch also helps to build customer anticipation. It is a common marketing tactic used by industry giants when introducing a new product. Not only does it give the company a chance to inform customers of their product and presence on the market, but it puts you in control of how your brand is perceived right from the beginning. According to past research by KPMG, 48 percent of customers say they are more likely to become loyal customers during their first purchase or brand interaction. However, for any business to unlock these benefits, they need to develop a comprehensive and relevant marketing plan – one that puts the customers at the center.
Define Your Target Market And Their Demographics Reliably
A recent insight study by CBInsights found that 42 percent of new businesses failed because there was no ‘market need’. This highlights the critical importance of doing your marketing research – even before developing your marketing plan and strategies. A lot of this is attributed to poor market research and misjudging the needs of a business’s target market. If you want your marketing efforts to succeed the first time, you need to know what your intended recipients like.
Taking the time to research the marketing channels they frequent, their demographics, and their feedback on your competitor’s marketing campaigns can provide valuable insight into the best marketing efforts as they see them. A great way to do this is to build customer profiles or personas. Start with customer goals, pain points, and distinguishing demographics like age, income levels and hobbies.
Tap Into The Points Of Influence In The Customer Purchasing Chain
The points of influence refer to key points in the customer interaction process that helps to form or shift their decision to purchase. It is important to remember that this process does not center solely on those customers who end up purchasing your product. Those leads that end up in non-sales are equally important, and can provide great information on what went wrong, such as poor customer service. Similarly, customers can be turned away by poor accessibility on your business website or slow load times.
Remember that a business’ marketing efforts do not only encompass its social media and print ads, but also include every aspect of content that provides an impression of the brand, such as the brand colors you choose, your business name, and even your choice of business website design. Naming your business wisely is efficient marketing from Day One, and brand naming experts Namestormers recommend using customer validation tests and memorability surveys to judge the appeal or confusion with your choice.
Separate Your Marketing Tactics From Your Strategy
Last but not least, make a distinct differentiation between your marketing strategy and marketing goals. Your marketing strategy will focus on what you want to achieve. For instance, increase brand awareness on social media. However, your tactics address how your business will achieve this. To boost your brand presence on social media, you can try revamping your content to include visual content, or exploring video platforms like YouTube.
Remember to align these strategies with your target market at all times. For instance, 77 percent of those aged 17-25 years old are frequent viewers of YouTube content, so if your target audience includes this age group, it may be a viable tactic. Business marketing for a new business does not need to be complicated either. Start small, and concentrate on a few key marketing areas. Aim to grow your marketing efforts as your business grows.
