Marketing 101

If you are a solopreneur, entrepreneur, freelancer, or small business owner, this post is for you. If not, skim it anyway and forward it on to anyone you know who is trying to market their own business.

I recently received an email from someone interested in hiring me for my coaching and mentoring services.  He has a business and is struggling to find clients.

I sent him a short email letting him know what he needs to do, After I wrote it, I thought, “hey, this info would probably appeal to a lot of my readers.”

The information is basically Marketing 101. Sadly, so many people skip some or all these steps, and then wonder why they don’t have any business.

Here is what I sent him (I edited t slightly for privacy, and also added a tad more explanation):

Step 1: Identify your target market. This is the person writing the check, not necessarily consuming the product. So if your product is for kids, the client is the parent, not the child.

Step 2: Be as clear in your mind as you can about them. Where do they live? What do they care about? What kind of work do they do? What is their income level? And so on. The better you understand everything you can about the buyer, the easier everything else gets.

Step 3: Identify what their biggest cares, concerns, problems, and challenges are. Once you are clear on your prospect, you need to identify what you can do for them. And don’t focus just on the little stuff. Ask yourself:

1. What burning problem do these people have that they would pay to make go away?
2. What vision or dream do they have that they would pay to make come true?

Step 4:  Figure out the buying patterns of your market. Armed with the above information, you should b able to identify:

1. How do these people consume their information (TV ads, magazine, paper, internet(and which sites), etc)?
2. How do these people make buying decisions (do they talk to friends, read reviews, use free or discounted trials, etc)?

Step 5: Get your message in front of these people. This is the step that most people jump to first, without really considering steps 1-4. If you do that, you might end up wasting a ton of time, energy, and money. If you do the research and thinking first, you’ll know who your market is, what they care about (so you can craft a message for them) and what you need to do and where you need to go to get your message in front of them. This final step gets a lot easier, and you’ll also be more able to focus on high ROI activities.

This is the basic process for marketing any product or service. Take it step-by-step, and you’ll see your business improve.

You can certainly do this on your own. If you want help figuring out any of the steps or working through the process, that’s where coaching and mentoring comes in. Check it out and contact me if you’d like to set that up.

Best of luck to you and your marketing efforts!

About

By Avish Parashar. As the world's only Motivational Improviser, Avish uses techniques from the world of improv comedy to engage, entertain, and educate audiences on ideas around change, creativity, and motivation. Connect with Avish on Google+

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