Marketing Strategies – Customer Service…
October 3, 2008 by admin
Filed under Marketing Strategies
How many of you really think about your customer service? I mean, really, really think about it? Do you go all the way for your customer, or do you feel that at times you probably could have done a little better?
Seth Godin has recently put a blog post on “How Much Would You Pay…” He asks the question how much would you pay for a little extra customer service. Would you slip a $50 to the car park valet for some extra service? And, also, would he give it to you? Of course he would.
So how much then, would you spend on your business, ensuring you get the proper tools to give your customers what you need? Read Seth’s post and have a good think about it…
Customer Listening – ever done it?
Yet again, Seth Godin has given us a fantastic article about listening to our customers. But which ones should you listen to? Not all of them apparently. Read on from Seths latest post:
Listening to the loud people
Of course you should listen to your customers.
But which ones?
Should you listen to the loud ones, the ones who call the sports radio stations to complain about the pitching, the ones who post websites about your lousy service, the ones who organize nationwide boycotts? Should you listen to the angry ones, the ones with a limited vocabulary (heavy on profanity, short on spelling) who know how to use email and aren’t afraid to use it?
Or, should you listen to the customers that are the most profitable, the most loyal or the most likely to spread word of mouth among the people you want to become your customers?
Here are three common listening mistakes:
- Believing that your customers are monolithic, that they all want the same thing.
- Believing that loud customers speak for all customers.
- Worrying that if you don’t satisfy short-term, loudly articulated needs, you will fail.
There’s an art here, it’s not a science. I’d focus on a few tactics:
- When someone is in pain, recognize it and address it if you can.
- You decide, not your customers, where you want to go. Lead, don’t follow.
- Amplify the voices of the people you care about, those with the most value to you in the long run. Give them a platform and make it easier for them to speak to you and the rest of the market.
And here’s one thing I’d do on a regular basis: Get a video camera or perhaps a copy machine and collect comments and feedback from the people who matter most to your business. Then show those comments to the boss and to your staff and to other customers. Do it regularly. The feedback you expose is the feedback you’ll take to heart.
Marketing Strategy – The 4 P’s
August 20, 2008 by admin
Filed under Marketing Strategies
one of the first things I ever learnt about marketing was the concept of th 4 P’s. I came across this artcle by Nate Stockard and believed that it sums up the definition of the 4 P’s.
The Marketing Mix For Small Business Marketing
All marketing resources will eventually talk about your marketing mix, but what do they mean exactly? Marketing mix is a term that the marketing world tries to hold as a private term that only the industry knows about, but as a small business owner, you need to understand how to plan and implement your marketing mix.
The marketing mix is defined as the four P’s of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. These four areas make up the complete outline for product or service marketing. Once you have defined the variables for each P, you have a basis for proper marketing.
Market research will play a major role in each area of your marketing mix. You must understand what you are competing with in regards to products and pricing. Although you may have a new and unique item with an innovative type of distribution, you still must compare your product or service to existing ones.
Here are the four P’s of your marketing mix for small business marketing.
P #1: Product
The product or service or selling must be defined first. What are you selling? How will it be packaged? Determine your product’s features, and then build the benefits from them. At this point, you will make all of the decisions relating to your product or service: style, quality, packaging, warranty, etc.
P#2: Price
Pricing actually plays a vital role in the branding and image of your product. Determining your price can be difficult, especially if you product is in a widely-variable industry. You must determine pricing strategy, retail and wholesale pricing, possible bundling, and any type of discounts.
P#3: Place
Place refers to how you will distribute the product. Will you sell to retail stores, or will you sell directly to customers? Is your product a wholesale item? The decisions made about distribution will affect your marketing mix in terms of how you will warehouse your products, how you will process orders, what types of channels will you use, and how will you cover the market.
P#4: Promotion
Promotion is the area where you will make decisions on how people will learn about your product. What types of sales strategies and promotions will you use? What kind of sales force will you need to sell your product? How will you use public relations and publicity to support your product? There are many aspects of the promotion element of your marketing mix. In fact, the other three P’s will affect your promotion strategy.
Decide on the first three P’s before you tackle Promotion, but ultimately, each P will coordinate with the others. Once you complete your marketing mix decisions, review the entire plan to make sure you have a consistent and precise marketing mix plan in order to properly sell, distribute, and promote your product.
Nate Stockard is the owner of Stockard & Associates, Inc, a marketing and design firm in Houston, TX specializing in small business solutions. He is also the author of The Market Seedling, an informative source of information, articles, tips, and advice for small business owners and marketers.
