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I have always admired the top 10 companies and love to read about them. Topics about tech companies like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft etc., have always fascinated me.
After an in-depth study of these companies on a particular day, I discovered a pattern. I accidentally found out that their corporate successes were as a result of the marketing strategies they employed.
I discovered that it isn’t enough to have great products; these companies spent millions on products. Their aim wasn’t the product created. Their main aim was to deliver a product an end user will want to buy again.
This changed my perception about the marketing to the end users.
It was a total awakening. I knew gone are the days of “great products need no advertisement”. With over a thousand and one businesses selling the same products as me, I surely needed to improve on my marketing strategies.
I knew that my products were different from what people were used to; I just needed to get people’s attention on the uniqueness of my services.
Here are four great marketing strategies I used to turn my startup around. The first is:
1. I Spotted My Target Market.
Knowing who my clients were, how to locate and where to locate them went a long way in easing of the stress of focusing on everyone.
You advertising to the public don’t mean that everybody would be interested in your product. In essence, you need to think of the places you are likely to see your customers. Having a target you are working towards will make you more focused in achieving your marketing aim.
When I was kicking off my home tutorial business, I didn’t just give out fliers to everybody.
I made sure I aimed at schools, play grounds, kid centres and amusement parks – my emphasis was to focus on a specific area and dominate that aspect of my niche.
To give an example, Webdeveloper.sydney is a web development company that has left the crowded design market to focus and capture a single market — Sydney.
So specialization is very crucial to business.
For my other businesses, especially the online ones I run. I deliberately stopped trying to catch all clients. I endeavoured and focused on serving a specific people within a predetermined market.
Though narrowing down actually seemed like a loss to me. But I knew that it’s better to lose out on a crowd than lose the people who are really hungry for my products.
If you are offering any services then prepare to specialize. That’s one of the main ways to market to client this New Year. Entrepreneurs who market to a predetermined set of people will always get back ROI that will naturally be higher than those targeting crowds.
2. I Didn’t Stay On the Same Spot for Too Long
Staying on one particular product/service for too long is a risky marketing strategy. I learnt the truth that customers easily get bored when they get to see the same thing over again. There is always something to improve on and something new to be added.
Improving on my product helped me secure the attention of my customers. While introducing a new product got me the patronage of new customers, I had to keep on updating it to stay relevant to market changes.
This is one reason I had a suggestion box in my office, to satisfy my customers in their own way and also created an online platform on social media for my customers to drop their suggestions.
3. I Motivate Referrals from Customers
I think there is no marketing strategy as powerful as customers who have been motivated to refer people to use your products. I remembered when my sisters employed this marketing strategy in their hair styling business. She’ll have you refer two persons and get your next hairdo free.
This really got her clients serious about telling people to come have their hair styled at my sisters’ salon. I applied the same strategy to my home tutorial business by making parents refer me to two parents to get one month free tutorial.
This made my clients become my marketers and made my home tutorial business take a drastic turn. You have to wake up to the fact that no one will take your business more seriously than you take it, until there’s something at stake for them.
4. I Eagerly Expected Change
Every industry is currently experiencing change in one way or the other and one good way one to flow with these changes is to prepare for them.
Take the mailing agencies you used to know for example. Many of them who refused to embrace changes in technology and accept the fact that electronic mailing system has taken over are currently out of business.
While the smart ones that saw it coming have upgraded to becoming electronic mail companies. A change you don’t prepare for may throw you off balance. That’s why I kept on keeping myself abreast of every little change in my line of business.
From starting an e-commerce site to having a grounded home tutorial business – – what made both businesses successful were my quick response to change in the market.
Complacency is one big killer of business progress. The faster you change your marketing strategies to suit the market the better. Always stay updated with the news of your niche.
News keeps you on your toes. Change your strategies as more news comes in. What you’re trying to do is to stay relevant in the market.
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Photo: Getty Images