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Marketing 101
Last week we talked about budgeting 101 tips so that while you wear your money hat, life can feel simpler. And today we’re providing you with the flipside … Marketing. Why? Because this topic is so complex. In simplest terms, marketing is the act of driving profitable customer action. It spans the full scope of strategies (and platforms) we use on a daily basis to position our services, courses, freebies and products within the marketplace, and motivate our target audiences to make a purchase.
That’s why we’ve put together this primer on the basics of marketing for small business owners … Because marketing can be something that empowers you or that you find to be more confusing than changing the oil in your car.
You see, marketing encompasses disciplines, strategies and tactics. Despite what the gurus may say, there is no “one size fits all” approach. While it can be complicated to wrap your brain around, having a basic understanding and working on these fundamentals will help you with your future success.
So, let’s start with talking about what marketing is exactly …
Marketing is the act of driving profitable customer action(s) by sharing what you are passionate about (aka. your business). We want the audience to see our content and in turn, buy our services and/or products. Marketing is really just as simple as that.
Marketing is really just about sharing your passion. ~ Michael Hyatt, Virtual Business Mentor
Commonly, the marketing mix is next up when it comes to understanding marketing. It is usually summarized as the 4 P’s of marketing …
- Product
- Price
- Promotion
- Place
However – I want to propose a new set of P’s. Product, price, promotion and platform.
When it comes to your online business, you should already have a pretty solid idea of what you plan to sell and for how much. However, knowing where you plan on promoting said sales and the platform you are going to use to deliver the services/products is a whole different game of chess!
As an online business owner, you will find that having a promotional plan is key to spreading your story (re: message). And you should truly take some time to consider what social channels you will use to share #AllThings about your business. Most would say that the more channels the better, but that is not entirely true. In fact, you should only consider the channels where your ideal client(s) are hanging out on.
For example, consider Facebook for a moment … Roughly seven-in-ten U.S. adults (69%) use this social platform. And if your target audience is adult women, it would be a great channel to reach your ideal client as 83% of women who use the internet also use Facebook. This may need some tweaking as you learn where your ideal clients are but focus on one channel at a time as you hone your message and ideal client down.
By keeping your focus on your ideal client, you keep in tune with a very important concept with your messaging too. This is something so many get wrong and it’s a hefty price to pay. You must focus on keeping your ideal client’s interests in the forefront.
Social media is about the people. Not about your business. Provide for the people and the people will provide for you.
~ Matt Goulart, Digital Marketing Executive
This goes back to talking about that last “P” – platform … Which substitutes the brick-and-mortar version of the “place”.
You have to know what platform(s) you plan on using to deliver your services/products.
Here at Virtually Untangled, we use a combination of near everything you see on our resources page; The Vault. Granted, not as many smaller sized businesses use as many resources as we do because technology sometimes has a bad reputation. However, one of the greatest gifts it ever gave society was the ability to gain access to any and every resource imaginable. In addition to the virtual container of the Internet (and our “untangling” services) it is our hope that some of the items on The Vault’s list also become your just can-not-live-without resources as well. So, you too can begin the process of gaining a clutter-free work life.
*The Vault’s list of resources is ever-growing and forever changing so feel free to add it to your bookmarks.
So, when you combine your offerings with a solid promotional plan, and platform (or a bundle of them) that delivers to your clients seamlessly, you can easily create a solid foundation for your marketing.
If you find that you need help, please book a free introductory consultation HERE.
To end things off on hopefully a bit of a lighter note …
We hope you feel a bit more confident with the key foundation of marketing — now crossed off your list. And be sure to check out some of our other blog posts that take marketing to the next level by clicking HERE.
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Crystal Kordalchuk
Crystal is an artist, a writer, an organizer, a dreamer, a doer, and down-right proud of it NERD!.
Struck with a love for #AllThings creative at a very young age, Crystal dreamed of a life fueled by her passion for creating and bringing the stories and images in her mind into reality.
As she worked toward her dreams, she earned a diploma as a Computer Applications Specialist then another in Graphic Design and from there began to develop her extensive background in multimedia and the arts. She began her worked in the magazine industry as a layout designer and had a succession of design jobs thereafter. It was her role as a graphic/web designer that gave her the first real glimpse of her future. Soon she began a side job as a freelance designer while keeping one foot in the corporate world. A spark was lit! She turned her freelance gig into a full-time business combining design work with her other passion: creating organization from virtual chaos.
Crystal is one of the most organized individuals on the planet. She is by all means a Zen master of her crafts. She excels at helping others become “untangled” and provides her clients with tools to run their businesses smoothly while she takes care of the details behind the scenes. Thus Virtually Untangled was born. A successful business where her work as a top notch creative in graphic and web — with a twist of virtual assistant — married into one amazing place where clients can come with their virtual messes and become magically untangled. Crystal can always make sense of even the most unorganized chaos and offers a virtual detox of order and peace, so her clients can get busy doing the work that they love the most.
