Basic,Marketing,Skills,Normal, marketing Basic Marketing Skills

Awhile ago, I got an email from one of the "gurus" I follow and it shocked me. The gist of it was this person wanted to trade services for a household item.To say it floored me would be an understatement.What was worse was a few days later t Automation technologies represent a fundamental aspect of any modern industry. The major types of industrial automation solutions, such as DCS, PLC, SCADA, and MES, are used on a large-scale in process and discrete industries.DCS technologie

Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0cm;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}So you’ve started a business, possibly with a few customersalready on the books from a previous business or employment. You decide thatyou need to find some more customers, but you quickly realise that your skillsand experience are focussed on delivering your products or services. How do youfind the new customers that you need? Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news. The bad newsfirst – there are probably many businesses out there already offering the sameproducts and services as yours. The good news however is that if you apply somebasic marketing principles, and you do this consistently over a period of time,you will bring in new business opportunities. A simple definition of marketing is communicating the rightmessage to the right people at the right time, in a way that is right for yourbusiness. So let’s take those four points and have a closer look at each one inturn. The right message Much has been written about what to say to potentialclients, as well as how to say it. The key point to keep in mind is that yourpotential customer must see the benefit to them in buying your product orservice. Generally when businesses (and people) are buying, they either want tomove away from an undesirable situation, or move toward a situation they wouldlike to be in. Your messages therefore need to reflect this. You should pay particular attention to your headline. Thisis the part that will either make people want to read on, or switch them off.Top advertising writers typically spend 75-80% of their time working on theheadline for their message.  Your writing should use the words ‘you’ and ‘yours’ – andshould talk about solving your prospect’s rather than about what your productor service is. The right people Whether you sell to other businesses or to consumers, youshould be very clear on which businesses and individuals will want and be ableto buy from you and on who will make the decision to buy. Consider these twovery different examples. A company that sells buildings maintenance services willwant to target companies that own their own buildings. Largerbuildings-maintenance companies will go after companies with multiple sites,and possibly also more complex maintenance requirements. Smaller companies willbe better targeting single-site businesses where the needs are easier to meet.In many cases this company will try to get in touch with the facilities manager– or in smaller businesses the managing director or another senior person. A retailer that sells luxury bathrooms and kitchens willwant to target people in the kind of neighbourhoods with this type ofresidence. As this company offers a complete service from design, throughmaterials selection and on to installation, they will be targeting people whomay be very busy with other aspects of their lives. The right time People will buy your services if the time is right for themto buy – and these are perfect ‘leads’ for your business because the potentialcustomer is ready to engage with you now. If they are not ready now, you shouldstay in contact and cultivate the opportunity until they are ready to buy.Being pushy when your prospect is simply not ready will just switch them off. You need to think about how frequently your potentialcustomers will buy the product or service you are offering. In the case ofbuildings maintenance contracts are often renewed annually, so you will need tobe in touch with facilities managers in the two or three months running up torenewal. For luxury bathrooms and kitchens, the cycle is likely to be fiveyears or more. The right way for you There are many ways in which you can contact your potentialcustomers, and good marketing employs many of these methods in a combination.In deciding which methods are right for your business, you should consider thecost of each method alongside the likely returns from each. This will help youto understand the ‘return on investment’ of your marketing activities. In conclusion For many business owners, the world of marketing can appearto be a very confusing place. However, it is well-worth investing some time tounderstand the basics of how best to market your business.  Once you become practiced at it you will bepleasantly surprised by the results you can get.