Advantages of the Marketing Mix

ByLanee’ Blunt

4 Ps of Marketing Mix--
Duchessa

Themarketing mix has benefits for a small business that wants to market theirbusiness. The marketing mix consists of the choices and decisions that abusiness must make to bring their product or service to the market. All smallbusinesses should spend a certain amount of their finances on marketing. Thereis some work to do to find out what your customers want and how your companycan produce the product or service at a price that will represent a value tothem.

Product

Yourproduct or service should be looked at in terms of how customers willexperience it. Think about the features and does it meet their needs. How isyour product branded? How are you different from your competitors?

Place

Accessthe right distribution channels to sell your product or service. Attend tradefairs, make online submissions, or should you send samples to customers.

Price

Picka price for your product or service that will add value to the buyer. How doesyour price compare with the competition? 

Promotion

Promoteyour product or service to your target market. Reach your audience withadvertising, direct mail, TV or radio, and through public relations. Build awebsite. Look at your competitors and how they promote their business.

Themarketing mix is known as the 4 Ps because each ingredient affects the other.The marketing mix is the way in which a business uses price, product, place,and promotion to sell its product or service.

Reference:

 Mind Tools: The Marketing Mix and 4 Ps

Tutor2u:The Marketing Mix 

Advantages of Online Marketing Over Traditional Marketing

ByLanee’ Blunt

Asmall business has many advantages of marketing their company online. Manysmall businesses are having less of a return from traditional marketing likethe Yellow Pages, and newspapers. They are looking for new ways to market theirbusiness. Marketing online helps to stretch your marketing budget. There aremany benefits to marketing online that traditional offline marketing doesn’toffer.

Demographics

Marketingonline allows you to specifically target and measure the response fromdemographics such as gender, age and location. It allows you to target incomelevels, occupation levels and education levels. The same demographic researchcan be done in traditional marketing but with online marketing it is easier.

Cost

Placing your product or service on a TV commercial can beexpensive depending on the time it’s shown. Internet marketing is much cheaperbecause a free listing on Google Local is just as effective as a listing in theYellow Pages. A search engine optimization campaign can offer long-term result anda small ad with Pay-Per-Click is very effective. When a person is searching fora product or service your ad may be on the first page of the Google results forthat keyword.

Conversion

Onlinemarketing has the ability to convert customers instantly by capturing thecustomer’s email address, contract information, and it also gives them the abilityto buy from you with the click of a mouse. On the other hand, when you senddirect mail you have to get the right mailing list, send reply cards and followup on leads.

Reference:

MarketingSmart: 10 Advantages of Online Marketing vs. Traditional Media; Martin Wong;2009

TechieBuzz; The Advantages of Internet Marketing Over Traditional Marketing; GuestPost; 2011

Lead Generation Strategies

By Lanee’ Blunt

Lead generation is not a new concept. Large corporations and brokers often advertise that they will send a booklet of information concerning income tax or their special market letters free of charge. The purpose of the free offer is to get names of people of a certain financial standing that is interested in the offering. Gaining leads for your small business is a numbers game.

Advertising
An ad can be written for your product or service to produce a certain amount of leads. Ads that are aimed to generate leads do not give the full story, to get the full story the prospect must call, mail in a coupon, write, or go to a website. You can launch the ad promotion for a certain amount of days and then cut the ad when you have enough leads. Although, advertising has a high cost you still have a high level of control.

Referrals
A referral is a low cost method of lead generation. Be creative in obtaining referrals. You can create a referral program by contacting your customers within 30 or 45 days and ask them for three names and phone numbers of someone they know that can use your product or service.

Lead Generation Agencies
They specialize in providing leads for your company. These leads are usually qualified for your product or service. Your product or service is advertised and promoted on a website. The consumer finds the informational website or directory and then they are able to complete an online quote or form which is submitted to the agency. The new lead’s information is verified and sent to the appropriate provider in an email.

Reference:
Entrepreneur; Gaining the Lead; John Jantsh; 2008
About: Marketing Benefits of Using Lead Generation; Laura Lake

Lead Generating Marketing Strategies

By Lanee’ Blunt

Lead generation is veryimportant for your small business. Waiting by the telephone for a client tocall you, or sitting at a trade show table for hours, may not be that effective.You can have leads generated and sent to you by agencies or you can do the workyourself.

Lead Generation

Lead generation agenciesspecialize and provide businesses with qualified leads. The agency develops awebsite where they promote and advertise your product or service. The consumersfind the website, completes an online quote request form, ad this form issubmitted to the agency. The buyer’s information matches up with appropriateproviders and then sent by email to prospective providers with their fullcontact information and purchasing requirements.

Social Media

With social media smallbusinesses and medium sized businesses can now afford the same media like bigcorporations. There are powerful and inexpensive tools to reach and communicatewith large numbers of prospects. Know your audience and show them the best waythat your business can solve problems and give solutions. Develop a way tocapture data and maintain information about customers and prospects. Try a CRMprogram. Social media provides a way for small businesses to get out there andget noticed. By using the Facebook fan page to showcase different products orservices. The Facebook messaging you might invite interaction by askingprospects for feedback.  Twitter can beused to pull customers into your company blog post.

Reference:

SBA; Small BusinessMarketing; Caron Beelsey; 2009

About: Marketing Benefits ofUsing Lead Generation’ Laura Lake

Inc: Lead Generation in theNew Economy

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Small Business Advertising

Online Marketing Advantages

Direct Mail Leads

What is Direct Response Advertising?

By Lanee’ Blunt

Direct response advertisingis used by large corporations, small businesses, consulting firms and companiesof all sizes. Direct response advertising is not as expensive as traditionaladvertising, it can be tracked and it offers a lot of different media outlets.It allows you to communicate with your customer by direct mail campaign,infomercial, radio, magazine, mail order, and email.

In direct responseadvertising the prospect is urged to call the advertiser right away to receivethe offer. Direct response methods include coupons to cut and mail, reply cardsin direct mail, and toll free telephone numbers. For example, if you aresending direct mail you can send a reply card and ask the prospect to mail itback with their phone number if they want more information.

Direct response advertisingworks because it requires a call to action. You can use a time sensitivestatement in your in your call to action. For example, call now for a free giftand if you call within the next twenty minutes you’ll get the second item free.Direct response advertising can be tracked. This type of call to action allows theadvertiser to track the offer and run similar offers and track which onereceived the best response.

Reference:

Business Dictionary: DirectResponse Advertising

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Direct Marketing Sales Leads Tips

By Lanee’ Blunt

Direct marketing works if itis done the right way. It is effective if you research your target demographic.There are companies that you can hire to conduct a market research for you, orcompanies that offer paid memberships that give you access to market research.It is important that you know your market because you can have the best directmail package, or email campaign and if your mailing list is wrong you won’tprofit from the campaign.

House List

A house list is a mailinglist that is made up of customers and prospects. It is very important for youto keep accurate records of customers, prospects, and referrals that you havereceived. One of the best lists available to you will be your house list whichis a list of customers and people that have already responded to your ads andhave bought from you in the past. They may still be interested in your productor service. A response rate is higher when you call the prospects on your houselist. They are already familiar with your business and they may be members ofyour newsletter or maybe you have met them networking or at trade shows.

Rented List

You can purchase a mailinglist from a list broker or media company to use for a specified length of time,or for a certain number of communications. Before you order your mailing listyou should be clear of who are your best customers and clone them.

Reference:

Find More Buyers: How toOrder the Most Profitable Marketing List

Entrepreneur Connect; How toBoost Direct Marketing Sales Leads; Candy Lee; 2011

Marketing Direct; LeadGeneration Response Rate Winner; George Clay

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Small Business Advertising

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Direct Mail Leads

Direct Marketing

By Lanee’ Blunt

Direct marketing is used bylarge corporations, small businesses, consulting firms and companies of allsizes. Direct marketing may boost your business by winning you qualitycustomers.  It allows you to communicatewith your customer by email campaigns, interactive consumer websites, mobilemessaging, fliers, catalog distribution, sales letters, direct mail packages,and online display ads. It is designed to obtain orders directly by mail. It isnot just advertising, but the combination of advertising and selling.

Direct marketing is thecombination of contacting and influencing a chosen set of prospects by usingdirect mail, telemarketing, and etc. The marketing messages are addressed tothe prospect and focuses on the target market. A mailing list that has beenqualified for the target market is tested and used. For example, if you aresending emails you would purchase an opt-in email list from a list provider.The specialized list purchased from a commercial list house may be developedfor lawyers, dentist, nurses, college professors, teachers, and accountants,etc.

It may take severalapproaches before you may turn a prospect into a buyer. Direct marketing is analternative to cold calling and attracts qualified leads to your business, andkeeps them in the loop until they are converted into customers. It will provideyou with a set of clients that can give you referrals. Direct marketing can bemeasured which will help you stay on target if your campaign was successful.For example, if a business sends out 1,000 sales letters and 100 prospectsrespond to the promotion, the business knows that campaign led directly to a10% direct response rate.

Reference:

Business Dictionary: DirectMarketing

Systematic Direct Marketing:Direct Marketing

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Advantages of Using Samples for Marketing Your New Product

By Lanee’ Blunt

Free samples have alwaysbeen an effective benefit in marketing. Using samples is a marketing tool thatwill help to build consumer awareness about your product. Giving out samplescan help you get repeat business and create brand loyalty. There are severaladvantages to using samples.

Referrals

Giving a prospect a freesample to give you a referral is an excellent incentive to get referrals fromcustomers. Another benefit is allowing the customer to send a complimentarygift to a friend.

The sample program createstrust from one friend to another. From the referral of a friend the prospecttrust the company or salesperson. As a result the prospects usually listenclosely to the sales message and buy at a higher rate than other sources thatdon’t offer a sample.

Lead Generation

Free sample offers allowsusers to collect the names and addresses of people that are interested in theproduct. Your company will get high quality leads that can be converted byusing other marketing campaigns.

Samples can create brandloyalty by helping to increase product awareness. Online businesses shouldconsider running a free sample campaign. Target the free sample ads around yourwebsite that get the most attention, and put it on all of the pages on yoursite. Capture all your prospects with an email marketing promotion.

Reference:

Learning From Big Boys; YogiTea; Isabel Isidro; 2010


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What is the Marketing Mix?

By Lanee’ Blunt

The Four P's of Marketing--
svilen001

Marketing is very importantfor your business because it helps you attract new customers and keepsformer customers coming for repeat business. The marketing mix helps youdetermine how to satisfy your customers, and it can be planned, controlled andadjusted until you get the results that are best for your company.

Marketers use the marketingmix to create a value for their product. The elements in the marketing mix areproduct, place, price and promotion. The four-elements of the marketing mix areused and adjusted until the marketer gets the results that he wants. Forexample, pricing decisions are used in the form of cash discounts whichconvince customers to buy.

The product is analyzed forits ability to compete better than your competition. For example, quality andsafety can be used as a benefit. Price includes decisions that you would maketo price your product competitively. Place includes the distribution decisionfor example, how to reach your customers in what geographic location. Promotiondecisions are strategies that you will use to get more customers, such ascoupons and sales.

Reference:

Business Dictionary:Marketing Mix

Net MBA: The Marketing Mix

What is a Promotional Mix?

By Lanee’ Blunt

Sales promotions areinducements that a business uses to encourage the purchase of a product orservice. The promotion mix includes sales promotion, advertising, directmarketing, publicity, and personal selling.

What is Promotion Mix?

The promotional mix is thecoordination of marketing activities which includes publicity, sales promotion,advertising, direct marketing and personal selling. It is a coordination ofactivities that you will do to directly interact with your customers. Forexample giving sales presentations helps you to interact with the customers’one-on-one to answer their questions and demonstrate your product.

The promotional mix’s goalwould be to inform persuade and remind your customer about your product orservice. Sales promotion is inducements with the purpose of encouragingcustomers to buy for example, cents off coupons. Merchandising is used in thestore to stimulate sales. For example displays, signs and posters. Thepromotional mix uses advertising which is a paid form of non-personalpresentation. Public relations are firms communicating with their customers,employees and stockholders. It is important that a business have a solidreputation with customers. For example, one way firms communicate is by sendingout newsletters or press releases. Personal selling is used either by phone orface-to-face to the prospect, for example, to address your customers concernsand answer their questions directly.

Reference:

BrooklynCUNY: Advertising Publicity and Sales Promotions

Developing a Marketing Plan

By Lanee' Blunt

Developing a marketing planfor your company can help you define your market. Marketing is more thatadvertising. A marketing plan helps you focus your efforts toward what will getthe best results for your company. Your strategy is to try and understand yourcustomers and take action toward delivering your product or service to them.

Set your objectives. What isyour goal for the marketing plan? Establish marketing objectives that willaccomplish your business goals.

Create a vision statement.This is a mission statement for your company that will specify exactly whatyour long term vision is. Identify the attributes of your product or servicethat define the brand and its long-term position.

Create a marketing budget.Your budget information is what you have set aside either per quarter or perannual for marketing your business. Set your prices for your product or serviceas a competitive rate. Evaluate the process of the marketing planseffectiveness. Measure your results against the standards that you set when youmade or set your goals. Develop a schedule for which gives a timeline for eachof your marketing actions.

Reference:

Inc; How to Write aMarketing Plan; Darren Dahl; 2010

AAFP; Nine Steps to a StrategicMarketing Plan; Rebecca Anwar, PHD and Judy Capko; 2001

What are the Benefits of a Marketing Plan?

By Lanee' Blunt

A marketing plan is a planthat helps you define your market. Many small businesses operate theirbusinesses without giving much thought to preparing a marketing plan. Sometimesthey luck up and do things right, but most times they don’t know what workedand what didn’t work. A marketing plan will put in place a strategy forattracting more customers and it helps to anticipates changes.

A benefit to having amarketing plan is that it helps you understand your target market, what youpropose to do to reach that market, and how you plan to differentiate yourselffrom your competition.

It puts in place an outlineof the cost of how you are going to achieve your marketing goals within acertain timeframe. Each activity in the marketing plan is based on solidresearch and specific goals. It serves as a road map to help you achieve thosegoals. When you are working from your marketing plan it doesn’t mean that youcan’t change things and that it’s set in stone. Consider the tactics thatworked well and the ones that didn’t work at all. For example, an ad you put inthe paper gave high results, opposed to one you put in a directory that didn’tpull a high response.

Reference:

SBA: Developing a Marketing Plan

What Content to Include in a Marketing Plan

By Lanee' Blunt

A marketing plan isimportant because it is the best way to help you prepare yourself. It willensure that you stick to your schedule and that you are spending your moneywisely.

It will serve as a road mapto making you achieve your company goals.

Marketing Audit

Take a look at yourmarketing collateral materials. You will need to review all of your marketingactivities that have occurred in the past three years. Review everyannouncement, advertisement, phonebook ad, brochure, flyer, and evaluate if itwere successful.

Situation Assessment

Under this section you willwrite the market analysis and segmentation. Write a competitor analysis. Forexample, what are the similarities of your company and your competitors? Whatsets your company apart from the competition? What are the major trends in theenvironment? What are the internal capabilities and current position in servedmarkets?

Financial Summary

Write a cost and profitanalysis. Write your budget information the amount that you have set asideeither per quarter or per annual for marketing. Set your prices for yourproduct or service as a competitive rate. For example, price your product orservice at a higher rate than your fixed or variable cost. Evaluate the processof the marketing plans effectiveness. Measure your results against thestandards that you set when you made or set your goals. Develop a schedule forwhich gives a timeline for each marketing actions.

Reference:

AAFP; Nine Steps to aStrategic Marketing Plan; Rebecca Anwar, PHD and Judy Capko; 2001

SBA: Developing a MarketingPlan