In the past, marketing has been a word that was associated with those who sold products. But now, it is also used to describe a range of activities that are designed to promote and sell a product or service. Marketing can involve advertising campaigns, public relations efforts, events planning, and social media promotions. The success of these strategies largely depends on how much investment you put into them.
Choosing a name for your product or service
Giving a name to your product or service is not just to make it sound appealing, but is also an important choice for marketing. A good name can help people remember your product, brand it in their minds, and even draw them in with the right combination of words that are both accurate and catchy.
Your company’s name should be memorable and relatable while still being original and reflecting the qualities of the business you want to portray. If you think you might not select the perfect name and need help with naming your product there are a lot of companies that offer professional assistance for this. There are also a lot of websites that offer free naming tools that might help.
Maintaining the name you want for your product or service is equally important. Once you’ve chosen a great name, stick with it! Don’t change names in the middle of your marketing campaign because it will confuse your customers and may even cause them to lose trust in your brand.
What do you want to emphasize about your product?
When shaping the marketing campaign for your product, it’s important to think about what you want to emphasize and how that message will be distributed. The key is not just looking at the surface of the message, but also how the message will be communicated to your customers.
As you work out how you want to present your product, write a list of all the different aspects of it that you want people to know and understand.
For example: if your business sells household cleaners, maybe you’d like consumers not only informed about how effective a cleaner is at cutting through grease but also that every cleaner has been designed to be environmentally friendly. You could communicate this by putting both messages on posters or advertisements or even by giving away free pamphlets with information about why being eco-friendly is important as well as the ingredients in each cleaning solution.
What strengths does your product have?
Marketing isn’t just selling something — it’s selling what makes your product unique from others of its kind.
To generate interest in your product, you’ll need to make customers aware of what makes it special and better than the competition (without boasting too much). Your product might be more effective at cleaning hardwood floors, or last longer with fewer refills, or be eco-friendly. Whatever your strength is — make sure it’s evident! Convince customers that they need to purchase your product and won’t regret their decision for one second.
Use every strategy available to you
Using as many strategies as possible can help ensure that your goals are met. Using multiple strategies also makes it easier for customers who may be confused by one message or another presented during the campaign period. Using several different advertising platforms is an excellent way to go about reaching as many people with your product as possible! Some ideas include:
Word-of-mouth marketing has been around for centuries and will continue to exist because the opinions of others are constantly valued over our own. The more confident you are about your product, the easier it will be to persuade others that it is worth trying out.
Once you have selected what message will be distributed to customers, ensure that each person receiving the message receives exactly the same information. This strategy works best when using different outlets because many times messages will get garbled in transition. By spending time choosing a focused message and delivering it directly to your audience you can save yourself a lot of trouble later on!
Consistency is key
When trying to market a product, consistency is absolutely necessary for reaching potential customers. Customers need to feel confident that the company they have decided to purchase from will be reliable and available to answer questions or concerns at any time. Many companies struggle with this because they lack the manpower to give every customer the attention they deserve, and this is where outsourcing can come in handy! Hiring a marketing agency will ensure that your message gets delivered efficiently and effectively while still maintaining a consistent tone and feel.
When you outsource your marketing, it will be easier to work with several agencies that specialize in one aspect of marketing so that no part of your campaign is under-represented. By working with an agency, you can let them worry about hiring subcontractors so you don’t have to! This way you’ll still have control over what’s being said but won’t have to worry about managing all the different aspects of the project yourself.
Competition can be a good thing
Competition between companies is normally seen as a bad thing, but it really just depends on what point of view you have. If your company is new and not very well-known then having multiple options to choose from might come as an advantage! This goes back to consistency — if your audience cannot find what they are looking for with your company, there is a good chance that they will seek it out somewhere else. It’s important to ensure that whatever you’re offering is unique and better than the competition because if it isn’t, the customer will assume their money would be better spent elsewhere (unless you offer considerably lower prices).
Once they are aware of you, you will be able to entice them with the benefits of your product! Make sure that they know how much more convenient your service can make their lives and what impossible task they’ll be able to accomplish if only they use your product. If you’re not sure what these points are, do some research about the common complaints among your customers and market around those fears! It’s easier to focus on how your product will make their lives better than it is to try and convince them why your product is worth buying in the first place.
Marketing can be intimidating when you feel like there are so many things you don’t know yet. But when you think about marketing as simply selling something with a message attached to it, then all those scary unknowns become clear and much more manageable.
Before you start your marketing campaign, keep in mind why people purchase products and what they look for when making a purchasing decision. As long as you know your customers well enough to be able to answer these questions, then you’re already on the right track!
