Marketing 101 - The Basics

Yvonne Cartwright
Business Pulse Magazine
October 2002

At the recent Bellingham and Whatcom Business Conference, put on in part by WWU's Small Business Development Center, I had the opportunity to do a presentation on what I called "Bang for the Buck Marketing - The Realities Behind Marketing Strategy, Marketing Planning & Execution".

It was a good presentation made all the more interesting by the active participation of my audience of nearly fifty business people. Because the information was so well received and discussed that afternoon, I was reminded that what seems to me to be as automatic as breathing as the owner of Bellingham's full service marketing, advertising and graphic design firm, is really helpful information to folks who don't do marketing for a living.

So, at the risk of repeating myself in this column (because I'm sure I've written about this before), I would like to give a synopsis of my presentation here in print. It may be valuable new information for some, and for others it will serve as a reminder of how to get the most out of your marketing budget, or confirm that you are indeed "doing it right".

There are three basic elements to consider when developing a comprehensive marketing plan. Knowledge of your market, creating an appropriate message to send to them, and identifying the media that will most effectively deliver that message. Let's take a closer look at each of these elements.

Your market. Who are you talking to? What do you know about them? What do they like, or dislike...and why? What are their personal habits in the area of leisure time pursuits?
What patterns can you see in their discretionary income spending? And what do they know about your product or service?

You can see that the information you need about your market in order to be most effective when developing your message involves much more than standard demographic date like of male/female, age, education, and household income. To do the best job possible, you need to study these people - get inside their heads. Figure out what makes them tick, or more specifically, what makes them buy.

How do you find the answers to these questions? You do some research. I don't know why, but business owners and managers often seem reticent to engage in the research necessary to know their marketplace in and out. It's too time consuming, it's too expensive, they don't want to wait to get the information because they want to get started now. What these arguments only serve to do, however, is to postpone the inevitable. If you aren't talking to the right people, and telling them the right things, they won't pay any attention to you. And how expensive is that? Case closed.

So let's assume you appreciate the obvious necessity of getting to know your market. You now know them, intimately. Now you are ready to develop the message you plan to send to them. The message is the focus of your promotional campaign, and the way you will find to push the buttons of your audience, directing them towards behaviors that will result in sales of your product or service. If this sounds like psychology, it is. It's the psychology of human behavior. And it's a whole lotta fun!

Your message should revolve around a Unique Selling Point (USP); something that makes you different, better, or more special than your competition. Identifying USPs is easier for some businesses than others. But every business should identify at least one. A word of caution here, however. What you think is cool about what you offer may not be what floats the boat of your audience. Your message needs to be one to which your market will be attracted, and will accept.

Consistency is crucial here; be consistent in what you say. And say it with complete clarity. If your message causes any confusion at all among your target market, you'll lose them to a better, clearer message given by someone else.

Now you know your market, and you've developed an incredibly brilliant message. Now what? You look for the most effective, efficient way to deliver the message to them. And there are many choices.

Each medium available to marketers/advertisers comes with pros and cons. They all can deliver your message, but are they delivering it to the right people, at the right time, in the right way? For some, finding a clear answer to these questions represents the most difficult part of the process of developing a strong marketing plan.

There is one thing you can know for sure. People are not one-dimensional. Therefore, don't put all your media eggs in one basket; in other words, mix your media choices - don't buy just one.

A good mix of general advertising, direct marketing, and publicity will give you the awareness you need, will encourage the action you want the market to take, and will establish credibility for your business, and your product or service. To ignore one or more of these media options is to effectively cut off the benefit they bring to your marketing effort.

Last, take the time to present yourself with a reality check. Today's consumer is savvy, and fickle. If you have talked yourself into believing otherwise, you're nuts. The reality is that you need them worse than they need you. So grab their attention. Then keep their attention. It definitely pays off.

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