Every year, countless companies are started. A common mistake is that start-ups focus on start-ups and forget about other important aspects. The focus is usually on getting started with sales so that you can start selling your products and share your knowledge. But in order for you to get new customers, it is required that your customers know where you are and what you sell and that is where marketing comes into the picture.
It may seem obvious, but marketing is an important part of every business, especially when it comes to society today. We are constantly bombarded by advertising on TV, reading news online, in the traffic behind a bus, and so on. it is important to stand out. Smart marketing wins, but it's a process that has no end.
Whether you're just starting out as a marketer or need an update on what's important, it's good to know the basics of how marketing can help your business grow. So let's go all the way back, where it all begins.
Marketing is broad and can be done in many different ways. The purpose of marketing is to capture the customer's and potential customer's interest in buying your product or service. Marketing is necessary for your business to grow or stand out from your competitors.
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Questions to ask
To succeed in marketing, you need to get to know your target audience. Who are your customers? What do they like? How and where do I find my customers? How do I get them to like me or my products? How do I differentiate myself from everyone else who does what I do?
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Digital Marketing
Today, many companies choose to work with digital marketing and the benefits are many. Digital marketing is fast, cost-effective, and measurable and you can easily target specific target audiences. Another advantage is that you can easily change and adjust - what works and what does not work? Do not forget to evaluate and dare to test yourself.
Examples of how you can work with digital marketing:
- Your website
- Social Media
- Email / Newsletter
- SEO / Search Engine Optimization
- SEA / Search Engine Advertising
There are many paths to take in marketing, find your thing and run on it. Keep track of your target audience and remember that trends can change quickly. It is important that you keep up for your company to be seen and heard in this competitive world.
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Boost sales
This is perhaps the most well-known benefit of marketing, so let's briefly address it. After all, the main point of marketing is to facilitate a purchasing decision. Marketing helps you take potential customers from awareness to purchase by:
- Identify and find potential customers
- Communicate with potential customers
Persuade potential customers to become customers or to buy your product/service
In addition, when a customer is happy with your product or service, they will have a sense of loyalty to your brand and possibly even become a brand ambassador.
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Strengthen and maintain the company's reputation
Your company's status is directly related to its reputation, which is based on how effectively you meet your customers' needs, wishes, and expectations. It is not enough to just provide quality service or a quality product, you must also provide outstanding customer service and deal with any future problems that arise with your work.
Your reputation is always critical. However, it has become especially important today, as online reviews can really make or break you.
But if the company is already known, it is more likely that a dissatisfied customer can cause great concern. This is where the brand comes in. Smart branding not only creates awareness of your company among your target audience, it also helps to build their opinions about the company. The stronger the brand, the more likely it is that if you make a mistake or fall victim to unfair criticism, the company will succeed.
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Build and maintain relevance
The right marketing strategies will ensure that your business is top of mind when customers think of a product or service they need. Marketing will create brand awareness and help your business stand out for new and returning customers.
Building familiarity with your company, and what you do and building pure awareness does a lot for the company. It gives a positive view of your business, makes it easier to scale and grow in new markets, and helps build trust. The higher the awareness, the more relevant your brand becomes to potential customers.
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Improves client and customer relationships
Smart marketing also helps you build relationships with your existing and returning customers. First, marketing will help the company meet customer needs in an effective way.
It helps to build a bond between your company and those who can benefit the most from what you do, therefore they gain trust and improve their relationship with you. If you do the marketing right, you are not even trying to convince someone to buy from you. You simply show why they should buy from you and let them make that decision for themselves. This is important whether you are selling shoes or spades.
If you take it to the next level, you can turn a one-time customer into someone who comes back again and again, or even in some cases (as we talked about earlier) a brand ambassador. Transforming your business from a product into a lifestyle brand - a brand that people not only buy from but actively want to be associated with - is not easy. But it's well worth it.
