Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Three Steps of Effective Marketing

So many people ask me why their products and services are not doing well. I wonder if they ever had any experiences with effective marketing. I always ask them just three simple questions and they get their answer within those simple questions.

I tell them no big thing, just simple things which I guess each and everyone involved in business must ask himself/herself. And I am very sure there is nothing alien about the things I tell them and most of the people already know them. The problem lies in the fact that we all tend to overlook some basic things in excitement of doing something BIG. I cam across so many people who launched their online business and websites with lot of enthusiasm and within weeks they quit because of not getting success as they expected. First of all, I would like to emphasize on the fact that it’s almost rare to get success within few days of starting any business and the saddest part is that almost 90% of the people quit after not getting success in initial days and assume that their business failed even if there was huge potential in whatever they tried.

Some people have a natural flavor of business and they understand the basics well but most of the people are attracted towards business due to glamour and quick money but they forget the most important things – Hard Work & Dedication.

Well let’s come back to the topic we are interested in. Here are the 3 simple facts which each & every person who is starting a new venture must consider. I will not be surprised if after reading them you say – “What’s new in this? Everyone knows that!”

I completely agree with you my dear friends, there is nothing new in this and almost everyone knows that but the point is how many of us really consider these things while starting new business, be it online or any other? I guess very few, and believe me, only those few are the one who have succeeded. Knowledge and applying that knowledge are two separate things and that difference is what makes the BIG difference.

Fact 1: The first question you should ask yourself is that whether your customers actually know about your product or services? Doesn't matter how world class product or services you have, it won't fetch you a single penny until unless people don't know about it. You need to make your products & services visible to world. You need to promote your studio through various channels like TV, Newspaper, Internet, Advertising at public places using billboards etc.

Fact 2: If you are already doing all this then the second question should be what your competitors are providing their customers and at what price? If they are providing more or less same products & services at lesser prices OR if they are providing better services than you then you need to do lot of rework in this area.

Why anyone would want to buy a new brand sport shoe at $99 when Reebok or Nike sports shoe are available at $92?

Fact 3: The third and one of the most important questions I guess is whether you are targeting the right audience? Suppose you open a recording studio in a small town or village then what good it’ll do to you because there is almost zero probability that you’ll find customers there. In short, whether there are any prospective customers available in your area?

If it’s an online business then things might be different as I can buy anything available online from any part of the world but still the fact 3 is applicable to online business as well. Suppose you launch a website of women cosmetics and are using PPC (Pay per Click Advertising) to promote your website but the keywords you are using are not strongly targeted for the “right” audience. The point I am trying to make here is target your customers with a proper strategy instead of doing anything in hurry to kick off your venture.

Well, there can be many more reasons for any business failure but I guess if you can work out on the three questions above then you'll get a fair idea what's wrong.

In a nutshell, "effective marketing" is the key here. How you promote your products & services to targeted audience is what will make you succeed or fail at the end of day. If you have nay questions for me or you need any help, feel free to contact me at webmaster@affiliateplugin.com

Shishir



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