Marketing and promotion are pivotal in your conquest of starting and running a business. It’s also essential for your business’s growth and success. This guide will go through some easy and affordable marketing methods on how to best grow and promote your business.
1. Know the 5 P’s of Marketing
The 5 P’s are key marketing elements designed to help you think about the different areas of your business. By working your way through the 5 P’s, you can advertise and promote your business accordingly which will make your efforts more rewarding.
Product
The first ‘P’ is ‘product’ which refers to what you are offering to your customers as a whole. The product element also includes what you will include with the product/service. For example, if you have a candle business, you may consider offering free gift wrapping to customers as an incentive to shop with you.
Price
The second ‘P’ is ‘price’ which refers to the thought process of setting prices for your product or service. It usually includes all the parts that make up your overall cost, including the advertised price, any discounts, sales, credit terms or other payment arrangements or price matching services you offer.
Additionally, your pricing will depend on the type of service or product you are offering. For example, a budget car hire business will have different prices than that of a luxury car hire business.
Promotion
The third ‘P’ is ‘promotion’ which refers to all the methods you use to promote your business and its product or services. These methods include sales, public relations, direct marketing and advertising. For example, if you run a sports physiotherapy business, consider sponsoring local teams to promote your business.
Place
The fourth ‘P’ is ‘place’ and refers to how and where you will be offering your product or service. For example, you may choose to have a shopfront or restaurant, or you may choose to be strictly online or through a distributor. Make sure the ‘place’ element coincides with the nature of your business.
People
The final ‘P’ is ‘people’ which refers to all the parties involved in your business such as yourself, your staff and your customers. For example, if you are thinking of hosting your products and services online, you need to consider whether this is the best method for your target market.
The Business Government website provides great examples of the 5 P’s in action for you to visualise the terms. The examples will help you apply the 5 P’s in your business to boost business growth.
2. Select your Target Market
Defining and selecting a target market will let you create any advertising and promotion in a way which will pull in the customers you want. Consider the age, gender, socio-economic status, gender and occupation when creating your advertising.
3. Choose Where to Advertise or Promote Your Business
Making sure your advertising placement is applicable to your target market is pivotal for business promotion, growth and success. You need to make sure to advertise your business where your target market is looking.
For example, advertising your business of selling university notes and textbooks to students in a newspaper won’t be effective. Whereas advertising your business on social media sites such as Facebook would be far more effective.
If you choose to contact an advertising agency, make sure you have an advertising agreement at hand. This will provide you with legal protection and will ensure you get the advertising you need for the growth and success of your business.
4. Use Local Listing Services
Registering your business with local listing services allows your business to come up when searched for and also allows your potential customers’ easy access to directions, reviews and trading hours.
These local listing services include Google Places which allows your business to be featured on Google Maps, Yahoo! Local which is free and worth the few minutes to set up and Microsofts Bing which is a similar service and is easy to set up.
5. Embrace Technology and Social Media
Realistically, social media is a powerful platform for advertising for businesses of all sizes to reach goals and customers. Depending on your target market, there’s a good chance your customers are already interacting with other brands through social media and you should get in on the fun too. Key social media services you should join and be active on include:
- YouTube
Additionally, you can try social media advertising. Facebook Ads specifically gives you the option and flexibility to pick and choose the target market and demographic that you want your advertisements to be shown to. This means you can both engage a target market you haven’t reached yet, as well as further engage your current target market.
One great thing about social media advertising is that it is measurable. You can see how many people interacted with your advertising, what that interaction was and who is seeing your ads. Thanks to this, you can either continue and grow your use of social media advertising, or terminate it and look at other advertising options.
6. Know Your Legal Obligations
The honest practice of advertising is a legal obligation placed on businesses through Australian Consumer Law and is regulated by agencies such as the Australian Competition and Consumer Competition (ACCC). Some of these obligations include:
- Avoid false or misleading statements
- Ensure social media content is accurate and honest
- Manage your online reviews appropriately
- Provide clear, accurate and truthful country of claims statements
If you are confused by your legal obligations or are looking for professional assistance about advertising, it is always a good idea to consult a lawyer for legal advice.
