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Marketing seems to be a difficult concept for many owners.

It is part art and part science. The Valley Economic Development Center in Van Nuys, California offers a program called the Entrepreneurial Training Program (ETP) to help business owners improve their business. Over twelve weeks, the participants cover strategic planning, competitive advantage, sales, finance, human resources, operations, leadership, and marketing.

If you asked the individuals that participate in the ETP why they are there, they will tell you that they need help marketing.

Yet, the two workshops on marketing (competitive advantage and marketing) are the workshops most often missed. It has nothing to do with the date, the time, or the location of the workshop.

It has everything to do with the subject matter.

The owners I speak with who are not happy with their business condition have told me in effect, “I already know that marketing stuff.”

My standard response is “If that is the case, why is your business in such lousy shape? Why are you here?”

This article can serve as either a refresher course, a wake up call, or validation for what you are already doing regarding marketing your business.

People

Marketing, like most disciplines, requires getting and going along with people. Make no mistake; every single person in an organization is in marketing. From the receptionist to the custodian, impressions are formed when someone representing the organization does something either well or not so well.

The bottom line: make sure that your people understand they are marketing the business. This occurs every single minute, every single day.

Problems

If your business does not solve problems, you are going to go out of business. People have needs, wants, desires, urges, and impulses that they want filled. That translates to you being a problem solver. The more problems you solve, the higher the need.

The bottom line: make sure that the problems your business solves are at the top of as many lists as possible. Your business will grow as a result.

Product

Your products and services have to solve problems and satisfy needs. What quality level will you offer? Is it your name or someone else’s? Will you guarantee what you deliver?

The bottom line: make sure your products solve problems and build equity (name recognition) in your business.

Positioning

How do you wish to appear and be perceived by your customers and your competitors? Are you a leader, or follower? Are you high priced, low priced or somewhere in between?

People equate pricing and quality with positioning. Think first class on an airliner. Now think economy. Which better fits your organization? Does each product also have that same positioning?

The bottom line: Position yourself before your competition positions you.

Promotion

This is how to get the word out about the business. What works well for your target market? Chances are, you are a follower, so see what the leaders are doing so that you can avoid the mistakes of wasting precious resources.

Testimonials are among the strongest of tools. Scientific research (“9 out of 10 doctors recommend…”) is a good selling weapon. Whatever claims you state, be sure that you can back them up.

The bottom line: Spend resources wisely when promoting your business. Money can disappear very quickly with no results to show for it.

Prospecting

If there is one part of selling that people hate, it is prospecting. The sales cycle begins by prospecting. Without taking this step, repeatedly, your business will die.

Prospecting brings new customers into the business as well as new money (Yes!). You should take the time to learn how to do it, and do it well.

The bottom line: If you fail to fill the gas tank, the engine will stop running. Prospecting equals putting gas into the tank for your business.

Place

This refers to how you will distribute your products and services to your customers. Will you do it directly, through wholesalers, through retailers, or use the Internet? How many locations will you have? What images will those trucks, delivery people, stores, bags display? If you are selling in more than one area, or in different channels of distribution, who will manage each channel?

The bottom line: Start out in one channel and do it exceedingly well before you move to another channel. Do not lose sight of the objectives of each channel, because cannibalization of sales can happen very quickly.

Price

I am a bit leery of telling people how they should price their products, because they know their industry better than I. But regardless of how you position your products, price every item so that it is profitable. If customers can “cherry pick,” (and they will) you will lose!

The bottom line: if you charge more than a competitor, have at least ten easy to understand reasons for doing so. People are usually suspicious of low prices.

Process

Marketing is a process, yet most people do not recognize it as such. The process is in effect from the time you start marketing, using whatever means you need to acquire customers.

To improve your marketing, you need to know what your process is, and how long it takes from the time you start the process, to the time money ends up in your bank account. That way you will not be discouraged when your efforts do not show immediate results.

Your business model should be set up so that you don’t just sell the customer once and never have a transaction again. Set up your business so you secure repeat business from the same customer.

The bottom line: learn the marketing process for your organization; create if it does not already exist.

Priority

No successful businessperson I have ever met got that way by putting marketing on the back burner. Marketing is, and should be, your highest priority. If you are in a slump or riding high, the only way to get what you want is to market.

The bottom line: Spend at least 40% of your time marketing and it will only be a matter of time before the results kick in.

Marketers from every niche have common ground when it comes to bills. Yeah, every month there is a new stack of bills demanding to be paid. Will there be enough profit to slide right through bill paying time without a flinch? Or do you find yourself fretting about whether you will even break even? You dont have to be victimized by envelopes and 8×10 sheets of paper. Implement these 3 techniques to boost your sales.

1. Find More Customers
The first thing that comes to mind when we think of making more money is getting more customers through our doors. In fact, the majority of advertising focuses on doing just that. There are several things you can do to entice more customers to buy from you.

Implement Follow-Ups
Marketing gurus have discovered that follow ups can increase your customer conversion rates by as much as 50%. Now, thats a whopping improvement! Do not let potential customers fade away. Keep the doors for future communication open, and watch the drastic growth in your profits.

Encourage Referrals
Every satisfied customer will tell 3 friends or family members about your business - without encouragement. Imagine what would happen if you start rewarding their efforts.

Get Free Publicity
Nearly everyone keeps a sharp eye on the local news. Hey, its funner to know what is going on when you personally recognize the names and faces in print! Find ways to make your business newsworthy and catch the attention of potential customers without even paying advertising fees.

2. Sell More Per Customer
Think about it… how can you get every customer that walks through your doors to spend more money before walking back out the doors? Here are 3 sure-fire, profit increasing tips:

Increase your prices.
Hey, that might not be as bad as you think. Along with the price increase, focus on increasing the perceived value of your product. Yeah, we all expect to pay a little more for high quality stuff. Not everyone is bent on finding the absolute cheapest price in town… they may be more interested in lasting quality.

Add some higher end products or services to your business.
It is never wise to put all of your eggs in one basket. That is why wise marketers diversify their products and services. Think of it this way… higher priced products may not make as many sales, but each sale will bring in a much greater profit. You dont need to make as many sales to come out on the best end of the deal.

Upsell
Offer every customer an additional product that accents his current purchase at the register. Hey, maybe they forgot they would need batteries to go with the toy they’re getting for their niece’s birthday gift! You can be a hero… a richer hero.

3. Sell More Often
The fact that it is easier to sell to the people who know and trust you is obvious. Sometimes we get so focused on new customers that we miss the gold mine in our own back yard. Take advantage of the hard work you have invested in winning the loyal customers you already have with these ideas:

Create a Special Deal
Show your customers you appreciate them and understand their needs with a special offer catered just for them. You will be thanking them, and selling more in the process.

Add New Products
Increase the number of products you already have available - especially products that your customers have asked for. They will know that you are looking out for them, and you will take their thanks to the bank.

Communicate
Resell yourself on a regular basis. Dont forget to let them know about upcoming specials that they will appreciate. Most of all… keep selling them on the benefits of the products or services you offer.

Internet and network marketing are inseparably related today. The phenomenal growth of the Internet has been a great boost for those trying to establish a network marketing business of their own. Whether part time or full time, you can combine the worldwide exposure and instant response so typical of the Internet to build your business from your home or office computer, or for that matter, anywhere in the world. You are always connected.

Many people have made fortunes on the Internet and network marketing has been easy for them for so many reasons. But the one common thing among them is that they have all worked really hard at it. This is no get-rich-quick scheme on the Internet and network marketing is just like any other business. You succeed if you persevere.

If you are conversant with the ways of the Internet and network marketing looks like the right thing for you, then start building your business today! Network marketing is a worldwide mega trend today, with about 30,000 people joining network marketing companies per week. And why do you think that is? Because network marketing is a way for an average individual, without any prior business experience and technical training, to establish a worldwide, highly profitable marketing organization, and to run it out of his or her own home.

Network marketing is nothing but a highly efficient way of getting a product from a manufacturer directly into the hands of the customer, without all the middlemen who only serve to increase the cost of the product, and without the traditionally huge advertising expenses incurred by most companies.

The Internet has had great effect on the network marketing industry. Some companies have been very successful in using the Internet and network marketing has been booming. There are several companies with sales in the hundreds of millions dollars annually, who enter between seventy and ninety percent of their orders via the Internet or automatic touch tone ordering. The distributors use this system because they choose to. Those who feel the least bit uncomfortable with technology are free to call an 800 number to place orders with live operators. Most, however, recognize and take advantage of the benefits of the newer technologies.

So don’t have second thoughts about whether or not to make use of the Internet, and network marketing may be just the thing for you. Work at your own time and pace, and slowly but surely build up a residual income. Fulfill your dream of being able to afford the luxuries of life. Enjoy life king-size!