Whatever programmes you put in place, we'd recommend you consider the following:
1. Consistency
Consistency is the most important concept when marketing a small and medium sized enterprise (SME), mainly because it is ignored by so many businesses. I’ve worked with clients, big and small, that are extremely inconsistent in all areas of marketing. Consistency helps lower the cost of marketing and increases the effectiveness of branding.
2. Planning
Once SME’s have committed to consistency in their marketing, the next major concept is planning. Planning is the most vital part of marketing, and many SME owners and marketing managers plan poorly. Put the time into planning your marketing strategy, budget, and other concepts presented here to ensure success.
3. Strategy
Strategy immediately follows planning because your strategy is the foundation for the rest of your marketing activities. Marketing strategy is the process by which SME’s concentrate their resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. In the planning process, you must develop your strategy: who you will target, how you will target them, and how will you keep them as a customer.
4. Target Market
Target market is also another key concept for SME’s. Defining exactly who you are targeting allows owners and managers to focus scarce resources on specific customer groups and reduce marketing waste. A well-defined target market will make every other marketing concept much easier to implement successfully.
5. Budget
Although listed at number 5, budgeting is important throughout the entire process. Creating a marketing budget is often the hardest and most inaccurate part of marketing for an SME. Most lack experience in marketing, so their budgets often end up skewed. The most important part of this concept is to actually establish a marketing budget - then you can worry about how to distribute your funds. A useful rule of thumb for established businesses is to dedicate between 3-5% of revenues to marketing, however this depends to a large extent on your marketing objectives.
6. Marketing Mix
The marketing mix (also known as the 4 P’s) is defined as product, price, place, and promotion. As an owner or marketer of an SME, you must specifically decide on the products (or services) you will be offering to the market, the appropriate pricing, where and how you will distribute your products, and how will you let everyone know about you and your products.
7. Website
Today, all businesses must have a website which is also accessible on mobile devices regardless of size. Not just a one page website with out-of-date information. Customers, be they business or consumer, frequently search the web for information before making purchasing decisions. This concept contains a myriad of additional components but, at the very least, you must develop a web presence of some kind and keep it updated.
8. Branding
Many SME’s neglect this concept. People responsible for marketing must focus on this concept just as much as large organisations do. Branding consists of the pictures, logo, visual design, layout, make up, and image of your company and its product/service range. Branding is how your customers perceive (‘perception is reality’) your products and company. Make sure to pay special attention to what kind of brand you are building through each step in planning and implementation.
9. Promotion and Advertising
Promotion and advertising can be a complex marketing concept, but must be considered for any type of business and its products and services. Once you’ve engaged the previous 8 marketing concepts, you must let your target market know about your business and your products. Proper promotion and advertising will result in effective brand recognition, and, ultimately, increased sales.
10. Customer Relationship Management
The concept of customer relationship management has become a huge industry in the marketing world. There are many types of software and services offered to help businesses of any size handle their customer relationship management. Since there is so much available, usually for a large sum of money, SME’s usually look at this concept as something they are not big enough for or have enough money to implement. Don’t be fooled by the massive industry that has evolved from this concept. Maintaining proper customer relationships is essential to creating loyal customers.
If you need help in any of these areas, or simply want to talk to an expert about the best way to deal with a marketing or customer problem you routinely experience, call us on 0208 241 3730 or drop us an email by clicking here