10 Powerful Marketing Principles That Every Small Business Should Know
Marketing is the heartbeat of any business
When it comes to a business’s success, the importance of marketing can be compared to the importance of the heart within the human body. It’s vital and without it pumping blood throughout the body’s system the person will eventually die.
If the heart is weak the body may last and linger but it never functions well enough to reap the benefits of quality life. It may even have to be replaced in order for the person to live.
Similarly, without an effective marketing system, a business, especially a small business, may linger but it will never scale or grow into what the business owner likely wants for himself or herself.
The challenge facing most small businesses is the owner(s) either lack the knowledge of how to market, they think it's cost-prohibitive, they don’t have the time or a combination of all of these.
Unfortunately, that does not take away the fact that without some form of marketing business will slowly die because its marketing lifeblood is not pumping through the business with the necessary process to feed and sustain it.
This article covers 10 simple yet powerful marketing concepts that any small business can adopt and implement and make them the heart of their business for the acquisition of customers and business growth
What Is Marketing?
Marketing serves two basic functions. One for customers and one for the business.
From a customer point of view, marketing identifies their needs, their wants, and desires, and the value the prospect or customer places on getting those needs, wants, and desires met.
For this reason, the prospect or customer should be front of mind in any marketing system.
From a business point of view, marketing gets the word out about what you do. It should be designed to educate prospects and customers, keep them engaged and build a relationship with them that results in trusting your business and its products or services that result in buying a business's products, getting repeat purchases, and enjoying referrals.
Here Are The 10 Ways To Make Marketing Work for Your Business
1. Always target a marketing niche
Identify the desires and wants of your prospect and customers and line your products or service to satisfy that need. Don’t concentrate on anything else. The narrower your target audience the better.
There is an old maxim that says “If you want to get rich target a niche. If you want to go broke, market to all the folks.” Find your niche that has a demand for what you have and just concentrate on them only.
2. Remember to provide beautiful music on the radio station that your niche listens to every day.
There is a radio station that every human being arises and listens to every morning. It is their favorite radio station. It is an FM signal with the call letters WIIFM. This stands for What’s In It For Me. Your target audience or niche is no different.
They are human and you must develop your marketing message with music and news that addresses the natural and strong emotion of selfishness that every human being has, no matter how they might try to resist it.
Pinpoint your marketing message and show how your product or service serves, soothes, and satisfies them.
3. People will pay for “a good experience.” Everything else is secondary.
Make sure that whatever your product or service is it delivers a good experience to customers. Make them feel good. Make them feel special. Make them want to come back.
Maya Angelou, an award-winning poet and author, made a statement that has become a famous quote that fits the experience every business should be delivering.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Keep this in mind and market your business to deliver a good experience.
4. Differentiate or die — nobody is interested in another same old product or service.
Show how your product or service is different, distinct, or unique from what your competitors offer. It doesn’t matter if you offer the same kind or a similar product, find a way to differentiate yours from theirs. That’s where marketing messaging comes in.
In the book “Differentiate or Die”, bestselling author, Jack Trout points out that for marketers, differentiating products today is more challenging than at any time in history. Yet, it remains at the heart of successful marketing. More importantly, it remains the key to a company’s survival.
Differentiating can be demonstrated through:
- Branding — stories of how your company serves the community and gives back in a unique way than any other competitor.
- A guarantee that lasts longer than any other company.
- Delivering service that no competitor can match
- Many more ways…
Never try to differentiate on price. That is a losing proposition. There is always a competitor that will undercut you on price just to get the customer.
5. If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.
Remember, your marketing should solve problems and remove pain period. Don’t create problems for prospects and customers within your marketing. Be clear, specific, and deliver results.
6. A company’s guest or customer list is its most valuable asset. (Build a herd, a flock, or tribe and put a fence around them and constantly feed them)
Develop and implement a way to gather names and emails from your prospects and customers. This becomes your list. It is gold. They will buy from you over and over but you must feed them constantly with good service, products, and services.
I am a big believer in Biblical Principles for Business Success. They just flat-out work. I’ve experienced them all of my life. Proverbs 27:23 states:
“Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds…”
This is a metaphor from a business standpoint. This passage of scripture goes on to explain that the Sheppard or herder must take care of his/her herd or flock. In return, they will take care of them and give back bountifully.
The same applies to your prospect and customer list.
7. Death and life are in the power of the tongue — (Proverbs 18:21)
Be careful of the conversations you have and what you say. There is a subconscious part of our mind that records everything we say be it negative or positive.
If you say in conversations you can’t do something, the subconscious mind records it, and you will be less prone to accomplish what you said you can’t do. That’s speaking death.
Proverbs 18:21 another biblical principle cautions that one should be careful what they say because in speaking you either speak death to what you want or life into what you want.
Alternatively, when our conversations and speech are about how we will do something no matter what, the subconscious mind also records that and cooperates by energizing you to focus on what you can do rather than what you can’t do.
This is where breakthroughs happen, innovation occurs, and the seemingly impossible becomes possible.
Watch what you say. Ultimately, it becomes what you do.
8. Marketing is not about the product or service, it’s about perception.
Human beings believe what they perceive. That’s the reality. Therefore, concentrate on positioning your product or service perceptions to make the marketing message appeal to the sense of sight and sound.
Use images that convey a message that supports your product or service. Show it in service or demonstration where you can. Create a video that delivers a persuasive message in sight and sound. There is truth in the old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.”
You can get free pictures and images to support your message on sites like unsplash.com; or pixabay.com. Canva.com also has a free account where you can learn how to create unique images, photos, and even videos to help create and deliver your marketing message.
9. The law of focus — stay focused on the outcome you want.
Without a vision, the people perish — Proverbs 29:18. Yes, another tried and true biblical principle for business success.
Do the best you can to stay away from all the shiny objects that are put in your path daily that distract you and get you off your marketing track.
Lack of focus is one of the most deadly factors that kill most small business successes when it comes to marketing.
Don’t try to do too many things at once. Concentrate on one thing at a time and work on it. Then test something else one at a time if the first thing is not working for you or if you find that another method works better.
For instance, don’t do try to market on all of the social media channels at once. Try Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or some other social media channel first. Focus on one thing at a time.
10. Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.
No marketing or advertising strategy will work unless you work it. I emphasize this in all of my marketing and business advice. It is crucial. It becomes a mantra that I preach because it is so very important.
There is very little that you can’t have a measure of success in if you create a vision of what you want and crystalize it in your mind. Make it as clear as the sun and see it as if it’s real.
Then write out the steps you need to take to make it happen and do something every day to get to your destination.
It will no longer be a daydream or turn into a nightmare. It will become a reality.
Conclusion
Marketing is the lifeblood of any business. It has two main parties. The customer and the business.
Concentration should be placed on the customer’s desires, wants, and needs and the business should develop a message that shows how those desires, wants, and needs are met.
Wherever you are in your business cycle right now you can take these 10 marketing principles and benefit your business.
