Last month, we met a new client who are already enjoying millions of dollars in revenue without considerable social media coverage and unclear branding. In terms of sales, they’re doing pretty good. But they still reached out for our help to iron out their branding and marketing. Why? You’ll find out later in this post.
The heart of your business’ success is marketing.
If you don’t put the word out there, you will not make much of a dollar no matter how good your product or service is. Why? Because none of your potential customers knows about your business. Most aspects of your business’ success depend on strategic marketing — this includes advertising, promotions, sales, and even public relations.
Wait. The company you just mentioned are raking in millions of dollars without paying attention to their marketing?
You might think that it’s a contradiction but actually, it is not. This company think they haven’t been marketing but in reality, they have been. They just don’t realise it. Here are some of their undeliberate and sporadic marketing moves that have returned some great results so far:
Network Marketing
Networking and building trust with key people in their industry has been crucial to the company’s success and it can be for your business too. By associating and building relationships during events, opportunities have arisen, and alliances and partnerships have been made.
Word of Mouth
Even without a strong branding and social media presence, this company has created a name for itself through excellent customer service and networking. They always beat their client’s expectations, effectively turning them into loyal customers and brand ambassadors.
Word of mouth is the most credible form of marketing. Why? Because consumers trust their friends. This Nielsen study shows that 92% of consumers believe recommendations from family and friends more than any form of advertising.
Word of mouth can go viral in a natural way. One person can tell another, and that person will tell someone else until a buzz is formed around your business. This free, and powerful marketing strategy is a great medium if used properly.
Be careful though, because word of mouth is also as effective in spreading negative press about your business.
Event Marketing
Creating events is also a powerful way to foster trust among your potential customers. It’s been a great way for this company to position themselves as an authority in their industry.
Some of the benefits of events marketing include:
- Targeting specific customersAttendees are hot leads meaning, they are there because they are interested in what you have to offer.
- Customer engagementEvents give your potential customers an opportunity to engage with you or with your product.
- Feedback from Customers
During events, you can get suggestions from your potential customers on how to improve your product or service.
- New connections
Your event attendees are not all customers. Among them are future suppliers, investors, or even business partners.
Excellent Customer Service
This company is in an industry that’s known for being slow, blowing budgets, and not delivering as promised. However, with excellent customer service, they were able to blow the stigma out of the water. They showed the industry that they can fulfil the most complex needs quickly and on the budget — a game changer!
“To over-deliver in service to a customer is by far the most valuable thing to a business.”
– Daymond John, Founder of FUBU
No doubt — this company has done great things to create an impressive revenue. But they have only scratched the surface. With our help, they have already projected a substantial increase in revenue by creating a strategy to leverage their strong network, simplify their brand, streamline their procedures, and clarify their brand’s purpose, just to name a few.
Why do you think a financially successful business would bother cleaning up their marketing? Read below.
Why You Should Market Your Business Correctly
You want to grow
One of the biggest mistakes business owners and entrepreneurs make is they get too busy working IN their businesses that they forget to work ON it. You should not settle. The industry changes from time to time and if you want to dominate the market or survive, you have to grow.
Growth needs capital. And one of the ways to secure that capital is by improving your sales through upping strong and clear marketing strategies.
The competition has leveled up and you need to step it up
No matter what industry you are in, the competition is always fierce. You don’t want to get left behind, do you?
“Part of the marketing role is to pick up on changing customer needs and behaviour and the forces at play in markets – and to do so ahead of the competition.”
– Lain Ellwood, Author of Marketing for Growth
Volvo’s interception campaign is a classic example of how creative marketing can trump the competition.
You want to change direction in your business
Customers are fickle-minded. From time to time, the industry changes —prompting you to change direction in your business or to add more products or services. Without the right marketing, this could lead to brand confusion. Here’s an example:
Do you know that Dell made their own mp3 player called Dell DJ? If you have not heard about it, I don’t blame you. I blame their marketing team. Although Dell is perfectly qualified to make their own mp3 player, it flopped. Why? Because people know them as a computer company. That’s how they are branded. And for consumers, it doesn’t make sense to buy an mp3 player from a computer maker.
Now, contrast that with Apple’s iPod and iTunes.
You want to bring clarity to your brand
As you can see in our example above, Dell DJ is nowhere to be found today. Their opportunity to gain market share in the music industry was lost because of brand confusion.
If you think your branding is getting confused, take a step back and follow these tips:
- Narrow your target audience
- Identify the problems that your product or service solves
- Identify your business purpose
Marketing is the business. Do it right, and it could potentially earn you millions of dollars, create more impact, and dominate an industry. Do it wrong and you can kiss your true potential goodbye. We are here to help you do it right. Get in touch with us today.