Marketing helps you reach your target audience, drives customers to your business and encourages them to purchase your goods or services.
Marketing processes help you to identify important business and marketing decisions:
- what - your product or service
- why - what you are hoping to achieve
- where - your location(s) (physical and online) and marketing channels
- who - your target audience
- when - timing of your campaign and marketing efforts
- how - how to measure success and make any needed changes
Understanding your target audience helps you to know how to provide customer satisfaction whilst benefiting your business.
Marketing requires research, time and suitable allocation of budget. Your overall budget should include a figure for marketing activity, which might include your branding, website, regular communication activity and the staff or external resources you’ll need to complete the work.
Investing time in developing your
marketing plan can help your business grow or sustain itself. You may decide to have separate marketing plans for specific projects such as starting to export, creating a new product line, diversifying into a new sector or expanding into a new location.
The marketing mix (or 5 Ps) is a set of key elements that can help build your brand and offering in a planned and consistent way. Working through these elements can help you think about the areas of your business you can change or improve, to help you meet the needs of your target market.