The Basic Components of Marketing

Part 1 of 2

If you want to successfully sell, that is, to receive money (or
other value) in exchange for your services, you must first
successfully promote those services. Define clearly the following
elements as they apply specifically to your company:


1 - What are you selling?

Be clear, think it all the way through from every angle. If you
are a roofer, think about exactly what your skillset offers to
a client: you don't just install new roofs, you also repair and
maintain them. You know how to retrofit a roof to reduce heating
and cooling bills that save the customer money year after year.
You know how to make that roof secure in a hurricane and solid
in torrential rains. You do more than just the material things,
however - you provide the fundamental peace of mind and security
that comes from having a solid roof over your head. The specific
emotional well-being your work provides is very valuable to a
customer, something you need to pinpoint and factor in.


2 - How much do you charge for your work?

Undercutting your worth is the number one way to bleed a
business slowly to death. In previous issues we've talked
specifically about the value of perception, avoiding price wars,
and outflanking the competition. One of the best resources on
the planet for properly pricing your contracting work is Michael
Stone's legendary book, "Markup & Profit: A Contractor's Guide".
Find it here: http://contractor-city.com/maprcogu.html


3 - Where are you located?

Where you physically do business has a huge impact on how you
will best generate leads and turn those leads into sales. A
contractor in rural Minnesota will have a very different approach
to his market than a contractor based in downtown Los Angeles.
Take into consideration how your "ideal" customer lives and
works and what their main concerns are likely to be. Is weather
an important factor in the local quality of life? How about
traffic, or crime? Is there a particular type of architecture
that is favored in the area (for example, high-rise condos,
vintage Victorians, suburbian McMansions, etc) that affects
the lifestyle of your community? Everything in your locality
that impacts how your customers live and work is a factor you
must consider. The better you understand your customer, the
more successful you will be in reaching him.


4 - How are you getting your message across?

Once you've thoroughly examined and understood the first three
elements (product, pricing and market location), what you
specifically learn from them will drive the fourth fundamental
element: advertising and promotion. Advertising is, in its most
basic form, a message communicated through various media to the
public, a tool used to influence the buying and thought patterns
of a customer. The dictionary defines 'advertising' as: "to
announce or praise (a product, service, etc.) in some public
medium of communication in order to induce people to buy or
use it."


In the next issue, we will look specifically at who it is you
want to "influence the buying and thought patterns" of, and how
to effectively align your efforts with that ideal customer. We
will examine and walk through:

- Correctly identifying your target market

- Pinpointing your most profitable areas of work

- Matching your company image to your target market

- Creating your maximum-impact advertising plan blueprint


Knowing who your most profitable customers actually are, learning
exactly what it is they want, understanding how they want to hear
from you, and then matching your promotional efforts to those
expectations is what makes your cash register ring year-round.


To your success!