1 INITIAL STARTUP CONSIDERATIONS
STEP 5: MARKETING
YOUR BUSINESS
A critical and yet often overlooked part of a successful
business is marketing. A successful marketing strategy
includes a combination of advertising, website development,
public relations, promotional activities, social media
strategy and marketing collateral (print and digital).
Marketing is a process by which a business owner promotes
or sells a product or service, including market research
and advertising, and how to introduce and promote those
products and services to potential customers.
There are several areas of marketing that you need to
embrace in order to ensure success. Advertising is the most
traditional marketing activity, but consumer research is a
very important part of marketing as well as product design
and packaging.
Marketing is not sales; they are two totally different things.
However, a good marketing strategy can help to increase
sales. Marketing provides an opportunity for your business
to be discovered by potential customers. Creating a solid
marketing plan will help you attract customers and expand
your business.
ENGAGE YOUR CUSTOMERS
Through a combination of traditional marketing and social
media strategies, businesses can maximize their reach and
improve the visibility of their business in front of their
targeted audience.
MANAGING THE MARKETING MIX—THE FOUR PS
Every marketing plan contains four key components.
• Products and Services: Product strategies include
concentrating on a narrow product line, developing a
highly specialized product or service or providing a
product-service package containing unusually highquality
service.
• Promotion: Promotion strategies focus on advertising
and direct customer interaction. Good salesmanship is
essential for small businesses because of their limited
advertising budgets.
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• Price: When it comes to maximizing total revenue, the
right price is crucial. Generally, higher prices mean
lower volume and vice-versa; however, small businesses
can often command higher prices because of their
personalized service.
• Place/Distribution: The manufacturer and wholesaler
must decide how to distribute their products. Working
through established distributors or manufacturers’
agents is generally easiest for small manufacturers. Small
retailers should consider cost and traffic flow in site
selection, especially because advertising and rent can be
reciprocal: a low-cost, low-traffic location means spending
more on advertising to build traffic.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is a necessary component to any marketing
strategy. Social media refers to websites and applications
that are designed to allow people to share content quickly,
efficiently, and in real-time. Social media is just as valuable as
word-of-mouth advertising, which is one of the most credible
forms of advertising. Social media is more cost-effective than
traditional forms of marketing. In order to achieve a great
ROI using social media, you must take the time to develop a
complete, comprehensive social media strategy, just as you
would with other more traditional marketing efforts.
With targeted social media ads, you can reach out to targeted
prospects and potential customers. Social media applications
allow you to track your ads performance and make
adjustments, if necessary. This is an invaluable tool, one that
is not available using traditional marketing.
In order for a social media strategy to be successful, you
must be committed to having an active online presence. An
active online presence means posting on a regular basis and
engaging with your followers.
Using social media to reach your customers is not an “if” but
a “must” in order to be successful.
Facebook: facebook.com
Twitter: twitter.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com
Pinterest: pinterest.com
Instagram: instagram.com
YouTube: youtube.com
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