Getting sh*t done.
Open for business is the message going out this week as more and more shops and venues start to open their doors. B2B & B2C both face similar challenges, but what are you going to do to meet your targets? Let’s move the focus away from Covid-19 – let’s talk about the future and how you can press the reset button and get sh*t done.
Product, Price, Place, Promotion.
Marketing changes on a regular basis. Behaviours evolve, dynamics change and fads come and go. But the constants are the basic rules of marketing, in this instance, the 4 P’s – but when was the last time you considered yours?
Product
Whether you’re a product or a service-based business, ask yourself the following questions:
- Does your offering still meet the needs of the target audience?
- How does your offering compare to your competitors?
- How can you improve or adapt your offering to sustain demand?
Be as brutal as possible with your answers, if you plaster over the cracks or apply too much subjectivity you’re not going to get to the real answers – and it’s those real answers that will help you to continually improve, keep relevant and keep moving forward.
Price
Unless you’ve got an established brand with a cult-like following who are willing to pay any price for your product or service – price is an important consideration and in some instances a key driver in choosing one business over another.
Where do you sit regarding price amongst the rest of the market?
If you’re more expensive, how are you justifying it? Quality? Service? Added Value?
However you’re justifying it, in our experience those businesses who can prove their claims via positive endorsements and online reviews are those who win more business even if their offering is more expensive.
If you’re cheaper – should you be or are you underselling yourself? When was the last time you increased your prices? If you’re worried about increasing your costs, you need to ask yourself why and how could you improve the position of your offering to justify the increased cost?
Of course, there are instances and businesses where a cheaper price point is the right strategy – however, the marketing tactics and messaging need to align with this to ensure the volume of sales is achieved. How could you improve your marketing strategy to ensure you hit your targets?
Place
Digital changed the ‘Place – P’ dramatically.
Online added a completely new place for companies to conduct business and enabled those who previously didn’t have the capital to start-up, to leverage the power of the internet and create a whole range of new business ventures.
Those that didn’t adapt paid the price.
Today, the large majority of businesses have a website and an element of online presence however, it’s not enough just to be online.
Businesses must keep up to date with the way their customers consume information, make purchasing decisions and where they hang out online.
Whether the nature of your business means you can sell online or not, being present in the right place, with the right message is key to generating the leads you need to hit your targets. Alongside a website, you need to consider your social channels, review websites such as Trustpilot and the big one – Google search.
All that said, don’t completely disregard offline places – we have worked with businesses that still do over 40% of their business via mail order. The key is to understand your audience and the best way of communicating with them. Would expanding your ‘place’ will allow you to tap into a new audience?
Promotion
Promotion is often thought of as just the ways of showcasing your offering. But it’s more than that. It’s your proposition and key messaging.
You can promote your offering through a variety of channels from SEO, advertising and PR to email, video and social media to name a few. Yet, to really maximise your return on investment you need a well-positioned set of messages.
However, don’t fall into the trap of many other businesses by just listing off what their offering is or how it works. To make your promotion stand out from the noise, your messaging needs to be centred around the customer. Think about what their challenges and goals are and how your offering would help – give them examples of why they should care.
Another key component to your messaging is ensuring you create high value offers for example; a free audit, a step by step guide or sharing some insight and research your team has produced. This can help to attract and nurture your prospects to ensure you are in front of mind when they are in the buying stage.
Time to get sh*t done
Now is the time to start getting sh*t done. Down that double espresso and let’s get a move on and get it done.
There’s never an excuse for crappy marketing, dull creativity or copycat messaging. If your brand isn’t visible to your target audience, then you’re starting this race with your arms tied behind your back. Your offering may not always be the immediate necessity for your audience, but if you’re not engaging with them then how can you expect them to remember you when their need arises?
Tactics are a fundamental part of marketing, yet if you’re not using the 4 P’s within the foundation of your messaging then your efforts will fall amongst the noise. Don’t be a sheep following what your competitors are doing. Be bold, be daring. Capture your audience’s attention, adapt to their needs and try something new.
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got” – Henry Ford.
So what can you do now?
Invest your budget into a strategy and team that’s going to drive growth. That doesn’t always mean spending more money, you should look to redirect expenditure away from activities that are no longer driving the results that they used to, and put them into something new.
Get rid of the devil’s advocate in the room. It’s the easiest seat around, and there’s always one. If your team has a devil’s advocate who’s consistently shooting down new suggestions and killing ideas before they’ve even hatched then it’s time to have a word. As Oscar Wilde once said, “A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.”. Your biggest roadblock to success is the cynic in the room.
Try something new. In a world where everyone is trying to be the same, be something different.
If you’re interested in trying something new to drive business growth, then get in touch with us today. Our team of marketing experts get sh*t done daily. You can book a call with our team, drop an email to us at paul@wearecatalyst.co.uk, give us a call on 0121 296 5275 or fill in out contact page.