Marketing can make or break your business. It can also help to set you apart from your competition, speak to your ideal clients and convey your underlying marketing message.
The marketing dilemma
I can talk marketing all day, every day. I love doing it, I love studying it, and most of all I love helping people with their businesses.
The biggest issue I find here is that we have a vast array of businesses and people that are in completely different levels, if you will, of their business.
With that being said, I want to start with some basic marketing and branding information.
Your business, your brand
I will lead off with this – I am no brand expert, and I don’t claim to be. I do, however, understand how your brand and marketing can help solidify you in your market.
Most people start their business, come up with a business name and BAM, they are off and running. They don’t put too much thought into the business they are creating or the brand that is being created along with it.
What exactly do you mean brand?
Think about this…when you consider Apple (the company), what do you think? Now compare this to Dell…and what do you think?
I am assuming you just had two completely different “brands” come into your mind. One, Apple, is a high-end, no discount, top of the line, sleek and sexy product. The second, Dell, is an average joe, so to speak. They make decent products that you can find or sell anywhere online and they work, but they aren’t anything special.
Apple has spent billions and billions of dollars creating a brand that people know means and stands for quality.
So, what type of brand do you want to create?
Establishing that brand
You don’t need to answer that question right away, but that is just something to consider. Do you want to be the high-end, beautiful, flawless spray tan company. Or do you want to be the get them in, get them out, half price, decent looking spray tan company?
Speak to YOUR market
After you put some thought into your brand and what you want to stand for, you can consider this question…”who is your ideal client?”
I don’t mean some generic answer, like “women”. That is not an ideal client. Think about that general answer for a minute, “women”.
Women could mean a teenager, a college student, a mother, a grandma, a body builder, a competition cheerleader, or anything else.
There is no way that an advertisement for a teenager would also resonate with a mother. It just doesn’t make sense to try to appeal to everyone, it just won’t work. I love this quote, because it rings so true with marketing
Identifying your ideal client
I have mentioned this advice to a lot of people in the past. The first thing I hear is some type of push-back. “But….I want to make money and I need to spray ANYONE that wants a tan”. To me, that doesn’t sound like the kind of business I want to be in.
I’ve had my fair share of terrible business experience, and this typically occurs when I tried to help someone outside of my target market. They weren’t my ideal client, and therefore we both suffered.
So how do you identify your ideal client? Think about it – who do you MOST enjoy working with or helping? Is it mothers who just want a few minutes away from their kids, and want a tan so they can feel “sexy”? Or is it college students that want to always look their best?
Take some time to think about who you most enjoy working with. Remember, you did not go into business to be miserable and hate your job. You went into business to help people and to love your job!
PS – There is WAY more detailed info to come 🙂
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