MARKETING calls for an intense, focused, single-minded, tunnel-visioned discipline and desire. Desire to get result, regardless of the cost, Desire to build a world class brand. Desire to get the customer to come in the door, and to buy, not just once, but over and over again. Desire to figure it out. Desire to be more than just a contender. Desire to be more than just somebody. Desire to be the One.
The marketing leader is the one in the organization who is most passionately committed to growth, to building a brand, a franchise, no matter how small the business may be.
The very first question the marketing leader must ask about his business: What's our franchise?
What do we own , what do we do, how do we look, how do we act and feel and perform that differentiates our company from everybody else's? What's the defining sensory impact our company makes?
The key job of a marketing leader is to find the answer to that question until everyone knows it. The answer is concrete, it can be seen, touched, felt and quantified. Everybody that the company deals with has to know that answer. It is not an abstract answer.
Answer to who the customer is, where the trading zone is, what the deliverable are, what promises the company makes, how the people in the company behave, what you do, who you are and why that's important to everyone who comes into contact with your company.
The more concrete the answer, the better the franchise, the better the marketing leader has done her job.
The first discipline of the marketing leader is the ability to draw a picture of the finished company. To translate the idea and words that expressed that idea into a concrete product that looks, acts, and feels exactly as it must look, act, and feel to differentiate if from every other product competing for the heart and mind of the company's most likely customer.
The marketing leader drives the pursuit of these questions:
What we do here?
How we do it?
Why that way and not this way?
What impact is on our customer?
Why is it important?
How we replicate that impact every single time?
Everyone - in operations, finance, human resources, training, field management, etc. - is engaged in the process.
Everything in a business starts with the customer. The business has to be focused on providing products, services, and communications that draws customers to you, satisfy them, and bring them back to you again and again.
The survival of a business depends on its ability to attract and satisfy customers
The foundation of marketing strategy can be classified into 3 categories. Who are the customers? Where are they? How they think and behave?
Demographics, Trading area and Psychographics
Target Marketing and the Need For Focus
"Market" is a generic word used to describe those who might become your customers. But not everybody is a customer for your products. It is perfect for some people, complete inappropriate for other people, and so-so for others. In economics, I believe those things that everybody needs has to be monopolized and state controlled to prevent fluctuation of prices. They include services like transport, energy and items like water. So, if an item is needed by everybody, it is either free(air) or illegal to be sold for private gains. In short, it just means any commercial product will have people who doesn't need it.
The key here to to pin-point only those who are most likely to buy(most probable customers). This is so as to direct all marketing effort specifically to these people rather than a wide spectrum of people. Seems like common sense, but I suspect many people will overlook this or underestimate it.
So the first step is to identify the target market.
Look at the overall market and identify its various subgroups, or "market segments"
Evaluate them and select the segment which will produce the best results for your business(primary market segment) and any other market segments that will produce desirable results(flanker market segment).
Demographics are the objective, directly observed characteristics that describe people and organizations. From a business owner's viewpoint, demographics are the tangible facts that identify and describe your customers and prospective customers.
Demographics of people include:
- Age
- Employment status
- Location
- Gender
- Education
- Race
- Occupation
- Marital status
- Ethnicity
- Income
- Family status
- Physical characteristics
- Industry
- Product line
- Size of business (sales, number of employees, etc)
- Types of business(manufacturer, distributor, retailer, etc)
- Location (headquarters and branches/operating locations)
- Geographic scope of the business(local, regional, national, international)
- Financial status of business(revenue, profitability, leverage, etc
Consultation needed on this subject.
There's still so much more sub topics on this chapter of marketing. My customers are parents with young kids in general, and my trading zone is in schools(government, private, tuition) centers in general.
The E-Myth Mastery Program aims to make the business as a whole to become the "product" that attracts and retains customers.
"Your business, not your commodity, is your product."
Definition of your Product as your customers sees it
A doughnut is just a doughnut. But the ways to sell the doughnut is what really makes it the product in business. Walk-in customers, packaged doughnuts to grocery stores for selling,bulk order to restaurants for resale, coffee and doughnut setups for business meetings. Each method of sales has it own demand, and with it, its profitability margin. It is just a doughnut, but the way you sell it makes a lot of difference.
This is what I like about doing business, you get to do things in so many different ways and no one is there tell you what to do or to say you are wrong.
There are practical steps listed in the book that I shall not put up here. Since I'll need the entire chunk of information for reference, I might as well go back to the book. pg 132
FATAL ASSUMPTIONS TO AVOID
It struck me as common sense, but I was guilty in making the mistake as I read the paragraph on this note.
- Marketing to yourself
- Too product-orientated
It means thinking your customers think and act as you think and act. I was guilty of this.
You know you are guilty when you start to think: "The way I would do it is...," or "What I would want is...," or "The way they should think is...,"
Too product-orientated
It means thinking more about your products and their specifications, and less about what your customers need and how to communicate with them. That is exactly what I'm doing now. ZZZ...
But I don't suppose my customers will even know if they need this product since it's not even in the market. And since so many of the self-help books that I have read caters to only adults. I believe I can get to children through their parents, so I can explore this field a little further blindfolded.
My reasoning: I need some sort of product to pitch to prospective customers before I can find out if they need it or what else they need from the product. It's trial and error. Not exactly my favorite method to solve maths problems in school but I'm decent in guess works.
But it is a risk I have to take. I'll still keep these pitfalls in mind.
For those who like to buy the book, you can get it online through Amazon.com
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