Back to: Starting your business

Route to market, Public Profile, marketing and sales.

This lesson covers how you access your customer audience, your ‘public profile’, your dynamic marketing and sales – your route to market.

Route to market

Just like planning a trip, your path to sales is like planning a route from A to B.

In the same way, the objective can be reached in different ways, road, rail, sea etc and in marketing these are called channels – online, print, TV, radio etc.

Your route to market is the your plan to employ the channels of communication to reach your target audience.

Also, you want to have a public presence to capture sales from ‘passing customers’ or those you haven’t specifically targeted.

And, you need to build a dynamic and managed marketing approach and a static ‘image’ to catch-all potential customers.

Do not get trapped into digital channels, digital may not be the best for your audience. It is also non-persistent and very time consuming, unlike a poster on a wall or a book on a table.

 

Public Profile

Your ‘static’ public profile includes less targeted marketing activities like business shows or articles in papers – perhaps your own blog?

Public profiles must haves:

1. Website – A simple site needs hosting approx £9 pm and to build a site (£0-1000). Arranging your own hosting and website is quick and easy and can be done as a package with a domain name.
2. Google business listing – a free tool from google which is easy to set up and to edit.
3. Next-door listing – free if your only a regional business.
4. Facebook – see below in marketing.
5. Business cards – get online from someone like Vista print.
6. Signage and flyers – nearly all big towns have display (XLdisplays) and ‘print shop’ businesses like PPS.
7. Promotional items – an option perhaps once you’ve got some spare cash flow or for a specific event (promotions).

 

Dynamic Marketing

Dynamic marketing is specifically engaging your target audience in order to sell you services or products.

Your success in marketing is driven by 2 factors:

1. Cost of sales – the amount of money required to make a sale (group and type – say; cup cakes or a lemon drizzle cup cake);
2. Earnings ratio – the ratio between the cost of production and sale to the sale price.

Dynamic marketing is used to reach new potential customers (known as leads), existing customers and extend reach for new products or services.

Examples of marketing might be:

1. Online advertising – to drive traffic to your website or an event. Google Ads, Facebook marketplace, ebay, email ‘shots’ etc;
2. Print classified – to drive people to your by phone, event or online. This is more persistent like posters or coffee table magazines etc;
3. Business markets or shows – this includes exhibiting and networking; it is important to get a 60 sec pitch for your sales or business;
4. Publicity – there is bad publicity so care must be taken to ensure that your publicity efforts meet public appetite and ‘approval’.

 

Sales

Sales is the most difficult and important function of any business. Without sales the business is not a business!