In business, marketing can be very competitive between companies. Each company will always try to outdo the other, making it a very competitive marketing game. At Christmas time you will see lots of companies advertising on the television, for instance, and each one striving to have the best and most memorable advert for the Christmas period. An example of this is the close competition between Marks and Spencer and John Lewis. John Lewis will always go for emotional marketing, whereas Marks and Spencer will go for something a little more creative. For Christmas 2013, both companies used the theme of a children’s story, however both advertisements were completely different to one another.
Understand Your Customer
Knowing your customer is the key start to understanding how you are going to market to them. Once you have established who your customer is and have a clear understanding of their needs and wants, you can start deciding how you are going to market to them and how you are going to stand out amongst the competition that you may have. The most important thing is to understand their age, gender and their social demographics so that you can establish what marketing tools and marketing channels you will use to market to them. If they are of the age that are into social media then use this marketing channel, however if they are of an older generation then use a marketing channel such as television advertising to market to them. If you are unsure then you can always look at your competition and see what marketing tools they are using, and see what has worked for them, then go down a similar route.
Stay on Trend
It is important that you stay up to date with the latest marketing trends and also the latest appearance trends so that your company looks up to date and on trend. People usually associate trends with fashion, however trends change in many different areas such as in music, film and even in marketing. The types of marketing changes over time and even over the year. Marketing through social media is the latest trend, by marketing directly to customers on different social media sites.
It is also important that you stay on trend with how you look as a company. Keep yourself looking modern and up to date so that customers won’t get bored and decide to go elsewhere. Have an up to date website and also have the main social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, which can be linked to your website. Make sure your appearances are better than your competitors so that your customers will always choose you.
Promote Your Products and Services
It is always important to promote your latest products and services so that your customers are aware that they are available to buy. You can let your customers know about your current products and services through many different marketing tools. Social media is currently a popular marketing channel as you can reach your customer base at the click of a button. Sending emails is another marketing option, however this isn’t so reliable anymore as some emails get sent to the junk box or some emails are just simply not read and are dismissed, just because of the amount of emails that are sent out each day by various companies.
Forecast the Future
You should always be looking into the future for your area of business and other areas that may affect your business. Look at ways to use the future as an advantage. You can use any information that you gain to come up with new ways to market your products and services, before your competition. You can also look at certain things that may benefit your business, for example with the latest news of England charging 5p for a bag in retail stores, you could always start off a marketing campaign of giving your customers a free re-useable bag to start with so that when they return to your store they have a bag to use. This will help market your company if customers use the bag elsewhere.
Know your Competition
It is most important that you know your competition. As the old saying goes, “keep your friends close, but your enemies even closer” that is the same for competitors. Stay close to them so that you know what they are up to, what promotions they may be having or what new products they may be releasing. With this information you can always try and stay one step ahead so that you can produce something bigger and better. An example of competitive competition is the constant battle between Samsung and Apple with the latest smart phone that they release and which one will be better. Apple bring out trendy and fashionable phones, however Samsung strive on the technology that they have within their smart phones, so use this to their advantage.
Marketing is an important tool for all different businesses and companies. It is a way of selling yourself and reaching out to important customers that you want to see you and purchase from you. Keep up to date with the latest ways of marketing and you should be noticed.
