5 Key Ingredients To Successfully Market Your Business – Get The “Secret Sauce”

Guest blog by Simona Ksoll.

You have created an amazing product/service that you are really proud of and now it is time to get it out there in the world. The question is how can you get it in front of the right people so they can purchase it?  This is where your marketing comes in.
Are you ready to have some fun? This is the exciting part, where you get to be really creative coming up with ideas how to get the word out about what it is you do.

Here are the 5 key ingredients to ensure your success:

1) KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

Before you do anything, you have to be absolutely clear about WHO are your people? What are their pain points, frustrations, obstacles or what is their occasion? The next question to ask yourself is HOW does my product or service provide a SOLUTION for this?

I highly recommend you do some target market interviews with your prospects to find out about the above and if what you provide resonates with them. This will give you the added benefit of finding out about additional pain points that you had not previously thought about.

2) WHAT ARE THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE?

Ask yourself what makes your product/service really stand out compared to others. Chances are you are not alone in your field. What is it that you do differently or better? What are the things that differentiate it from others?

You also have to get really clear on your weaknesses. An example if you are selling retail products and your store does not have convenient parking that is a weakness. Now think about how you can overcome this. What makes up for it? Maybe it is that the quality of your product is that great that your customers don’t mind looking for parking?

3) HIGHLIGHT YOUR KEY SELLING POINTS

Now that you are really clear on the strengths and weaknesses of your product/service, it is time to highlight and organize your key selling points. Those are the main hooks that you want your prospects to know about. Why should they buy from you?  What is the benefit to them?

4) CRAFTING YOUR MESSAGE

Next it is time to craft your marketing message and this is where the fun part really begins because you get to be CREATIVE and can infuse your message with your personality.
This is a great time to go back to your target market interviews. Check and see what words and phrases did your prospects use? This is important because you do want to speak to them in a language they can understand. What you are going for is the “OMG, you are reading my mind!” moment.

Keep it simple, don’t overthink it. Use short, concise sentences that highlight your key selling points and always speak to your audience as if it were ONE person sitting across from you and you are having a friendly chat.

5) GETTING YOUR MESSAGE IN FRONT OF YOUR AUDIENCE

This is the final step, your communication strategy. Get clear on WHERE your audience hangs out and plan out how often and in what ways you intend to reach them.

Are they online? If so which platforms are they most likely to use and how can you tap into this?  If you have done your target market research, this should have come up.

Because there are a flurry of social media platforms out there, my recommendation is to pick the top 2 for starters and create a content calendar, so you know what to post when and where. It really does make things easier than sitting in front of your computer screen every day wondering what to post.

Can you complement that by also meeting them in their inbox? Get clear about how many mailers or newsletters are you sending out and what are the topics you will be covering?
Are you inviting them to a special training call or webinar where you can educate about your product/service?

Alternatively if you have a brick and mortar business, are you distributing flyers or advertising in the local papers?  Are you doing community outreach through sponsorships or speaking at networking events?

Your communication strategy really depends on what type of field you are in.
So how do you keep track of all of this without getting overwhelmed with the many moving pieces of your campaign? This is where your marketing timeline comes in. Break it down week by week. What are you doing when and how does it tie into your ultimate goal of selling your product/service?

An easy way to keep track of this is a whiteboard, where you break out your weekly activities so you always know exactly where you are at and where you are going.  This is how I like to do it. (If you are more of a digital person, you might want to use an online calendar to create the road map for your campaign.)
Get these 5 things right and you are good to go, meaning your marketing campaign is going to be a surefire success!

Photo by Milissa Rosberg Photography

Simona Ksoll is a marketing strategist and business mentor living in Los Angeles, California. She teaches women entrepreneurs marketing, business building and mindset strategies to grow their business. Follow her on Facebook or at www.simonaksoll.com

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