Why Market At All?

Why should you market?

Maybe you shouldn't...

When talking about marketing, it is essential to understand the term Marketing. There is no denying the fact that marketing is without a doubt the most pivotal element for the success of any business. According to Jay Conrad Levinson, author of Guerrilla Marketing, Marketing is everything you do to promote your business from the first point of conception to the point at which customers patronize your business on a regular term.”

As is evident with the above argument, marketing encompasses so much of your business success, that its pivotal that you must have a marketing mindset then only your small business is going to succeed.

The question now arises: How to develop this mindset To develop this mindset you need to have a very open mind that looks far beyond the initial transaction to see all the dormant possibilities of re-working, cross-selling, and follow-up. In addition, you must be willing to experiment and look at your business related activities in unorthodox ways.

If experts are to be believed, you can never decide in advance what the marketplace wants. It is worth pointing that clients will always tell you what products and services they will buy and at what price.

If you are interested in knowing whether or not your idea has work or how much profit a concept might add or subtract, you must quickly, efficiently, and conservatively, and inexpensively test that concept in your marketplace.

Once you come up with a profitable, working process, don’t stop there. As a matter of fact, always improve on what is working for you.

According to experts, innovation is the name of the game especially in small business marketing. But that does not mean you abandon what is working so good for you and jump to a new concept. Rather than abandoning concept, which is reaping you profits, it is advisable that you add some more features on it so that it does not become old.

Taste of the consumer is very important in this regard. On the other hand, no matter how exciting or appealing the new concept feels to you, it is of no use until you’ve tested and come to a conclusion that it contributes added benefit and profits.

When you test a new advertisement, sales pitch, or an up-selling concept it gives you an option to develop a new concept on the market and gives you a much-needed cushion to see things in different light from your competitor’s point of view. In addition, it will also offer you an eagerness to learn by observing others.

An important part of developing a marketing mindset is to always look out for new concepts, look out for new applications, and most importantly it is very essential which approaches and techniques you use in your own business. It is worth mentioning in this regard that a well-laid plan can be a disaster if not implemented through a proper technique.

Business owners who have a marketing mindset clearly come to a conclusion that it’s a waste of time and energy to re-invent the wheel in order to market their product or service. Theoretically speaking, there are number of ways to borrow ideas from other successful businesses and use them in your own.

Below are five steps that will help you develop your marketing mindset:

1. Read every advertisement you can get your hands on, with an eye not for the visual, but for the concepts in the advertisement.

2. It is advisable to read all the “junk mail” you usually delete.

3. It is necessary to spend time every day looking at different web sites for concepts you might be overlooking.

4. Most importantly, register to all the trade publications in your field.

5. Last but not the least read at least one sales, marketing, or advertising book every week. As a matter of fact, you should read one business publication or magazine every day. Publications like the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Entrepreneur. Most importantly read the articles pertaining to your field.

According to experts, visiting businesses in your area each week, especially retail stores will go a long way in opening up your mind to new and different marketing ideas. As a matter of fact, when you go into a store let them try to sell you something and pay close attention to their sales concepts, guarantees, follow-up efforts, and most importantly cross-selling attempts and then try to adapt some of their process to your business.

Moreover, when you’re visiting other places of business keep note of the things that they don’t do, things they neglect causing you not to buy.

It is very pivotal that you pay close attention to how they make you feel and the things that they don’t offer you. In theory, filling these gaps in your own business could go a long way in giving you much needed mileage over your competitor.

Another way to really get some innovative and brilliant ideas and develop your marketing mindset is to call the CXO or owner of a successful business in the same or related field. It is important that you identify your self and tell the owner that you admire his or her success and would like to learn a trade from him or her.

You’ll be surprised at so many CXO's will be more than happy to spend some time with you talking about their business and their successes. According to experts, every time you take are able to set up a meeting with a successful business owner you are bound to gain a wealth of information to help your business.

In theory, developing a marketing mindset means having the humility to learn from the successes and failures of others. It is worth pointing in this regard that when you start a new venture, you are launching the profit adventure of a lifetime!

From this moment onward, its your responsibility to develop a marketing mindset, which means testing, and applying as many different backend, cross-selling, reselling, joint-venture approaches, and sales packages as you think can be beneficial for your business.