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Have you ever thought about how many brands we are exposed to on a daily basis? And how many do you really pay attention to? Very few, right? Probably they stand out because of great marketing and communication strategies, the theme of today’s post.
In a brief, marketing exists to make consumers relate to the product benefit, be it functional or aspirational. When it is well developed, a client will have a good experience from the moment he acknowledges it to the post-purchase behaviour. An initial strategy can be built along the business plan and can use the famous 4 Ps: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. We already talked about them in previous posts, but let’s get back to the key points:
- Product: at this stage you must know your product, target and differentiation point. If not, go back and rework it until the positioning is clear.
- Price: the value is directly linked to the product. What are the tangible and intangible product benefits? How does it stand in terms of competition?
- Place: each sales channel (physical store, e-commerce, wholesale…) has advantages and disadvantages as you are probably aware now. The current goal is to offer a seamless experience as the lines between real and digital are disappearing. There are good opportunities to invest in non-traditional models and be ahead of the game, even with a small budget.
- Promotion: website, social media, ad campaigns, newsletters, PR actions… When you are a startup is almost impossible to invest in all of them. The good news is that you don’t need to and thanks for digital communication the investment can be significantly modest. A user-friendly website and social media presence in selected channels i.e. where your audience is, are standard. You may also hire a PR company to create a launching event or to connect with the press and the influencers. Facebook and Google ads can also help spreading the word about the brand, so as some practices on Instagram, Twitter etc. (Note: in a future post I’ll talk exclusively about social media strategies)
When developing a marketing plan, keep in mind that underestimating it is a common mistake and that a lack of budget is not an excuse. You may have the most beautiful and well-made item but if no one knows about it or feel the urge to buy it, what’s the point? Having a freelance consultant to build the strategy and a team, or even one assistant, to ensure that it is running smoothly will add valuable points to the brand image.
By the way, this is the subject of next week’s post!
If you missed a chapter: