BUS 3.1: Marketing Strategy

Your Marketing Strategy will involve your marketing efforts, advertising, sales, public relations and networking, being integrated into a results-oriented set of goals.

It is important to think through your strategy and assemble the information about your market before you set prices or commit to advertising.

Marketing Challenges of a Start-Up:

Start-Ups can’t just “piggy-back” off pre-existing, established relationships, because there aren’t any! So you are faced with some very challenging obstacles:

You have to use marketing to identify products, services, or experiences to market to new customers You have to use marketing to obtain your “first customer” You have to use marketing to establish and build a brand You have to use marketing to establish effective channels of distribution You have to use marketing to establish initial price points You have to use marketing to persuade customers to try yours You must find creative ways to leverage your marketing efforts to get the most you can out of them and conserve precious resources

One of the best ways to begin is to talk with potential customers and gain an understanding of who they are and what they need. Then your business can be designed in such a way that it satisfies those needs.

Easy? Think again! You cannot be all things to all people, so now you have to identify your target market.

Your target market is determined by the process of market segmentation – placing customers into groups (segments) that have the needs you have identified and who will respond to a specific marketing offer.

WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY?

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