Here is a good follow-on article to last week: you can use the concepts discussed here to get really clear about your networking objectives and figure out your strategies.
Right Tool for the Right Job: Six Different Ways to Get Your Business Known
By Kim Castle, BrandU®
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If you’re like most people, you started out in your business with an idea of creating something, a dream of making lots of moola with it, and a desire to help people with it.
You then toil to make this idea a reality by developing it, testing it, making it, and then… it sits.
It’s only then do you realize that… your work hasn’t even begun yet.
You have to get the word out about your business. |
Without knowing how, you start grabbing at tactics like straws in great hope of causing a clamor of customers lining up at your door.
Taking action is great. BUT do you know what job really needs to be accomplished and the right tool to achieve it?
To make your action and business a success, here are the major ways to get your business word out, what they do, and what you should and should not expect from them. They are in order of the biggest bang for your buck.
1. Branding – Define Your Communication
Branding is the process of creating precise and pin-pointed communication of your business (product or service), the value for which it stands, and the feeling customers consistently get from it.
In addition to giving you clear communication of your business’ value and uniqueness, branding provides you a set of rules, a bible, to follow. It also enables all other methods to be united and at their most effective.
NOTE: Branding is NOT a conceptual practice. In fact, it’s the act of turning the concept of your business idea into a solid commerce-driven experience. Just think about the brands you buy everyday. Branding is easy to do, if you have a process to follow.
2. Marketing – Connect to Eye-balls
Marketing is the act of taking a specific product offering out to as many people as possible in a way that elicits their attention and makes them eager to buy. In establishing the frequency of delivery you make sure they see your offer over the hundreds of marketing messages they see everyday without tipping the scale so far they tune your business out.
There are 3 main types of marketing:
- Undifferentiated marketing, which assumes everyone is the same and aims a particular product at everyone. Sometimes referred to as a shotgun approach.
- Differentiated marketing, which aims the product at specific segments in the market. Often referred to as defining a target market.
- Concentrated marketing, when the message is aimed at just one small market. Often referred as finding a niche.
NOTE: Marketing does NOT define your business’ uniqueness, nor does it establish your credibility. Rather it is a set of systems based on a set of decisions. In order for your marketing to be it’s most effective, you have to have something solid to base those decisions on— your set of rules.
3. Public Relations – Enlist Big Mouths
PR is the art of influencing public opinion using the presentation of a client’s image, message, or product through exposure in the media.
Depending on how big you want your business to be (either in revenue, size, or impact), at some point you will want help in extending your reach and establishing credibility.
NOTE: The role of PR is NOT to define your business. Its action is to get the media’s assistance in amplifying what you have already defined. But you have to define it. Again, a set of rules is an invaluable asset. PR is a great way to assist with credibility. It should not be confused with publicity.
4. Advertising – Toot Your Horn
Advertising is the practice of creating specific campaigns to attract public attention to a product, service, or company. By means of paid announcements you affect perception or arouse consumer desire to make a purchase or take a particular action. Often this is done through the medias of radio, magazine, newspaper, or television. In fact, the media was invented as a vehicle of advertising.
While glamorous, advertising is often cost prohibitive for businesses just starting out. Without a significant long-term money and time commitment, it will prove unsuccessful and… painful.
NOTE: Advertising is NOT a quick fix way into the marketplace. Its action is to get attention and gain credibility by repeated exposure. Following a map will assure you are going in the right direction over the long haul.
5. Publicity – Make a Spectacle
Publicity is a tool of public relations focused on generating editorial media coverage for a company and/or its products, often done through press releases and community events. The best publicity causes a public commotion; often bad publicity gains more attention than good.
6. Promotions – Spread the Word
Promotions is the routine of getting your business seen. This is often accomplished by imprinting your logo on a pen, keychain, Frisbee or water bottle or by sponsoring specific events. Partnering with another business will spread out the costs as well as your reach.
Now that you truly understand the tools available to you and know the most beneficial order to proceed with them, you can rest assured that you can effectively get the word out about your business and have customers lining up at your door with moola in hand.
© Castle Montone, Limited
Author and Brand Visioneer, Kim Castle teaches entrepreneurs and small business owners how to tap into the full power of their business— the power behind their brand. If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank™ go to www.whybrandu.com
