By Susan Makau
Most small to medium businesses struggle to adopt real marketing practices and expertise. Depending on the nature of what you do, many may feel that they have already built a business without it, and hence don’t need it, while others still need a better understanding of the value it would add. Either way, here are 5 simple reasons why professional marketing is essential.
1. Gone are the days of Copy and Paste
Kenyans are great at this. Copying what is considered ‘the business to be in’. Remember the days of clearing forwarding, import-export, and quails? … and many others? Most of the ‘copy pastes’ we know of, including those we have tried, have not worked. Today the market is so competitive; it’s not just about presenting a product or service to the customer unless you want to fight the price war, which is ultimately unsustainable.
Marketing ensures that as you present your product, you can define why a customer should by from you and not the guy next door. Think as you walk through the shelves at the supermarket or the numerous suppliers that will pop on a Google search; you are bombarded with so many choices. Why should a customer choose you? That’s where professional marketing comes in.
3. It will give your business more clarity.
As a result of defining your ‘ why you should buy from me’, you will have great clarity on everything else. Your target market, where you will find them, how to speak to them, who are your direct competitors, how you should price, and so much more. Essentially your entire business model is clear. Professional Marketing does this effectively.
3. You will help the customer choose you.
Remember, the customer is bombarded with far too many choices and needs help in blocking out what is not for him or finding what is for him or her. What you want to do is position your brand in the mid of the consumer for a given and specific need.
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Funkids is now the go-to place for children’s furniture. Instead of taking a long and tiring walk along the Ngong Road stretch of furniture shops and looking for a good antibacterial soap? What brand comes to mind? I am sure it’s one of these. Dettol or Lifeboy.
4. You can make much more money
The great thing about positioning yourself in the consumer’s mind is that you become successful in differentiation, which is a key element in building a strong brand. The advantage of a strong brand is that you can charge more. Why, because you build trust and preference over time.
Look at Fun Kids again; they can charge a slightly higher price. They charge 10-15% more than their Ngong Road counterparts. It’s simple once you have defined your ‘ why you should buy me’ and deliver it consistently over time, you have the permission to charge a premium.
5. It’s affordable
Many think hiring professional marketing expertise is the reserve of big established brands. There are several ways of skinning the cat. One way is to build the knowledge and skills of those working with you. Those that demonstrate the right attitude and have the right attitude. This can be very effective because they already understand the business. In addition, it highly motivates and maintains staff motivation and loyalty.
Secondly, if you cannot build internal capacity, many marketing and advertising agencies have positioned themselves to serve the SME market today. They have a better ‘ streetwise’ understanding and a business model that allows them to price affordably.
Please visit the International School of Advertising HERE for more information on this topic.
Susan Makau is the CEO of the International School of Advertising. A school that focuses on building Marketing, Advertising, PR and Digital Marketing skills.
Email: [email protected] and Phone number: +254 712 953 737