Small-Company-Growth

Everything I do throughout a marketing campaign can be bucketed into the following four categories:

1. Market Research
Unless you would like to squander your marketing budget on an unfocused campaign, the first step in marketing your product or service is always to become an expert.  If you sell dog bones, you better know who else is selling dog bones and how they market their products, how the pet industry operates, where trends are pointing, and who you will be marketing to.  The desired result of marketing research is to find a place in the industry where you can be successful.  You must figure out what is saturated and what is not; where is the opportunity?

2. Branding

Once you have a pretty good idea of where the opportunity lies, it is time to begin formulating a brand.  Most people hear the word brand and they think logo and slogan.  Most people are also stupid.  To develop a brand is to develop the core idea behind your business.  What is your organization based upon?  What is your competitive advantage?  Spend time to determine what exactly sets your business idea apart.  If market research has told you that there are many companies just like you, then you should try re-focusing your idea to make it unique.  Your brand is the feeling consumers get when they hear or see your name.  What is it that you want people to think when they hear your name?  Hopefully your company won’t be generic and blend in with the crowd.  The idea is that only you do what you do and therefore consumers will use your product or service to add unique value to their lives.  Taking this unique value, formulating it into a company name and tagline, and being able to communicate what sets you apart in a short sentence is the process of branding.

3. Creative Development
So you are now comfortable with your core business and your core message.  You know whom you are targeting and how you are speaking to them.  The next step in the campaign is communicating your brand message through creative development.  Often called graphic design, this is the process of creating an identity for your brand.  A logo, website, business cards, and all other marketing materials you will need will all be communicating your brand message.  Figure out how to reach your consumers through the appropriate mediums, and make sure all of your designed materials are congruent in their message.  As an example, notice the color scheme of this blog and how it fits well with the overall feeling of the Rising Lynx website (to get to website, click on the logo at the top right of this blog).  My business cards, flyers, power points, word documents and everything else all have the same idea.  The identity symbolizes growth and energy.

4. Promotions
Once the brand identity is set in place, you are ready for the fun part.  Don’t worry about producing commercials for primetime TV.  Don’t worry about pricing out billboard space on your local highway.  Instead, worry about how to make your self viral.  What is the best way to spread the word about your new product or service without a multi-million dollar budget?  I can tell you right now it is going to involve driving web traffic.  Optimize your website for search engines.  Become involved in social networking for your niche industry.  Begin the process of link building.  You are already reading blogs, so you have a head start over all the rest.  There is no reason to spend anything other than time and effort on promoting your company.  At most, hire an seo specialist to optimize your site and some interns to promote yourself through social media.  Analyze your web stats using google analytics and become excited as your idea is transformed into a wildly growing brand.

There it is.  Boom.  1, 2, 3, 4, I declare a marketing campaign.  If you do these four things the right way, you will be a millionaire in one year, own a luxury suite on 5th ave., and have several beautiful girlfriends/boyfriends.  If you don’t do these things right, and perhaps screw one small thing up, you will certainly end up living in a van down by the East River.

Filed under: General Startup Tips by Sean McVey | Social tagging: Branding > Creative Development > graphic design > how to market > Market Research > marketing campaign > Promotions