Small Business Marketing Starts With Value

THE SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING PERSPECTIVE

The need for small business marketing is everywhere. People start new companies every day for all kinds of reasons. Maybe they have specific skills that are in demand.  For example, an auto mechanic that starts her own shop or a construction worker that launches a new roofing company.  Some people have hobbies they enjoy so much they turn them into successful businesses. A weekend fisherman may decide to leave that accounting job, buy a new boat, and offer charter fishing services to fellow enthusiasts.

While new entrepreneurs may have the motivation and technical skills necessary to get their new business set-up and off the ground, they might not know anything about small business marketing. They might find that finding customers is not as easy as they had planned.

To be successful, every company needs to get their “story” in front of customers one way or another. That is, they need to market their business.  Marketing a business involves finding customers and convincing them to buy something.  Marketing is central to business success and can be very complex and confusing. Companies like Coca-Cola spend billions each year and employ brilliant people to make it work correctly.

Small business marketing doesn’t have to be as complex and confusing as marketing a consumer beverage like Coca-Cola. Thinking about your company from a marketing perspective and working through some planning steps can produce a simple action plan for marketing your business and creating results. 

Small Business Marketing Centers Around Value

The American Marketing Association defines marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” At the center of this definition, and the center of everything marketing does, is “value.”

Business owners need to think about the value they bring to the market. What value can their company, through delivery of products and services, deliver to customers? What benefits do the customers receive from the company’s products and services? Beyond the obvious may be additional benefits like the piece-of-mind received from purchasing items they believe to be high-quality or prestigious. This is known as brand value.

Value Equals Benefits Minus Price (and Hassle)

In exchange for the benefits received are the costs to the customer in terms of price and any other hassles. Price is a central component of value and is personal and subjective as well. It’s different for different people. For some people, going to an auto dealership to buy a new car can be the most difficult hassle imaginable. Others may enjoy the car buying process.

All things considered, value can therefore be defined as the benefits received minus the combination of price and hassle.

Looking at a company through this value “lens” is the first step in small business marketing. Part 2 of this series, “Small Business Marketing Strategies”, explains a simple approach to forming intelligent strategies for marketing a small business.

SwanRosney Marketing helps businesses of any size plan and execute creative marketing strategies. For more information about our services, click here.