By Corey Graham 2.0

The business of finding new markets and conquering them can be a resource intensive exercise, without a lot of time, money or energy. It is going to be an uphill battle.

So you want to enter a new market and conquer it. Alrite, it’s this simple - Find a need ...and fill it.

It sounds simple, but you need to keep this clearly in focus. Entrepreneurs often burst into a new market being a little cocky and a lot optimistic. Sometimes they get lucky and it works out. Other times they find out that they didn't quite understand the need they were attempting to fill. It’s not a total failure though because they can evolve their product of service to fill that need. There are other times when our human habits can bring many an entrepreneur to his or her knees. The customers might think your product is great and they would love to have it, however they are comfortable with what they have. They are comfortable and they are not willing to switch their habits. This translates into no sales for you. It might be described as an idea whose time has not yet come. These are all real considerations when you are attempting to find new markets and conquer them.

A tactic I truly believe in is that of joint venture. More than anything else joint ventures can help to mitigate the risk of failure in attacking a new market. Ideally you want to partner with another organization who is already serving your market well with another product. The benefit here is that they will have a good relationship with your potential customers already and you can use their goodwill to push your product. You can also learn get alot of “market research” directly from that organization as they already have intimate relationships with your target market. Alternatively you can partner with an organization, who is also new to the market also but they can add a complimentary aspect to your product or service that makes your offering all the more compelling. This can go a long way in convincing your potential customers to try out your new product.

A tip for the road would be to listen to those who you are serving. Many times persons get too caught up in looking at their competition and not listening to the people rooting for them. These persons who are interested in your success can help you evolve your product to conquer the market.

Entering a new market and conquering it is a big ask but it can be an exhilarating and exciting ride.

By Marita Greenidge

You’ve been spending lots of money on marketing but for some reason sales are not coming in the door. Why, oh why is your marketing not working? You’ve tried newspaper ads, online ads, you are even trying that “new age” social media stuff, yet nothing!

Don’t despair! You might be making a few mistakes that with some correction will show an improvement to your bottom line.

Here are a few common mistakes entrepreneurs make when it comes to marketing:

You forget marketing is done to drive sales

You therefore spend way too much time (and money) on the aesthetic aspects of your promotional material than you do on ensuring that material is useful. A fancy flash introduction may look really cool but oftentimes it takes too long to load. Your customers don’t want to wait; they want the information right now. The time your site takes to load, they probably disappeared to another site. Potential sale lost.

With printed brochures one can easily neglect content and focus on eye-catching design. Your brochure is meant to inform the customer, not decorate someone’s table or counter. You want a solid call to action with contact details and an explanation of the benefits your product offers. Your goal is to encourage a sale. (As a side note on brochures, many persons tend to make the mistake of listing product features without a clear link to the benefits for the customer. The customer always wants to know “what’s in it for me?” Don’t forget to answer that question.)

You forgot to define your target market

Locals or tourists, business professionals or doctors, older or younger, sports enthusiasts or gardeners? Who does your product most benefit and what are they reading or watching? If you sell hip, chic, trendy shoes then you probably don’t want to place an ad on 900 AM no matter how cheap the rates are. If you intend to cater to the tourist market then your ad would be better placed on barbados.org or in the Nation Explore magazine than in the regular daily paper. If you’re selling art you probably want to get on Corrie Scott’s blog and online magazine. The idea here is to get your promotional material where your target market has a higher probability of seeing you.

You thought social media was the way to go but forgot it meant being social

Social media is great for building relationships which go a long way in encouraging repeat purchases. You heard this so you set up a Facebook & Twitter page. Unfortunately you forgot that someone needed to monitor the pages and interact regularly with fans and followers. You also forgot that posting interesting stuff frequently could keep fans and followers constantly coming back for more. You lament that you don’t get the big deal with Facebook and Twitter; it’s not working for you.

Facebook and Twitter are great ways to get customer insight for product development. If I were an artist considering launching a new suite of digital reproductions, my fans could let me know if I were on the right track with the pieces chosen. If I were a spice producer, I could give away free recipes that used my spices. When users made the dishes I’d encourage them to share their experience with other fans to incite more sales!

These are just a few reasons you may not be getting the bang for your marketing bucks. Hope this helps place you on a path to rapid sales generation. If not, see me for a consult :-). 

By Kathy-Ann Fletcher

A crisis brings to light the importance with which you are viewed: whether or not your circle sees you as expendable. For example, I realise that in a downturn and when there is a need to restructure the finances of a company, the marketing department suffers the most crucial cutbacks. The reason for this is the marketing dollars have previously been spent in a manner that was perceived to generate insufficient returns. 

What can we as marketers and entrepreneurs do to reverse this trend? We can make marketing more accountable. We need to show that marketing plays as critical a role in generating sales and revenue as finance or operations and human resources. There is the greater call generally for this accountability considering the size of some marketing budgets. It is important that we as marketers lead this accountability to be able to show that we are delivering on our promises and are contributing to the achievement of company objectives. We need to get to the stage where we can show the accountability of our strategies and activities.

1.       Measure – This is the first step to accountability. Set up metrics by which you will use to measure the results of your marketing efforts. Use the results of these measurements to use the best methods to achieve even greater returns.

2.       Link metrics to objectives – Use the metrics that allow you to best measure what you need to measure. This improves the connection with the market and shows you how your tools are performing based on your objectives. Additionally, it would reveal where your tools or your objectives may need to change or be adjusted.

3.       Don’t rely on one metric – Measuring one performance indicator will not give a true picture of your marketing strategy activities. Therefore, it is advised that you use both financial and non-financial metrics to show the complete reality of marketing’s effect on the bottom line.

4.       Create a results database – Use this to capture your marketing performance metrics as a way to show accountability. There is not the need for a sophisticated database just something that can match activities and tactics to results.

5.       Match marketing cost to performance – Keep a track of your marketing costs by marketing objective, program, channel, geography, segment and medium to show how your results justify the marketing investment.

It is essential, especially in light of the current scrutiny, to make sure that we are able to show that our role in the business is not to waste money but as with the other sections of the business to achieve company objectives, increase sales and generate revenue.

By Kathy-Ann Fletcher

‘All press is good press’. This is a saying that I have heard over and over meaning that whatever publicity you get is good as people know about your company or products/services. However, this is a misguided view of marketing activities. If your marketing activities (press and publicity etc) do not lead to sales and increase profit, then it was not ‘good press’. It may build awareness of your company and its offerings but not among those who need these products/services or who can influence others to buy your product or service and not in a way that would motivate them to purchase.

Your marketing should be directly linked to your businesses objectives, that way you can measure if it is working the way you planned. If it is not working according to your plan, you may need to change your marketing strategy or maybe even adjust your objectives and activities. There are ways that one can match your marketing activities to your objectives. Below are a few of these methods:

1.       Have your business objectives and goals centred on solving a problem in the market. Tailor your company to solve these issues and market to your target market how your products and services are the solution to their problem.

2.       Be clear about who you are to the market and define these in your goals, for example, your goal may state: We aim to be the first choice construction company providing building materials to domestic customers in the Caribbean – This helps your communications be targeted to the customers by location and type and be clear as to the value that you offer them.

3.       Developing clear objectives help you create your brand. Your brand helps the market relate to you. Aligning your marketing activities with your brand will help your communications address the needs of your customers and encourage them to purchase.

4.       Link your business objectives to sales – Determine how much sales you want to achieve and therefore, channel your business including marketing to achieving that sales goal in a consistent and somewhat aggressive manner.

If your marketing is not sales-driven and does not produce more sales and profits then it has failed. Therefore, you need to more strategic and targeted with your communications and rely less on random press. Because not all press is good press. 

Building a corporate brand is like building a reputation. Your company must prove itself over and over again to gain the trust of the market. You are developing loyalty among your customers and while this may seem daunting a process, if you take the steps you took to build your reputation in your circle that may make it a bit easier to undertake.

Know your Brand – Be clear on your what your brand stands for. This helps you communicate the brand message clearly and precisely. For example to say that your brand is innovative is not only cliché, it is too broad to clearly state what customers would be getting from using your brand.

Know your competition – Keep an eye on your competitors and what they are doing. This is not to copy them but to know where your company fits into the market. Studying the competition shows where there are gaps in the market that can be serviced by your company. It also helps to know what the competition may be doing wrong so that you can avoid those pitfalls.

Separate yourself – Once you know what the competition stands for and what they are doing and the space that is available then you can clearly determine and communicate how your brand is better, different and value that you are bringing to the market that your competitors are not. Again don’t be cliché or vague saying things like “we give great service” or “are the most qualified”. Be clear and specific about how your brand differs from the others in your sector.

Draw attention – Find ways to package your product and company that will attract the attention of your target. Plaster your brand’s look everywhere you can: on your car, on Facebook, Twitter, blog, even ask your friends to plaster their cars with your brand, the more the merrier. Keep your brand and a consistent image in your target’s vision at all times.

Stay committed – Building a brand is a lot of work and it’s easy to give up when you may not be seeing any results. That’s why it is important to embrace the fact that it is a lot of work to build a brand and remain dedicated to doing whatever it takes for as long as it takes to get that brand established.

Monitor your progress – It would be a shame to spend time, money and effort on building your brand in channels that are not working the best way to avoid this is to continually monitor the progress of each avenue you use to build your brand. Once you have your results don’t be afraid to change from what is not working to a course of action that is working. If you have to scrap everything and start fresh then work with a clean slate. 

By Kathy-Ann Fletcher

Recent communications in the media showed me that several financial companies have developed products for the fifty-plus market. I find this quite interesting, as in the past in seemed that most companies, including said financial firms, have shied away from this market for one reason or another.

What’s stopping us from pursuing this group?

We are hesitant to approach the so-called senior market because we may not understand the dynamics of the market. We are somewhat unsure of how commercially viable this market is and therefore resist it to pursue “surer” markets.

However, considering that many of this age group have paid of their mortgages and car loans and may not have the awesome overheads that some younger persons carry, this target has on average more dispensable income than previously thought.

We are also guilty of being unable to communicate with them. We figure that they may not be where our current trend of new media communication takes our promotion efforts via the internet. This is in itself not true. However, I would suggest that the same way you research the lifestyles of other targets and communicate based on the where they gain their information, follow this method with this segment.

Why pursue this market?

This commercially viable target has needs and wants just the same as any other segment of the market and it is up to the enterprising business person to create the means of fulfilling these demands.

I observe that there are potentially strong relationships to be built with this valuable segment of the market as well. Their expectations are higher from the products and services they use; however, if you can meet or exceed these you can generate a more loyal customer than a younger one who may prove to be fickle.

How-to pursue this market?

I would advise against lumping all seniors into one segment and treating them as a homogeneous group.

They are individuals and despite the being in the same age-bracket, have different needs, lifestyles and financial and societal positions.

Therefore, I believe the best way to pursue this potentially lucrative market is to put out of your head whatever you previously thought and approach them with the same methodology as you would another market. That is, you provide a product/service that meets their external and internal needs, e.g. Financial independence and housing; and communicate with them where they are whether it is through their organisations, TV, radio and yes the Internet.

I hope that we see that this is segment has great potential just as any other in our market and are enterprising enough to resist the urge of ageism and stereotyping to provide relevant and useful products and services to this valuable segment of our market.