A friend of mine asked me to review a CD he purchased off of one of those late night infomercials promising internet riches. You know the ones, large breasted beauties hanging around the entreprenuer’s back yard pool. And an assortment of testimonials from very relatable type people expressing their eternal thanks for reversing their fortunes and creating the lives of their dreams.
This is a guy is so well centered in every area of his life, but was about to shell out $6000 on the coaching program this infomercial’s CD was promoting.
I guess sometimes we just need to hear the sobering truth from someone else. Our desire for an easy home based business is sometimes too much for us to make an objective decision.
When someone is trying to sell you on a money-making scheme, they usually stress how easy it is, how anyone can do business from home work and how it’s all “push button” and on auto-pilot.
Guess what?
If you had a sneaking suspicion that offers like these are worthless, you’re right. Of course, we want to be efficient. Of course, we want to get the biggest bang for our marketing dollars. Of course, we want to succeed but an easy home based business is the same as brick and mortar business. It all comes down to serving a market. Finding a need and servicing it.
Before starting an online business first understand the need of the target market and then try to provide a suitable solution.
These 7 steps are to be used by entrepreneurs who want to start a new online venture or create a marketing plan for an existing successful set up. Most people talk about the greatness of their products or services. Instead you should regularly educate the target market and build a relationship of trust and credibility.
“Think marketing” is the mindset to be developed for your products and services. You have to market constantly. Do not fall for stop and go marketing. Some small businessmen start marketing during down seasons only.
Having a successful marketing plan is essential for your online venture. Profits and growth are directly proportional to effective marketing.
If you are thinking where to start, this 7 step guide will help you to understand the market and business.
Let’s answer the following questions:
1.) Who— Who is your target market? Who is your ideal client? What is the research to be done for finding out more about the target market?
2.) What— What does your ideal client want? What does your product and services do for them? What problems of your customer are solved by your product? What solutions does your client require? What is your USP that makes you unique? What are industry trends? What will make your client react? What are you selling? (For e.g.: are you selling eyeglasses or vision?) What is your brand of product and services? What would be the price?
3.) Where— Where is your ideal client? Geographically where are they located? Where will you position yourself for their easy reach? From where will they get your marketing message? Will you go through personal conversations, hold seminars or write a blog, newsletter or article?
4.) When— How frequent will you be with your marketing messages? When are your clients most likely to purchase?
5.) Why— Why are you in business? Why will customers come to you? Why should they not go to your competitors and choose your products?
6.) How— How does your customer purchase? How will you reach out to potential clients? How are you going to communicate your marketing strategies? How will you provide information to your customers to make their buying decision?
7.) Marketing mindset— Try to master a marketing mindset and your online business will move towards profits and success.
Building an online business is easy. Seriously. I’m not saying that it’s not complicated, because it is. I’m just saying that it’s easy to accomplish if you just have a marketing mindset and a system in place.