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Small Business Marketing Strategy - Appoint a Chief MarketerTip! But branding is a thoughtful discipline that strongly belongs to the long-term strategy of an organization; brand strategy is, or should be, business strategy, and vice versa. 1f96
Brand is your company identity. Remember, it's not your logo or your graphics--those are elements of your Package that reinforce your Brand. Brand is your company identity in the mind of the customer--and the employee. More than anyone else in a small business, the Chief Marketer is the guardian of the company brand. If your company doesn't have a Chief Marketer, it's vital that you appoint one. Name one this week. Don't let it slide--the position is too important to go unfilled. The role of the Chief Marketer in a small business gets lonely. You're not part of a big corporate marketing team. Usually, you are the marketing team. Some of you are sole proprietors or juggle various roles in the small company you work for. None of you have the title "Chief Marketer" printed on your business card. If you are the owner, yet don't already consider yourself the Chief Marketer for your company, then start. It is a crucial role in any company, regardless of size. An integral aspect of your job is to develop and guard your brand. As Brand guardian you must wear multiple hats: brand cheerleader, brand visionary and brand cop. You can use your Achievers to help with all of these, but at the end of the day the final weight of the company's brand rests on your shoulders.
And it can be lonely. Many in your position simply give up on marketing. Or they surrender their company's marketing to the sales reps from the yellow pages, the newspaper, and TV or radio. It may seem easier to spend your way than thank your way to marketing success, but you know it is very easy to waste a ton of precious marketing budget on ad spends that only make some salesguy rich and don't generate profits for your company. You need to market smarter than that. But championing your company's brand can also be very rewarding. It can supply you with a deep-down sense of self-satisfaction. Earlier we discussed the fifth and highest stage of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: self-actualization. If you can enjoy the marketing tasks and feel like you are doing a good job, you can also feel better about yourself as a person from your contributions. But it doesn't stop there. Bringing out your own creativity as Chief Marketer is good for you and the company, but it's also beneficial for your customers and employees. Solid marketing can help the whole company focus around the core brand values the company already possesses. Tip! You concentrate on your own USP, and inject your business with a sense of your own style, confidence, and overall business strategy. You see others beginning to emulate you, which you take as a token of admiration, boosting your self-esteem, and thereby further improving the way you do business. Afraid you're not creative enough for the job? Nonsense. Our next article explores ways to help you tap into the creativity that waits inside you. Remember: Brand (who you are) + Package (your Face to the Customer) + People (customers and employees) = Marketing Success. © 2006 Marketing Hawks Craig Lutz-Priefert is President of Marketing Hawks, a firm providing essential marketing vision for small business. Marketing Hawks also sponsors the ongoing small business adventures of entrepreneur Crystal Trino at the JourneyToday website. |
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