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Business Marketing
If you are going into business then you can never avoid issues like Marketing, promoting, finding customers, retaining customers and the like. These are things you will have to do on a daily basis as you run your business.
Description
I would describe Marketing as a process where you study and learn about your customers and competitors so that you provide or offer them the right products or services at the right price, right time, right place, promoted in the right way to achieve your business objectives.
Every business in order for it to be successful, it should understand the needs of its customers, what they want, their buying habits and attitudes.
A useful Marketing resource is Brandrepublic.com where you can work on some case studies.
Do not sell to anyone, target your Market
As a business you should always have a “Targeted Market”. By this I mean if you are selling Ipod Players then you would most probably target the 16-25 year old age group because they are the younger generation and they are more likely to buy your product.
If you are an Estate Agent selling houses then you might want to target the 25-40 year old age group who can afford houses and are part of the working class. There is no logic in targeting the 10-16 year old age group as they most probably are still in school and cannot afford a house. Therefore you should set realistic objectives.
Marketing Objectives
Your Marketing Objectives as mentioned earlier need to be realistic. There is no point in setting company objectives if you do not have an idea of customer behaviour, needs, wants and attitudes.
You need to come up with a product or service which is different to the competition. Consumers should see your product as different and unique from the rest. This is called “Product Differentiation”.
Your Marketing Objectives need to reflect your long time vision as a business. For more Marketing articles visit Entrepreneur.com
There are different types of Marketing Objectives:
Growth of a business.
Innovation of a product or service to remain above your competitors.
Continuity in a uniform and productive manner.
Increasing product differentiation.
If you are operating a business in an area where you do not have competition then your prices can be kept high.
Market Research
Before putting down a strong Marketing Strategy you obviously need to research the market you want to go into. You have to gather all the relevant information about consumers, competitors, distributors within your “Target Market”.
You need to know the size of the Market you are entering, Market Potential and Market Shares.
Ready to start Marketing?
When you have researched your “Target Market” thoroughly and effectively and you feel you have exhausted all the methods you can use to gather information, then you can sit down and make an assessment based on your findings. When you are ready then write down a Market Penetrating Marketing Strategy which will work for you and your business and help you achieve your business objectives. | 
