30 P’s OF MARKETING

30 Steps that every business person needs to follow in order to stay competitive in today's market.

Marketing is one of those terms that get tossed around a great deal, but a lot of people don't understand it. Many people assume that it's just advertising, but nothing could be further from the truth. The people who are most successful in marketing understand that EVERYTHING you do on a regular basis that helps brand your business is marketing.

Here's something else that they understand…

Marketing doesn't have to be expensive.

In order for marketing to work, however, you need to be innovative and make sure that you understand the 30 P’s of Marketing.

You might remember when the 4 P’s of Marketing were Product, Price, Placement, and Promotion. Times have changed, though, and that means that there are a lot more P’s that you can use to your advantage.

It's a new era of Marketing, and that means that you've got to work your magic in a whole new way.

So, let's take a look at these new principles and help you incorporate them into your own business so that you can soar to new heights.

STEP 1: PREPARATION

Okay, so you're looking at your business and you're seeing that your sales aren't quite where you want them to be. What you need to do is sit down, examine what it is that you're attempting to do with your marketing, and then prepare for the direction that you want to take.

Do you want to know why so many businesses fail? Simple – they weren't prepared to succeed. They didn't have a solid business plan, and when the time came to move ahead, they just weren't ready.

STEP 2: POSITIONING

Always put yourself in the customer's perspective. Think of the customer and examine all aspects of your business, constantly make progress even if you’re at the top.

The goal is to get customers to think about your business a certain way, to buy your products, keep your company in their minds so that they don’t have to think twice about returning. You need to position your company so that you're viewed as the market leader. When you hear Tissues, you think Kleenex. When you hear Energy Drink, you think Red Bull.

STEP 3: PERSONA

Businesses have an and a successful marketer knows how to use that to the best advantage. For example, the "persona" of Apple is that of being cool and hip.

Naturally, your business isn't going to be competing with the likes of Apple, but that doesn't mean that you can't aspire to the same things. You want people to think of your business and have a set view of the persona you've created. The persona should be that of friendliness, helpfulness, and efficiency, as well as any other unique aspects that you can bring to the table.

STEP 4: PERFORMANCE

We're living in an age where competition is at the highest level it's ever been, and that means that you're going to have to make sure that you're doing better than your competitors when it comes to performance in various aspects.

Many businesses will have an effective marketing campaign and instantly gain a lot of new business – possibly too much business, in fact. There's nothing more horrible than having a great marketing campaign give you so much business that you can't deliver on what you stated.

So, in order to make sure that your performance is at the best level, you need to realistically gauge on how much new business you can afford to handle. If you see the need for additional personnel, don't try to pinch pennies – get the necessary help from outside freelancers or hire an assistant or two. Keep your customers happy.

STEP 5: PINPOINT

We're living in an age of specialization and niche marketing. Pinpoint exactly what it is that you want your business to handle, what kind of customers that you're going to want to attract, and how you can continue to grow within your particular niche.

You will not be able to create an effective business and cater to everyone. It is not feasible. When you attempt it, you find that you're not going to be able to keep the soul of your business visible, and that's going to lead to problems down the line.

Many businesses will start off with a solid niche basis and will be tempted to try to move beyond that base, often with disastrous results. Sure, the lure of increased profitability is there, but you need to move slowly, making sure that you don't lose sight of the customers who provided you with the original base.

Make sure that you pinpoint who your best customers are and let them know how much you value their business. Give them incentives to remain with you – either in the form of "special rates" or in bonuses that let them know you understand how that your success is tied in with their patronage.

At the same time, understand that your business can always improve, and the best way to find out how to do that is to simply ask your customers. You might try doing a survey or opening an online forum to find out what it is that your customers would like to see you do with your business.

STEP 6: PACKAGING

It’s okay to be different! In today's business environment, you're going to find that more and more emphasis is being placed on "packaging." No matter how you look at it, packaging and branding go hand-in-hand, and more than anything else, you want to make sure that you're able to package everything your business stands for the right way.

Why should customers choose your product or service over your competitors? What makes you different? How you uniquely communicate the value of your business through well-written and designed materials leaves a memorable and lasting impression on your customers. In this day and age, your business must be distinct or be extinct.

Packaging doesn't mean that you have to have a huge budget behind you so that you can create something that will knock the socks off your customers. It can be something subtle and inexpensive, but it should be something that will make you stand out from the rest of the crowd and boost awareness!

STEP 7: PRESENTATION

Let's say that you’re looking to hire someone, and two people show up for an interview. One hands you a CD Business Card, is dressed in clean clothes, clean-shaven, and treats you with respect and politeness. The other person stands before you in dirty clothes, has hair that is going in a thousand different directions, and smells like something that's been left out in the sun too long.

Without knowing anything about their qualifications, who are you going to look upon favorably to take the next step and find out if they can do what you need? If you're like most people, you're going to go with the person who has made the most favorable impression upon you.

Why is that? You liked the way that individual presented their self. Sure, you might be thinking, "But what if the second individual was better qualified?" There's a chance that's the truth, of course, but nine times out of ten, that person isn't going to get a chance to show their stuff because their presentation wasn't up to par. No matter how fair or unfair you think it is, the truth is that in today's business world, appearances matter. Presentation is a matter of lots of little things that add up to an overall favorable impression.

STEP 8: PASSION

If you want to know what it is that makes one person more successful than another, you need look no further than which one has more passion for what they are doing.

Passion sells. In fact, passion sells in a major way, and there's a reason for this – it's human nature to respond to someone who is passionate about what they are doing. Think about whatever it is that you're passionate about, and think about how you feel when you're doing it!

Let's say that you're passionate about developing software. The odds are that you'll be more than happy to spend late hours working on making your software the best that you possibly can. You'll be driven to make it excel, and this translates into creating a product that others are going to want, because even if they don't know that it's your passion to write great software, they're going to see it in the end product.

Now, just because you're passionate about something doesn't mean that you're going to succeed, however. You need some common sense. If you're passionate about making sculptures out of cow manure, you might not find a huge market for that.

But if you can find a way to turn whatever your passion is into a business, all of the love and dedication that you pour into it will spill over into making huge profits – and the best part is that it's not even going to seem like it's work.

I recommend that you read "Pour Your Heart Into It," which is the story of Howard Schultz and the evolution of Starbucks. You'll be hard-pressed to find a more inspirational example of what incredible heights you'll be able to reach when you pour your heart and soul into your passion.

You'll find yourself over the top before you know it.

STEP 9: PURITY

Purity is an important aspect of making yourself as successful as possible. When we talk about purity, we're not suggesting that you need to be like the driven snow – without any flaws, pristine and magical.

The purity that we're talking about is the purity that comes from letting customers know who you are.

Studies have shown that when videos and images of businesses are presented, potential customers are much more likely to want to do business than with an individual who is unknown and hidden in the shadows.

One of the keys to Dave Thomas' success with the Wendy's Hamburgers chain was that he was out there for all the world to see – a white-haired, slightly overweight individual that inspired trust and caused his stock prices to soar.

He showed himself to the world, and in doing so, he made himself pure and transparent, inspiring people to want to do business with Wendy's.

STEP 10: PROCESS

When you're selling a service, it's going to be your processes that will give you an important edge. This means that the process should do more than just make life easier for you. More than anything, you're going to want that process to help your customers get what they want.

You need to take a long hard look at how you're doing business, and see what processes are available that will make it easier for potential customers to do business with you. It's a good idea to keep an eye on current tech trends to see if there's something out there that won't make it easier for you to stay in touch with potential customers – and to drive more of them to become actual customers.

STEP 11: PASS IT ALONG

You've just sat down at your computer, opened your email, and there's an email from a friend who wants you to watch this funny video they came across. You sit there and watch it; before you know it, you're passing the link along to some of your other friends.

Pass it along aka Viral marketing aka Word of mouth.

Let's be honest here – we all love to laugh. Nothing sell likes humor, and if you can find a way of making your service message funny and clever, there's a good chance that you'll be able to go viral and have that message going all over the place.

If you're not clever, you might want to hire someone who can take your service or product and put a funny spin on it. Then, you can shoot a quick video, stick it on your web hosting service or YouTube; if it's witty enough, it'll be moving through the internet.

STEP 12: PARTNERSHIP

If you're anything like I am, you've probably found sales and marketing to be difficult at times. It's a whole lot of pushing, and not very much of pulling. Not only that, but you're looking at something that is expensive, time-consuming, wasteful, and ineffective.

Did I mention they're also demotivating? Nothing can take the wind out of my sails (or sales, actually) more than trying to market myself all morning and smashing into brick wall after brick wall.

There's an easier way.

Look, there's a different approach to marketing a professional service rather than that of marketing in a traditional business. Unfortunately, most of us have been using the same methods that big business uses, and those methods just don't work for the model that's out there nowadays.

What's the secret? Partnership.

You need to gain referrals, and the way that you're going to do that is to contact other businesses and do a joint venture with them! In order to build a successful business, you need great teammates – and that means that you're going to have to think outside the box. Collaborative marketing is going to help you stop selling yourself and it'll have others start marketing you and enjoying your life. You'll learn how to understand the way that customers engage in the buying process and you'll develop marketing skills that you can use in your daily business activities.

STEP 13. PERMISSION

The challenge for marketers is to persuade consumers to volunteer attention. To have customers agree to learn more about your company, product and or services. Permission marketing turns strangers into friends and friends into loyal customers.

It’s not just entertaining customers, but educating them. Customers grant your company permission to communicate only if they know what's in it for them. If you're like most people, you hate the thought of getting unwanted email, and the odds are that you've probably got some kind of anti-spam software already installed on your system to keep spam from building up in your inbox.

This means that if you've been trying to build your business by means of generating spam, you're spinning your wheels, and you're definitely not going to see any kind of success. Besides, nothing can ruin a reputation more than being one of those annoying online sellers spamming the web far and wide.

So, what can you do? You can use "Permission Based" email marketing.

You're asking if that's even going to work. Why would anyone want to give you permission to send them email, when so many people are finding themselves flooding within the email stream?

First, you'll have something solid to offer them. There's a big difference between sending someone an email offer for the latest cure for baldness and having someone ask you to send them either a newsletter or further information about your product. Plus, if they're already a customer, when you get permission to send them an email, you can keep them up-to-date on whatever new products or services you're offering. Aweber.com is one of the most trusted and reliable sources for email marketing services.

Email newsletters are a terrific way to keep in touch with your customer base and to provide them with useful information that they might pass along to others. A forwarded email is worth its weight in electrons, and if you're clever enough in what you're doing, you might discover an entire avalanche of new customers discovering you through your permission-based email marketing. In addition, if you can show that you stand behind your products and services and have an effective follow-up mechanism in place (such as an Autoresponder provided by Aweber), you'll find your odds of achieving success have increased a great deal.

STEP 14. PROPHECY

It takes a PROPHET to make a PROFIT. What this means is that you need to be a little bit of a soothsayer to understand where future profits might be generated.

Now, the trick is to figure out which trends are going to remain on the rise, and which ones are going to crash and burn. A good marketer thrives by anticipating what's going on around them and manufacturing whatever it is that's coming down the pike.

If you think that you've hit onto something solid, though, don't go blindly jumping in. First test in various e-commerce outlets. If you happen to see a trend following there, it might be a good idea to go ahead and see if you can spend a little on promotion elsewhere to grow the need and the client base. On the other hand, if no one seems even remotely interested, you might want to find somewhere else to invest your energy.

STEP 15. PARANOIA

Believe it or not, paranoia is a good thing, when it comes to business.

When I wake up in the morning, I'm paranoid about whether or not some large advertising agency will grab hold of my techniques and start marketing them or whether an individual competitor or large business might steal my ideas and concepts, and I try to make sure that I protect myself.

There was a time when the thought of stealing an idea was something that wouldn't enter the minds of most people, but we're living in a much more competitive environment. Make sure that you keep your eyes open and focused on your product offering, doing whatever you can to protect it. Look into copyright protecting your creative work, your business name and more with LegalZoom.

Don't go overboard -- just exercise a little vigilance.

STEP 16. PATIENCE

If there's one thing that you're going to have to understand about being a successful marketer, it's that you're going to have to be patient. Too many businesses worry about the small details and expect to have immediate results, and the fact is that for a business to become successful, it's going to take time.

If you try a new marketing technique, keep in mind that it sometimes takes weeks (and even months) to get something started. What you have to do is make sure that during that time, you allow whatever changes you've made to take effect. Don't second guess yourself too soon, or you might find that you've given up a golden opportunity.

STEP 17. PREDATORY

In the business world – just as in the animal kingdom – it is the ones who are predators who survive. What you need to do to make sure that you're remaining strong during your business growth is to focus on what your competitors do best – and you need to do it better.

In the car rental business, Hertz was Number One for a long time, and competitor Avis decided to build an entire ad campaign around the slogan: "We're Number Two, so we try harder." That campaign led to an incredible boost in Avis' favor. At the start of the campaign, they had only 11 percent of the car rental business. Within one year of the new ad campaign, they had tripled their sales – and they are still going strong.

They went after their top competitor and they managed to do wonders.

STEP 18. PERSISTENCE

You want to know one of the most valuable lessons you can learn in the business world?

Don't quit. In the words of NC State Coach Jim Valvano: "Don’t give up, don’t ever give up."

There are going to be rough times in your business. You can't escape that. What matters is how you handle those rough times. You can either start to quit, or you can brace yourself up and keep on going.

One mistake that many businesses make when they start to get going is that they tend to forget about continuing whatever marketing campaigns they are doing. In order to save a few cents here and there, they'll tend to want to stop marketing.

Don't do it. Make sure that you keep the wheels in motion – so that you can achieve the success that you desire.

STEP 19. PERSUASION

In order to succeed, you need to be persuasive – and that means that you need to understand what the true art of persuasion is all about.

When you're marketing, what you're trying to do is persuade people to part with one of their most prized possessions – money.

And what does it takes to be a good persuader? You need to believe in what you're doing. You might think that you're not a good salesperson, but if you're able to get your kids to do their homework instead of playing video games or if you can get friends of yours to believe in whatever crazy schemes you've come up with, you can be a great persuader.

The more that you believe in yourself or your product, the more likely it is that you'll be able to persuade people to invest in you and your dreams.

STEP 20. POSITIVE ATTITUDE

We're living in an age of cynicism and crushed idealism – which can lead to irreparable harm for your business.

Maintain a positive attitude, even when things are not going as well as you might like.

At any given time, there are going to be obstacles you'll need to overcome. That's a given, isn't it? What you need to do, though, is make sure that you face the challenges with a positive attitude. When a problem presents itself, don't automatically think of it as something negative.

Instead, focus on how it might be used to your advantage. Let's say that you've got a customer complaining about poor service. Your initial instinct might be to start thinking down about this, but if you approach it with a positive frame of mind, you just might discover that you've got something ahead of you that can work to your benefit.

If you can locate where the poor service is coming from, you can correct it in a timely manner – and you can take pride in knowing that you located a problem and you fixed it.

Trust me – knowing that you're taking care of both your company and your customers is going to put you in a great frame of mind.

STEP 21. PARTICIPATE

There's a whole cyberworld waiting for you that's available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and if you're not participating in all that it has to offer, you're making a serious mistake. If you're not actively joining online communities (including newsgroups, discussion forums, e-mailing lists, and chat rooms), you're missing a tremendous opportunity to have your presence noticed.

The more that you participate in the various communities that are out there, the more you'll discover new avenues in which to market your business or service.

STEP 22. PRO-ACTIVITY

If you're sitting around and waiting for success to strike, I can promise you that you're going to be sitting around for a very long time. If there's one lesson that I can give you, it's that the most successful business people are the ones who are pro-active. They take responsibility for their life. Their behavior is based upon their decisions, not their conditions.

Don't wait for customers to come to you. Instead, find ways to go to your customers. Do you have a product that you want the world to know about but you're not sure how to get the word out? Put yourself out there!

Remember – no one is going to come to you unless they know that you exist, so make sure that you make your presence known.

STEP 23: PERSPIRATION

I have some news for you, and you might not like hearing it, but you might as well face some facts – especially if you're determined to succeed.

If you want your business or your product to truly make it big, you're going to have to sweat a little.

I'm not talking about physically sweating here – I'm talking about psychologically sweating. I'm talking about investing time in your business when you'd rather be doing something else. I'm talking about "sweating" out details that will give you an edge over your competitor. Sweat the small stuff and the big stuff.

What this means is that when you're facing a brick wall, you need look at all of your options – and then, you need to come up with even more options. Instead of sitting there and feeling as if the entire universe was collapsing around you, what you'll need to do is "perspire until you find yourself inspired."

STEP 24: PURPOSE

Every successful business has a purpose – whether it's to make the world a better place, whether it's to deliver quality goods and to ensure customer satisfaction, or whether it's to provide opportunities for individuals that are less fortunate than yourself.

The purpose of any business and life is to make a difference, be useful, be responsible, and to do the honorable thing when others are not. Be a stand-up individual or company, even when the easier thing to do is avoid unpleasantness.

Sure, the general purpose of your business or service is to make money – but that shouldn't be the primary purpose. If you are in business simply to make money, you might have limited success in the short run – but you'll find yourself having serious issues further down the line.

Years from now, when you look back on your life, you're going to want to say, "I made things a little better than I found them and I didn't bring dishonor to myself or to those that I love."

Make sure you know the purpose of your business in addition to your personal life.

STEP 25: PUBLICITY

If you want your business to make a splash, you're going to have to devote yourself to some form of publicity.

Ideally, you're going to want to go with a low-cost yet high-visibility solution and that's where something like PRWeb or free-press-release.com can come in handy.

You could also consider becoming a sponsor for a local charity event or school function. Often, you'll be given some advertising space on either a program or bulletin, in return for donating either time or money or services and goods. Don't ever overlook the possibility of getting local publicity in order to expand your business.

STEP 26: PITCH

In Hollywood, there's something called "the elevator pitch." This is basically the amount of time it takes to travel twenty floors in an elevator with someone that you want to impress. It's as important in the rest of the world as it is in Hollywood.

Let's say that you've just stepped onto an elevator that's going twenty floors up – and in the elevator with you is none other than Bill Gates.

"I've decided to invest in small businesses," he tells you, "and if you can wow me by the time we reach the twentieth floor, I'll give you the money you need to start your business."

Now, if you can perfect a speech that would wow Bill Gates, you've got yourself a presentation that'll nail anyone from a journalist to someone looking at your opening lines on an eBay presentation. Think of how you can best accomplish what you need in the span of six seconds to half a minute. In other words, you've got to nail them in the beginning because they're not going to stick around to hear the whole song and dance.

STEP 27: PROOF

When most people buy something, they look at one factor that so many businesses overlook – and that's testimonials.

Nothing will sell someone better on a product or service quicker than satisfied customers stepping up and blowing your horn. If you can get people to talk up your business, you'll find yourself with more business than you know what to do with.

You see, it's one thing to claim that your product is better than anyone else's out there. Most of us have gotten so used to claims that are unfounded that we just tend to gloss over text that is based on "features."

On the other hand, when you see reviews for a product or read unsolicited testimonials from users, you're much more likely to pay attention. Make sure, when you're working on building your business that you can get testimonials for people to read and absorb.

Another way to provide proof of your abilities or material is to give a demonstration. Let people see what you've got to offer and that way, they'll be able to make up their own minds as to whether or not you're going to be able to live up to whatever hype has been generated.

STEP 28: PERSEVERANCE

When things aren't going your way, rather than just pack up shop and try another strategy, you need to make sure that you persevere. If you really and truly want to understand the key to success, you need to realize that just about every successful business succeeded because they persevered – they continued on when others would have given up.

If you think that there are "overnight" success stories, you're living in a fantasy world. Sure, when the time was right, some people seem to have suddenly exploded on the scene, but when you dig a little, you'll discover that they've been toiling away for quite some time and were prepared for success when the right time came along.

STEP 29: PERFECTION

The first thing that you're going to say is that there's no such thing as perfection, and you're absolutely right – but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't strive for it in your product or your service.

Don't ever make the mistake of thinking that something is "good enough." If you fall into that trap, you're going to find yourself having serious issues. After all, your competition is currently doing everything possible to get ahead – and that means that they'll make their product or their service better than yours. In order to prevent that from happening, you need to constantly be looking for ways to improve whatever you're offering. Each time you get closer to perfection, you get closer to winning the business game that's always being played.

STEP 30: PROFIT

The Bottom Line. Well, here you are – the last step to making your business the best that it can possibly be. Profit is not what your business is all about, however. Your business is about providing goods or services in a manner that your customers appreciate and want to continue to use. When you do that, you'll find the rewards for doing your job well is to turn a profit. Profit is what happens when you've excelled and stood out above the rest.

FINAL THOUGHTS

You might be wondering what to do if, even after you've gone through this information and put it into use, if your business still isn't doing what you want it to do.

Look elsewhere. Don't get so locked into one course of action that you stay with it long after it's obvious that it's the wrong path. Instead, take a deep breath, look around, and see what other directions you might take in order to get you the success that you're looking for.

Above all, do not allow yourself to be defeated.

There are going to be times when things are hard and you're going to want to just throw everything away. When those moments come, you need to take a step back, look at what's going on, and make the right adjustments. If you are positive that you're on the right path, then you need to just persevere – and trust that you will eventually have your hard work and your efforts rewarded.

If you're not sure, you might want to think about taking things in a different direction and search for the success you deserve in that way.

Remember – "Never give up."