3 steps for marketing your business easily

ATTRACTING and keeping customers is the desired result of successful marketing, so starting with that goal in mind, there are three easy steps to follow:

-Knowing your customer

-Investing in marketing efforts

-Utilizing communication tools

Knowing your customer: Understanding the needs and wants of your customer relies on quality on-going market research. This may sound difficult and very academic, but it isn't.

Market research -- market information -- is the foundation of successfully attracting and keeping customers. The information needed comes from internal company records and external sources. Internal records can be studied to determine who the best customers are, how much they buy, and when; the sales for each product or service and the overall trends in the business.

As information is charted, customers will begin to fall into categories or specific-market segments. These market segments are customers who are likely to have common needs, wants and behaviors. The strongest market segment becomes the target market. These are the groups of people (or businesses) who represent the best customer or potential customer. It is this group that the business owner will want to diligently study and understand.

Information on customers will likely come from external sources. It might come from secondary research, meaning others have collected the data. The public library can be an excellent source for this information, as can the Internet. Or primary research could be collected, this is research the business does or hires someone else to do.

Primary research consists of surveys, interviews, observation or mystery shoppers. The goal is to understand the customer, to find out the needs, wants, and behavioral attributes. The results of research will reveal what the customer reads, listens to, watches, what and who influences them, what attitudes and lifestyle aspects are important to them.

With quality research, the other two marketing steps fall in place more effectively. The research tells the business where the marketing investment would best be used, what communication tools to use and what message to convey.

Investing in marketing efforts: The amount to budget for marketing varies from business to business. Many businesses base the budget on a percentage of sales, or projected sales. Some businesses allow 10 percent of sales, others more, some less. With quality market research, the amount budgeted will be more wisely spent, since the research findings will reveal where it is most likely to realize a return on the marketing investment.

Timing for the marketing investment can be outlined on a marketing calendar. The calendar can be developed from company records and industry trends. As with any investment, a method of tracking and evaluating the return on the marketing investment is very important.

Utilizing communication tools: By creatively analyzing the information from research, messages can be created and delivered with a variety of communication tools: advertising, personal selling, public relations, publicity and sales promotions. The type of business (consumer goods, services or industrial products) will influence the primary method of communication to use; the research will help determine the message and the placement of the communication.

These three marketing steps, consistently repeated and combined with other marketing concepts, relating to the product or service, price, place or method of distribution and the investment in trained, competent personnel translate into powerful methods for attracting and keeping customers.

Beverly Hamile is the executive director of the Contra Costa Small Business Development Center. The Contra Costa SBDC is a part of the national SBA partnership program, providing free professional management consulting to existing small business owners and free and fee-based business management training. The Contra Costa SBDC can be reached at 925-646-5377 or http://www.ContraCostaSBDC.com.

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