It doesn’t matter the size of your business or what your business does. Whether you know it or not, marketing is a vital part towards growing and maintaining the success of your brand. There is always a process towards making your product or service visible to the audience you’re looking for. There are also steps to take towards making that product or service appealing and superior to your competitors. 

We have plenty of start-ups and fledgling companies throughout Bonita Springs, so we wanted to share 3 very important things to consider when developing your marketing plan.

Know Your P’s and C’s

You don’t have to obtain a degree in marketing and specialize in the subject in order to understand how vital the basics are towards driving the success of your business. When the 7P’s were developed in the 1960’s in respect to marketing mixes, no one could have guessed it would have been so important that it would still be used today. To put it simply, there are seven words any and every business can keep in mind when developing your marketing strategy:

• Product
• Promotion
• Price
• Place
• People
• Process
• Physical evidence

Using the 7P’s in correlation to your product will maximize the success and growth of it. As your plan begins to shift into a more customer-oriented process, there are 4C’s to keep in mind to help you along there as well:

• Customer
• Cost
• Communication
• Convenience

Emphasizing each element from the 7P’s is as important as the 4C’s. Whether it’s for first developing a new product, finding the proper audience, coming up with an advertisement plan or simply building a social media strategy, you never want to “leave home” without them. 

Marketing in Bonita Springs Is More Than Just Selling

Bonita Springs is a special place full of businesses both old and new that share a common goal: serving their customers. 

Marketing is most synonymous with “selling” a product or service to an audience and/or demographic. While that is understandably important, it is much more than just promotion or advertising something. Successful marketing ensures you are connecting potential buyers with products they can benefit from more than others. Some of the activities that should take place are:

• Developing a communication strategy that effectively presents the value of your business to that particular audience
• Identifying who your ideal customer is and ensuring you’re refreshing for developments and changes
• Designing a pricing structure 
• Creating channels for distributing your product so they can connect to your customer
• Connecting with the community and informing them of how your business is making a difference in the community (the Downtown Bonita Springs Alliance or SWFL Inc. may be a good starting point) 

Realize You’re Selling Benefits, Not Products/Services

It’s healthy to realize early on that what your business does or sells is not truly one-of-a-kind, no matter how you might advertise or promote it. What is important is selling your product as a benefit. Restaurants would strive to sell an atmosphere or experience they cannot find elsewhere. Car dealerships would want to promote trustworthiness in their effective transportation. Banks would focus on the safety of following regulations and protecting your money. 

Things become trickier for businesses that sell a particular good that is common and easy to find elsewhere. Whether it’s paper products or an attempt at selling your own version of a common snack, it can be difficult to make yourself appear appealing to an audience that sees everything as one and the same. Even then, there are steps that can be taken to address and avoid such a dilemma:

• Ensure your service, product or good is easily purchasable
• Make efforts to maintain availability of your product during peak seasons or unexpected events that change the market dynamics
• Build on trust in the relationship with your customer base
• Develop strategies around differentiating your product from the rest

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the complex world of marketing, but any business in Bonita Springs just starting or struggling to stand on its own two feet will find incredible benefits from these 3 important things. If it seems like a lot to consider – it is! That’s why there are so many professionals like us. TLC is composed of a team of experts in various fields to ensure every corner is covered.  

We want all of our neighbors to succeed and thrive, but just the bare minimum is going to ensure you don’t drown. You will eventually realize the benefits of relying on PR and marketing firms. TLC would love to help! Developing strategies, creating identifiable brands, social media management… we do it all. Contact us today so we can get your marketing where it needs to be.