Your Home Business Marketing Strategy Needs to Change
If you haven’t thought about it, you should. The marketing strategy for your home business, that is. What we all traditionally thought of as “marketing a business” is so 20th century. We all need to look at marketing in a different way now in the 21st century, and home businesses like ours need to keep up.
Katherine Lieu at BrandCurve writes about brands and branding and she talks about how the traditional concepts of branding and marketing are changing. I remember in my MBA courses learning about the 4 P’s of marketing - Product (what you’re selling), Price, Place (distribution), and Promotion (advertising and PR). Today, those concepts have evolved for the 21st century into the Four “E’s” (from advertising guru Brian Fetherstonhaugh of OgilvyOne).
What does this bag have to do with the Four “E”s? To explain these concepts, I’d like to talk about a recent purchase I made on Etsy, a home crafts selling site. The seller was k9hanson (Karen). I saw a shoulder bag she had made and asked her if she could make me one, using fabric I picked out. I sent her the fabric and she made a fantastic purse in just a couple of days, adding more features, like a zipper and secure snaps.
Product is now Experience. Ok, you say you’re selling crafts. Create a feeling, let people know what you are selling. If you are selling online, you can make your web site appealing, and make people want to jump in and buy from you. Karen did this with her photos of her products. Etsy itself has an appealing home page, that makes you want to wander around and experience what their sellers are providing.
Place is now Everyplace. You need to be where your customers are. That means locally, on the Internet, at craft fairs/flea markets. You need to find out who is buying from you and where they buy. Karen has her Etsy site, but she also sells at craft fairs. She can talk to people at the craft fairs and put her ideas on the web for a wider audience. She has figured out who her audience is and how to reach them.
Price is now Exchange. “Price” includes not only the financial benefit, but goodwill, something much more intangible. Goodwill, from an accounting standpoint, is an asset; that is, it has value. Your goodwill is your loyal customer base. You create goodwill by giving fantastic customer service. Like Karen did. She accepted my fabric choice with enthusiasm, she kept in touch with me to ask questions during the sewing process, she added those little touches I mentioned above, she finished the bag in just a few days, and she shipped it back to me immediately. Now THAT is customer service!
Promotion is now Evangelism. Traditional marketing involved promotion by the company; the new marketing involves customer evangelism. It’s also called “Raving Fans” (from the book by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles). Someone said that satisfied customers don’t refer; only excited customers refer. Get your customers excited, by giving them exceptional customer service, and they will become evangelists for your products or services. You can’t spend enough on advertising to get you the business that one “raving fan” can bring in. Karen’s exceptional service made me a raving fan. Although I’m just one person, I can tell others, both at home and on the web.
Bottom Line: (1) Figure out where your customers are; (2) Market there and give them a buying experience that starts with their first view of your business and ends with delivery; (3) Provide exceptional customer service throughout the experience, and (4) you will create customer evangelists who will promote your business for you. Like all good business ideas, it sounds easy. Now you have to go out there and make it happen. I know you can do it. Just like Karen.
(Image source: )
Tags: Brand Curve, Customer Service, home businesses, Marketing, raving fansShare This
Related Stories
POSTED IN: Branding Your Home Business, Business Branding, Customer Service, Marketing, Promotion, Success Stories
0 opinions for Your Home Business Marketing Strategy Needs to Change
No one has left a comment yet. You know what this means, right? You could be first!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: