MARKET IT How will you Sell your Product or Service?
Now that you’ve described your product or service the next consideration is how you will sell it. It is important to remember that the business of business is business; the primary reason for most people to start a new business is to make money and be able to support their lifestyle. A critical step to developing a new business is identifying your target market and knowing more about the demographic of your target market. Consider who your target market it, what do they look like from a demographic viewpoint.
Your target market will be defined by your business, so it is important that you know who they are. Take a moment to describe your target market in depth. Consider who they are, where do they live, what is their age range, what are unique characteristics that describe them.
The more you describe and define your target market the easier it will be to develop a successful marketing campaign that will sell your product or service. A good resource for assisting you with defining your target market is Michigan’s Small Business and Technology Development Center. Check out the MiSBTDC web-site at www.misbtdc.org/region11 for resources to assist you in identifying your target market.
If you’ve executed a thorough business plan you’ve identified a target audience. What is the best way to reach that target? What is the best thing to say to convince that target to give your business a try? There are many media sources in the area that will be happy to assist you in promoting your new business. They’ll all have ideas on how their particular medium can go to work for you. It’s a great way to get ideas and, as they say, it costs nothing to talk.
Whether it’s a sign in the window or a full blown advertising campaign, you’ll want to make sure you’re delivering a consistent message that is saying what you want to the people you want to say it to. Successful businesses treat advertising as an investment, not an expense. Here are some places BRACE has found that will help you find and think about various advertising venues.
www.BusinessTown.com Helpful hints for all forms of customer communications.
www.newsvoyager.com/voyager.cfm Michigan Newspapers that belong to the Newspaper Association of America.
www.local.com At Local Search enter “advertising” and your area for local media.
www.yellowpages.com Enter Advertising and your area for local ad agencies.
www.le-services.com Tips on newspaper advertising.
www.manta.com Finding prospects and partners.
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