Business lesson 105 – How to start your own business

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Hi kids!

It is Wednesday! It is time to carry on with our lessons on the three key components or “C’s” of a business;

C – Concept
C – Clients or customer
C – Cash flow

What is the concept or the idea you have for your business? What is your business all about and what makes it unique.
Link to Lesson 101

We took a closer look at your customers or clients, in other words who is your target market, their demographics, budget group etc.
Link to Lesson 102

We discovered how important it is to have the correct name for your business.
Link to Lesson 103

We all have a clear goal for our businesses and that is to make money therefore we need clear market and sales strategies.
Link to Lesson 104

For Lesson 105 "C" for clients or customers is still our focus point.

If there is one thing which is crucial for all businesses it is MARKETING therefor I want to dedicate one lesson just to it.

In last week’s lesson we saw that marketing involves around four things;

The 4 P’s - Product, Price, Promotion, and Place.

We can now take it one step further and divide marketing into two main categories;

1. Core marketing
2. Disruptive marketing

1. Core Marketing

Core marketing is the marketing we see every day all around us and it includes the following;

‣ Traditional marketing:

It is exactly what the words say “traditional”. It is your print advertising those posters and flyers, radio and TV advertising as well as outside advertising like billboards.

‣ Grassroots marketing:

I love grassroot marketing as it is your cheapest form of marketing. It is those “word of mouth” and viral marketing. “Did you see?” “Did you hear?”

Grassroot marketing is very fast that’s why we also call it viral campaigns.

‣ Interactive marketing, social-media marketing and digital marketing

Interactivity is campaigns that engage the user and normally takes place on your website or social media platforms.

Social media (a form of interactive marketing) is a powerful mean to engage with your target audience or potential client. As a communication and education platform it cannot be beaten.

Surveys, competitions, new product launches, special promotions are all those kind of things you can advertise at a minimal cost.

Digital marketing includes banner advertising on websites, SEO, pay-per-click, email, RSS feeds, blogging, podcasting, video streaming, text messaging and instant messaging.

What is nice about this kind of marketing is that you can measure your results in real time (what is being viewed, how often, how long, response rates and purchases made).

‣ Direct marketing, loyalty marketing and relationship marketing

These can be seminars, workshops or loyalty programs. Of importance with this type of marketing is that clients want to believe that they are getting ‘value-for-money’.

That brings us now to your second category, disruptive marketing.

2. Disruptive marketing strategy

This section of marketing is only once you have a successful business.

There is no better person to explain to you what it is than Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group of Companies -

“Disruption is all about risk-taking, trusting your intuition, and rejecting the way things are supposed to be. Disruption goes way beyond advertising, it forces you to think about where you want your brand to go and how to get there."

One example of DMS (Disruptive Marketing Strategy) is for instance when you make a decision to lower your prices compared to your competitors, something a new business will not do.

10 Tips for setting up your marketing campaign:

1. Do your homework first
2. Set your goal/s
3. Decide on a budget
4. Find the right channel for your campaign
5. Always be different
6. Use original content
7. Design is everything
8. Make sure your message is clear
9. Check! Check! Check!
10. Monitor your campaign at all times

Homework:

For today’s homework I want you to watch one of my business marketing campaigns which we launched on all the social media platforms.