Successful marketing is not about creating a single message and hoping it appeals to everyone. It is about understanding the different segments within your target market, identifying what matters most to each group, and communicating in a way that speaks directly to their specific needs and priorities.

This does not mean that every customer exists in an isolated category. Many audiences overlap, and people often belong to multiple segments simultaneously. However, understanding these distinctions allows businesses to connect product features and benefits to real-world problems in a way that feels relevant and meaningful.

Understanding Market Segmentation

Market segmentation is the process of dividing a broader target audience into smaller groups that share similar characteristics, needs, behaviours, or motivations.

These segments can be based on:

• Industry
• Company size
• Geographic location
• Job role
• Buying behaviour
• Income level
• Lifestyle
• Business maturity
• Specific challenges or goals

For example, a company selling fleet management software may target:

• Fleet managers
• Operations managers
• Business owners
• Logistics directors
• Financial managers

Each of these individuals may be evaluating the same product, but they are doing so through a different lens.

• The fleet manager may be focused on vehicle visibility and driver performance.
• The operations manager may be concerned with efficiency and service delivery.
• The financial manager may be evaluating cost reduction and return on investment.
• The business owner may be looking at overall business growth and risk reduction.
• The product remains the same, but the reasons for buying it differ significantly.

The Danger of Generic Messaging

Many businesses fall into the trap of creating broad, generic marketing messages.

Statements such as:

• “We provide innovative solutions.”
• “We offer quality service.”
• “We help businesses grow.”
• “We are industry leaders.”

While these statements may be true, they rarely create meaningful engagement because they do not address a specific problem or desired outcome. Customers naturally filter information through a simple question:

“What does this mean for me?”

If your messaging does not answer that question quickly and clearly, potential customers are likely to lose interest. Generic messaging forces the audience to do the work of figuring out how your offering applies to their situation. Effective marketing does the opposite. It clearly connects the dots for them.

Features Versus Benefits

One of the most important concepts in marketing is understanding the difference between features and benefits.

• Features describe what a product or service has.
• Benefits explain why those features matter.

Many businesses spend too much time talking about features and not enough time explaining their value.

Consider a simple example.

Feature: “Real-time vehicle tracking.”

Benefit: “Know where every vehicle is at any moment, helping you improve delivery times and respond faster to customer queries.”

The feature is the functionality. The benefit is the outcome.

Customers rarely buy features. They buy what those features help them achieve.

The Missing Link: Relevance

Even understanding benefits is only part of the equation. The most effective marketing goes one step further by connecting specific benefits to the priorities of each audience segment. Let’s use the same fleet tracking feature.

For a Fleet Manager

Feature: Real-time vehicle tracking.

Benefit: Visibility into vehicle movements.

Segment-Specific Value: Identify delays quickly, improve route planning, and manage drivers more effectively.

For a Financial Director

Feature: Real-time vehicle tracking.

Benefit: Improved operational visibility.

Segment-Specific Value: Reduce fuel wastage, improve asset utilisation, and lower operating costs.

For a Business Owner

Feature: Real-time vehicle tracking.

Benefit: Greater control over fleet operations.

Segment-Specific Value: Improve customer satisfaction, reduce risk, and increase profitability.

The feature remains unchanged. The message changes because the audience’s priorities change. This is where many marketing campaigns succeed or fail.

Understanding Customer Motivations

Customers generally make decisions based on a combination of practical and emotional factors. In business-to-business marketing, there is often a misconception that buying decisions are purely rational. In reality, people still make decisions based on personal motivations.

They may be trying to:

• Reduce risk
• Improve performance
• Save time
• Protect their reputation
• Impress senior management
• Secure a promotion
• Avoid costly mistakes
• Increase profitability

Understanding these motivations allows businesses to position their products and services more effectively. A qualification verification service, for example, may technically provide educational verification reports.

However, HR managers are not buying reports, but are buying confidence. They are buying protection against bad hiring decisions. They are buying reduced organisational risk. When marketing focuses on these outcomes, it becomes far more compelling.

Recognising Audience Overlap

While segmentation is important, it is equally important to understand that market segments are not always isolated. People often belong to multiple groups.

• A business owner may also act as the operations manager.
• A financial director may be heavily involved in operational decision-making.
• A project manager may influence purchasing decisions even though they are not the final decision-maker.

This overlap means that messaging should not become so narrowly focused that it excludes potential buyers. Instead, businesses should build layered messaging that appeals to multiple priorities simultaneously.

For example: “Improve fleet visibility, reduce operational costs, and enhance customer service.”

This statement speaks to:

• Operations teams
• Financial stakeholders
• Customer service managers
• Business owners

Each audience member will naturally focus on the element most relevant to them.

Creating Segment-Based Messaging

An effective approach is to identify three elements for each audience segment:

1. Their Primary Challenge

What problem are they trying to solve?

Examples include:

• Rising costs
• Low productivity
• Compliance requirements
• Staff shortages
• Customer complaints
• Project delays

2. Their Desired Outcome

What does success look like?

Examples include:

• Greater profitability
• Improved efficiency
• Better compliance
• Reduced risk
• Faster growth
• Stronger customer relationships

3. How Your Offering Helps

Which features directly support that outcome? This framework helps translate technical capabilities into meaningful business value.

The Role of Industry-Specific Messaging

Industry segmentation is another powerful marketing tool. Different industries often face different challenges, even when using the same solution. For example, a document management platform might be used by:

• Law firms
• Construction companies
• Healthcare providers
• Manufacturing businesses

Each industry has different priorities.

• Law firms may focus on confidentiality and compliance.
• Construction companies may focus on project coordination and document accessibility.
• Healthcare providers may prioritise patient information security.
• Manufacturers may focus on process efficiency and operational consistency.

The software is identical.The value proposition changes. This is why industry-specific landing pages, case studies, advertisements, and content often outperform generic alternatives.

Connecting Features to Real Business Outcomes

One of the most effective marketing exercises involves repeatedly asking a simple question “So What?”:

• For example: Feature: Cloud-based software.
• So what?
• Users can access information from anywhere.
• So what?
• Teams can collaborate more effectively.
• So what?
• Projects move faster and communication improves.
• So what?
• The business becomes more productive and profitable.

By continually asking “so what,” marketers move beyond technical descriptions and uncover the true value customers are seeking.

Building Better Marketing Campaigns

When planning campaigns, businesses should consider creating content specifically for different segments.

Examples include:

Different Advertisements

• An HR-focused advert may discuss hiring confidence.
• A compliance-focused advert may discuss risk reduction.
• A management-focused advert may discuss operational performance.

Different Landing Pages

Each page can focus on the challenges and outcomes most relevant to that audience.

Different Email Campaigns

Content can be tailored based on industry, role, or previous engagement.

Different Case Studies

Showcasing examples relevant to each audience helps prospects visualise success within their own environment.

Why This Matters More Than Ever

Modern customers are exposed to thousands of marketing messages every day. Generic communication is increasingly ignored. People expect relevance.

They expect businesses to understand their industry, their challenges, and their priorities. The companies that succeed are not necessarily those with the biggest marketing budgets. They are often the ones that communicate most clearly and most specifically.

When customers feel understood, they pay attention. When they see their problems reflected in your messaging, they engage. When they can clearly connect your solution to their desired outcomes, they are more likely to buy.

The Take-Away

Effective marketing is not about reaching the largest audience possible. It is about creating the strongest connection with the right audience.

Market segmentation allows businesses to understand the unique needs, motivations, and priorities of different groups within their broader target market. While overlap will always exist, recognising these distinctions helps businesses create more relevant, persuasive, and effective communication.

The key is not simply describing what your product or service does. It is connecting its features to meaningful benefits and then linking those benefits to the specific goals and challenges of each audience segment.

When businesses understand this relationship, marketing becomes far more than promotion. It becomes a conversation that demonstrates understanding, builds trust, and ultimately helps customers see how a solution fits into their world.

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, that ability to communicate relevance may be one of the most valuable marketing skills a business can develop.

Let Cognite help you understand your market, and communicate with it in a more relevant way. 
Chat to us on info@cognite.co.za or 0861 001 975

The post Why Speaking to Everyone Means Connecting with No One: The Importance of Market Segmentation appeared first on Cognite Marketing.

Market segmentation is the compass that guides marketers through this intricate landscape, allowing them to target specific customer groups with tailored strategies. In this article, we’ll explore the art and science of market segmentation, outlining the steps to effectively identify and engage with your target audience.

Understanding Market Segmentation

What is Market Segmentation?

Market segmentation is the process of dividing a broad market into smaller, more manageable segments based on specific characteristics. These characteristics can include demographics, psychographics, geographic location, behaviour, and more. The goal is to create subsets of the market that share similar traits and needs, enabling marketers to craft targeted messages and offerings.

Why is Market Segmentation Important?

1. Customised Marketing Strategies: By understanding the unique needs and preferences of different segments, marketers can tailor their strategies to resonate with specific groups. This personalisation enhances the effectiveness of marketing efforts.
2. Resource Optimization: Focusing resources on the most promising segments helps in allocating marketing budgets more efficiently. Instead of adopting a scattergun approach, marketers can direct their efforts where they are likely to yield the highest return on investment.
3. Competitive Advantage: Businesses that intimately know their target audience gain a competitive edge. They can deliver products, services, and messages that better align with customer expectations, building brand loyalty and satisfaction.

Steps to Properly Segment Your Target Market

1. Conduct Comprehensive Market Research
   Before diving into segmentation, conduct thorough market research to gather data on your target audience. Utilize a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods, such as surveys, interviews, and data analysis, to understand customer demographics, behaviours, preferences, and pain points.

2. Identify Relevant Segmentation Variables
   Choose the segmentation variables that align with your business goals and the nature of your product or service. Common variables include:

• Demographic Segmentation: Age, gender, income, education, occupation.
• Psychographic Segmentation: Lifestyle, interests, values, personality.
• Geographic Segmentation: Location, climate, cultural factors.
• Behavioural Segmentation: Purchase behaviour, product usage, brand loyalty.

3. Create Customer Personas
   Once you have collected data and identified segmentation variables, create detailed customer personas. These fictional characters represent specific segments and include information such as age, interests, challenges, and preferences. Personas humanize the data, making it easier to conceptualise and target specific groups.

4. Evaluate Segment Attractiveness
   Not all segments are created equal. Evaluate the attractiveness of each segment based on factors like size, growth potential, competition, and compatibility with your business capabilities. Prioritise segments that align with your objectives and have the greatest potential for success.

5. Develop Tailored Marketing Strategies
   Craft marketing messages and strategies that resonate with each identified segment. Consider the unique needs, preferences, and communication styles of each group. This could involve developing specific product features, promotional campaigns, or distribution channels for different segments.

6. Implement Targeted Campaigns
   Execute targeted marketing campaigns across various channels. Utilise digital marketing, social media, traditional advertising, and other mediums to reach each segment effectively. The key is to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time.

7. Measure and Analyse Results
   Regularly assess the performance of your marketing campaigns. Use key performance indicators (KPIs) relevant to each segment to gauge success. Analyse customer feedback, sales data, and other metrics to refine your strategies and adapt to changing market dynamics.

Challenges and Considerations

While market segmentation is a powerful tool, it comes with its challenges:

1. Over-Segmentation: Creating too many segments can lead to resource wastage and complexity. Strive for a balance that allows for effective targeting without overcomplicating your strategy.
2. Dynamic Nature of Markets: Markets are dynamic, and customer preferences evolve. Regularly revisit and update your segmentation strategy to stay relevant and responsive to changing trends.
3. Ethical Considerations: Be mindful of the ethical implications of segmentation, especially when using sensitive data. Respect customer privacy and adhere to data protection regulations.

In conclusion, market segmentation is the cornerstone of successful marketing. By understanding your audience at a granular level, you can tailor your approach, ensuring that your products and messages resonate with specific customer groups. It’s a dynamic process that requires continuous refinement, but the rewards in terms of customer loyalty and business success make it an essential aspect of any marketing strategy. Master the art of segmentation, and you’ll find yourself not just meeting, but exceeding, the expectations of your target market.

The post Mastering Market Segmentation: A Strategic Approach to Marketing Success appeared first on Cognite Marketing.

How do you get people to engage with your brand?

This is a question that should always be on every business owner’s mind. With the marketplace constantly evolving and adapting to fit into today’s technology-driven world, the focus on customer engagement has become a vital part of business.

In the past, customers were limited in terms of what they could buy and how, meaning companies didn’t need to try as hard to win over prospective customers. However, with the advancements in technology, customers can select from a wide pool of companies that would not have gone unnoticed in the past. With the option to bypass ads on YouTube, block ads in browsers, skip through commercials on TV, customers can now choose to ignore your brand’s attempts to market to them.

This change has forced businesses to rethink their marketing strategy, so to appeal to their target audience and promote customer engagement. Let us take a look at the 4 key challenges to achieving customer engagement:

4 Key challenges to achieving customer engagement

Richard Sedley, director of Customer Engagement at UK digital agency cScape, has identified the 4 key challenges companies face when it comes to client engagement and has provided a few solutions on how to solve this puzzle:

The Challenge: Increased Distractions

In today’s data driven world, customers are faced with an abundance of increased distractions with tons of information being thrown at them every minute, screaming for attention across multiple platforms. This is the first major challenge businesses must face when coming to their customer engagement strategy. After all, they need to find a way to cut through the noise time and time again.

The Solution: Simplicity and Persuasion.

Simplicity: When it comes to your marketing efforts, you need to have a good understanding of your target audiences’ needs, to reach them through their scarcest resource. For example, one customer segment might have time constraints, another may not want to exert too much mental effort, whilst another customer segment might have both constraints. Therefore, keeping your marketing messages ultra simple might help set your brand apart and may increase the chances of them engaging with you.

Persuasion: With your customers having to face all the distractions associated with daily living, looking for viable solutions that will make their lives easier becomes a priority. Therefore, highlighting things about your product or service that will make your customers’ life easier can help influence their decision to engage with your brand.

The Challenge: Increased Expectations

When it comes to your customers’ it’s important to know what they are looking for and what they need. With a variety of offerings available online, window shopping has changed to jumping from tab to tab on our customers’ internet browsers. This means your customers can easily switch products and suppliers at the click of a button. So how are you expected to meet and exceed your customers’ expectations?

The Solution: Insight and Personalisation.

Having deeper insight into your target audience can help your business find the right way to increase the relevance of your product or service, improve your communication, and bolster after-sales support. By putting more focus on customer satisfaction, you could:

• Create relevant personalized marketing messages.
• Establish the correct channel to communicate with customers on.
• Establish the right time to distribute the marketing message.

The Challenge: New Authority Models

In recent years, there has been a noticeable shift how customers gain information on a specific topic. For example, in the past, customers would actively consult with Financial Advisors, Travel Agents, or Doctors, or Sales Reps for their specific needs. Nowadays, customers review websites’ such as Fintech, or Trip Advisor, WebMD for advice, deeming these platforms as new authorities in the field, or more so people trusting people.

The Solution: Openness and Authenticity.

Instead of constantly pushing your products or services down a prospective customer’s throat, you could create content that provides free expert advise on a specific topic that your target audience may be interested in. This not only shows your willingness to help your target audience by providing them with useful, relevant information, but also helps establish your company as an expert in the field.

The Challenge: New Opportunities

With customers referring to user-friendly platforms and relying more on people-to-people content, it becomes harder for businesses to join in on the discussion without appearing as an outsider or disrupter. However, these new platforms offer companies new ways to connect with their target audience.

The Solution: Partnerships and Involvement.

When participating in new communities, it is absolutely vital to add value. Through this valuable interaction, your company can establish new partnerships and encourage customers to engage with your brand. By offering insights into your business and explaining why things work the way they do, especially from product developers, company decision-makers, or industry experts, can help drive the conversation and increase customer engagement.

Conclusion

Customer engagement tactics will vary over time and with your target audience segment and by using the above-mentioned four challenges within your customer engagement strategy, you can address these challenges head on, to ensure an greater chance of long-term success.

The post How to get customers to engage with your brand appeared first on Cognite Marketing.

Creating a brand is much like building a house, you need a plot to start your building which in this case is the idea. Then with some perseverance and shear will, you can begin to lay the foundation.

The time frame in which a brand can be developed from birth to release can vary depending on the consultant you’ve hired, but some experts say a successful brand can take approximately 5 years to establish within the market place. Essentially, there are steps you need to take in order to get your idea from dreams to reality, and phases that must be addressed before considering yourself a successful business man/woman.

When creating a brand, you need to go through various phases. These phases will be broken down here:

The development phase

This phase is the most important phase when starting out as this will be the basis for the next two phases which represent and market who you are and what your message is to the market place.

When developing your brand, you will need to take into account the research that needs to be made, competitor research, stakeholder research, brand platform formation, messaging, internal and external collateral development, all of which can take up to 2 years to put together.

Careful planning and patience is required when in the development phase because if you rush this then your foundation is already compromised, meaning you’ve failed before you have even started.

The internal review phase

Phase two of building a brand does not require as much time as the development phase but is still equally important. During this phase, you’ll want to display your brand internally, educate and excite your stakeholders, managers, and employees as these are the people that will be representing your brand on a day to day basis.

The importance here is to ensure that everyone within the company has an understanding of the brand and the message that it spreads. If this phase is compromised then it could lead to the brand message getting confused so you want everyone to start off on the same page before even addressing the public.

The release phase

Phase three is where you get to display your brand to the public through various marketing platforms, such as print and digital media marketing in order to get your message out there to your target market in a way that makes you memorable.

For instance, when I say: “Just do it” your automatic thought is Nike, another example: “I’m lovin’ it” your mind goes to McDonald’s. These are two examples where their marketing release was done in a way that displayed their message in a memorable way.

Now there are millions upon millions of articles that tell you how to build a brand and explain the time it takes to make your brand successful and if you’ve read them, you will know that they all mention the same things:

• Be consistent in your brand message
• Never underestimate the value of customer research
• Stick to your vision, mission, and values because creating a brand is one thing, building a successful brand is another

Here are some tips that can be implemented during the above mentioned phases:

Determine your brand’s target audience

The foundation for building your brand is to determine the target audience that you’ll be focusing on. When brand building, keep in mind who exactly you are trying to reach. You’ll tailor your mission and message to meet their specific needs.

Get specific and figure out detailed behaviours and lifestyles of your consumers. Solidify a picture of your consumers, then create a brand identity that they can understand and relate to.

Outline the key qualities & benefits your brand offers

There will always be brands with bigger budgets and more resources to command their industry. You have to delve down deep and figure out what you offer, that no one else is offering.

It could be more authentic and transparent customer service, a better way to support productivity, or helping save money with a more affordable option.

Assuming you know exactly who your target audience is, give them a reason to choose your brand over another. Apple for example is obviously not just another computer company. One of their key qualities is clean design and a key benefit is ease of use.

The point to take away from this is that you must always remind customers about who you are and what exactly you offer that is unique and original to your brand.

Create a great brand logo & tagline

The most basic point of brand building is the creation of your company logo and tagline. This graphic will appear on everything that relates to your small business. It will become your calling card and the visual recognition of your promise.

Be willing to invest the time and money to create something exceptional. You’ll be putting the logo on everything, to reinforce visual identity of your brand.

Form your brand’s business voice

Your voice is dependent on your company mission, audience, and industry. It’s how you communicate with your customers and how they respond to you.

A business voice could be:

• Professional
• Friendly
• Service-oriented
• Promotional
• Conversational
• Informative

There are literally endless adjectives and possibilities that your brand can explore.

Let your brand personality shine

Customers aren’t looking for another cookie-cutter company who offers the same thing as everyone else. They are looking for an experience tailored to their needs, backed by genuine personal interaction.

Ask yourself or pick the brains of your employees:

• Is your brand quirky or conservative?
• Do you have a personable corporate image?
• Do you believe in quality over quantity?
• How would you describe your brand in 3 words?
• What does your business stand for or represent?

You can also extend these questions to your target market by asking them these questions in the form of questionnaires, surveys, etc.

Be your brand’s biggest advocate & fan

Once you have built a brand that works for your small business, you and your employees are the best advocates to market your brand. No one knows your brand better than you, so it’s up to you to spread the word.

When hiring employees, ensure that they align with the culture, the mission, vision, and values of your brand. Encourage employees to establish a personal brand that aligns with your company’s further strengthening reach.

When it comes to your customers, give them a voice by encouraging them to post reviews or share your content on both their social media platforms and yours.

Get building

The time it takes to build a brand can be rather long and time consuming. To avoid having any of your time wasted, let us assist you with the building of your brand. We will help you create an emotional connection between you and your clients by developing your brand strategy.

Further reading

• https://hbr.org/2016/03/what-it-takes-to-build-a-startup-into-a-brand
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2014/04/21/how-long-does-it-take-to-create-a-brand/#159d297552bf
• https://www.shopify.com/blog/how-to-build-a-brand

The post How long does it take to build a brand? appeared first on Cognite Marketing.

Here are some ways you can get word of mouth referrals for your business:

Perfect your local listings

Realistically speaking, when someone refers your business to another person, the first thing that person will do is search your business online and see your business reviews. It is very important to claim your Google local listing so that when people search for your brand, they can find it, along with 10 written reviews that will help clients trust your brand more. You don’t have to just stick with Google, you can extend your brand to feature your listing on other search engines as well, such as Bing. Just remember that your rating doesn’t have to be 100% perfect. Research has shown that 94% of people would go for businesses that have a 4-star rating.

Make your company memorable

Treating your customers well and giving them the best service is very important in growing your relationship with your consumers, but is it enough to get your consumers to spread the word about your business and its services or products? There are many ways to get word of mouth referrals. Here are some examples of how to make your business more memorable:

• Take pictures with satisfied clients: You can consider taking a picture with every happy client you get, posting it on your Facebook page, and tagging that client. That way you will be marketing your good services and gaining more potential clients at the same time. It will leave people curious and they will want to experience or see for themselves what was so amazing about your services.
• Leave a lasting impression: You don’t want to go overboard buying expensive gifts for clients, but you can give them little tokens to ensure that they will remember you. You can try branded keyring holders saying, “Thank you for the support, hope to see you soon!” with your company logo, or you could try branded mugs and stationery. These ideas might sound a bit crazy, but this will keep your company in the minds of your clients the next time they need a service or product that you happen to offer.

 Empower your referral network

The whole idea here is to stay at the top by expanding your customer base. A great way you can do this is by empowering your customers. This can be done in many ways, such as joining referral networking groups like BNI, Alignable, LinkedIn, or Nextdoor. Once your networks have been established, look at people in your local area or people who have similar customers as you.

Now that you have your networks, you need to keep it flowing. Think about things you would like your network to know about you every month. It could be anything like product launches or specials/discounts, or even company events that are coming up. The golden rule is to always keep your consumers in the loop on what’s going on in your business so that you maintain some sort of connection with them.

Get ideas from your employees and set time aside to think of ways that will empower your consumers to promote your brand through WOM. Here are two ideas that you can implement to improve your referrals:

• Competitions: Create a competition that requires your consumers to participate by getting their friends, colleagues, and family involved. It can be anything from sharing the competition on Facebook or nominating people to take part in the competition, etc. This is a fun and interactive way that will allow your target audience to feel empowered whilst also promoting WOM at the same time.
• Reviews: Improve your Google listing by making sure that all of your information is complete. Ask at least 5 people to write reviews on your business or even add photos. This is a win-win situation for both you and your clients because they will appreciate that you value their opinion and you will be gaining a beneficial review of your business.

Make it easy to get referrals

By making it simple for your customers to give you referrals, you will ultimately gain more referrals. You can do this by means of adding links to your newsletters that will direct your consumers to Google reviews or you can send them emails with links for referrals. You want to always make your review process quick, simple, and convenient. No client wants to read a long survey or questionnaire that will require lots of time and effort to complete. Keep it short and sweet.

Track your efforts

Monitor and track the results of your offerings. Pay attention to see what works for your brand and establish platforms that you may not be tapping into yet. For example, if you are in the hospitality industry, you could try to utilise TripAdvisor or Zomato as a means of gaining referrals. You could ask people to go on these above mentioned sites and leave a review or rate you. You can then display these ratings and reviews on your social media accounts and your website. Do some research and see what platforms your consumers use the most and implement it into your marketing efforts. You can start off by using one rating system and expand it to two or three.

Always promote your referrals

As more word of mouth responses roll in, you should be promoting them. Share positive comments or reviews on your social media accounts, on your website, or in a newsletter. This can turn into a ripple effect because if your customers see that you have promoted their positive review or comment, they might share it on their Facebook or Twitter accounts, and it will just escalate from there to more and more people that might potentially turn into future referrals.

You can also use all of your positive comments and reviews to keep your staff motivated and aware of how well your company is doing. At the end of the day, if your employees are not motivated to provide the best service to your customers, you will receive less and less referrals.

Reach out and repeat

Consistency is key! As you start the process, you will start to see progress. You will have more sales leads and your sales stats will increase. You will also notice more clients calling that have been sent directly by people who are satisfied with your company. They may call to get more information about your services or they may even call to purchase something as they are already sold on your brand. However, never get too comfortable. Always try to improve your brand by increasing your marketing and customer satisfaction activities. Always pay close attention to what is working and stay consistent with it as it will never be a once-off effort. Remember – when you reach out to consumers, you must always repeat.

Always say “thank you”

We are heading towards the holiday season, but that isn’t any reason not to pull up your customer base. In fact, it is a perfect opportunity to acknowledge your gratitude towards people who fuel your business, Write down a list of your top customers and send them a personalised thank you card. This is the perfect way to let your customers know that they are valued and it will improve the chances of your clients using your services again (and referring it) in the New Year.

Get the word out

Now that you know some tips on how to get more WOM and referrals, it is time to spread the word about your thriving brand. However, as we all get busy and consumed by our day-to-day responsibilities, you may not have the time or energy to market your brand in the hopes of obtaining more customers at the end of each month. We here at Cognite can save you time and manpower by taking over your marketing efforts.

Ask us how we can market your company by handling everything from your brand strategy, corporate identity, websites, advertising, and social media.

Further reading

• https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/302229
• http://blog.breezyhillmarketing.com/build-positive-word-mouth-business-growth/
• https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/251576

The post How to get more word of mouth (WOM) business appeared first on Cognite Marketing.

You need to create a product that a particular group of people want, put it on sale where those same people visit regularly, and price it at a level which matches the value they feel they get out of it. All of this needs to be done at a time your target audience will want to buy your product.

There’s a lot of truth in this idea. However, a lot of hard work needs to go into this:

• You need to find out what customers want
• Identify where they do their shopping
• You need to figure out how to produce the item at a price that represents value to them
• You need to get it all to come together at a precise time

If you get just one element wrong, it can spell disaster. You could be left promoting a car with amazing fuel economy in a country where fuel is very cheap or publishing a textbook after the start of the new school year, or selling an item at a price that’s too high or too low to attract the people you’re targeting.

The marketing mix is a good place to start when you are thinking through your plans for a product or service, and it helps you to avoid these kinds of mistakes. The perfect marketing recipe does not happen overnight so you need to make sure that you take the time to learn how to develop a successful marketing strategy.

Get to know the mix

The marketing mix and the 4Ps of marketing are often used as synonyms for one another. In fact, they are not necessarily the same thing. A marketing mix is a general phrase used to describe the different kinds of choices you have to make in the whole process of bringing a product or service to the market. On the other hand, the 4Ps is one way of defining the marketing mix.

The 4Ps are:

• Product (or service)
• Place
• Price
• Promotion

Product/Service

A product/service can be a physical object, a group of objects, or a particular niche service. A product/service can also be something that cannot be held or touched, such as a haircut or IT services. In the past, products were created prior to any marketing efforts, and marketers simply worked with what they were given.

In recent decades, the marketing process has become integrated into the production process. For instance, automotive engineers base their designs on company research that tells them what consumers are looking for in a new car. Other decisions that marketers make prior to manufacturing include those having to do with styling, safety, packaging, and naming of the product. Each of these decisions will have a significant effect on who might want to buy your product.

Place

Place refers to the location(s) at which the product will be sold to consumers. No matter how good the company’s other strategy elements are, the product must be in the right place, at the right time in order to capitalise on its target market’s attention. This involves making numerous decisions:

• You must think about how and where the product will be manufactured
• How and where the product will be stored after it is made
• How and where wholesalers will obtain the product
• How and where retailers will obtain the product from wholesalers

All of these elements of this interdependent channel of distribution must function effectively together, minimising conflict and allowing the product to be ready for purchase when members of the target market are ready to buy it.

Price

Price is another major factor marketers must consider when launching a product. The basic way that a company determines a price is by taking into account the quality of its product/service and determining how much people are generally willing to pay for a product of its type and quality. But the pricing of a good or service sends numerous messages to consumers, and marketers must make sure that they have tailored these messages to their target market. For instance, some goods, such as high-quality Swiss watches, send a message of status because of their high prices.

One of the reasons Rolex watches appeal to their target market is that the high prices they command appear to be evidence of their quality. If Rolex watches were to become cheaper, the target market might not want them anymore. In other cases, a company might intentionally price a product lower than people might expect it to be priced. This so-called market-penetration style of pricing allows the product to find an immediate niche, but it costs the company profits. Alternatively, a company might price an item high when introducing it in order to make up the costs it incurred while researching and developing the product. This is called a price-skimming strategy and its downside is that the company risks lower sales in the attempt to recover its investment.

Promotion

Promotion refers to all the methods a company has when it comes to communicating with consumers. Typically, promotion centers on four different methods of communication. One of these is a company sales force. Salespeople are often the most effective form of promotion, since they can tailor their sales pitches to individual consumers. Salespeople are an expensive way to reach consumers, which means companies cannot rely on them exclusively.

Another chief way of communicating with customers is through advertising and PR. By using the various media platforms, such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, or the internet, a company can build desire for its products among the target market through emotional and intellectual appeals. Sales promotion is another form of promotion that uses advertising. Sales promotion simply consists of the lowering of prices and then reaching out to the media in order to publish their lowered prices.

The difference between advertising and sales promotion is that advertising tries to give people reasons to buy a product, whereas, sales promotion simply uses the lure of low prices, independent of the product’s quality or image, to convince people to buy it. Sales promotion can be very effective, but its effects are not usually long-lasting, since it provides no reason other than price to buy a product.

Use the 4Ps together

As the 4Ps all need to be considered in relation to one another, you need to always make sure that you are looking at the bigger picture, taking into account all of the 4Ps when doing your marketing. If you focus on one and neglect the other, you may experience a significant loss in sales or decrease in new customer generation.

It is always useful to conduct market research in order to establish where and when your product/service fits into. You need to have all of your facts in order so that you can successfully introduce or reintroduce your product/service to the market. There are many forms of research that you can do, but it is always worthwhile to do both qualitative and quantitative research so that you are analysing your product/service from every possible angle.

Quantitative research can involve anything from looking at market trends, economic statistics, product development, etc. Whereas qualitative research will see you focusing on your target audience more. Try engaging with your target audience by asking them questions. This can be done in person, for instance through focus groups, or online. Getting insight directly from the source will provide you with valuable information and will give you more perspective on who your target audience really is and what they really want. As a bonus, your target audience will appreciate the fact that you as a brand are reaching out and engaging with them, which could promote customer loyalty towards your brand in the long run.

Put the 4Ps of marketing to practice

The model can be used to help you decide how to take a new offer to the market. It can also be used to test your existing marketing strategy. Whether you are considering a new or existing offer, follow the steps below to help you to define and improve your marketing mix:

1. Start by identifying the product or service that you want to analyse
2. Compile a list of questions for all of the 4Ps and answer them
3. Try asking “why” and “what if” questions too, to challenge your offer. For example, ask why your target audience needs a particular feature. What if you drop your price by 5 percent? What if you offer more colours or better quality packaging? Why sell through wholesalers rather than direct channels? What if you improve PR rather than rely on online advertising?
4. Check through your answers to make sure they are based on sound knowledge and facts. If there are doubts about your assumptions, identify any market research or facts, and figures that you may need to gather

Once you have a well-defined marketing mix, try testing the overall offer from the customer’s perspective, by asking your customer focused questions:

• Product: Does your product/service meet their needs?
• Place: Will they find it where they shop?
• Price: Will they consider that it’s priced favourably?
• Promotion: Will the marketing communications reach them?

Keep on asking questions and making changes to your mix until you are satisfied that you have optimised your marketing mix, given the information, facts, and figures you have available.

Review your marketing mix regularly as some elements will need to change as the product or service and its market grow, mature, and adapt in an ever-changing, competitive environment.

Go and market your brand

The marketing mix helps you define the marketing elements for successfully positioning your market offer. The 4Ps of marketing helps you define your marketing options in terms of product, place, price, and promotion. Use the model when you are planning a new venture or evaluating an existing offer to optimise the impact with your target market.

If you feel like you are unsure how to approach your marketing mix and are drowning in data and statistics, fret not. We here at Cognite offer brand strategy development, where we explore your current market situation and find out what strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats should be considered. This will allow you to ultimately refine your brand and have a better sense of what you offer and how you differ from your competitors. In no time, you can see your brand talking to the right people, at the right time, at the right place.

Further reading

• http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/marketing-mix
• http://www.purelybranded.com/insights/the-four-ps-of-marketing/
• https://www.cleverism.com/understanding-marketing-mix-concept-4ps/

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