Marketing Your Business for SUCCESS
Marketing Your Business for SUCCESS Author: International Journal of Pharmaceutical Compounding I find it humorous when an entrepreneur or business owner describes an idea for a new venture to me and then adds the disclaimer, “But I am not really a salesman. I am good at operations, management, and strategy, but I really don’t like to sell.” I want to respond, “Well, maybe you’d better stay where you are and not become an entrepreneur. If you are not willing to learn how to market your business and sell your product/sendee to your customers, then go work for someone else. At the very least, recognize the critical nature of marketing and hire a professional to do it on a regular basis.”
In the last issue, I outlined and described the four elements of the business concept. To refresh your memory, they are (1) product/service, (2) target customer, (3) value proposition (competitive advantage in the market), and (4) value chain (how you deliver your product/service to the customer).1 Marketing strategy is derived mostly from knowledge of a target customer and a value proposition. Jeff Wuorio recently published an article titled, Top 10 Reasons Businesses Fail.2 Among them was the lack of a competitive edge and something he described as “mushy marketing.”2 The two are directly related; one is the message and the other is how the message is delivered. Either way, if you fail at one or the other, your business will probably fail. Conversely, if you acquire a strong knowledge of your target customer, determine the factors that most influence his buying decisions, and tell him that your business is responsive to those factors, you will be presented with an opportunity to succeed. The opportunity is in the form of driving customers to your pharmacy; after that, your execution will have to take over. You have got to deliver on the promise you made in your marketing message. Execution, however, is another article.
Tom Peters, in his book Thriving on Chaos, reminded entrepreneurs and business owners of a very important adage about differentiating their product or service.3 He said, “Don’t forget that it is not differentiated until the customer understands the difference.”3 Just creating a competitive advantage in the marketplace, while critical, is not enough. Marketing is a multipronged attack, made up precisely of what to say, whom to say it to, and how to reach them. Any knowledge one seeks about the fundamentals of marketing also must include the realization that success is directly proportionate to one’s knowledge of the customer. Without a keen understanding of both, the search is hopeless.
