Marketing Basics

To succeed, entrepreneurs must attract and retain a growing base of satisfied customers. Marketing programs, though widely varied, are all aimed at convincing people to try out or keep using particular products or services. Business owners should carefully plan their marketing strategies and performance to keep their market presence strong.

What is Marketing?  

Marketing is based on the importance of customers to a business and has two important principles: 

·         All company policies and activities should be directed toward satisfying customer needs.  

·         Profitable sales volume is more important than maximum sales volume  

To best use these principles, a small business should: 

·         Determine the needs of their customers through market research  

·         Analyze their competitive advantages to develop a market strategy  

·         Select specific markets to serve by target marketing  

·         Determine how to satisfy customer needs by identifying a market mix