It covers everything from the style of service you offer, pricing, promotion, ongoing service, and customer satisfaction.

A few years ago, the mayor asked me to explain marketing to her youngest daughter who was visiting the city during the university break. I said, “Marketing is everything I say, do, and create that brings awareness of and desire for the service or product I’m marketing to the targeted market segment I’m trying to reach.”

Marketing, done well, is a powerful business tool. Done poorly, it’s a sure way to spend a lot of money and get very few…and very poor…results.

Here’s a great definition of marketing: If the circus is coming to town, and you paint a sign that says, "Circus Coming to the Showground Saturday," that's ADVERTISING. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that's PROMOTION. If the elephant walks through the Mayor's flower bed, that's PUBLICITY. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that's PUBLIC RELATIONS. Put them all together, and you've got MARKETING.

The primary style of marketing that I have used successfully in my own business is the strategy defined in these chapters. The focus is on client satisfaction rather than specific percentages of a return on investment or profit margins. This strategy is not about how to be a pushy sales person or a smooth talker...or even how to be highly competitive. It is first and foremost all about being the very best business owner/service provider you can be and about ensuring that everyone in your community knows about you.

Most traditional marketing strategies have centered on getting as many people as possible to use their services, whereas my emphasis is more about satisfying and looking after the clients.

Not all clients are the same, and understanding our clients can be a never ending challenge but one that is important if we are to have a long term marketing success. It is essential that you have the ability to put your name and services in front of the public, to attract interest in what you offer, and inspire them to contact you.  Otherwise, it would be like having a new store with no signs or information to guide people to where to come to find the shop. Your business may be open, with fantastic offers to give, and yet have no clients coming in the front door.

It is vital if you want a successful practice that people know you are there and that, when they find you, you will give them the very best service possible.

Consumers are more aware today that they have many choices with regard to any purchase they make—whether it is a product or a service. Most people are not looking only for a financial value in their purchase; they want their purchase experience to be simple, efficient, honest, friendly, and quick. They want to feel that the business person with whom they are dealing...as well as the company itself...cares about them as a customer.

Entrepreneurs have more opportunities to connect with their customers than, say, employees of a large chain store who must adhere to corporate policies that may not focus on customer satisfaction but rather on liability issues for the corporation.

 Now, on to Chapter 2.

The first classroom discussion in any college marketing course involves “The Four P’s.” They are the foundation of any marketing plan, the building blocks of your success in marketing your business. The four P’s are product, price, place, and promotion...and each of these topics involve a number of decisions.

Product is the service or product we provide. There are many decisions to be made about our products and services...when, where, how, what and even why are issues to be decided upon. This topic also involves the crucial development of our customer service plans.

Price is, obviously, what we charge for our products and services, but it also includes decisions regarding profit, discounts we may offer, and so on.

Place refers to both the location from which our business operates and the location(s) in which we will provide our products and services.

Promotion involves all the mechanisms we use to promote our business. These mechanisms may include brochures, websites, newsletters, advertisements in various media, our stationery and business cards, our logo, the colours we use in our printed media and on our website, press releases, displays and hospitality rooms at trade shows, memberships in trade associations, events we may attend or create, and more.

Today, entrepreneurs add some other “P’s” to the marketing mix: Packaging, Positioning, and People.

Packaging refers to the image you present to potential customers. Packaging includes the entrance to your business (including the sidewalk, door, storefront, downtown ambiance, etc.), the areas in which you conduct business (including how does the area smell and look, how comfortable are the chairs, how neat/attractive is the area ..and how well does the décor of the area relate to your business?) Packaging also includes how you present yourself and your business through stationery, business cards and other media, the way you and your staff dress, your voice and language, your knowledge of your subject, your correspondence...everything about you and your business. These issues will have a direct effect on your ability to attract and keep customers. Everything affects your customers’ confidence about dealing with you and your business.

Positioning is best described as how your customers and others view and feel about your business. A positioning statement is one that defines what you do for whom, to uniquely resolve an urgent need. For example, Hertz states unequivocally that they are “#1.”  Avis says “we try harder.” The implication is that Avis’s positioning statement is “We will strive to become #1 in the car rental industry through providing exceptional customer service, exceptional car maintenance and car selection.”

Do you have a positioning statement? It will become the guiding focus of your business. It will be the basis of your “elevator pitch” (the 30-second response to the question “so, what do you do?”). It should be the information that a customer first learns about your company from your website, your brochures, and ads. You might add in your own positioning statement anything that is specific to you and your company that will help to differentiate you from the competitors in your area. (To “differentiate,” you show the differences between two or more things or become specialized.)

People is the last of the “extra P’s” in the marketing mix. To be successful in business, we must have the right people doing the right jobs. For some of us, WE are the only employee in our business...so, hopefully, we ARE the right person for this job! Most downtown businesses, though, have staff members, partners, employees, and even volunteers.  It is very important that we spend as much time considering the “people aspects” of our business as any of the others. If the person who answers your phone does not make your potential and existing customers feel cherished and satisfied, then you’ll need to find someone who does.