Marketing and promotion
Finally we should consider one more essential aspect of any business operation which refers to marketing and promotion. In simplest terms marketing means getting the right product or service in the right quantity, to the right place, at the right time and making a profit in the process. It is about identifying and understanding customers’ needs and then offering products or services satisfying them. You thus have to examine every aspect of your operations and how they may affect the client. Such examination should include research, strategy planning, pricing, promotion and selling your services.
An effective marketing plan should cover the following six areas which are often referred to as the ‘marketing mix’.
Product: In marketing terms this means anything that you can offer to satisfy a market need. Under this heading you should consider characteristics of your products or services. In the case of the specific field of woodwork renovation the key service attributes relate to its quality, design and features. You thus need to set and maintain clear standards on how your product (e.g. a renovated door) will perform during its use, how it will be perceived by the client and what unique characteristics it will have contributing to client’s satisfaction. You should also plan steps to ensure that your service is perceived as distinct from your competitor’s offer. This strategy is called product positioning and forms a very important part of a marketing plan. In brief, the objective is to determine your service’s competitive advantages on the basis of a chosen set of features, e.g. the particular design quality, performance of the renovated objects or price. Finally, product positioning is closely related to its branding which refers to a consistent strategy to identify the product maker. In other words this is about building reputation for your services which may have a long lasting effect on your business as many customers make their choices on the strength of recommendation by other clients.
Place: There are a number of vital issues to think about in this area which include how to reach your target market, where to locate your workshop, how to manage logistics in terms of getting your services directly to your customers. In the particular field of renovation of wooden articles you will need to be able to provide some services directly on location (certain objects cannot be removed from the substance of the building) but you will also have to have a properly equipped space to work on objects to be taken away for proper treatment. The strategy has to be cost-efficient: if you are far away from the majority of your clients you may find it difficult to make profit in view of high transportation costs and time invested in getting to your customers.
Price: This is a critical element of marketing which creates sales revenue and thus have the biggest impact on the amount of profit you will make. By pricing we mean here the process of setting a price for a service on the basis of a careful consideration of the market and the competitors’ offer. To arrive at a price for your service you first need to establish what the costs are to deliver your service. This is essential to calculate whether your prices are sufficient to return a profit. The right prices can be set through market research conducted with a view to establishing the competitors’ prices and the optimum price customers would be willing to pay. In brief, you should aim at achieving the best possible price for your services taking into account the value they provide for your customers, your break-even point to make a profit, the market environment where there is a certain level of demand for the services you offer and certain prices are charged for them, and finally your competitive advantage which means the advantages your services provide over those of the competitors.
Promotion: You will need to be able to spread the word about your services to prospective customers and there are a number of promotional methods to do this effectively. Most small businesses use a range of methods and techniques which may include advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and public relations to promote their products or services. We can only briefly explain them here and encourage you to further study this field – the volume of practical guides for small businesses is immense.
– Advertising has an objective to persuade potential clients to choose your product or service over that of a competitor. It should be planned and conducted consistently so that your products or services are positively known by those most likely to pay for them.
– Selling is especially important if you are marketing services because the buyer of a professional service is in fact buying the capabilities of the seller. What are thus at stake are the behaviour and characteristics of you as a sales person, your business, its reputation and the way it is presented to the client.
– Sales promotion covers activities that encourage the purchase of a product or service. They can be targeted toward final buyers or business customers for whom you can subcontract your services. In the particular field of woodwork renovation you can use a number of methods to conduct effective sales promotion: display your sample work at the workshop, organise demonstrations of your work, take part in trade show displays, run telemarketing and direct mail campaigns, just to list the most important.
– Public relations is a planned, consistent effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between you as a service provider and your stakeholders who include all those in a society who can have an impact on your marketing performance (e.g. clients, partners, media, local community, financial institutions). In a nutshell, public relations is about building good relations with them by obtaining favourable publicity, creating a good image of your firm and handling unfavourable information on your company. Such efforts can generate positive word of mouth and referrals from satisfied customers.
People: It essential to realise that without the right people engaged in various aspects of your operations you won’t be able to survive as a business, even if you have the best services to offer. This doesn’t only relate to your own internal staff. There are many other people who will have a direct impact on the ultimate performance of your business: suppliers of materials, associates and partners, just to mention some individuals in a complex network of human relations in which every business operates. Each of them has a specific role to play in ensuring the client satisfaction. You need to coordinate all this people resources in order to create efficient teamwork with the customer as the centre of attention.
Process: This covers the procedures implemented in order to ensure that all your essential marketing objectives are attained with a positive direct effect on you customers’ satisfaction. To this end you need to ensure that your services are available when and where required, that you are able to deliver them at the desired level and that you have sufficient staff and resources to perform the service. The key elements of the process include planning strategies that will satisfy the needs of the market, gathering and documenting the right information to make the right decisions, implementing good quality control and finally seeking objective feedback from all your stakeholders on the basis of which to make the necessary changes to your business to make it more effective.
Task for independent learning:
Digital media are nowadays getting more and more significance among successful craft start-ups. Explore some practical ways to promote and market your woodwork renovation services with the use of social media following the practical guidelines developed by the British Crafts Council.
http://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/content/files/social_media_briefing_note.pdf
