Notes to create your marketing strategies

At this point you should know what kind of coach you are, know your strengths and weaknesses, what skills you have that separate you from the competition. What are you going to specialize in? You must know your target audience. Do you have a budget? You must also have clear goals and plan your actions very well. Finally, you must measure the results of what you have been implementing.

There are many types of marketing strategies (segmentation, competition, branding, content, product, etc.) and depending on the objectives you want to achieve, you should choose the most suitable one or make your own recipe.

In the previous point we mentioned the fundamental guidelines to develop a marketing strategy and also the importance of being customer oriented. As an example, we will focus on customers starting a business. But how to attract them?

How to attract the customer?

If a person decides to quit his job and start a business on his own, and he has never run a business before, it is normal that he feels some fear. You are going to invest money and time in that venture.

You need to get visibility, to be recognized as an expert in the field, to make them realize that you can really help them start their business and/or make it grow. They need to feel that they really need your advice and that you are the person who can guide them through the most basic aspects of their business.

To reach out to your potential customers, either in a digital or face-to-face environment:

• Connect with your potential clients, their feelings and their fears.

• Make clear the benefits of hiring you.

• Make sure your content always has value to them.

• Give them an answer, but not the whole solution.

Challenges in starting a business

Mistakes in business translate into losses and no one wants to make them or at least minimize them. The challenges mentioned here are part of the basic process of starting a business.

This material can help you to have points of reference when talking to potential clients or creating alliances with experts and specialists who can recommend you to their clients. It can also help you create valuable content that responds to their needs:

• Keeping an eye on the budget: not monitoring the inputs and outputs enough is another recurring mistake. Tips can be aimed at keeping overhead low, not outsourcing or buying too many services, managing credit cards, looking for cost-effective options to acquire equipment and real estate, for example.
• Start-up: Even assuming that the client who will undertake the business has a thorough knowledge of the industry in which he/she wants to develop, he/she may not be familiar with the start-up aspects of a business. Professional success does not guarantee success in business.

• You must be all in one: manager, salesperson, employer, purchasing manager and whatever else it takes. Having to deal with so many obligations many entrepreneurs feel overwhelmed and it can lead to business failure. You can create materials related to starting a business, on administrative, organizational, accounting issues, on the use of technologies to manage processes.
• Market research: It is not enough for the entrepreneur to have experience in the sector or to have a good instinct, or to trust that he knows what his target audience is by observing the competition. If the market is not well defined, it costs money, you may exhaust all your capital, and the worst thing is that you may realize it too late.

The challenge in market research is to know how to ask. Some of the best known tools are:

• Surveys

• Focus groups

• In-depth interviews

• Direct observation, either face-to-face or on the networks.

• Community studies

• Public information

• Avatars or Buyer person

• Purchase of data from third parties.

You can create videos or any other alternative that contains the operation of any of these market research tools.

Defined Identity (Brand): Often start-up businesses do not have a defined identity or are not consistent with it. This is an aspect that can be underestimated in the beginning. The brand should represent who you are and what you do, appropriating the essence of the company. Good brand marketing (branding) helps positioning in the market and creates a connection with customers, who are able to identify with your values. You can create for example a brand development plan, nothing too complicated and that entrepreneurs can follow.

Create connections: It is necessary to invest time in creating a good base of contacts and references related to the company. It is necessary to create relationships with professionals who share common interests. For example, it can impede growth because business opportunities are lost waiting for the help that is needed. Advice or help needs to be timely, on hand when needed to avoid shortcuts or poor quality services. What type of business will be developed, will it be in a digital environment or will the exchange be physical? The age of the customers may determine whether they are more comfortable with one or the other situation. You can create content on how to develop a network of contacts (online), how to develop communication skills (personal contact) or how to share information, among others.

Effective marketing: If the product/service is profitable, you can work on the mistakes made or deficiencies in other areas. Hence the importance of effective marketing, which translates into money coming into the company. Some problems can be:

• Poor content

• Not being timely with promotion

• Poor network presence

• Lack of interactivity

What can you do to help them get familiar with their audience? What strategies can you suggest to help them connect and add value to their content?

Learn from mistakes: They won't solve themselves. Sometimes you don't notice them, but sometimes even if you know about them, you don't work on solving them. In this sense, it can be useful to share case studies (where you demonstrate how a product or service works with real life examples).

Teamwork: There are people who are not used to working in a team. They are self-sufficient, controlling or think "nobody is going to do it better than me". You cannot leave tasks unresolved, you have to know when to delegate or outsource. Learn to trust in the capacity of others. Delegating is fundamental for the growth of the company.

What actions can you take to connect with that feeling and reach your customers? These are some challenges, there are many more.

Ideas for creating content

Some ideas to create marketing content:

• Blogging

• Networking

• Create different types of audiovisual materials

• Give a workshop or seminar

• Conduct trainings

• Create an interactive quiz

• Offer a free or discounted first meeting.

Remember that your content has to stand out because you have to compete with a lot of information available on the market and on the Internet.