They really can! Anyone can do it and, in fact, most people have whether they realise it or not.

Marketing is a matter of connecting your cause or product or service with those people who’d benefit. Those people are your target audience.

Marketers, like Audrey, strive to make sure the target audience find the right product, in the right place, at the right price, with the right promotions.

This is the first in a series of blog posts covering the basics for beginners to help you get started marketing your business or charity. What better way to start than to explain simply what marketing is? We’ll do this by looking at the marketing mix (product, place, price and promotion).

The right product

The product is the most fundamental element of the marketing mix. Is your product what your target audience want? If it isn’t then no discount or promotion will get it to work.

An outdoor clothing brand about to launch a new hiking jacket will think about tailoring it to the target audience. A marketer will think about waterproofing, wind proofing, breathability, hoods and reflective detailing. If the new jacket has none of these features, the marketer would suggest that some might be added for the target audience, or the target audience is changed to one that’d find the jacket more appealing.

When you take your product to market, ask yourself: Will this appeal to my target audience or can I add features to/ take away from it to make even more perfect for them?

The right place

The place isn’t just which shop you sell your product from, although that is very important; it includes the layout of the shop, how the products are displayed and website design among many others.

Charities looking to open a shop selling second hand furniture would be silly to take on a small property in the centre of a pedestrianised town centre. Customers wouldn’t be able to see the furniture clearly in a small shop and, unless there were delivery options, potential customers would be put off at the idea of carrying furniture away with them.

Where will your target audience go to find your type of product? If your product isn’t there then you won’t be found.

The right price

This one is a surprising one for the marketing team. The price must be set in part to cover the production costs, pay salaries and reinvest but the marketing team should also be involved to make sure the price aligns with the target audience’s expectations.

Designer brands, like Prada, could produce budget lines of clothing sold at a lower price and still cover their costs and make a profit but they would run the risk of losing their target audience who expect to pay more for the exclusivity of the product.

It is hard for marketing to compete primarily on price because there is very little room for manoeuvre if circumstances change. This is one that can be used but used best cautiously.

The right promotion

This is what most people think of when they think about marketing, social media campaigns, direct mail, events and so on. This is where the target audience are made aware of the product.

There are so many activities that can be undertaken to promote a charity or business, it is common to see a scattergun approach adopted which sucks up vital resources for minimal return.

A charity raising money for an emergency appeal would find it more appropriate to send a marketing email out to its supporters, than it would creating a print advert for a monthly magazine due to timescales and the urgency of the appeal.

Before starting any promotion, make sure that it’s worth the effort and won’t detract from more useful activities.

Conclusion

Getting the right product, in the right place, at the right price with the right promotions is the heart of marketing. If you can do this, you can market. Sort of.

Truthfully, marketing well is not simple at all.

Hitting the white and black keys on a piano is technically playing the instrument but unless there has been a plenty of practice backed up by the knowledge of how to play, no one is going to enjoy the experience. The audience might even run away.

When you are marketing your business or charity, you do not want people running away. Over this series of posts we will delve deeper into all aspects of marketing.

Aubrey is here to help make sure that you reach your target audience as powerfully as possible. Get in touch if you want to talk about your marketing and hear about how we can help.