Home Based Business Marketing

What is home based business marketing? Chances are that if you ask ten different people to give you a definition of marketing that you will receive ten totally different definitions.

You do not need to have a MBA degree or past experience in a marketing function to develop your own home based business marketing strategy. However, it is important to first of all understand what marketing is.

Understanding the basic concepts of marketing will give you a strong foundation that you can use to build your own home based business marketing plan.

One of the most valuable pieces of advice I have ever received was given to me many years ago by one of my university professors. He said:

"Always make sure you fully understand the basic concept of what you are learning. Don't worry too much about remembering all the details. I can guarantee you that you will not remember the details in a couple of years from now. However, by understanding the basic concept you will remember the subject much better and will find it easy to apply your knowledge in the future by simply taking a little bit of time to read up on the details"

A common question often asked in home based business marketing is:

"What is the difference between sales and marketing?"

Is marketing just another term for selling? Why does a company often have a marketing as well as a sales department? Why do some companies only have one Sales and Marketing Manager?

The difference between selling and marketing

Let's start by looking at the difference between sales and marketing.
 

You can compare the terms sales and marketing to the terms lending and borrowing. You lend your book to your husband and you borrow a book from your husband. In the case of selling, you sell something to your husband that you want him to buy from you. Finding out what your husband needs and trying to sell him what he needs instead of just what you want him to buy is marketing.

 

Home based business marketing can help you avoid many costly mistakes.

Many people make the mistake of not looking at the market when starting a new business. They come up with what they think is a great new business idea or invention only to find out that people are not interested in their product or service after they have already spent a lot of money and time developing it. Home based business marketing can avoid many costly mistakes.

Marketing is a much wider field than selling

Home based business marketing is a much wider field than selling. Let's consider some of the theory behind the general concept of marketing that also applies to our specific concept of home based business marketing.

You might have already heard about the "marketing mix". In principle, the marketing mix comprises five key elements of marketing.

1. Product

What type of product does the market want or need? Do you have a suitable product?

2. Positioning

Where can you position your company and product? This will often depend on the number of competitors you have and if you can find a niche area. For example, assume you sell cosmetics. You have many competitors, selling to ladies from teenagers to grandmothers, that have been around for many years and are very well established.

However, you determine there is a growing need for men's cosmetics and none of your competitors have really done a lot to service this market. That is a niche. You can position your company and product to focus on men's cosmetics. Positioning is a very important part of home based business marketing.

3. Place

How are you going to sell your product to your target market? Should your product be sold by stores in large shopping malls? Would direct selling be more appropriate? Can your product be sold online?

The best way to answer the above questions is to once again start with your target market. Do a bit of research and find out how your target customers normally shop and what would be the most convenient way for them to buy your product.

How do you calculate your price. Maybe you can sell more by being the cheapest on the market but having a reputation for being cheap is not necessarily a good thing. My advice? Start with your target market. What are they looking for? Quality or price?

If quality is very important then they may be prepared to pay more for your product and will even expect your product to be more expensive than those of your competitors. On the other hand, if they mainly focus on price then you should be careful not to price yourself right out of the market.

Ultimately, you are in business to make money. Think twice before starting to compete with the bottom dwellers.

Apply home based business marketing you ensure you are priced right. For more information click here to read more about "Make Your Price Sell".

5. Promotion

Many people think that marketing is the same as advertising. Advertising can be used to promote your company, product or service, but remember that it is only one of the five elements of the marketing mix, the last one. Only once you have addressed product, positioning, place and price should you start looking at promotion.

Do not put your wagon in front of your horses. By prematurely spending time and money on promoting your business you may end up wasting a lot of time and money. It is very difficult to decide on the right type of promotion until you have addressed the other four elements of the marketing mix.

The five elements of the marketing mix is as old as the mountains as far as home based business marketing is concerned but remains a very important marketing tool to this day.

There are several new home based business marketing trends that are more customer focused. The most popular of these customer focused trends is the four C's.

i) Customer Value

Value is becoming more and more important to customers. This goes much further than only looking at value for money - high quality product at a competitive price - and utility.

What does your product mean to a customer? What is the value of your product to the customer? Value, not price or cost. Whereas one of the elements of the marketing mix is price the focus here is on value.

What a customer pays for a product or service is not necessarily an indication of the product's value to the customer. The aim is to increase the value of the product or service without increasing the price of the product.

It is all about trying to exceed customer expectations. Giving the customer more that he asks for. Your home based business marketing plan should be to over-deliver to customers.

ii) Cost to the customer

Once again the focus is on the customer. Normally the supplier has a cost to produce an item and the difference between his cost and the selling price to his customer is his profit.

By considering the cost to the customer we are actually trying to determine the profit or value for the customer in buying the product. In order to fully understand customer value we need to understand cost to the customer.

How do we communicate with our customers? How do we make sure that we understand what our customers need? Poor communication is a recipe for disaster - Does not matter if it is poor communication on the sports field, poor communication in a marriage or poor communication between customer and supplier.

We cannot know or understand customer needs unless we have good communication channels. We should avoid making assumptions at all cost. Assuming our customers are satisfied and assuming we are meeting their needs can be very dangerous.

We need to listen to our customers and not only hear them. People change, trends change, competitors change... Good communication will prevent us from guessing what is going on and ensure that we keep up to date. Do not overlook the importance of communication in home based business marketing.

iv) Convenience for buyer

Your home based business marketing strategy should consider what is convenient for buyers. By making it easier for customers to buy your product or service you are indeed providing them with better customer service that may give you an advantage over your competitors.

The days of simply setting up a store and expecting your customers to come to you and do what it most convenient for you is over.

The focus has completely shifted to what is convenient for the buyer. Depending on your product or service this may include, longer shopping hours, ample and convenient parking, credit card facilities, and door to door delivery.

The internet has also added a whole new dimension to buyer convenience with many companies offering customers the opportunity of shopping online from the comfort of their own homes. Now that is convenient! I would strongly urge you to include the internet in your home based business marketing.

Use home based business marketing to your advantage. In a competitive world we need all the advantages we can get and having a good marketing plan will certainly help you to become a money maker and can put you miles ahead of your competitors.