Line Up Your Revenue Generators And Things Will Fall Into Place
Marketing, branding, advertising and sales are keys to success all focused on creating one thing, revenue. They are the team that creates the revenue. In a way, they are the steam that runs the engine of small business success.
Revenue Generators
In this post we will look at these concepts and how they fit together. In coaching success and my personal business coaching practice I have seen first hand the massive positive impact when these elements, marketing, branding, advertising and sales come together to generate revenue.
Revenue Generators: Marketing
What is marketing? The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as “The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.” This is true but there is much more, in my opinion, to marketing.
To have small business growth or small business success marketing is comprised of:
- Branding
- Advertising
- Marketing
- Communication
We will look at branding and advertising in the next post. Communication in marketing is the process where individuals and groups gain information about existing and new needs that may be satisfied by your products and services.
In running a small business or a small business startup, good marketing can be a make or break proposition. Having a good marketing business plan is an essential component for the self-employed business owner, entrepreneur or solo professional who desires to expand their reach or influence.
Marketing brings an awareness of a want or need and how your company may satisfy it.
Revenue Generators: Branding
Branding is where you create for your customers an alignment where they feel that your product or service has certain qualities or characteristics that make it special of unique. For the self-employed business owner this could be coming up with a tag line.
For example, a CPA firm with two employees has a tag line that everyone remembers; “Your accounting made simple, very simple.” This gives the customer the expectation that something very complicated, accounting, will be made simple. And here’s the key, not only will it be made simple, but it will be a pleasureable experience.
Branding can become a valuable element of your advertising theme because it demonstrates what the brand owner is able to offer in the marketplace.
For the small business owner creating a brand will pay huge dividends. Once a brand is created it needs to be maintained. This is called brand management.
The two key points from this post are to have a good marketing business plan that communicates with existing and new customers and to create a brand with which people can identify in a positive way.
In my next post I will discuss the final two revenue generators, advertising and sales.
