Marketing

Getting customers

Marketing is everything an organization does to build a relationship between the company and the customer. It is the process by which a product or service is introduced and promoted to potential customers and sustaining relationships over time.

Marketing Plan and Content Strategy

A marketing plan and content strategy will help you figure out what message you want to send to potential customers, how to get the word out about your business, and often includes a call to action - like buying buying a product or service.

Messaging

Messaging is a term to describe who you are and why you exist as a company. A well crafted message will highlight your unique benefits, target a specific audience, support your mission.

  • Think about what you want people to know about your organization and your cause. What do you want them to say about you? What do you want them to do?
  • Develop a few core messages that connect the dots between what you do and how it relates to your audience. Develop messages around a single idea. Keep language simple and use analogies or personal stories to get your point across. Make your messages believable. Provide evidence such as numbers to increase credibility.
  • Be consistent with delivery. Each message you deliver should reflect your brand – that is, who you are. Highlight what is relevant to the issue and your audience, but be sure to include a consistent statement about your organization. This makes your messaging memorable and helps position you in the market and in the minds of your audience.

Once you’ve devised a plan, you will need to develop a strategy for creating and distributing content (i.e. text, images, videos) that inform your customers about what you're selling and how they can buy it.

VIEW
Content Strategy Template

Marketing Platforms

  • Website - A central online location for your products or services. It gives customers a place to go to access information about your company, and how to purchase your products, services.
  • Social Media - Digital channels to communicate with your customers. Social media offers a platforms for storytelling, promotion, building your reputation, and creating a dialog with your customers that strengthen your relationship. Popular social media platforms include: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
  • Design and Print Materials - Physical artifacts like posters, flyers, banners, pamphlets, and others things that customers can take with them.

Resources

The SBDC offers a Marketing 101 course to help you get started. See the training events calendar for details:

VISIT
LB SBDC Events Calendar

The Long Beach Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has several blogs about marketing that offer tips and steps for different marketing techniques:

VISIT
LB SBDC Marketing Blog