[TEXT: Young African Leaders Initiative: Online Training Series]
I am Samira Cook Gaines, a founding partner of Global Empowerment Solutions,
[TEXT: Samira Cook Gaines, Founding Partner, Global Empowerment Solutions]
a business focused on business development strategies, creative business training,
organizational development training and program management.
[TEXT: Smart Entrepreneurship: Next Steps in Expanding Your Enterprise] Welcome to Smart Entrepreneurship:
Next Steps in Expanding Your Enterprise.
[TEXT: Marketing Your Business] This lesson is “Marketing Your Business.”
In this lesson, we will discuss ways to find and reach new customers, [TEXT: Learning Objectives: Finding and reaching customers]
we will go over the various tools and techniques that you can use to market your product or services,
[TEXT: Using tools and techniques to market products and services]
and we will look at strategies and best practices for each. [TEXT: Examining marketing strategies and best practices]
Think of marketing your business as a conversation with your customer.
Your customer has begun the conversation by stating that they have a problem or need.
You should have already identified this problem or need through your startup market research.
Entrepreneurs are problem-solvers.
Therefore, you need to respond to your customer and let them know that you’ve solved their problem or can serve their need.
This is the conversation of marketing.
In the growth stage, you may be interested in identifying new customers.
You can do this through reviewing your past sales to understand what services or products sell the most
and then doing an analysis of the customers or clients that bought from you.
Some of the questions that you should ask yourself about your customer are:
[TEXT: Some of the questions that you should ask yourself about your customer are:]
What were the pain points, problems or needs that you solved for them?
[TEXT: What were the pain points, problems or needs that you solved for them?]
Where do they get their information? [TEXT: Where do they get their information?]
And how do they communicate? [TEXT: How do they communicate?]
Here’s an example: Perhaps you are selling tutoring services for children.
You would want to know what school subjects your clients are requesting most: math, science, or English as a second language?
Let’s say ESL is the subject most requested.
Next, you would want to know where most parents get information about education for their children.
Perhaps at the library or through school announcement boards, [TEXT: Library, School announcement boards]
[TEXT: Parent groups, Social media, Signs posted in the neighborhood] parent groups, social media or even signs
posted in the neighborhood.
Finally, you would want to know how they communicate.
Are they watching videos more than reading written blogs? Do they speak formally or casually?
How do educators in their lives communicate information about their children?
Once you have an understanding of these three questions, you can begin to target your marketing to your
preferred customer.
There are several types of tools and strategies that you can use to market your business, including
digital, social and content marketing, [TEXT: Digital, Social, Content]
and you should be looking to take advantage of new tactics and technologies that create
opportunities for promoting your products and services.
These tools and strategies can overlap and be used in several marketing campaigns.
Let’s discuss tools, starting with digital.
Many of these marketing tools are free or have a low cost.
But choosing what you spend your time on is important.
You want to make sure your marketing efforts bring you
paying customers and not just inform the world that you are in business.
Digital marketing encompasses internet, social media, mobile phones and electronic billboards,
as well as television and radio channels.
Increasingly, the best opportunities are available via online platforms.
That includes websites, social media, banner ads, email and search engines.
[TEXT: Digital Marketing: Websites, Social media, Banner ads, Email, Search engines]
The advantage of online marketing is that you will get numeric data on what is working or not working in real time.
You will know if your emails are being opened or if people are clicking on your banner ads or visiting your website daily.
This helps you get a clear picture of the impact of your marketing over time;
it will also tell you what marketing vehicles to spend your precious time and money on.
With so many options available at low to no cost, online marketing can be overwhelming.
But you can work through the options by understanding what is best for your customer.
Websites are the most traditional web presence for a business.
I advise that every business have a website. [TEXT: Every business needs a website]
Even if it is a simple landing page that tells what your business is, [TEXT: What is your business?]
what you offer, and how to contact you. [TEXT: What do you offer? How to contact you?]
There are several companies that make creating a website an easy, straightforward process so that you can do it on your own.
Be sure to research the pricing and hosting costs of several of them before you move forward.
Social media is a very popular form of digital marketing.
Again, there are so many social media platforms available, it is easy to feel like you need to
commit to all of them to have a successful social media marketing campaign.
However, social media is like any other tool: You need to know which tool is best for the job.
For example, you could use a hammer to put in a nail, but it wouldn’t be the best option to twist in a screw.
A screwdriver would be best for a screw.
You can find out what social media platform is best for you by knowing who your target client is
and then researching online which social media platform is used most by that demographic.
For example, many adults over the age of 35 use Facebook as their preferred social media.
However, Instagram has grown to be a leading social media platform for younger generations,
and its use is increasing rapidly.
If you are looking to market to younger people, you may want to focus your marketing efforts on
Instagram if that is where your target customer can be found. Choose at least one or two social media platforms to begin.
And remember that your traditional website should be connected to any social media platforms that you utilize.
Once you’ve identified the best one or two social media platforms,
you will need to think about the content you’ll use.
The key to marketing through social media is consistency. [TEXT: Maintain a consistent social media presence]
Once you begin a conversation, you want to continue it, and you want your customers to be able to rely on the consistent
presence of your business on social media.
Consistent social media posting means that you have a monthly calendar of what you will post and how often you will post.
It is helpful to know that people don’t follow you on social media just for you to advertise to them.
They follow you because they want to know more about your company and interact with you.
Your content should be seen as informational and entertaining for your customer.
Not every social media post needs to be about selling.
It is best to think of content in this way: Say something, share something, sell something.
[TEXT: Say something, Share something, Sell something]
[TEXT: Say something] Say something briefly that fits with the brand of your company.
It could be an inspirational quote or even a joke.
For example, there is a mattress company that posts funny sayings on Twitter about the need for sleep.
Customers and potential customers will follow them because they provide entertainment through humor.
Share something that your customers may not have known about your industry or product. [TEXT: Share something]
A short behind-the-scenes video on a creative process can capture your audience and create a loyal following.
For example, some comic book artists will use YouTube to share their process for creating characters
and even show the equipment they use to digitally manipulate colors and illustrations.
And, finally, sell something. [TEXT: Sell something]
A selling post should have a graphic, information on pricing,
and information on how the customer can purchase the product or service.
Remember to highlight the features and benefits of your product or service in the post.
If you follow these three steps, you can develop engaging social media content that will keep your customer interested and
even have them share your content.
Although social media is often free, some social media
platforms offer paid advertising packages that help you gain greater exposure.
This is an option that should be considered once you have used the free options on the social media platform
and have a clear understanding of how it works and how your customers and potential customers engage.
You can pay for web banners, pop-up ads and sponsored posts that are targeted
[TEXT: Paid Advertising: Web banners, Pop-up ads, Sponsored posts]
by the demographics collected when a user signs up for a social media platform.
Information is gathered on what they view and how they interact.
Your paid advertising is then targeted to the users whose
profiles and activities meet the specific criteria in your ad buy.
For example, you can target young men over 18 years old that play video games, live in a particular neighborhood,
watch frequent cat videos and root for a specific football team.
But first, you need to know these details about the behavior
of your target market to get the most out of paid digital marketing.
Now let’s move on to strategies for marketing. [TEXT: Strategies for marketing:]
Social marketing is a strategy to engage your customer or client.
Not to be confused with social media, which is a tool,
the goal of social marketing as a strategy is to change the behavior of people.
[TEXT: The goal of social marketing as a strategy is to change the behavior of people]
It is a marketing strategy that has a greater good or social cause connected to it.
For example, you may have a business that has an environmentally friendly aspect to it.
Social marketing would focus on changing the current behaviors of society to influence them to use the product that you offer,
one that is better for the environment.
Remember, social marketing educates and influences customers to behave differently.
Another example would be if your business used local products or materials.
You would want to educate your potential customer on why local products and materials are important to the local community
and influence them to change their shopping behavior.
You can see social marketing in action through “Buy Local” or
“Shop Small” campaigns that support small or community-based businesses.
Content marketing is another strategy to sell to your customers.
[TEXT: Content marketing: Is another strategy to sell to your customers]
Remember the social media discussion about saying something in your social media content?
Well, content marketing is a way to do that.
Content marketing is educational or informational, but it is not an obvious or hard sell for the products your company sells.
[TEXT: Educational, Informational]
The point is to tell a compelling story,
to offer such great information that the customer becomes loyal to your brand because of that story you’ve told.
You want to reach a potential customer on a deeper level than the typical sales pitch.
For example, there is a laundry commercial that went viral and was viewed by over 14 million people.
The commercial was about gender equality in household chores.
The product was shown only briefly at the end of the video.
Customers will be compelled to not only pay attention to the story the commercial tells,
but will also associate positive connections of gender equality to that product.
This is a great way to create brand loyalty.
Technology has truly made the world smaller for entrepreneurs and business owners.
Now, more than ever, you can reach customers in other cities and countries through the internet.
We mentioned digital marketing vehicles that utilize internet technology,
but there are also other technologies that support marketing your business.
For example, SMS, or texting, is another type of technology that serves as a direct line to your customer via their mobile phone.
Artificial intelligence, or AI, is another tool that has quickly emerged to make marketing smarter and faster.
AI uses large amounts of data gathered about consumer spending,
demographics and behaviors to instantly offer a customized marketing campaign
that can change and evolve with the customer’s preferences.
For example, a toy company can begin marketing to a child by focusing on the fun and fantasy of a product,
but as a child becomes an adult or parent themselves, marketing can focus on the nostalgia of playtime,
but also the benefits of learning.
AI is the technology that makes that happen in real time.
In general, marketing technology will include digital advancements such as video,
graphics and audio through voice or music.
Be sure to consider various forms of technology to keep your marketing content interesting.
Finally, remember that when you’re marketing and selling online, you must be impeccable with your language and tone.
That includes making sure that you spell-check your work.
It seems absurd, but it should be a no-brainer.
There’s no faster way to appear unprofessional or waste all of your hard efforts than not language-proofing,
spell-checking or considering your marketing content in terms of tone or tenor.
Find someone knowledgeable and trustworthy to review your marketing materials before you tweet, print or post.
Marketing is the part of business development that helps create a relationship with your customer.
It’s an ongoing conversation. Remember to plan and be consistent with your marketing efforts.
Start with two to three tools, including your website and
appropriate social media platforms that engage your target customer.
Take at least three months to evaluate their effectiveness.
Also, think about how you can be innovative or creative with the tools you use.
Use different graphics and pictures for your online and social media marketing, but maintain your branding or logo.
You can also use technology, like micro video, that tells a story in short segments or looped video snippets.
Think about ways to be engaging, educational and eye-catching!
You want potential customers to notice you among the sea of other businesses.
And you want your current customers to have you at the top of their minds for their needs.
But you also want them to be happy to hear from you and see your marketing as helpful,
educational and even entertaining.
[TEXT: Test your knowledge. YALI.STATE.GOV. YALI Network] After you’ve completed all of the lessons in this course
at yali.state.gov, you can test your knowledge and earn a YALI Network certificate.
[TEXT: Produced by the U.S. Department of State]