Developing a Marketing Mindset – Part 1

In this blog post, I will explain to you the 5 out of the 10 principles of developing a powerful marketing mindset (the other 5 will follow in the next blog post) that were put together by Jürgen Wolff who is mentioning them in his book ‘Marketing for Entrepreneurs’. I think they are very valid principles that will help you with creating the mind-set. In addition to these 10 principles, I have added 2 more as I think they are very important.

It’s all about benefits

People buy products and services based on the benefits it will give them. That might not happen consciously but subconsciously. This means you need to not just market the features of your products and services but also point out the benefits to them. Everyone is asking himself or herself: ‘What’s in it for me?’ Make sure you answer that question.

80/20 rule

You might have heard about the 80/20 rule, the Pareto principle. I will give you a non-business example first. Let’s look at your wardrobe: You have 100% clothes in there. Out of these clothes, you wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time, wearing the same items most of the time, and 80% of your clothes you wear 20% of the time.

The same applies to marketing: 20% of your marketing activities will get you 80% of your clients – and 80% of your marketing activities just 20%. Why not ditch the 80% activities and spend more money and time on the 20% that actually bring you the clients?

Conducting and ongoing campaign

To be able to build a brand, you need to be in your customers ‘faces’ all the time. You need to remind them that you are there, what you do and what the benefits of your products and services are. Don’t just have a campaign when launching a new product/service but all the time. Look at the big companies – they always have a marketing campaign going although they are already well known. You, as a small business or start-up, need to work even harder to be seen.

Listen to everyone

Listening to people with all kinds of different backgrounds, knowledge and interests will help you tremendously improve your products and services, as well as specifying your marketing activities. Don’t just listen to your target group and experts. Also listen to your non-target audience, children, and people from the same but also from different industries. Every one of these groups will ask you different questions.

Be different

This is what most businesses struggle with – being different. You have to stand out from your competitors by being different. What can make you different in a world where most products or services already exist? Here are a few things:

•     The way you deliver – are you delivering your work in a different way to your competitors? Maybe using different channels or different materials?
•     Use a new technology that is unknown in your industry
•     Have a different pricing and billing structure to your competitors
•     Have outstanding customer service
•     You – it could just be you as a person that sets you apart from your competitors, especially when it is you who is delivering your products or services.

If you want to find out more and discover authentic marketing, check out my book ‘Authentic Marketing for Start-Ups’