It’s football season here in the US.
My team is the Green Bay Packers. I like to check-in to see how the players are doing as they prepare for the season.
It’s an exciting time of year. All the times are starting from square one and hope is in the air.
One of the interesting things about training camp is the stress the coaches put on fundamentals.
You would think that by the time players reach the NFL they are ready to go. They’ve played football their entire lives. Maybe the new guys need work on the basics, but not the veterans.
But that’s not what you see. The veterans work the fundamentals just like everybody else. And for much of the practice the players work on the basics instead of complex concepts and plays.
It’s a good reminder that it’s important to work on the fundamentals of business and marketing.
The Fundamentals Of Marketing
A couple months ago my wife and I went to Nashville. We stopped in at a few honky tonks and listened to the singers and songwriters.
The one thing I noticed that kind of bothered me was that these talented people would sing their heart out. They would say their name sometimes, but they never had signs or anything that showed their name.
And sometimes their names would be things like “Dan Smith”. It’s not easy to search for “Dan Smith” on Google and Facebook and find the right person.
So it bothered me a bit that we couldn’t find information about the artists. A sign would help. Their website URL and their Facebook URL.
Then it got me thinking of the marketing fundamentals for myself. It’s good to focus on the fundamentals to make sure you have them covered because without them you’re likely missing out on sales and new customers even if you’re focusing on the specific things like social media, blogging, etc.
Here are some of the fundamentals all businesses likely need to focus on still today.
Fundamental #1 – Your Name
I was reminded of this one by the singers in Nashville.
For most businesses it’s obviously important that potential customers know who you are. A sign would have worked well for so many of the artists and bands.
I do remember one that had a banner behind their set. That was big. People watching that liked them could remember the name or search for information on their phones while listening.
Whether it’s your website, email correspondence or a number of different things…make sure potential customers know your name.
Fundamental #2 – What You Do For Your Customers
This seems obvious, but it’s amazing to me how many business websites I visit that don’t make it clear what they do.
It happens to me all the time actually. I get on a business website and I have to search and search to figure out what they actually do and who they are targeting.
This can be tricky because as a business owner it’s easy to get caught up in the industry jargon. You know that jargon, but your customers likely don’t.
You might be an orthodontist, but to customers you’re the person that makes teeth straight.
Okay, most people probably know the term “orthodontist”, but that’s how it works.
You might be a social media expert in your own mind, but to potential customers you’re someone that will manage their entire social media strategy from building the strategy to publishing the posts.
Fundamental #3 – Why You’re Different
This is another one I learned from a sales expert; someone that has had a lot of success with various sales in various industries.
And I could see why it’s important to show why you’re different the more I paid attention to my purchasing decisions.
A quick example would, for me, be golf clubs. For the most part all the clubs out there are the same, but the companies are really good at showing why they’re different than all the others out there.
It gives golfing addicts something to latch onto and a reason to buy one club over another.
The same works for just about any business. Show and explain why you’re different and it will help potential customers to make the decision to go with you.
Fundamental #4 – Your Goal(s)
It’s important to remember what you’re working to accomplish.
It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks. Those tasks are important, but they should be steps to get you to your ultimate goal.
The goal could be to make your company a $100 million a year company or perhaps much bigger. From that vision you can work backwards to figure out the steps each year, month and day to get there.
Then you can look at what you’re doing each day with marketing to get there and it’ll make it easier to decide what you should be doing (and what you shouldn’t be doing).
Fundamental #5 – Responsibilities
Finally, it’s important to know who should be working on what tasks.
It’s good to get a marketing strategy all figured out, like your social media strategy, but if no one is entirely sure who should be implementing the strategy then it won’t get done.
Conclusion
As you might know those pretty closely align with what’s taught about Marketing – The Four P’s. Sometimes it’s the Five P’s or a few more I guess.
Product, Price, Place, Promotion and Positioning
That’s what you learn in business school or if you read about marketing online. I think the fundamentals above are good to focus on for a business.
Schedule time to review them for your business every so often; maybe every quarter or even every month. That will train you to think about them whenever you’re doing anything for your marketing efforts.
And that’s the point of the fundamentals…you want to practice them often enough so that they’re part of your subconscious. That will help you turn your marketing into a smooth operating system that brings in new customers and grows your business.