Use marketing to grow

How marketing can help you grow

When you think of marketing, what does it mean to you? Is it simply how you promote your products or services? A way to grow sales?

As you grow your business, you need to attract new customers and keep existing ones. Marketing can help you do both.

Supporting your other growth methods

We look at other growth options in this programme. Maybe you have one or more of these in mind for your growth goals already. This chapter helps you to think about how to market these.

Say you decide to expand into new markets. You need to raise your business profile in those markets. If you innovate a product or service, you need to make sure people are aware and excited about it.

You can see then how marketing can be an enabler for your other growth options and a means for growth in itself. Even if you choose to grow using marketing alone, it can help you to target the right customers if done right.

Marketing can:

• Raise awareness – For more people to buy from you, they need to know about you
• Promote your Unique Selling Point (USP) – Show people why they should pick you rather than your competitors
• Engage your customers – They should remember and think of you, even after launch or sale
• Put data to good use – Your customer data can focus your message

We covered different marketing options in our earlier Marketing lesson. You may use some already. So let’s start by looking at these, from a growth perspective.

Increasing your tools and techniques

Marketing growth comes from increasing or changing the ways you use your tools and techniques. By introducing more of these, or focusing and refining your efforts, you can make your marketing more efficient. This can then help you achieve your goals.

We’ll look at a few ideas in this chapter. You may already use or know about some of these, others may be new to you.

Pick your channels

Your customers use many channels to find what they are looking for. They hear a radio ad, research online, ask each other for recommendations. Then they may follow up with emails or phone calls to find out more. When they buy, this may be in person, through a website or an app.

It's important you learn what channels your target market is using. Creating more channels that you need can be costly and halt growth. Equally missing opportunities to engage your customers where they can stop growth.

For all your channels – measure what they do for your business and customer. Use this data to inform your choices.

Remember to think about offline channels:

Plus, online channels like:

• Webinars and podcasts
• Content marketing – Try ‘top tips’ articles for B2C, fact-based infographics for B2B
• Social media – There tends to be less competition in the B2B market here
• Email – A popular option, with 84% of B2B marketers using this
• Search engine optimisation (SEO) – This helps you reach the top of the search results
• ‘Pay per click’ ads – These work for all, but are more common for B2C businesses
• Customer review sites
• Programmatic marketing – This uses software to buy targeted online advertising space

For now, let’s look at the techniques you can use across these channels.

Pick your techniques

Select each of these techniques to find out more

Using marketing to grow relationships

In this next chapter, we’ll look at how marketing can help you to manage existing customer relationships and grow new ones. 

Relationship marketing for new customers

This is where you focus on building relationships with potential users. The aim is for them to buy from you instead of others. You can do this by giving them content that they want, to encourage them to connect with you.

Content that can work for new users includes:

• Blog posts or articles
• White papers or case studies
• Webinars or online tutorials
• Infographics
• Videos
• Podcasts

The type of content and the tone you use will depend on your audience. Are you looking for new B2B clients? A detailed case study in their sector could interest them. Are you launching a new service for college students? A short video on your social site might appeal.

This isn’t a complete list. There are many ways to make people aware of your products and services. So get creative, have fun and try out different ideas.

Relationship marketing for existing customers

Here, you’re aiming to improve the customer experience. This can help you build loyal customer relationships. It’s especially relevant if you’re planning to segment your market.

You may need to shift your focus, if you only market to new customers at the moment. Turning to your current users can be more profitable. The idea is that the longer your customers stay with you, the more they end up buying from you. Plus, they’re more likely to promote you and help your reputation if they have good experiences.

Tips to build a loyal customer base:

The main thing you need to keep in mind here is growth. How can you use your data to make informed decisions? Data-based decisions will help you to level up your marketing efforts and customer experiences.

Building customer relationships

To have a good relationship with your customers, you need to know them. Every time you connect, you need to be able to see who they are, their experience so far and their expectations. Then you can interact in a way that you know works for them. This is where customer relationship management can help.

It’s all about keeping your customers happy by meeting their needs. This in turn can help to boost your brand, improve sales and increase customer loyalty.

Let’s look first at some ways to help you do this: