When you search for information about marketing for small businesses, you can uncover innumerable resources quite easily. However, a lot of the time these resources are packed with buzzwords and are targeted towards businesses that offer a specific product or service. Not so helpful for the owner of a manufacturing business, who has neither a specific product nor service, and does not have time to learn the ins and outs of marketing jargon just to get past the introduction to the article.

We are here to help!

Here's a list of 9 strategic foundations for successful marketing in your business. Small, medium or large these are the foundations of every business marketing strategy. We have also taken care to explain any buzzwords that are likely to appear when using further research about each area. In short, this is a practical guide to what you should be thinking about when putting together plans to market your company.

1. Define your capability

Your ‘capability’ is whatever manufacturing skills your company offers. This could be manufacturing a particular component, or having the ability to manufacture a component in various different ways. In any case, it is important to have an outline on what this capability is, and the understanding that it may take a little more work to successfully market than say, a defined product, as products can speak for themselves.

2. Understand your target market

To whom are you selling? In order to make sure your marketing strategy is effective, you need to know in which direction to focus it. This is an essential step in choosing the right marketing tools (a point that is addressed further down this list). An important point to consider here, is that marketing isn’t all about advertising, but largely about intelligence-gathering. Knowing your market is essential, and although a bit of research at the beginning may cost you some time, it will definitely save time and money in the long run.

3. Set a budget for your marketing strategy

This is incredibly important to avoid haemorrhaging money, especially for small businesses that don’t have the financial safety nets that large corporations have.  Once you have decided what your target market is, you can start to think about how much capital you have to invest in a strategy. Remember – this is a long-term target, rather than a one-time campaign. You’ll need to make sure you consider both one-time expenditures (such as setting up a website) and ongoing fees (subscriptions to directories, pay-per-click ads). It’s tempting to just throw money at a situation, but setting a budget will ensure that you don’t spend more on marketing than it will bring you in return. Keep an eye on our blog, as we’ll be writing posts in the future about money-saving tips, and free info.

4. Choose your marketing tools

Once you know what your target market is, and how much money you have to spend, you can start considering which of the many marketing tools are best for you. Again, this can be a research-intensive project, but an investment of time at the beginning will definitely pay off. There’s nothing worse than investing hard-earned cash in a particular marketing avenue, only to find out later that you could have gotten it cheaper, or that there is another tool that would have helped you a lot more. This is a good time to go back and look at your capability outline from step one. What is it? If your capability is strongly design-based then maybe setting up an Instagram account (which is free) to post pictures of what you create alongside captions would be a great tool for you. Do you want to be more online or offline? What are other companies in your niche doing?

5. Define your brand

When you think about branding, you might think about giant advertising campaigns and clever logos on billboards, all costing millions. But branding can be as bespoke as you need. A brand is simply an identification of what your company ethos is, and how you want your customers to perceive it. A good exercise to start pinning down your brand is to write down five words that you would use to describe your company to someone who hasn’t heard of it. Try and limit yourself, so that you can hone in on what are the most important elements of your message.

6. Understand what makes you different from your competitors

Can you provide a capability that no other company can? This is incredibly unlikely, and if you have competitors, it’s important to think about what sets you apart. Do you have a particular process that makes your capability unique? Setting yourself apart can often work hand in hand with….

7. Develop a value proposition

A ‘value proposition’ is simply a promise of value to the customer. It is at this point that you need to consider what your company is capable of offering in terms of time frames and quality. A value proposition is something that will make your customer believe in your capability, and be safe in the knowledge that value will be delivered. In terms of setting yourself apart, once you have landed some customers, a recommendation or feedback system could really help.

8. Prepare to test, build in measurement

Once your marketing strategy is in place, you’re going to want to know if it’s working. Testing is a really important feedback tool, and isn’t a one-time thing. You need to continually look into feedback tools throughout your marketing strategy, as often something that works for you at the implementation stage, may not be working months or years later. Remember to keep in touch with what you need your marketing strategy to achieve, and whether your current tools are doing so.

9. Stay up to date and constantly evolve your strategy

Marketing is a continual learning curve. Since tools and knowledge are evolving all the time, it’s important to keep up with your research and stay on top of the trends. We can help! We will be continually updating this blog with new information we find, and if you decide to upload a profile to Manufacturing Network, you can have an all-in-one marketing profile without the upkeep. Check out the benefits of being a Manufacturing Network Member to see if we can help with your marketing needs.

So here's your action plan...

So then, marketing strategies aren’t just for big companies, and if you take the time to build a strategy that’s right for you, your SME (small/medium enterprise) can potentially be in line to gain a great deal from the right marketing. As we have outlined above, marketing in today’s fast-paced world is as much about gathering information about the market, as it is about choosing the right tools for you, and maintaining a presence.

And remember, marketing is ultimately about closing that sale, so keep this in mind when you’re deciding where and how to spend your money.  You need to make sure that the revenue your marketing will earn you outweighs the money you spend on it in the long run.