Select the right tactics to attract your customers

The right move at the right time is the key to successful marketing

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Writuparna Kakati | 26 Apr, 2008
When developing a marketing strategy for your business, it is probably the toughest part to decide which marketing tactics are to choose from, which will produce the best results.

The key to creating a successful marketing strategy lies in the perfect combination of various marketing tools, activities and business decisions.

Marketing involves two levels: strategic marketing and operational marketing. Strategic marketing is all about determining the way how to compete with the competitors of a business.

Operational Marketing, on the other hand, involves functions like creating new customers, keeping existing customers, maximizing value, and meeting customer satisfaction, etc.

Success in operational marketing largely depends upon how one 'mixes' the aforesaid functions. The "Marketing Mix" concept was first introduced by Professor E. Jerome McCarthy who suggested that Marketing Mix contained 4 elements: product, price, place and promotion.

Product: In marketing product is anything that can be sold to a market as it is required by a customer for specific need. Essential elements of product include distribution, pricing, service and supporting elements like warranty, guarantee, pre/after sale support, etc.
Pricing: Pricing, one of the most important elements of marketing mix, refers to setting a price for a product. Pricing is an important strategic issue and it affects all other marketing marketing mix elements.
Promotion: Promotion refers to various activities like advertising, branding, sales promotion, etc. aimed at promoting a product, a brand, or a company.
Placement (Distribution): It refers to the channel through which a product passes from the buyer to the seller. Placement also includes elements like customer segmentation, geographical area of the market, etc.

Te above four-P model marketing mix strategy is most useful for SMEs to market low value consumer products. For service marketing, three more Ps can be added with the aforesaid ones; they are People (trained & motivated employee, fellow customers, or anyone who can have impact upon customer satisfaction), Process (activities and behaviour while providing service to customers), and thirdly, Physical Evidence (case studies, testimonials, demonstrations, etc.).

Marketing tactics to attract new and existing customers

In the quest for marketing tactics that suit your business best, the first thing that must be considered is what your primary focus is. You may want to attract new customers or you may focus only upon retaining your existing customers. Remember that is always wise to do one thing at one time. So, find out your expectations first, and only after that move forward. Once you have successfully identified who your most profitable customers are, you can implement marketing tactics keeping in mind their exact requirements and expectations.

You can try, for example, the following marketing tactics to attract new customers for your business-

Offer cash back, reduced rate, etc. for first time customers (via advertising, direct sales, etc.).
Offer discount coupons in newspapers , magazines, etc.
Offer your first time customers free samples, free trial offers.
Drawings for prizes is also an effective way to attract new customers.
Find a product which is well accepted in the market and promote them; in exchange you can ask for endorsing your product.
Give something to charity and do a press release about it.

In any business, retaining existing customers is much more cost effective than trying to attract new ones. It is therefore very important to know how you should keep them loyal. Find below some common tactics which you may find most useful in keeping you existing customer base satisfied-

You can send online or direct mail newsletters to your customers to inform them about your latest products and to get customer feedback.
An effective customer service system is most effective in keeping your customers satisfied. Hire efficient people and ensure that they understand how your business works.
Introduce premium offers such as caps, t-shirts, coffee cups etc. to your customers. Remember that the offers carry brand, logo or business logo.
Get a website developed for your business. Keep it updated with latest product information, and use it to get online feedback.

For sales to take place, both new and existing customers are equally important to a business. Planning your marketing tactics in a careful and focused way will enable your SME to retain, expand on and attract your most profitable customers.