THE TRUTH ABOUT Marketing Your Business In Nigeria

Marketing your business in Nigeria is extremely important for your business to survive and succeed in an ever competitive business environment.

"....the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself."-Peter Drucker

Marketing your business in Nigeria should be a top priority for you as a business owner. Without the right market, your business will most likely be very unprofitable and sure you won't like that to happen, would you?

You may have the best product available, but what if nobody wants to buy it? So marketing concentrates on customers and what they need (or want). Customers are the essence of marketing - they are the source of sales and profits.

When we talk about marketing, we are not talking about sales. There is a difference between the two so please don't confuse them.

While marketing will help to create or to evoke the interest that will transform cold prospects( prospects that at this point might have not heard about your business and are not in any way interesred in it) into warm prospects( prospects that have heard have across your business and might have even shown a little bit if interest.

It's the sales job and responsibility to put the fire under those warm prospects that will help make a sale and nail the deal. So the two work together to make your business a success.

Marketing your business in Nigeria starts with marketing research which helps to you to identify your "would be customers" and also know their needs and wants. And it also helps you to know your competitors too.

The truth is there are many ways to research the market place. We covered that a little in researching the market before starting a business in Nigeria. You should take a minute to check it out if you have not done so. Hey! don't worry this page will be right here waiting for you.

Back already? Great!....

You should note that researching the market place is relatively inexpensive. So you have no excuse not to research your own market.

Yes!

The more you can find out, the greater advantage you will have over your competitors and this in turn will give you a good... no great foundation for building a successful business.

After researching your market place you could be able to come up with a marketing plan that will help you to identify how your business will "stand out" in the market. Your marketing plan will make sure that your marketing efforts are optimised and maximised when marketing your business in Nigeria.

It will also need to include:

The marketing mix that is going to be offered (either or all of the 4 P's), to which target market and for how long it is going to be offered.

• What resources are going to be needed and at what rate
• What results are expected?
• A control, so that it keeps the plan going in the right direction, and not diverting from the original design.

Making Up A Marketing Mix When Marketing Your Business In Nigeria.

If you want to successfully promote your business you need to know exactly what you want people to do. To be able to do that you need to consider a few elements that can either make you or break you.

The elements to consider are called the four P's.

The Four P's include: Product, Place, Price and Promotion. To get the best from your business you will need to implement them together.

Ready?

Product

The product or service is what people use, but generally what they buy are the benefits which such a product offers.

For example, when people buy a computer, they are not buying, dell, Hp, acer and the rest. And they are definitely not buying Pentium, Core Dou, RAM, Hard disk space and all the other features.

What they want is a machine that will allow them to quickly connect with friends through the internet, listen to music, watch videos, store enough pictures, music and information effectively.

Place

This covers everything from where you source your materials, how you get your product or service to the market and where you locate your business.

If there is a poor distribution network, there will definitely be slow sales growth.

Here you might need to consider the following pionts:

• Where is the business located geographically?
• Do people notice it? Is it easy to find?
• Is it easily accessible for vehicles?
• Is the building exterior and interior presentable? Remember that first impressions can greatly affect your business!
• If you are running a store, is the layout suited to the customer when shopping?
• Are you situated close to your target market for deliveries, distribution, provision of services etc?
• What other distribution mechanisms do you have for your goods and/or services?

Price

Pricing can either make or break your business. You should price your product or service putting into considering every expenses you in cure in producing, marketing your business in Nigeria, selling and distributing your product or service.

While it is very important to know all your cost, it is just one of the element you have to consider. You have to also take account of the market place and your competitors.

Promotion

This is just the means through which you will tell your market about your product or services. This includes such elements as your website, leaflets, advertising, and even basic items such as business cards and letterheads.

It also covers publicity, public relations, personal selling, sales promotion and networking.

To effectively promote your business, you should consider:

• Who is your target market?
• Where do you want to direct your promotions?
• What image are you trying to project?
• What do you want to promote? Price? Product? Quality? Service?
• What resources do you have to carry out the promotion strategy?
• What strategy are you going to use? Advertising? Publicity? Public Relations? Sales Promotion? Networking?

Always remember to blend and implement together the 4P's of marketing to get the best result for your business when marketing your business in Nigeria.

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