Reality Check! Do you really understand what marketing is?

Please consider my article for publication in your e-zine or website. You are permitted to reprint my article electronically or in print so long as you include the by lines. Exact word count 579 words.

Reality Check! Do you really understand what marketing is? By Andres Munoz

O.K. this may sound silly but do you really understand what marketing is? If you ask 5 different people you are bound to get 5 different answers. However the simplest definition of marketing is that you are helping others see value in your product or service. With that in mind marketing is NOT purely a "numbers" game. It's important that you realize that marketing is about relationships with the people you want to sell your product or service to. You are trying to give your target market a solution to their problem and your product or service is the solution.

Generally speaking there are two modes of marketing your product:

1) If you sell a product you may wish to use the sales approach where you have a sales team actively seek out customers.

2) The other way to market your product is to create a desire in the marketplace with killer advertising using catchy TV commercials, memorable jingles and colorful advertisement displays. Using this method correctly with a great product will create a brand in the marketplace giving you considerable brand awareness over your competitors.

Before you develop your marketing plan, you will need to collect some data. This process is Market Research, which you will need to determine the most important factor in going into business. Figuring out the number of people or "population" that will be interested in your product, likewise it should be large enough where you can make a profit.

1. Identify your primary target customer. 2. When you identify your target market is; it's your job to connect your product / service to the needs of your target market by creating Unique Selling Positions. 3. Study the competition! Can you offer something your competitors don't?

Marketing on a Budget
Here are a few simple tips in getting the information you need to stay ahead of the competition:

Tip 1) Find out where you rank on the search engines by using http://www.did-it.com Simply use this service and receive a free report on your ranking.

Tip 2) Publishing free articles is a terrific tool for any good writer or marketer. There are literally thousands of new web sites and e-zines popping up and the demand for high quality content is tremendous. You can provide articles for publishers to publish in their e-zines. Like wise you can also use articles other publishers write for your own e-zine. The obvious payoff in participating with these article exchange sites is that you will be recognized as an expert in your field. Visit the following sites and lists to submit your articles:

http://www.ideamarketers.com http://www.ezinearticles.com http://www.marketing-seek.com http://www.zinos.com
mailto:article_announce@egroups.com mailto:aainet@egroups.com mailto:article-list@addme.com

Tip 3) Arm yourself with web tools and resources for your website. Visit http://www.promotiontools.net/free.html and view the numerous free tools you can use on your site. If you need tools for communications, web development or multimedia then visit this site.

Tip 4) Another site I urge you to visit is http://www.morebusiness.com they simply have countless tools from business "How To" reports, templates and other tools you can use for your business.

When you begin doing business on the Internet don't fall into the trap thinking that marketing is only about making money or purely a numbers game. Your job as a marketer is to connect your product/service to your target customer, you are providing them with a solution to their problem.

**************************************************** Copyright (c) 2001 Andres Munoz Andres publishes the "MyBiz E-zine" newsletter featuring articles about Promotion, Internet Marketing and Home Business advice and tips. The MyBiz reader will receive an article rich e-zine with few ads. To subscribe visit http://www.mybusiness-resource.com and download your free e-book. Discover how you can get 200-400 hits a week using Yahoo Classifieds! ****************************************************



Written By: Andres Munoz