Searching for the Ideal Market

The first Duct Tape Marketing class that I took was a little bit of a scramble - the course materials hadn't arrived yet, so we were relying on Randy to guide us entirely from his knowledge and experience.  Coach Aimone did not fail in that regard; he was more than prepared to start our journey without pesky books!

What is marketing?

We talked a bit about the nature of marketing itself.  There are plenty of definitions for the word, and as an adjunct professor at Marist College, Randy teaches his economics students all of that gobbledegook.  However, the economist and the business owner have different priorities, and a definition that is entirely intellectual or academic isn't all that helpful for someone trying to make a business profitable.

So what is marketing?  It's how you get people to know, like, trust, and even love you, says Randy.  It's getting your business in the minds of the right people, so that they turn to you first when they need the type of problem solved that you're good at.

Lacking focus

Businesses with ineffective marketing lack focus in two ways:  they don't know what their ideal client looks like, and they don't know what kinds of messages will make that ideal client stand up and take notice.  Randy sent us home with some marching orders:  sift through our client list, pick out our top ten customers, and pull together demographic information about those people or companies.  In addition, we were going to have to set 1-3 business goals according to the SMART principles.

Of course, I knew what my first goal had to be - I needed to get ten clients so I could do my assignment!