Marketing helps in understanding your present customers better and to uncover innovative ways for reaching new customers. Remember the customer base is the hub to increase business because without customers there simply would be no business. Consequently you should do everything possible to determine who your clients are and what products and service they want and expect.

Successful business carries this philosophy to its logical conclusion by trying to go beyond customer satisfaction to customer delight. Exceeding customer expectations is the catalyst that creates a lasting bond between business and the people to be served.

Though some people confuse marketing with advertising and take them to be synonymous, the two are very different. Whereas marketing is a process advertising is an event. Marketing is a process that involves planning marketing goals and entails implementing marketing strategies to achieve them and advertising is one of them.

An effective marketing strategy will help define the overall direction and goals for your marketing. The strategy should articulate how business is going to deliver products or services in ways that will satisfy customers.

Once customers are defined or target market, there is need to start developing and implementing tactics to reach them. The marketing mixes will make up the efficient tactical elements to use to carry out the strategy and reach the target market.

What product or services to be offered by the business, discuss the branding, the packaging (where applicable), and ongoing product or development.

Consider the features and benefits to be offered, unique selling points i.e. what makes the product or service different from everyone else’s, and what potential spin-off products of services might be.

Price is a critical part of your marketing mix. Choosing the right price for your products or services will help you to maximize profits and also build strong relationships with your customers.

By pricing effectively you will also avoid the serious financial consequences that can occur if you price too low (not enough profit) or too high which lead to low sales.

Whether it’s a retail store, online shop or a social media, ‘place’ refers to the channels and locations for distributing your product, related information and support services.

This is how to position the product or service in the marketplace; it’s the location where a product can be purchased. Often referred to as the distribution channel, this can include any physical store e.g. supermarket as well as virtual stores.

Being in the right location can be a deciding factor on whether a customer buys from the business or not.

Regardless of how good the business is, if you don’t promote it and tell people about its existence, it is unlikely sales will increase. Promotion is about attracting the right people to use and reuse your business.

There are a number of techniques to use and they can be combined in various ways to create the most cost effective strategy for the business needs.

This can include online, billboards, branding, public relations and advertising.

If there are employees in the business, they can influence the marketing of the products and services.

Knowledgeable and friendly staff can contribute to creating satisfied customers. Here cooperation between management and employees are of paramount importance and can provide the unique selling experience that an organisation is often seeking.

If an outstanding team provides a competitive advantage, then the quality of recruitment and training becomes essential to achieving your marketing objectives. Make sure you have processes and training in place to get the most out of your team.

Process represents the buying experience this customer gets when they buy product or service provided. For example, the way a fine loaf of bread is presented and served in a restaurant, the reaction of a business to a complaint or the speed of delivery in a fast food outlet.

A poor process can undermine the other elements of the marketing mix. An airline, for example, may offer very competitive headline prices, but if the final price is inflated by additional charges such as baggage charges and administrative fees, customers may begin to feel they have been taken advantage of.

Try to document key processes and procedures so your staff and suppliers know what to aim for.

The physical environment where products or services are sold and delivered can have a significant impact on how customers experience and perceive the business.

The physical environment can be the quality of the furnishings in your consulting rooms, the design of your reception area or website or how items are displayed in your shop. Creating an attractive physical environment must not be costly.

Though there are other strategies that aim at sales increment and business growth, the most effective one is the marketing mix strategy which combines product, price, promotion, people, environment and process and must work together, the absence of one leads to limited results.

The writer is an accountant based in Kigali