The Five Core Principles of Marketing Explained

Are you looking to successfully launch a business and make money? To do that, you’ll have to do more than create a great product.

You’ll have to understand the principles of marketing as well. A fantastic business idea without proper marketing won’t go anywhere.

There are 5 basic principles of marketing. Get to know them and understand how to use them. That’s the only way to set up a successful marketing campaign.

Product

You can’t sell anything if you don’t have a good product or service. Develop a good product or tweak your service by listening to what consumers are saying. If something similar already exists, look for feedback about what will make it better.

Don’t sell the same thing as everybody else. Look for ways to make what you’re offering superior and better meet consumer needs.

Looking through consumer reviews for similar products is a great way to do this. Consumers will often mention that they wanted to love the product, but X could be better. Well, you can fix X in your product and offer a better version.

Once you have developed a solid product, you’re ready to start promoting it. Don’t forget to mention how you have made the product better when you do.

Promotion

The most amazing product or service in the world won’t sell if you don’t promote it. Plus, you have to know how to promote it well or your campaign won’t be very successful.

First, figure out who to market to. Casting a wide net might seem like a good idea, but it is actually less effective. You need to determine your target audience. Then you can create better marketing strategies.

For example, imagine you sell boots. To market workboots to construction workers, your promotional materials will be one way.

You would not use the same language to promote your new line of fashion boots to women. Those are two very different audiences, though you’re selling a similar product.

Keep your promotions simple and concise. If it’s difficult to understand what your product is or does, people will move on. Your message should be both simple and memorable.

When people visit your site they should know within 5 seconds what you’re offering. They should then be able to explain it to someone else in one sentence.

Don’t overwhelm people with too much information or too many choices. This overload actually paralyzes them and makes them less likely to buy anything.

Make sure that your promotions focus more on educating consumers and not selling. People don’t like to feel like you are just selling to them. Instead, educate them about your product and show them how it will be beneficial to them.

There are several different methods of promotion that work well. You can try advertising, promotional incentives, and/or public relations campaigns.

These days, SEO strategies are also very important. These methods are all effective, but you must use them well and choose your target audience with care.

Price

When talking about the principles of marketing, you’ve got to think about the price. The price alone creates a certain perception of your product to consumers.

You may think that pricing your product low will help to attract lots of buyers. In reality, it tends to only attract the bargain shoppers. People that are looking for a quality product may ignore your marketing attempts. They think that a low price equals poor quality, which it often does.

Of course, you should avoid overpricing your product as well. Find a price that is a happy medium and suits the quality of the product you sell.

Place

The place that you choose to sell your product is very important. If you choose to open a physical store, you need to pick the right spot.

For example, don’t open a video game store in a community of retirees. It would be better to pick an area with a younger demographic for that type of product.

People like convenience. It is common for many people to take convenience over better quality or a better price. That means that if your competition is in a more convenient location, you’ll lose.

Don’t forget about the online world when choosing your place. Depending on your product, a physical store may not be convenient or even useful.

In that case, you should set up an awesome online store. Then you have to use your marketing tools so that consumers find you.

People

The key to any good marketing campaign is to understand how people work. After all, people are the ones who will be buying your product.

People will only buy your product if they want or need it. You have to learn how to make your product appeal to them more than your competitor’s.

The way you do that is by understanding the key concept behind people’s buying decisions. It isn’t what you’d expect. It’s not practicality or usefulness or even how much they need your product.

You see, emotions drive most buying decisions. Emotional responses have a bigger impact on buying decisions than the content of the ad. People buy things because they want them or because of how it makes them feel.

Why do people buy Nikes instead of much cheaper and maybe even better quality shoes? Because Nike shoes make them feel like they are an amazing athlete. Watch any Nike commercial. You’ll get the message that their shoes will improve your game.

With that in mind, you have to learn to market your product by making your audience want it. They’ll be hip, cool, faster, smarter, stronger, whatever because they bought your product.

Use the Principles of Marketing

Now that you’ve learned a bit about the principles of marketing, all that’s left is to apply them. It might feel a little overwhelming at first, but take it one step at a time.

Check out our marketing blog for tons of useful tips and tricks to successful marketing. Follow our advice and you’ll be selling your product in no time.