The FOWTW Rule of Marketing

There is one very simple principle that has stood the test of time in all successful businesses. Your customer may not always be right…but they certainly hold the answers to your marketing questions!

So many times I speak to businesses who ask me what I think of this or what I think of that. They speak to their mother-in-laws, they ask their best friends or the postman what he thinks about a new idea for a product or service. The truth is that you need to ask the right questions to the right people to get the right answer. The right answer is not always a positive one so be warned. It is however the answer that will prevent you making costly mistakes & will set you on the path to meaningful business growth. The marketing dream.

So what is this mystical FOWTW rule of marketing? Simple: “Find Out What They Want!” Before heading off in a new direction or giving up completely on an old one, just step back for a moment and invest some time to finding out what your customers (or future customers) actually want. If you do this, you will no longer need to second guess or cross your fingers when doing something new. You will have a pretty good idea what is going to happen & the power card will once again be with you. How you actually get the answers and ask the questions is a story in itself but the first step is to understand the principle. As a business owner you don’t know everything and that is just as it should be. Just remember to FOWTW before going head long into the unknown!

The moral of the story is this. Marketing is a mindset. It is about putting you customer first and matching their needs to things you can sell to them. When you start to look at your business this way, you will be well on your way to more sales. Be patient. Your empire will grow as long as the foundations are solid and FOWTW is a great brick to lay early on.

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Hello world!

Marketing must not break the bank…

It has been a really interesting journey since setting up Coo Marketing in May 08. As many of you know, my specialism before hand had been big brand marketing and adding millions to the bottom line of household brands. My passion has always been to help smaller businesses and entrepreneurs realize their ambition to grow brands and businesses however, so it has been a journey that I am thoroughly enjoying! 

What has struck me most is that the defences go up when you talk about marketing to so many smaller businesses & I want to put a couple of things straight. Marketing need not cost lots of money! Honestly! Just getting your head around a few marketing concepts can prevent you pouring hard earned money down the drain. I guess it goes back to the misunderstanding of what marketing really is. Some people see it simply as getting a flashy website, a glossy brochure and some snazzy letterheads. Sure, they all have a part to play but what is most important is what your objective is so lets go back to basics for a minute…

After dedicating years of study to getting a Masters Degree in the subject and devoted blood sweat and tears building household brands such as Thirst Pockets and Vimto – it suddenly struck me that marketing can be boiled down to a couple of principles….

1. You must add value to your product or service or you will not survive
2. Marketing is about communicating that added value.
3. That’s it – Simple huh! (& what a waste of education I hear you shout!)

OK, before I talk my profession out of work completely, there are thousands of tricks and techniques to make these things happen but in a nut shell you have to start at the beginning and work out the basics & this need not cost any money at all. Take the time to consider the basics. Why are you creating that website? What should your business cards be saying about you? Why do you not have as many customers as you would like?

The moral of the story is this. Before you reach in your pocket to fix all your marketing problems with something glossy – STOP! Take a bit of time to take stock and challenge yourself as to why you are doing what you are doing. Go back to basics & invest the time in thinking about your business before spending money on marketing. You will be amazed how far you can get by not spending anything at all…Remember: Get into the marketing mindset before you get out the wallet. Bet you were not expecting me to tell you that!

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