Product, Positioning, Place, Price, and Promotion
Customers buy for their reasons, not yours. – Orvel Ray WilsonStrategy and timing are the Himalayas of marketing. Everything else is the Catskills.– Al RiesIn marketing I’ve seen only one strategy that can’t miss – and that is to market to your best customers first, your best prospects second and the rest of the world last. – John Romero
If we’ve told you once, we’ve told you a thousand times: the key to a successful business is the ability to market your services effectively. We’ve long known that accounting and tax professionals aren’t very comfortable marketing their skills. But often what they don’t know hurts them. A little marketing expertise will take your business to the next level of profitability.There are 5 elements of marketing that every small business owner should know about. Knowledge is power, and having a knowledge of these five elements and how they interact will improve your business. So here, for your reading pleasure, are the 5 P’s that comprise basic marketing theory:
ProductProduct is, of course, the thing you’re trying to sell to your clients. You should constantly evaluate your services from your clients’ perspective. Is there something you could do differently that would improve their experience with your business? Are there services you could add that would enhance your value? Your ability to assess your “product” is key.PositioningSimply put, positioning is the way your target market views you in relation to your competitors. If well positioned, they will view your services as being more valuable than other tax preparers in the area. To improve your position you must consider what makes your business unique and how potential clients might consider that uniqueness beneficial to their business.PlaceAlso called the distribution channel, place is the means through which you make your services available. Your distribution channels should accomplish the following: promote services, communicate with prospective clients, and negotiate terms of agreement.PriceObviously you must charge a price for your services in order to run a successful business. But to set a reasonable fee, you must know your position because the more valuable your target market perceives your services, the more you can charge for them.PromotionOnce you’ve evaluated the other four elements of your business you can best determine how to promote it. With a better understanding of your position, the advantages of your services, and the channels through which you deliver them, you can determine which promotional activities will best serve your business.
Without effective marketing techniques your business can’t grow or progress. And sometimes when you know a bit more about your own business you can better market it. These five elements – product, positioning, place, price and promotion – all work together to create a successful marketing strategy. And it’s time you got started. If you would like to learn more about marketing your accounting practice, you need to visit Universal Accounting Center. For over 25 years we’ve taught professionals like you how to grow their businesses and market their services to those who need them most. Come learn more about our Universal Practice Builder Program, or what we like to call Marketing on Steroids. Doing so will increase your annualized billings by at least $30,000. Sound like the deal of a lifetime? It is.
Come visit our website to hear what others have to say about it. We have helped countless individuals like you make their accounting practices more profitable. Listen to some of those individuals tell you what this program can do for you. Scroll down and watch our new testimonial video to see what they have to say. It may be the best thing you ever did for your business.
