Marketing is not shouting about your business. It is helping the right people find you, trust you and choose you.
The four questions
Before you spend any money or time, answer these in writing:
- Who exactly are my customers? (Not "everyone". Describe one typical customer.)
- What problem do I solve for them?
- Why me rather than the competition? (Price, quality, location, speed, trust.)
- Where do these customers spend time and look for help? (Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, word of mouth, the market.)
Your offer
An offer is more than a product. It is what you give, to whom, for what price, and with what promise. Compare:
- "We sell phones."
- "Original phones with a 6-month warranty, delivered in Monrovia the same day."
The second is easier to choose and easier to remember.
The customer journey
Most customers go through the same steps:
- Notice you exist
- Trust you (reviews, photos, answers, a real person replying)
- Contact you
- Buy
- Come back and recommend you
Good marketing removes obstacles at every step. Many businesses spend everything on step 1 and forget steps 2 to 5.
Start small
Pick one or two channels and do them well, rather than five channels badly. The rest of this course shows you the main ones.
Your task
Write your customer description, the problem you solve, and one sentence saying why customers should choose you.