ME, A MARKETER?

Marketing is an everyday affair as long as human life is concerned. Everyone sells something to someone. You are either selling to your parents the person you want to become after college or you are selling a fun activity to your peers or a guy trying to win a girls love and affection or trying to sell a brilliant idea to the board members of your organization or making a sales presentation to potential investors. Whichever form it takes, whether formal or informal, an item is sold (goods or services). Now a lot people think marketing and sales is rocket science and so, some have built this giant image about marketing in their mind. These and lots more have left some thinking that some people where born to be marketers while others are not.

To help you build confidence in yourself and also have a breakthrough in your marketing career, here are a few tips which I believe would set you up on your journey as a marketer.    

1. Know yourself; Ever heard of the phrase ‘Oh man, know thy self’? Self awareness is one of the key factors in making success in your career as a marketer. Know your strength and weaknesses, know what motivates and inspires you to succeed. You cannot achieve success as a marketer with your confidence nose diving
2. Know your organization; A broad understanding of the source of your products/services is a major determining factor in your success as a marketer. Carry out a SWOT analysis of your organization. And know the direction in which your employer is leading the organization. This information will arm you for your customers, because sometimes, customers want to test your knowledge about your organization.
3. Know your product; You do not need a soothsayer to tell you that a full understanding of your product/services increases your confidence in actually selling that particular item. Every product has characteristics and behavior. As a marketer, you must understand these various features and characteristics in order to make sales
4. Know your competition; who has a similar product like yours? Whose product can serve as a substitute to yours? Whose product is of the same quality as yours? Know what your competition is doing, how they are doing it, with what resources are they doing it and why are they succeeding over you. Then device means to eliminate competition and gain more market shares
5. Know your market and your customer; This is one of the most important aspect of marketing; who is buying your product/services, what is their lifestyle, what is their spending power, what are their values, customs and traditions that you need to respect. Take your time to study them and familiarize yourself with them.

A proper and effective market segmentation will help you position yourself, gain market control, increase sales and increase your profit. As a marketer, you cannot stop doing market segmentation because the market is very dynamic and ever changing. You must proactively develop and innovate new ways to stay above your competition, involve your customers in the sales process and maintain your relevance in the market.

In conclusion, everyone is a marketer, whether great or small, old or young, male or female including you. If anyone can succeed in marketing, you can.