Have you ever found yourself asking this question? I asked myself the same 20 years ago, but found the answer. I’ve had many opportunities to work with Asian-owned small and medium-sized businesses. I quickly realized then the lack of knowledge these business owners had when it came to marketing. The most common statements heard were, “I don’t have a marketing budget,” “Marketing is too expensive,” or “How is marketing going to help me?” Valid concerns but there are ways to implement marketing cheaply and efficiently. All too often, Filipino-owned businesses have difficulty growing market share since they don’t necessarily understand the importance of marketing and how it is directly linked to increased profit.
So I’m setting out on this journey to write a column that will educate, inspire, and hopefully help my fellow Filipino-American business owners succeed and be profitable.
This month, I will begin with the basic principles of marketing. Simply put, marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to the target consumer. It is the process of identifying the target market through research, segmentation, and analysis, thus understanding the consumer’s buying behavior and habit. If you are not marketing your business, you are not making any progress. Without any marketing efforts, you are most likely to be overlooked by potential customers no matter how great your product or service is. This equates to the loss of potential profit.
There are many reasons why marketing is beneficial to your business. First, it establishes awareness that your business exists by means of promoting branding and name recognition. Your customers might see your advertisement hundreds of times before they make a purchase. Others might see an ad and instead of buying right away, they will remember the brand name for future reference. Don’t feel discouraged if your marketing campaign doesn’t drive increased sales right away, because establishing the awareness is just as important as sale itself.
Another benefit is that marketing provides general information about your business or your products/services. At the end of a successful campaign, marketing will create trust and credibility. Building trust isn’t something that can be done overnight. Take a minute to recall the companies that you trust the most – they are probably the ones you had been exposed to for years. This brings in the point that the earlier you begin to market your business, the longer your target audience will know you.
In conclusion, the ultimate goal of marketing is to draw customers in. If you want to build a powerful recognizable brand, then successful marketing is what will set your business apart from your competitors. It is what makes customers choose you instead of another. Look out for my next column; I will be talking about the importance of creative and advertising.
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Giancarlo Pacheco is the President of PCA, a full-service marketing and communications agency with offices in Los Angeles and New York. For over a decade, the agency has been a leader in providing integrated campaigns for Fortune 1000 companies. PCA has served a wide array of clients including Verizon, Gilead Life Sciences, Warner Music Japan, Samsung Electronics, Philippine Airlines, International Media Distribution, Anheuser Busch, Diageo, Lionsgate Entertainment and the Los Angeles Dodgers. For more information, please visit www.plancagency.com.
