I just taught a entrepreneurship class at WCC with a bunch of great students with a ton of excellent business concepts, however the marketing aspect was completely foreign to most of them. A few of them already had a couple of social accounts they were using, but they were not hitting their target markets yet or had yet to figure out how to monetize their posts.

Getting a business off the ground is tough enough, learning how to market your product/service is critical so don’t skip this step. I understand it might feel like you just hit the tsunami of efforts. I am here to tell you how to start. Think of this is the beginning of Marketing Online 101.

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. Know how your product/service should appeal to your customer. After all the customer keeps your business in business.
   • Example: 5 Star Fruits and Vegetables
     • Our customers love the look of multicolored fruits and vegetables
     • They like to smell the fresh produce
     • They love freshness
2. Are you a B2B (Business-to-Business) or B2C (Business-to-Consumer) or a combination of both? Marketing is different for each type.
   • Example: 5 Star Fruits and Vegetables
     • Is both B2C and B2B
     • B2C at the local farmers markets and helping distribute CSA orders for smaller farmers
     • B2B is about 60% of the business – local grocery stores, restaurants, catering firms
3. Who is your customer? Based upon who your customer is…will depend on how you reach out to them.
4. Now that you know who your customer is…what kinds of social media do they hang out on? This is where you want to hang out and start your promotions.
   • Example: 5 Star Fruits and Vegetables
     • Consumers probably hang out on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest
     • Businesses probably hang out on the above 3 and any local forums that might be out there…you can target your ads on Facebook directly to the businesses.
     • Follow your customers, hope they follow you back
     • Keep your social media to the 80/20 rule – 80% about things associated with your business and 20% about your sales or events. The 80/20 rule applies more for consumers than business. Most businesses want simple straight forward marketing.
       • Example for consumers – 80%: Free classes on how to prepare a good sourdough starter and bread. You will take home your starter, we will supply a starter for you to make a sourdough loaf of bread to take home. Spaces are limited to 10 due to our kitchen size. Click here to sign up. Or this could be at one of the participating stores they sell produce to.
       • Example for consumers – 80%: New recipes for eggplant – click here for 5 recipes to bring this undervalued vegetable to your table. (make the 5 recipes all items that can be found at one onf the local markets)
       • Example for consumers – 20%: Big sales on the last of the raspberries this weekend at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market – 20% off if you buy 2 pints or more.
       • Example for business: This next week we are bringing in our first shipment of the spring favorites. Let us know how many shipments you want of our locally grown organic strawberries. Always a favorite.
5. What are your business colors? These should be colors that might appeal to a customer not per-se colors that appeal to you. Run your color choices by someone that will give you real feedback.
   • Example: 5 Star Fruits and Vegetables
     • Their colors are white and blue and accents with a nice tan color.
     • These two colors are fairly neutral and work well with the produce colors that change seasonally.

Ok now that we have some idea where your business is going…sit back with a nice cup of coffee and be proud…you have started your online marketing  plan. Yep there is a lot more to do but baby steps are usually good in this area of the being your own boss. If you try to take it on in more than one step…it will be overwhelming.