Foundations of Marketing

By accessing the following multimedia courses, small business owners and employees can improve their skills at their own pace.

• Pricing Products and Services
  Price your product or service too low and you leave money on the table. Price it too high and you could drive customers away. You can find the right balance through creative judgment and a keen awareness of consumer motivations, thus increasing your chances of owning the market that you're targeting. This workshop will show you the simple, yet definitive measures that you can take to accurately price your product or service.
  
  
• Building Your Brand
  A brand offers your customers a guarantee, delivers on it and keeps them coming back for more. A key component of any business, a branding strategy serves as a cornerstone for creating in the mind of customers and prospects the perception that there is no product or service on the market quite like yours. This workshop will show you how to create a winning branding strategy.
  
  
• Promoting Your Business
  There are a variety of innovative ways to promote your business. This workshop looks as how several companies launched and built their businesses through grassroots marketing strategies. The workshop also addresses some traditional promotional tactics and how you can develop a successful campaign for your business.
  
  
• Advertising Your Business
  This workshop looks at the many options available to advertise your business and helps you decide what will work best for your business in terms of budget and reach.
  
  
• Conduct a Market Analysis
  Every business must know its customers inside and out before opening its doors or launching a new product. Those that conduct a thorough marketing analysis first not only gain knowledge of their potential market's wants and needs, but also learn whether or not there is "room" in the marketplace for a new concept. This comprehensive workshop will show you how to create a marketing analysis for your business.
  
  
• Creating a Competitive Advantage
  Gaining an edge is a key driver of success in today's business world. To determine your company's advantage, you'll need to do a thorough competitive analysis and see just how your strengths stack up against those of your competitors. This workshop will walk you through the steps of creating a competitive analysis for your business
  
  
• Targeting Your Market
  Imagine practicing archery with your eyes closed or throwing a football with a blindfold on. In both cases, being prevented from seeing your target would make it nearly impossible to hit it. This concept can easily be applied to business, as well. Doing business without knowing what your target market is will prevent you from reaching your objectives: increased sales, market share or brand awareness.
  
  
• Analyzing Your Competition
  Almost everyone in business understands the principle of trying to offer something better than what their competitors are offering. Gaining an advantage is the key to success and even survival. This workshop helps you to see how your strengths stack up against your competitors' weaknesses and suggests ways to take advantage of marketplace opportunities. After you have performed the analysis, there are four basic competitive strategies to consider.