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competition can hurt you. It is best to anticipate the competition's response to your company and prepare contingency plans.

Location

This means where you will operate your business. At one end of the locational spectrum is the storefront business, Obviously if your business depends on high traffic, you must locate where such traffic exists. At the other end of the spectrum is where location is of little consequence. In essence you travel to the customer (or interact through the Internet) so your location can be in the least expensive area possible, e.g. a home business.

Staff

Well trained, knowledgeable staff are one of your key marketing factors. They are the ones who will be making personal contact with your customers, and they are one of the most valuable options you have to make a good impression on your target market. Your staff will have to match your overall image. Imagine two stores - one a music shop and the other a fur store. Now imagine two potential employees - one a young person with colored hair, body piercings and tattoos; the other a mature women well groomed and well dressed. Obviously the youth belongs to the music shop and the mature women belongs in the fur store. Imagine the customer shock and confusion if the placing of these two potential employees were reversed.

Promotion

"Promotion" is another word that is misused. It is your overall plan to use different channels to attract and acquaint your potential customers to your business. It has four major components:
- Advertising, which means that you pay for exposing your business to your target market, but you have full control of the message
- Publicity means those opportunities when others comment on your business for free (e.g. a newspaper columnist visits a restaurant and writes a critique), but you do not have control the message
-Word-of-mouth, which means what your customers will tell other people. This is a controllable variable which depends on satisfying your customer needs. (Staff are particularly important)
- Special Events, means conducting an activity that provides a temporary boost to sales such as offering an off price sale.

Image

Image involves coordinating all aspects of your business to create a positive impression about your business in the eyes of the customer. Image includes your location and signage, your decor, your company name, your business documents (letterheads, business cards and such) your well trained staff and their appearance, your pricing policy, etc. The key is that as you develop each aspect of your business you must constantly be aware that each element is contributing toward a consistent picture of your business in the mind of the customer.

While there are many more aspects of marketing (after all it involves everything you do) the above elements touch on the major features.

Learn more about this author, Lorne Yacuk.
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