SEC-S20W3 | My Business Ideas | Marketing Strategies

Greetings dear friends, it's week 3 of the Steemit engagement challenge for season 20 and it's a pleasure to participate in this week's entry which talks about Marketing Strategies. Let's go into this exciting discussion together without any further ado.

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The contest was explained clearly by the organizers as they talked extensively about each point and how they wanted us to present it. So in my opinion let me also discuss my understanding of the various points listed in my own words.

Customer support

Customer support is one of the major aspects of marketing strategy because any business that has good customer service always flourishes due to the way the customer support attends to the various customers.

I will use key studies on my business to discuss customer service for a better understanding. I run a loan business and in this business, there is much competition because we are not the only loan-giving organization.

Now what made our company stand out when it comes to customer support is the ability to tackle issues such that the customers as well as the organization are not affected.

Since we give out loans, so many times, the issue we have with customers is the repayment phase and the disbursement phase. On several occasions when a customer is expected to be disbursed on a particular day and for one reason or the other he didn't get disbursed then you will see them reacting so harshly and the only way to calm them down is to talk to them in a language they all understand.

So the customer service or the loan officer will meet them and then plead with them sharing with them concrete reasons why they weren't disbursed for the said period and also reassuring them that they will get the disbursement in the next phase.

They are also well trained to know how they can handle any customer no matter how aggressively you come to them, the target is that you must be calm before leaving their place and you will also understand and appreciate their effort for talking to you the way they did.

So customer service in my business or organization has been the main reason why a lot of people still come to the organization because we always ensure that we attend to them so well that they don't have an option but to help us in marketing our products i.e., telling others how good we are when it comes to delivering our services.

Professional hiring, if any

Hiring staff is something we must do provided the business is growing. Seeing that more customers are coming for loans and the business is expanding and covering other places, the workload for the staff present will be much on them hence the only thing one can do is to hire more staff so that we can cover more grounds.

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Considering the type of business that involves money, you will not hire any kind of person because if you do this money you may lose some of it because of your workers. So one needs to be very careful when hiring such workers now let me explain the criteria for hiring a worker in my business.

Since the business involves money, before you can be hired, you must possess certain qualifications at least a high school certificate which shows that you can read and write since some of the things you may need to do are things that need your reading and writing knowledge.

Aside from that, you must be at least an adult i.e. you must be between the ages of 18+ and you must also come along with a consent letter from your guarantor before you can be considered for employment considering the sensitivity of the work.

After the interview which will involve questions both oral and written test, if any candidate succeeds then he or she will be given a guarantor form to fill out and duly sign submitting the detailed identification of the guarantors.

After that, the management goes ahead to communicate with the guarantors so that they will be in the know of what they have signed in case of any misuse or cash suppression that needs to be paid back. So these are the rigorous steps that must be taken to hire a worker and this is because we want the workers to take seriously and tasks that they are signing in for.

Expansion plans

Every growing business will seek expansion plans. My business is no different. As a person, my major target is to be the most popular loan business owner in town and beyond and that is where the expansion comes from.

A good example is that currently, the business is flourishing here in Akwanga Nasarawa State Nigeria but other customers are aware of it in Wamba another local government area here in Nasarawa State. I indeed to have an office there so that I can create a job opportunity and also meet the needs of the customers who are in that locality.

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So expansion is one of the things I keep in mind as the business keeps growing. I intend to reach out to all those who have no idea of the business by taking the business to them and also creating job opportunities by employing youths in that place to work and earn money. I want to believe that once I do that more people and places will need my office as it will serve as a means to bring development to the area.

So I will ensure that I go to places with a good population that has no idea about the business I'm running and then explain to a few individuals and then discuss the benefits with them and if they find it interesting, then I go ahead to open an office in that location and also employ their own children's to work there as they will communicate much better with each other.

Also, I intend to expand based on recommendations from my customers. Sometimes I will sit and then try to listen to them and what they think is the best way to grow the business after listening to them, I will go and ensure I start the development of the business without delay.

Aggressive or soft marketing strategies

I always prefer the soft marketing strategies the most because as it is written the way you dress so also you will be addressed. If you go aggressive in marketing, it will be as though your workers weren't properly trained as you all know that customers are always right.

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So soft marketing strategies pay more because people will see the reasons to patronize you for the goods you are selling. Let's take, for instance, a marketer who presents in a very sweet way how his business has helped a lot of people because they followed a little principle which he taught them, you will notice that more will also come because of what they have heard.

Also, you may decide to sell you're bought with a certain amount of discount provided you don't sell at a loss. Given a certain percentage of discount will go a long way to ensuring that more people come for the product

Imagine selling something that others sell at the rate of 100 NGN at 70 NGN. You will agree with me that more people will go for something of 70 NGN. This will make customers abandon the former and focus on the present because of the discount offer they have.

Other strategies such as giving away and organizing a competition or recreational activities will also make the product more famous and more people will like to patronize it as well. Imagine selling peak, you decided to organize a football and that any team that will win will go with some peak. You will notice this competition will bring in more people to patronize the business since it is meant to create awareness from the beginning.

I want to finally invite @josepha, @solaymann, and @suboohi to join the contest and share their entry if they haven't done so yet.

Cc:
@dove11
@aviral123