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5 Marketing blunders Ghanaian SMEs make

Although the number of startups in Ghana keep increasing,  you find that the application of marketing strategies is still faulty.

 

Here are the common mistakes Ghanaian SMEs do that must be changed:

1. Advertising in place of marketing

For many SMEs, marketing means advertising. They would therefore buying advertising slots on radio, TV, print or online, only to later learn the hard way that advertising is merely a subset of marketing. Emphasis must be placed on the product and how it compares with other competitors on the market.

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Price is equally as important, especially in comparison to that of your competitors. It must be cheaper and enough, however,  to make profits.

Other elements like promotions, place, people (target market).

2. Branding isn’t just about colors, logo, and names

Another fatal mistake Ghanaian SMEs make is to downplay the power of branding. And those who even give it some attention at all, restrict themselves to the name, colours and logos.

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They would, however, realise that their product or service is not as memorable as they would have it be, neither is it properly differentiated in the eyes of the customer, because no attention has been paid on communicating the brand to them.

Branding must therefore seek to first differentiate the service from the many other alternatives, and secondly, the requisite communication strategy built around it ensure that the customer knows and understand the difference.

3. Being all things to all people

Again, it is common to see Ghanaian SMEs draw a tall list of services they provide, instead of concentrating on the  service they are wonderful at.

Not only do they try to provide too many services, they try to reach every kind of market.

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The more efficient and beneficial method would be to provide one central service to a well-targeted market segment. This helps to properly classify the type of company you are running, the service you are providing and for whom you are producing it.

4.Poor and inadequate partnerships

Ghanaian business owners are not very good sharers. They would much rather have a small cake and keep it all to themselves, than partner with someone to get a bigger cake that they would both share.

Partnership, however, is one of the sure ways to success, as a partner would bring on board expertise, capital, clients, amongst other things. When done well, partnership increases the chances of a startup being successful.

5. Failing to understand the customer and adapt

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This happens in two folds; Either the business owners do not understand the business well enough to pre-empt the needs of the customers in real time, or they are unable to read the changing trends in the sector you operate. Ghanaian companies spend time and energy trying to force their products on the customer. Instead of striving to meet the demands of their customers, they try to force their idea of what the customer wants.

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