This essentially requires understanding what problem your product or service addresses for your potential customer or client. It may involve articulating a need or desire which has not yet occurred to a person, such as “Wouldn’t it be great to surf the Web from a device you can hold in the palm of your hand?” Not everyone has the same needs or wants, but many people do share a common baseline (food, shelter, clothing, better health, more free time, more money, greater connection with others, being entertained, etc.). It is also important to differentiate how you add greater value compared to others who offer similar products or services within your industry. Ultimately, you need to have an understanding of how your product or service will contribute to a better quality of life for another person.

Once you have clarity on the problem or mission which you support via your product or service, the intent of marketing is to promote or make known your solution to those who have an interest in or need for what you offer. Technology offers a number of wonderful free or nearly free methods to help us tell stories nowadays: web sites/blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Unfortunately, many people confuse the tool for taking the place of actually doing the work which the tool will only help facilitate. A web site or Twitter account does not build a business any more than a framing gun and nails will build a house. The tools help you to transmit your story more easily and inexpensively than ever before, but they do not perform the human component of composing your story, reaching out to others, and developing authentic relationships (networking). As with any marketing strategy, it’s a process you undertake and continually refine as you go along (test => measure => adjust => repeat).