5 out of 5 stars
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I'm sure you've been to a market and found two or more people selling the same product, but there are much longer queues at one stall than at the others. Even worse, you realize that the stall with more queues sells its product at higher prices, and the owner uses lesser energy to market their products. That product may be superior to the others, but most of the time, it's not. That's exactly where marketing comes in. You can be sure that this successful owner has a strategy, plan, or trick that the others do not. Marketing is a skill, a rare one, for that matter. But the good thing is that it can be learned, practiced, and perfected. There are resources out there that can be very vital in reshaping and recharging our businesses through marketing. One such resource is the book Marketing Launchpad by Racquel Collard.
As a professional marketer, Racquel aims to use her expertise and experience to help women build their businesses. First, she talks about the importance of marketing before delving into step-by-step guidance on developing and implementing a marketing plan that works. The book is divided into three parts; 'Clarity,' 'Focus,' and 'Bringing it all together.' The first part analyzes the business itself. Racquel aims to help the readers develop a deeper understanding of their business, their niche, their goals, mission, vision, and even competitors. You can only be successful at marketing by understanding these. The second part then talks about the strategies and streamlining of operations. By the time you get to the third part, Racquel believes you have everything to start marketing and, therefore, gives the summary and a reference guide.
The author's success in the corporate world as a marketer and her experience as founder of SBM Marketing Solutions made every word in this book authentic and easier to believe. I knew I was going to enjoy reading the book when at the beginning, Racquel makes it so clear the importance of marketing while insisting that it wasn't the magic. Some authors make crazy statements, probably to drive an agenda, without realizing that other factors, such as the quality or superiority of the products, are at the same level, or even more, of importance. This author recognizes that and clearly sets it out at the beginning of the book.
What makes this book stand out are its practicality and applicability. It isn't just a collection of vague quotes and theoretical statements. The author has included figures, tables, and worksheets that readers can use to slowly but steadily make changes to the operations of their business and monitor its performance. She also includes figures and statistics to back her claims up. She also includes real-life examples to show the mistakes or highlight the successful steps that other businesses have taken. My favorite part of the book was when she discussed branding. I learned several things there that I hope to put into practice. Her writing style is simple and direct, making it easy to read this book. This, at times, made the book a little boring. But it isn't intended for fun anyway.
I was disappointed that some of the links in the book didn't work. However, I'll not factor this into my rating because if you can navigate the author's website, this should be fine, as most of the resources are there. The book is definitely insightful, informative, and helpful.
In this respect, I gladly give it a perfect rating of five out of five stars. It is well-written and professionally edited. I understand that Racquel picked women business owners as her niche, but I believe this book is for all business owners with trouble with their marketing. On the other hand, stable businesses and experts in the marketing field may not need it as much.
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Marketing Launchpad
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