In the third of six articles John Downes looks at how to properly market your product.

When you woke up this morning, you probably brushed your teeth and washed your hair. Then you might have eaten your breakfast, maybe had a cup of tea or coffee, and got into a car or bus to school.

In going about your daily ritual, little battles were being won by marketing people in a variety of companies. Confused? Well, think about it.

What influenced you to choose your particular brand of toothpaste, or drink the type of coffee you had with your breakfast? And how did the person or company driving you to school decide which make of vehicle to use in doing so?

In deciding what to buy, you were convinced that the product you were choosing was the one which suited your needs the most.This was achieved through marketing.

In recent weeks, we have looked at some of the key elements which go into getting a business up and running. As we have seen, drawing up a well-worked business plan and finding a good place of business are vital parts of this.

But no matter how strong your product or business idea, it will be pretty useless unless you can convince people to buy it. So what is the best way to do this?

As managing director of advertising company AFA O'Meara, Mr Stuart Fogarty is well placed to offer advice on getting a marketing campaign up and running.

The first thing any new company should do is determine what makes its product different - otherwise known as its unique product proposition, he says.

"This is the one thing that makes you better than everyone else...it's the core of your product," he explains.

"Then you need to work out what you are trying to say and who you are trying to say it to."

In determining your audience or market in this way, you should be asking yourself questions such as who they are, where they live, and whether they drive or take public transport.

Each of these will have a direct effect on the type of marketing campaign you will devise.

For this reason, there are a number of different types of marketing campaigns, Mr Fogarty points out, with most companies using a mix of these in a multimedia campaign.

These include "above the line" advertising, meaning those which appear in the traditional media such as newspapers, television and radio; public relations, which aims to get media coverage for your product; and "below the line" advertising, using less traditional forms of advertising such as leaflets and beermats.

Mr Fogarty says many smaller companies with limited resources cannot afford to use traditional "above-the-line" advertising, so they tend to rely on "below-the-line" marketing - in particular "guerrilla marketing" and "viral marketing".

Examples of "guerrilla marketing" includes the use of advertising on beermats and behind toilet doors.

"Viral marketing" is primarily internet-based and utilises email to get a company's message across.

"This type of marketing suits some types of brands, such as those [ that] are trying to be hip and trendy, but it wouldn't necessarily suit a bank, for example," Mr Fogarty explains.

Market research is also important, he points out, in helping to determine what makes your product stand out, and what gets potential customers interested in your product.

And it is also necessary to take into account how your product is going to be distributed, he adds.

"You need it to be as widely available as possible in places where your target market might be," he explains.

"And you also need to think about pricing of your product."

However, for a young company starting out, Mr Fogarty advises that one of the most important things to do is to determine a budget you can afford.

"If you can't afford to think big, then think small. Make your budget stretch," he says.

"A lot of people try to plan for a year. But plan for a month or three months instead, and see what you get back.this will give you scope to review it. And it will also become self-liquidating."

It is also worth remembering that Ireland is not the only market in the world. Indeed, according to Mr Michael Kelly, chief executive of Carlow County Enterprise Board, markets such as the UK and EU provide real scope for businesses old and new to expand their client base.

"The most important thing we can do for small businesses is to provide them with expertise, such as a mentor," he says.

"It's an expensive business, so you need to have a roadmap which gives you a clear path to revenue."

And among the challenges exporting companies face is how they are going to distribute their product, he says.

"They need to be clear how they are going to do this. Getting into the export market is not as simple as opening the Yellow Pages. It's quite specialised."

Email your thoughts and comments to business2000@irish-times.ie

Next week: networking