CreativeXchange Marketing : Marketing for Success: Blog

Building a Stellar Company Reputation

The Admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:59:00 GMT

Building a stellar company reputation is hard work and does not happen overnight. Many things can effect a company's reputation. Poor or even average customer service won't add to building a stellar company reputation. Providing your customers or clients work with honestry and integrity will greatly assist in building a stellar reputation. A company's reputation can be tarnished is your staff's core values do not align with your company. Additionally, finding team members with integrity and who are not under-performers can mean the difference between taking your company to the next level or staying stagnate.

Quick tips for building reputation:

Never overcharge, or nickel and dime your customers or clients
Provide your products and/or services with honesty and integrity
Strive for 100% customer satisfaction - go the extra mile
Provide exceptional customer service and follow through
Only allow A+ quality team members work for your company - ones who share your same core values and demonstrate integrity

A Powerful Sales Technique

The Admin — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:40:00 GMT

Recently our company was awarded a job in which we were up against several other companies. One of the key reasons we received the job was our exceptional follow up.

One of the most powerful sales techniques is follow up. Having exceptional customer service and follow up is imperative to getting the sale.

Provide proposals with a deadline and meet the deadline
Under promise and over deliver with your deadlines
Follow up when you say you will
Continue to follow up until you have an answer

Your company could be the most qualified, or have the best product or service, but if exceptional customer service and follow up are absent you could be losing thousands of dollars.

Disparate Marketing - We need your story - Part 1

The Admin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:38:00 GMT

Disparate marketing, ineffective marketing, low to no ROI marketing - whatever term you choose to use, it is out there and it is being sold. I am starting to educate people about this and today's brief story is about a wonderful business owner who really needed some qualified leads. She spent $3,600 for a web design home page only "fix", pay per click and possibly some SEO. She came out with all the terms above.

So what happened?

She was referred to one person who is by trade a graphic designer and learned how to do some web design. She was referred to another person who does pay per click and some "basic" SEO. It is obvious by the design and results of her website, that neither of these two "marketing" niche or boutique business owners talked to one another or even saw the big picture of her marketing strategy.

The design is poor, with navigation as images, not text. There are usability issues to the home page design. There is no "basic" SEO, such as indivdual browser titles, headers and sub-headers, meta keywords and meta descriptions. Images are missing alt descriptions and links are missing titles. Content is not related to the browser titles. The list can go on.

So why would two companies take $3,600 of this small business owner's money? Now she needs to start all over.

If you have a story to share, please feel free to contact us or post a comment. The point of sharing these stories is not to disparage a particular business, rather educate people on being aware of disparate and ineffective marketing.

What is Market Research?

The Admin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Many companies go into business without doing any research. As a result they chose a wrong location, start a business whose market is already over-served, or develop a product with no consumer testing that may have major flaws they did not see because they are too close to it.

It is very important to do your research before starting any business or adding a new product or service. Some research to consider includes:

How many businesses within your geographic target market are doing the same thing already?
Is there a demand/market for this business within the geographic target market of your business?
What are the purchasing patterns of your products/services? Will there be any seasonality to it?

These statistics can be found online and at some libraries, especially your major metro libraries have a business reference center to help you get much of this information. Assistance at the library is free.

If you are developing a new product, what similar types of products already exist in the marketplace? How are those better/worse than your product idea?

Do some testing – not with friends and family, rather use people who are in your target market and don’t know you. They will be far more honest and objective than those you may know (acquintenances, friends, family). If you need asssistance in gathering this information, hire a company to do any of the following:

Formatting surveys properly - surveys should only ask questions that will assist in making a decision. Writing survey questions properly is very important, so as not to ask leading questions and to get an accurate poll of opinion.
Conducting focus groups - focus groups can be helpful, but need to be done very carefully. Consult with a professional to assist you with focus groups. A focus group is great to show a product to a group of people.
Conducting one-on-one user interviews - one-on-one interviews can be very beneficial. They are similar to a focus group, just done one-on-one. The benefit of a one-on-one interview is individuals are not persuaded by other's opoinions - which is what can happen in a focus group.

Market research takes on various shapes and sizes. It is important to your strategic marketing plan and should be done. For more information on market research, click here.

Networking Follow Up Procedure

The Admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:05:00 GMT

In our last blog we talked about how to evaluate networking events. Attending these events won't produce instant results normally, it is just the start. What you do after the networking event is what will have the pay off.

When you meet a potential referral partner or client at a networking event, it is important to follow up within 24 business hours. Request a one-on-one meeting to get better acquainted. At this meeting you will want to focus on the other person, asking questions about them, their business, etc. If the person you are meeting with is a potential referral partner, discussing how you both can be a mutual resource to one another is good to talk about.

After the meeting you will want to continue to follow up. Anything you spoke about at the meeting that is a follow up item should be sent right after the meeting. Send a hand written thank you note for the meeting.

Make a follow up plan to stay in touch with those you meet. You may want to consider having an official follow up protocol for both potential clients, as well as potential referral partners.

If you have suggested tips on building relationships with those you meet at networking events, please feel free to leave a comment.

Networking–Does it pay?

The Admin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:56:00 GMT

This blog focuses on the benefits and possible pitfalls of networking.

There are many different types of networking events to attend in an effort to meet other business people and market your business. Which one is right for you? Will it be a good return on investment? Consider your time as well as money in calculating your investment.

I can think of many networking events that I have attended, some of which I found to be very productive and others that I have found to be extremely unproductive. How can you have the best chance of going to the productive ones?

When evaluating a networking event, first find out what target market will be attending – is it your target market? By target market, consider both the people you may be able to help, but even more importantly potential referral partners – other businesses who have the same target market as you that may be able to refer business to you.

Then consider the number of attendees that are expected. Quantity is a consideration, but even if the event does not have a high number of attendees that does not mean you shouldn’t attend. If it is a small number of attendees, but all of your target market, it may be very worthwhile. You need to consider a couple other things.

What is the format? How much time of the networking event is spent on networking versus speakers? Are the speakers trying to sell something, or are they educational – perhaps they are a combination of both the selling and education variety. Be sure to find this information out before attending otherwise, you may get to it and be disappointed that it ended up being longer than anticipated, was mostly a sales pitch and there was very little networking time in proportion to the time they took of yours trying to sell you something. Don’t hesitate to ask for this information when being invited to a networking event. Remember, your time is valuable.

How much should networking events cost? Most usually cost between $10 and $20. Some may be a bit higher if of the educational variety. Some are even free to attend. Be careful of those that require a high membership fee to be a part of their group, or require you to use their resources in exchange for promoting you. If you do decide to pay a high membership fee, make sure you are keeping track of the business you are getting as a result of that membership. Take a look at your ROI before renewing these types of memberships. Productive networking should not cost thousands of dollars.

Of course getting out there and networking in the right places is just the start. The real pay off comes with what you do after the event with those individuals who showed interest in getting better acquainted with your business. We'll discuss this in our next blog.

Testimonials - A Powerful Marketing Tool

The Admin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:48:00 GMT

What will differentiate you from your many competitors? One powerful marketing tool is testimonials. There are walking testimonials and written testimonials.

You may have clients, current or past, who are walking testimonials for your company. Knowing who these people are can be very beneficial when someone asks you for a reference.

Written testimonials can be letters that were sent to you voluntarily without having asked for a testimonial, or they could be of the variety in which you ask a past or current customer to write.

Where do you use these written testimonials? First get permission if you are going to publish them. A good place to publish them are on your website, in your marketing materials and if you have a place of business where customers visit you, make a poster or bulletin board of testimonials.

Never write testimonials for your customers. They need to come from your customers in their own words. You can give your customers guidance in what makes a good testimonial.

Here are a couple of brief pointers on what makes a good testimonial:

Testimonials should state the condition the customer was experiencing before using your product or service and how that has improved since they have used your product or service. Be specific. “We were able to cut our marketing expenses in half and improve our ROI by 15%.”
Testimonials should be specific to your target market.
Testimonials should be written with enthusiasm.

Testimonials build trust and confidence. Having several testimonials, each one addressing a different benefit customers receive from your company is also a great idea.

How do you get testimonials? Ask your past and current customers. You know who is happy with your company, they probably have never thought about putting it in writing.

Print Advertising that Gets Results

The Admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:20:00 GMT

Have you ever advertised in print and found yourself saying, "That ad or direct mailer didn't work!"? Frustrated you say you will never spend money on advertising again. This is a common occurrence for small business owners. The business owner usually blames the print advertising vehicle. In reality, there are several reasons why the ad probably did not work. Knowing the proper way to design an ad will help.

Know the purpose of your ad, whoyour target market is and what you want them to do? What are your goals for placing this ad?
Pick the right advertising vehicle(s). Advertising salespeople can tell a convincing story as to why you must advertise in their publication. They may say, "You're competitor is doing it. If you don't want to lose business to them, you better advertise in here also." This type of fear motivation should throw up red flags. Beware–do your research before falling victim to these high-pressured sales tactics. Know who your target market is and where you can reach them most effectively.
Use proper headlines - Varying statistics all indicate how important the headline of an ad is. Research tells us that you could lose up to 80% of your readers if you do not have an effective headline. So, what makes an effective headline? Not your logo! This is a common mistake business owners and inexperienced graphic designers make. The headline should be clear, have an attention grabbing benefit statement that speaks to the reader. 75% of buying decisions are made at the headline alone.
Retain reader interest with proper body copy - A common mistake here is using too many fonts and typestyles such as bold, underline, italic or all CAPS. This is hard on the reader's eye. All those different looks/typestyles don't help the eye flow through the copy easily. Also, the body copy should support the headline. For example, If your store front has a new location, your headline may say, "We've moved to a more convenient location!" Your body copy should then explain in further detail the benefits to the customer of this new location.
Have a compelling offer and call to action - Having an offer that will compel someone to pick up the phone and call, stop by your store or visit your website is critical. Using the above example, perhaps there is a grand opening special and open house. The call to action must state what you want the reader to do. Ex: "Please RSVP by..."
Have an effectiver ad layout - Your ad layout can do more harm than good if poorly designed. Your headline should take up about 25% of the real estate in the ad. The logo should be at the bottom of the ad and smaller. Coupons in ads are also good, especially for drawing attention to an offer and tracking results of the ad/offer. Don't overuse color, fonts or type styles. This is confusing on the reader's eye and may cause the reader to leave your ad.
Test your ad prior to print - If you are able, test your ads on people you know will give you honest feedback – existing loyal customers, contacts you know to be your target market, but not existing customers, professionals whose opinion you value, but NOT your friends and family. They hesitate to give honest feedback, because they don’t want to hurt your feelings.
Use a qualified graphic designer. A graphic designer will produce a more effective ad. When deciding to use a graphic designer, interview them to make sure they are not the type who only cares about how creative and snazzy they can design an ad, but rather how much they care about your ad getting results. They should be asking questions such as, who is your target market, what do you want them to do, what are the benefits of your product or service, what are your goals for this ad, is there a special offer and call to action, etc. Many people out there claim to be "graphic designers", but do not know even some of these basics. Select your designer carefully. Cheaper is not always better, but you don't have to spend an arm and a leg either.
Track your results properly - As a business owner, you and your staff must ask new customers "How did you hear about us?". Have a system to keep track of these results. Have a spreadsheet on a clipboard next to the phone. When creating your customer account in your database, figure a way you can record how you got that customer. What promotion or offer prompted them to call, how much do they represent in revenue and how did they hear about your business. This is all information you need to determine your return on investment. Keep in mind, an ad may make your phone ring, but you need your phone to ring with qualified prospects. Then those qualified prospects need to be converted into actual sales.

Investing money in advertising is a big commitment, as it requires a repetitive schedule to work. Be sure your ads are effective to get the highest return on investment. If you need assistance with your advertising please contact us for more information.

What's Your Marketing Budget?

The Admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:40:00 GMT

So, what is your marketing budget? Do you have one? What goes under marketing? How much should it be?

These are great questions.

How much should your marketing budget be?

There is not a one answer fits all here. Many different factors need to be considered. According to the United States Small Business Administration (SBA), the popular way of figuring this is if you are an existing business, use 2% of your most recent annual sales volume. However if you are a new start up, up to 10% of expected sales could be used on marketing in the first year. Other sources say 4-6% of your revenue should go to marketing every year. This figure can vary by industry. Another way to look at this is to try to figure out how much your competition in spending on advertising.

What should go into your marketing budget?

A variety of items go into the marketing budget. The most commonly thought of item is advertising and promotion. Here is a list of the most common items that should go into your marketing budget:

Publication (Print) Advertising
Outdoor Advertising
Internet Advertising
TV Advertising
Radio Advertising
Direct Mail (design, printing, list purchase, postage)
Marketing Collateral Design
Marketing Collateral Printing
Email newsletter service
Promotional items
Trade Shows
Attendance at Networking Events
Membership in Leads Groups
Business meals and entertainment
Outside Professional Services (marketing consultant, web designer/developer, etc.)
Client gifts and cards
Search Engine Optimization
Web design/development
Branding/re-branding
Referral programs
Sponsorships
PR and Publicity

Before you can write a tactical marketing plan, you need to determine your budget. If you have tips to share on marketing budgets, please feel free to leave a comment.

Do You Need a SWOT Analysis?

The Admin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:03:00 GMT

Every business needs to have a SWOT done annually. NOTE - before you embark on a SWOT Analysis, you need to have a thorough knowledge of your target market and have completed a competition analysis of your top three competitors.

So what is a SWOT Analysis?

SWOT stands for:

STRENGTHS - what are your company's internal strengths and of those strengths, which ones are truly unique to your business that cannot be claimed by a competitor?
WEAKNESSES - what are your company's internal weaknesses? What are your competitor's weaknesses? How can you overcome your company's internal weaknesses and capitalize on your competitor's internal weaknesses?
OPPPOTUNITIES - What external opportuntities exist for your company?
THREATS - What external threats exist for your company?

Why is doing a SWOT important?

Knowing your company internal strengths and weaknesses compared to the competition's strengths and weaknesses can greatly assist in your brand positioning and knowing your different/better story or UVP (unique value proposition).

If you would like assistance in conducting target market review, competition analysis or SWOT Analysis, please contact us.

Conducting Competition Analysis

The Admin — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:42:00 GMT

Have you taken a good look at what your competitors are doing? Have you ever thought – I don't have any competitors, my product or service is one-of-a-kind? Well, we all have competitors. If you think you don't, you do. It's true, you may have a very specific niche or one-of-a-kind product or service, but there are still other things that compete with it. If you don't have a direct competitor now, there is always the threat of potential competitors.

So, how do you determine who you competitors are?
First, look at your target market and the product or service your company offers and why customers need it. You must first understand this before you can go on to figuring out your competitors. Is there anyone else who has the same target market, offering similar products or services? This is what I call a direct competitor.

If you can't come up with three direct competitors, then start to think outside the box. Who has my same target market and is competing for the same dollars or time?

As an example, I'll use a place I worked at years ago. I worked at a local newspaper throughout a large portion of my career working in marketing. I worked in markets where there were no direct competitors. The newspaper I worked at was the only and best local newspaper around. However, we had many in-direct competitors – the Chicago Tribune, the news on TV and radio, the internet, etc. Even though they did not offer the exact product, they did compete for the same time and money. It takes time to read about your local news, so our biggest competitor was often other products that competed for our potential reader's time.

Once you know who your competitors are, you need to conduct a thorough competitive analysis. How are they marketing themselves, what is their pricing, how is their service, what are their strengths and weaknesses, etc. Look at their website. How is their website better/worse than your company's website? Do they have pricing on it? How is their response to website inquiries? What can you learn from the website?

Then, try to find out where/how they are marketing and/or advertising. Do they network? If so, where do they network? Do they advertise? Look in newspapers, trade publications, anywhere that you think they may be advertising. Get a hold of their ads and critique them. What are their specials, sales, guarantees, headlines, etc.? What is their brand messaging?

Perhaps having a mystery caller or sending in a mystery shopper would be of benefit. The best way to do this is with an experienced mystery shopper. This may help you determine the quality of customer service, unadvertised promotions, first impressions of the place of business, etc.

Knowing as much about your competitors as possible will greatly assist you in determining how to market yourself and what brand messaging will be most successful in marketing to your prospects. Knowing their strengths and weaknesses, as well as your company’s own strengths and weaknesses can also assist in making your products and services better.

CreativeXchange Marketing offers mystery shopping and competitive analysis. For more information, please contact us.

Target Market Review - Part 2

The Admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:35:00 GMT

In our last blog we discussed the importance of clearly defining your target markert. This blog will cover how to determine your target market.

To start, first determine why someone would buy your product or service. Why did you create the product or service you did? Once you know this, there are three categories you need to look at: the geographic, demographic and psychographic profile of your target market. Let's look at each one of these separately.

The geographic profile is more easily determined. Where do your current customers live and how far are they willing to travel to buy your product or service? Are there any climate considerations for your product? What cities, regions, states and/or countries will your target market be in? If you are in a regulated industry, where is your company licensed to do business? Bottom line, where is the best place to spend your marketing dollars to attract your primary market customers? For some businesses, with new technology, internet and phone, geography does not have the boundaries it used to have.

Next, let's look at the demographic profile. Things to consider here are different depending on if you are business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C).

If you are a B2C, age, gender, education, income, marital status, ethnic or religious background and family lifecycle (newly married, with or without children, expecting, married 10-20 years, etc.) of your target market may all come into play. For example a local residential house cleaning business would most likely be looking for home owners with a higher household income where husband and wife work full time, are college educated and have children.

If you are B2B the following considerations should be thought about — company size, whether it is an established or start-up business, is your target market B2B or B2C, how many employees does it have, do they sell a specific product or service, where is your own expertise and what companies could you best serve with that expertise? For example, a freelance graphic designer who was employed most of their career in the retail environment would most likely target a B2C company who does not have a graphic designer on staff, perhaps has no marketing department, up to 100 employees and does advertising in print media.

Finally, let's look at the psychographic profile of a customer. Understanding this is most interesting. What things are important to your customer? What are their hobbies and interests, are they active, are they status seekers, what is their lifestyle, are they conservative or liberal, are they sports enthusiasts, are they environmentally conscious, socially responsible, trendy, fashion conscious, fun seeking, family oriented, thrill seekers, the list goes on. For example, a high-end maternity shop would be looking for fashion conscious, trendy women, who want to look good while they are pregnant and don't mind spending money doing so. They still want to be comfortable and are possibly status seekers.

If your target market is other businesses, do they know they need your help, are they open to help, what is their business style, are they innovative, are they conservative, do they belong to trade associations, what is their management style, what other outside services may they use to run their company?
For example, a consultant may be looking for a business owners who know they need help and are willing to pay for good help that will get them results. There target market is willing to learn, has a complimentary management and business style to the consultant.

Now that you have a clear picture painted of who your target market is, you can now analyze your competition. Our next blog will cover competition analysis.

Target Market Review - Part 1

The Admin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:08:00 GMT

Your Ideal Client or Customer: How do you know who they are?

Often times when I ask my clients, "Who will buy your product?" or "Who is your ideal client?" they either do not have a clearly defined customer, or they think everyone will be interested in their product or service. Typically I hear, "Everyone is my target market."

The truth of the matter is, for most small businesses there is a small market for their particular product or service. Determining who your target market is as closely as possible and then zeroing your marketing efforts to that customer will make for the most effective marketing. Marketing to "everyone" is much more expensive than marketing to a specific group of people, which you can also target your brand message more effectively. Additionally, you cannot be all things to all people and do it well. Be a specialist in what you do.

For start-up businesses, determining the target market is most critical to decide on branding your new business. What will your brand image and brand message be? What will the name of the product, service or company be? How about product package design? What pricing strategy will work best and many other important decisions need to be based on knowing clearly and specifically who your target market is.

If you have an established business, profiling your current customer database will provide a wealth of information on who they are and what the common denominators are of your primary target market.

So, how do you determine your primary target market? Our next blog will cover how to determine your demographic, geogrpahic and psychographic profile of your target market.

Placement - A "P" with Different Meanings

The Admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:14:00 GMT

Our last few blogs have addressed the need for defining your 4 P's of marketing. As mentioned in our first 4 P's of marketing blog, the 4 P's are:

Product/Service
Pricing
Promotion
Placement/Positioning

Let's discuss the last P, "Placement".

Placement typically refers to the location where your product/service is sold and how it will be distributed. Where can people purchase it and how will you get your product to your customer? Your location can be a physical location, a virtual store, and/or through affiliates, ebay, Amazon.com and other online locations.

This "P" can also refer to your company's position in the marketplace. A company's position/placement could be how it is different/better than the competition. Knowing how your company can be differentiated from your competition is an important marketing strategy.

A strategic marketing plan should contain these 4 P's of the marketing mix. For more information on strategic marketing plans, click here.

Best Practices of Promotion

The Admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:40:00 GMT

Our last few blogs have addressed the need for defining your 4 P's of marketing. As mentioned in our first 4 P's of marketing blog, the 4 P's are:

Product/Service
Pricing
Promotion
Placement/Positioning

Let's discuss the third P, "Promotion".

There are so many traditional and non-traditional ways to promote your company - where do you start?

The latest non-traditional marketing trends are social media or social networking, and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). People are spending thousands of hours and dollars on these marketing tactics. Unfortunately, too many companies are putting all their marketing eggs into these one or two baskets and not getting results.

I was talking to a company last week. They have been very successful utilizing print (traditional) advertising to promote and build their business. Now they want to decrease their print advertising budget and replace it with non-traditional marketing. The problem is they will be driving business to a website that is ineffective, out-dated, not user-friendly and currently has a low conversion rate and high bouce rate.

Although promoting your business through these new non-traditional marketing tactics can be effective, you first want to make sure your website is top-notch. See our previous blog on, "When Social Media Doesn't Work". Beware of the social media companies popping up making claims of increased traffic to your website - ask them for references of clients who have actually received increased business as a result of it.

Then there are all the traditional ways to promote your business:

Advertising
PR
Networking
Referral programs
Direct mail
Trade shows
Sponsorships
Leads groups
Memberships to associations & organizations
and many, many more

Where does one start here? To effectively promote your business you need to know who to promote it to and what your different/better story is or UVP (unqiue value proposition). Some best practices to consider to better promote your business are:

Have a plan - no one tactic will bring success - determine the tactics in tandem to make the phone ring or bring business through your door.
Thoroughly examine your target market.
Know your competition - how are they reaching the same target market, what is their UVP, etc.
Determine an adequate marketing/promotion budget
Research thoroughly before spending your precious marketing/promotion budget

There are many other things to consider when determining the proper promotion, but starting here will help.

Pitfalls of Pricing Strategies

The Admin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:57:00 GMT

Do You Have an Effective Pricing Strategy?

Our past couple of blogs have addressed the need for defining your 4 P's of marketing. The first "P" discussed in our last blog was the "Product" (or service) "P".

As mentioned in our previous blog, the 4 P's of marketing are:

Product/Service
Pricing
Promotion
Placement/Positioning

Let's discuss the second P, "Pricing".

This is a very important "P" of your marketing plan. Price your product/service too high and no one will buy it. Price it too low and no one will think it has value, or worse yet, they may think it is not a quality product or service.

Avoid pricing pitfalls by asking some questions:

What is the competition charging for this? Competitive shop if you need.
What is the perceived value of this product/service?
What are some pricing strategies I can use to encourage repeat business?
Can it be packaged with another product or service to encourage add-on sales?
Should I offer discounts? If so, how will they work?
Will my price be competitive and offer me a good profit margin?

Pricing strategy is not as simple as setting the price you want to get for your product/service. As in the product "P", market research in the form of competitive shops, surveys, focus groups, etc. may be required.

When developing a pricing strategy, work with someone who understands it well.

Start with your 4 P's of Marketing

The Admin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:40:00 GMT

Do you know your 4 P's of Marketing?

Whether you have a start-up business or established business, clearly defining your 4 P's of marketing is critical to success. It will help you develop a strategic marketing plan. Without this strategy, any marketing tactics you implement could be ineffective.

As mentioned in our previous blog, the 4 P's of marketing are:

Product/Service
Pricing
Promotion
Placement/Positioning

Let's discuss the first P, "Product" (or service).

Having a marketable product or service, one that is demand, is imperative. Sometimes an entreprenuer has an incredible idea. They ask their friends and family, who are very supportive, and they all agree it is a great idea. They do no market research and bring the product/service to market and no one buys it.

Defining your product/service is the first step. Many questions need to answered:

Is there a demand for this product/service?
Who is my target market for this product/service?
What is the production cost?
How can production costs be lowered?
How does it work?
Who else has this product/service and how are they doing it?
Does your product/service have any deficiencies?
Is there a better way to do it?
How can repeat sales be encouraged? Could this product spin into an entire product line?

Many other questions should be asked. It is highly recommended to have an outsider look at your idea, one who has no bias to you. This will give you honest feedback.

Marketing - that's advertising - right?

The Admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:19:00 GMT

Marketing is the process of researching, developing, promoting, selling and distributing a product or service. Advertising is just one of many marketing tactics to promote a business, product or service.

I often hear, "I don't need to do any marketing." Or, "Marketing doesn't work." Well if you have a business, you need to market it. The first step to marketing is defining your 4 P's of marketing - Product (or service), Pricing strategy, Promotion strategy and finally Placement or Positioning.

Over the next several blogs, we will discuss the 4 P's of marketing. Stay tuned.

When Social Media Doesn't Work

The Admin — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:03:00 GMT

There are many social media companies popping up left and right - some very well schooled in it and others not. The ones that are not well schooled in it know just enough to be dangerous.

I was talking to a referral partner on the phone today and he mentioned how a friend of his has spent tons of time and money into social media. When my referral partner asked his friend, "So if your website is getting all this traffic from social media, are you converting a lot of business?" His friend had a rude awakening - the answer was, "No." Despite all the traffic going to his website, no new business had converted.

So, when doesn't social media work?

If your website is not user-friendly, business will not convert. See our other blogs on web usability: 7 Deadly Sins of Landing Page Design and Great Web Usability Tips.
If you think Social Media if the silver bullet or magic wand to making business burst and you spend all your marketing efforts in one tactic, it most likely will not work.
If your target market isn't internet savvy, they'll never find you through social media. There is still a large population of people who still don't know what social media and social networking is, nor do they have a Facebook, Twiiter, LinkedIn or other account.

Social media is just one tactic in a solid tactical marketing plan. It is a successful tactic in many marketing plans, but be aware of when it may not work.

We welcome your comments.

Should You Discount in a Recession?

The Admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:40:00 GMT

This is a loaded question. Pricing strategy (one of your four P's of marketing) is often overlooked in marketing plans. Your pricing stratgey is critical to your success. Heavily discounting your products and services can de-value the worth of your products/services and recovering from this after the economy rebounds is difficult and can take years.

Additionally, price discounting to under-cut the competition is as equally harmful to the economy. Imagine if your competition cut their prices by 25%. You might feel forced to lower your prices, other competitors might feel the same. Before you know it everyone in your industry is making 25% less than a year ago. This will have a negative affect on the economy. It has a trickle down affect from which it is hard to recover.

Granted in some cases discounting may have to be done. The retail and restaurant industries are an example, where disposable income is limited and you do make decisions to cut back.

Other times, companies discount the front end of a product, but mark up the back end of the service. Recently, I heard about a company who lost a bid, because their comepetition marked the product way down (almost at cost), but marked the installation way up. So - buyer beware - make sure you compare apples to apples.

I'm sure there are many opinions on this and we welcome yours. If you know of any good resource articles on this, please post them on our blog.