Tag Archives: Strategic Planning

Business Development, Business Strategy

Business Marketing Strategy

The term business marketing strategy might sound like it is esoteric or stratospheric, so let’s take the mystery out of it so you can devise and implement your own business marketing strategy that fits in to your small business plan.

Strategy comes from a Greek word “stratagein” meaning “to be a general”. Think of a strategy as an overall plan of action needed to win a war. The smaller, detailed actions are called tactics. You can have tactical plans which help you achieve your strategic marketing plan or overall business marketing strategy. That’s simple enough, isn’t it?

A business marketing strategy or strategic marketing plan is an overall plan of marketing actions you intend to take in order to accomplish a specific goal for your company.

Start with a goal: $2 million in sales this year; expand into new premises by a certain date; double the size of the company in 2 years… whatever the goal may be. Something realistic but challenging. That’s the “war” you want to win. Guess who the general is.

Then work out a simple, overall plan of the major marketing steps needed to accomplish that (for example):

1. Publish a newsletter for all existing customers and mail out quarterly.

2. Work out 4 special offers in the year and promote them to all our customers.

3. Set up on-line shopping and expand the web site.

4. Direct mail campaign promoting the web site to all customers.

5. Get mailing lists of (target markets) and do a series of 3 mailings of postcards to them and follow up on and close all leads.

6. Etc.

You get the idea. Don’t rush this. Do your homework. What worked in the past? Read up on successful marketing campaigns.

Your business marketing strategy needs to be laid out in the right sequence and you should have some idea of budget when you write it. “Run a series of 30 second TV ads during the Superbowl” might sound like a good thing to do but can you afford it? On the other hand, when you build your business marketing strategy you mustn’t try and cut corners. If you don’t promote heavily, it doesn’t matter how good your product or service is, no one will know about it and you will go broke.

What really works when it comes to marketing?

Many business owners don’t have a good enough answer to this important question. I learned by a combination of study and trial and error.

From my own hard won experienceI have discovered that a real marketing campaign will take into consideration at least the seven points which are outlined below:

1. Target Your Market

Your marketing will produce the best results for the lowest cost when you target prospects with the greatest need for what you offer.

Identify the best people to send your postcards to. Design your postcards to appeal to their greatest need.

If you are able to break down your target market into sub markets you can then write postcards that specifically speak to the needs of those people (an example is breaking down your own customer list into customers who buy most often, customers who spend the most money with you, customers who have been your customers the longest and then making them special offers based on the category they fit into).

2. Create A USP For Your Business

USP stands for “Unique Selling Proposition”.

It is a statement of what is different about your company and its products. Your USP gives the reason people should do business with you. It amplifies the benefit of doing business with you and your company. My USP is POSTCARD MARKETING EXPERTS.

Create your own USP and put it on all your promotional materials, invoices, shipping labels etc.

Use your USP to communicate the benefit of doing business with you and why you are better than any of your competitors.

3. Always Make an Offer

Make sure you ask your prospects and customers to do something when they receive your postcard. By offering them something you know they are likely to want and giving them a smooth path to respond on, you are making it easy and desirable for them to respond.

4. Create and Maintain a Database of The Customer Information You Collect From The Responses To Your Mailings

Most people who receive a postcard from you won’t contact you the first time they receive one.

But once they contact you, you must create and maintain a database which allows you to repeatedly contact them with offers to respond to.

Fifty percent or more of many businesses’ sales come as a result of following up with people who were previously contacted, but didn’t buy right away.

No kidding, repeat contact does drive sales. One-time mailings can get response, but are bound to leave sales on the table. Those sales can be picked up with repeated mailings.

6. Expand Your Product Line

Getting new customers is more expensive than selling to existing ones. By regularly developing new products and services to sell to your customers and offering these new products and services to them, you can expand your business efficiently and easily.

7. Test Your Postcard Promotions

Track the effectiveness of your postcard mailings. How many people responded to your mailing? What dollar amount of sales resulted from those responses?

Is the money you are spending to attract new business giving you a good return? What can you do to make your marketing more effective? Change your offer, headline, price, the timing of your offer. When you do track the results and improve your response.

These are the points to follow when designing your own marketing strategy. When you are done, you will have laid out the steps needed to accomplish your goal using existing resources to achieve a great marketing ROI (return on investment).

After that, you simply have to get those steps executed and that might require further planning but it is all in the context of your main business marketing strategy.

 

Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. In 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employs over 60 persons. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she’s sharing her marketing secrets with others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at http://www.postcardmania.com

 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Joy_Gendusa/3620

 

 

 

 

Leadership

Leadership Development Can Spell the Difference Between Company Survival and Failure

Technology and globalization have brought new and profound challenges never before seen in the corporate world. Companies built through decades of strong market domination crumble in just a matter of months, or weeks even. Emerging issues in politics and religion, disparities in population trends, even destructive weather patterns that are increasingly unpredictable – all these have a huge impact on corporations across the world, regardless of their core competency. The challenges are complex and daunting but one singular idea is fast gaining ground – leadership development is a secure solution to ensure company survival.

Management Versus Leadership

Many people often make the mistake of equating management with leadership when, in fact, these are two completely different concepts. Management is a function of processes and systems and how well they are used to maintain quality or achieve tangible targets. Leadership, on the other hand, is management and so much more.

A manager is defined by his authority vis-à-vis those above and below him in the whole corporate hierarchy. A leader is defined by his relationship to a group of individuals who willingly submit themselves to be his followers. Management depends on acquired skills but leadership relies on more abstract qualities such as behavior, trust, and inspiration. This makes leadership development about more than teaching market theories or communication skills.

Leadership Skills

Some people seem to be born more charismatic than others and are thus theoretically predisposed to leadership but this is not necessarily true. Leadership is much more than charisma, it is the ability to rise up to challenge. Regular people have been seen to rise from the ranks to emerge into a formidable leader. This continually happens regardless of educational background, gender, age or type of business but one thing is common among them – an unmistakable motivation and single-mindedness to bring their team towards a goal.

But can leadership skills be acquired just as management skills can be acquired? With the right specialized leadership development yes, it is possible to teach leadership skills including:

1. Listening. A good leader gains loyal following because he is perceived to understand the concerns of his teammates as well as their goals. Listening is tuning in and being keenly observant of the dynamics within and outside of the workplace.

2. Strategic Planning. Successful leaders know how to anticipate issues even before they arise and are able to maximize the company’s resources to resolve them. Leadership development centers on enhancing critical thinking beyond traditional management theories and practices.

3. Team Building. A good leader builds the company’s strength around its human resources. She does not take credit for successes but acknowledges that any achievement is always a result of a cohesive organization.

4. Management and Communication. Needless to say, a good leader must be well-informed about the company’s vision, objectives, and procedures to ably steer the team in the right direction. He should also effectively communicate these down and across the line so that everyone understands and works together.

5. Adaptation. The current corporate world is so dynamic it is easy to get lost in the complexities of issues and challenges. Sticking to traditional solutions will guarantee failure so an effective leader must be flexible and adaptable. She must be able to think out-of-the-box and turn difficulties into opportunities.

Leadership development requires specialized training to help future leaders realize their potentials. Professional development companies offer leadership training workshops to businesses who want to create a pool of leaders within their ranks. With the company’s survival at stake, it is important to match the challenge of the times with good leaders who can help you achieve your company’s overall goals.

Rob Jackson is President of Magnovo Training Group, a soft-skills training company focusing on corporate team building, classroom training and leadership development. Rob has been a speaker and trainer for over 20 years specializing in effective leadership, personality profiles, relational sales training, executive presence and team building. He has served as President and Chairman on several Executive Leadership boards. In addition to being a Certified DiSC Trainer, Rob has logged hundreds of instructional classroom hours. For more information please visit http://www.magnovo.com.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Robert_C_Jackson/283640