Marketing Tips to Rev Up Your Business

You’ve been working hard on your business for a long time. Make 2012 your year to work smart. In this two-part column, you’ll find some marketing tips that could inject new life into your business despite a stale economy. Pick a few to focus on this year, or try implementing a new one each month.

Rethink your product and service line. Is it keeping up with changing client wants? What needs to be added to round out your offering? What will customers want next year? Start working on procuring it now; it will be next year before you know it.

Brainstorm new uses for old products. Develop new target client groups based on new functionality. Are your clients using your products in ways you hadn’t imagined? Use focus groups or online discussion boards to investigate.

Update your industry research. Who are your A and B clients? Have they changed from three years ago? How do they make purchasing decisions and at what time of year? What trends are shaping your industry and are they opportunities or threats?

Ensure your competitive advantage is still competitive. Update your competitive research. Who are the new players in your industry? What are they doing well? Are you losing customers to them? Is what made you special in the past still doing you service? Retool your competitive advantage if needed. Make sure it speaks to customer wants.

Flog your competitive advantage. Whatever it is that makes you great, make sure your customers know about it. Your competitive advantage should be highlighted in all of your marketing tools, not hidden in your marketing strategy document.

Ask customers what they really think. Honest customers will reveal more than a team of consultants, if your skin is thick enough to truly listen.

Measure the effectiveness of the marketing tools you used last year. Repeat what works, eliminate what has been given a fair try without results. Consider dropping what you can’t measure.

Stop measuring website views and hits and measure real changes in revenue. When websites were a new concept, traffic was a reasonable metric to track; but now it’s time to ensure traffic translates to revenue.

Take time to dream. Wake up the creative side of your brain; network with new peers to tap into fresh ideas. Attend events and conferences. Engage in creative pursuits outside of your business.

Part 2 with more tips coming soon!

31 Days to a Better Business

Check out Inc.Com's article on 31 days to a better business (1 tip for each day of the month)

http://www.inc.com/31-days-to-a-better-business?partner=newsletter_Startup

Growth Strategies for 2011

In the most basic of business models, there are just four ways for a business to increase its revenues:

• Sell more product to existing customers: “Do you want fries with that?”
• Sell more frequently to existing customers: i.e. book the next appointment before your customer leaves from the current one
• Increase prices (with much research and caution!)
• Find new customers to sell to: develop new customers

Some growth strategies that your business can consider for 2011 are:

1.Develop new target groups – tap into secondary and tertiary target customers you didn’t approach or focus on before (new messaging, pricing strategies etc. will need to be investigated)

2.Increase and enhance your marketing budget and efforts, keeping in mind these marketing principles:
•Know your target market – don’t try to sell to “everyone”
•7X Rule – you need to get your brand/message out seven times before it’s remembered (because of the overload of messages coming at us every day) therefore marketing efforts must be repetitive
•Marketing Tools: utilize at least 15 tools / year, including a variety of print, in person, electronic and promotions
•Marketing budget benchmark : During start-up year(s), plan to spend a minimum of 9-12% of your annual sales goal on marketing activities. Once established, spend 6-9% of annual sales goal on marketing. This is a very broad “rule” – adjust for your market, sector, customer, competitive situation etc.

3.Focus on high payoff products & services; reduce or eliminate efforts on low-margin items

4.Focus on high payoff customers; reduce or eliminate efforts spent on unreliable customers

5.Expand your geographical market, focusing on your primary customer types and best-sellers

6.Develop new uses for your product so you can sell more ie. bicycles are just for pleasure riding, but for exercise, commuting, courier services etc.

7.Leverage your existing customers by expanding your product/service line with new, related products/services

8.Develop strategic alliances so you don’t have to say “No, sorry, we don’t sell/do that” to potential customers
•Contra-marketing
•Subcontracting
•Paying commission on referrals

9.And finally: hire staff or subcontractors to perform routine tasks so you can focus on sales, marketing and other business development activities best in the hands of the business owner.