Posts Tagged ‘Marketing Strategies’

The main purpose of a business plan is to attract investors, as well as guide the actions and policies of a firm over a certain period.

Steps to great business plans:
* Write out the basic business concepts
* Feasibility and details: Gather all the relevant information regarding business
* Outline the details of business
* Compile your plan
* Review the sample plan

Contents of business plans are:
* Executive summary
* Company
* Products and services
* Market analysis
* Management
* Marketing plan
* Operating plan
* Financial plan
* Critical risks, problems and assumptions

TYPES OF BUSINESS PLANS:
Business can be divided into following types. All require different amounts of labor. There are:
* Mini plans, or Short plans: Mini plans consist of one to ten pages. It’s a great way to quickly examine a business concept. It should include:
- Financial statements
- Business concept
- Marketing needs
- Financing needs

* Working plans: A tool used to operate business is known as working plans. It has to be long.

* Presentation plans: All the information in working and presentation are almost same, but styled in a different way. Details of experience and polish are the main difference between working and presentation plans. Presentation plan is appropriate for showing to:
- Investors
- Bankers
- others outside the company

* Growth plan: Growth plans are prepared for companies that are moderately successful, and who are ready for the next level. It details how the business will grow.

* Start-up plan: The most common types of business plans are start-up plan. A start-up plan should cover many details, including:
- Financial analysis
- Marketing strategies
- The team or employees that you will be using
-Products or services that you are providing

* Operations plan: Operational plans are the plans that are only made for the owners and employees of the company, and not for investors or clients. It details:
- How the business is meant to run
- Employees’ responsibilities
- Upcoming projects of the company
- Events and milestones for the business

Business plans has unimaginable importance. An investment-seeking entrepreneur uses it to seek investors; it increases the feasibility of the business. A firm may use to attract employees etc., therefore, at the time of writing plans, a business writer should be very careful and attentive.

For more information, samples and tips on business plans writing, please visit Business Plan.

Business Plan Help.

Author: Ayaz Haider
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Android phones

Marketing can, and should be, one of the biggest expenses in your business month by month (if it isn’t, then we need to talk about how you’re investing in growing your business…). However for too many business the return they get for that monthly spend is ‘variable’ at best, more likely ‘unknown’ in practice.

The secret of being a truly effective and ultimately profitable marketer is to be crystal clear on the Return on Investment (ROI) you get from your marketing spend. As a responsible business owner your focus should always be on getting the maximum possible benefit from any money you spend and, despite all the hype and voodoo superstition that goes around, marketing is no different from any other part of your business.

In the simplest form, marketing boils down to the art of “buying profitable customers” – for every pound you spend on marketing you should be getting more than a pound back in profit. If you’re not, your marketing plan is broken (or more likely missing…) and we need to fix this as soon as possible.

We’ll talk elsewhere about understanding the true value of a customer to your business, and the ways you can improve this value, but here we are going to look at one of the easiest things you can do to dramatically improve the profitability of your marketing spend. Sounds dramatic doesn’t it? But in reality it’s really simple, 3 little steps:

1. measuring how your marketing is currently performing

2. find out which marketing strategies or ideas aren’t profitable and stop them

3. find out which marketing strategies or ideas are producing profitable results and do more of them

There, told you it was simple…

STOP WASTING YOUR MONEY

We’ll come back to the mechanics of how you do step 1 but in my experience its step 2 that most business owners seem to struggle with.

There seems to be an unwritten rule that every business has to be in the Yellow Pages, needs an expensive website, or must run weekly ads in the paper. And I am guessing there is no shortage of helpful sales people cold calling your business with “exciting opportunities for you to gain a lot more business” by spending money to advertise with them/buy their promotional items/pay for their marketing services, etc, etc, etc…

In practice one of the quickest things you can do to make your business more profitable is STOP WASTING MONEY ON MARKETING THAT DOESN’T WORK! Just stop it, take the money you would have spent and invest it in other strategies that are returning a profit.

It will feel like a big step to turn off some of some of your marketing but you can do it. Remember you can turn it back on later if you want to but if something isn’t working your really need to stop it.

SO WHAT IS PROFITABLE?

Now let’s get back to Step 1, how do we actually measure which marketing strategies are profitable?

Well there are 2 parts to this and we’ll look at how we measure each then look at the important test.

What Are You Spending? The first part is to a real quantified feel for what you are currently spending on marketing. Here is how we do that:

1. Make a list of all the things you are currently doing to attract new business at the moment, write them out and keep the list to hand as I can almost guarantee you won’t have put everything down the first time. Here are some memory prompts to help you:

a. The Usual Suspects: newspaper ads, yellow pages, leaflets, flyers, networking events, pay per click campaigns, etc

b. The Less Obvious: vehicle livery, branded work wear, your website, signage on your offices, promotional gifts, etc

c. The Usually Forgotten: gifts and thank you cards to customers, your regular newsletter.

2. Once you’ve got a good first pass of the list go through and put a financial amount against each one for what you have really spent on that in the last 6 -12 months. The best way to do this properly and thoroughly is to to go through all your old bills and statements to dig out the real amounts. I often find people underestimate these, or forget about a few additional payments. And as you go through the accounts you may well find other bits of marketing spend you had forgotten in your original list, so add them in and keep going.

3. Once you’ve got a total spend for each strategy break that down to a monthly average spend for each one. Any of those lines looking scarily big compared to what you thought you were spending?

WHAT IS IT BRINGING IN?

Then the next step is work out what all that spend actually brought in as additional business. To do this we take the list of strategies we just generated and turn that into a tick list or tally sheet. From now on we want to attribute every new bit of business we get to one of the strategies in the list, based on what prompted that customer to pick up the phone, walk through the door, email or whatever to get in touch with you.

For every new order you get, everything you sell, we want to be able to attribute that income to one of the strategies on your list, keep a tally and add them up at the end of each month.

If you are able to go back through historic orders and break them down by marketing strategy as well then that’s great and gives us more data to work with, but if you can’t do that no problem, start today, keep the records from now on as part of your routine business, and at the end of each month add up the totals and use them to review your marketing as described below.

IS IT WORTH IT?

Now the final step, the crunch point where we find out if you have been investing wisely in your marketing or wasting money on things that don’t work either from habit or from lack of confidence to stop them.

So we have a list of strategies and we have a cost for each one. We know what we are spending.

We also have on the other side of the balance the income brought in by each strategy. Now income is revenue and what we are really interested in is profit so if we can we need to work out the actual gross profit from all this income strategy by strategy. How well you are able to do that will depend on how advanced you financial controls are in your business today:

- If you can break it down you Gross Profit precisely by product / service line then great, go ahead and do so.

- If you haven’t got that kind of break down yet, but you’ve done enough work on the Growth Programme to know you average Gross Margin across the whole business then use that to calculate a Gross Profit for each strategy.

- If you haven’t got that far and haven’t got any figures for your typical Gross Margin yet then take a guess – if a customer spends 100 with you how much of that do you expect to keep on average? Guess if you have to but make it as good a guess as possible and use that.

Now the crunch, for each strategy you should be able to see how much you are spending and what its bringing in, so get your red pen out and let highlight the good, the bad and if you haven’t stopped them already, the ugly:

- Any strategy where you are spending more than the gross profit its bringing in is unprofitable and should be a serious candidate for stopping as soon as possible. This is you buying pound coins for more than 1. Stop it, keep the money for yourself or invest it more sensibly in better strategies.

- Any strategy where you are spending less than the gross profit you are generating is profitable and you should look at doing more. This is you buying pound coins for less than 1. Once you know that how many do you want to buy? How can we turn up the volume and do more of this?

And that’s it. It’s not that complicated really. You just need to discipline to get the real figures out in black and white and review them on a regular basis.

Keep on top of your measurement and your Marketing can’t help but be more profitable.

Kev Roberts has been helping Small Business Owners grow their business for years and understands the need for simple practical advice of attracting more profitable customers on a limited budget.
For more valuable resources on this topic, and many other challenges that confront independent business owners on a day to day basis, visit the Vert Business Community – providing affordable access to top quality business advice to small business owners

Author: Kev Roberts
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Programmable Multi-cooker

As the Southern Nevada business community continues to feel the strains of a down economy, executives are faced with tough decisions concerning how to cut budgets. One item that is often cut is marketing. While these cuts may appear to have little impact and improve the firm’s bottom line, the inverse is actually true. In fact, cutting marketing budgets is a short-term fix that can have long-term implications on a company’s success.

According to a study by McGraw-Hill Research, companies that consistently advertise even during recessions perform better over the long-term. The study looked at 600 companies from 1980 to 1985. It found businesses that maintained or raised their level of advertising expenditures during the 1981 and 1982 recessions had significantly higher sales after the economy recovered. More specifically, companies that advertised aggressively during the recession had 256 percent higher sales revenue than those that discontinued advertising. A recent article on Forbes.com stated that companies that did not maintain a consistent presence during a past recession actually spent four to five times the amount it saved in marketing to regain its market status.

While budget cuts are necessary and it may be hard to justify large numbers allocated to marketing, it is important to remember that keeping the company’s name in front of customers is important. Public presence can lead to new business, and if you are not appearing, you are disappearing from the market – especially in the eyes of the consumer.

Instead of cutting budgets completely, executives should consider more cost-effective ways to reach audiences. The advertising and marketing industry has changed dramatically over the last five years. Companies are now using a mixture of marketing strategies to reach audiences including online marketing, grassroots outreach, co-branding opportunities and media relations.

One of the most cost-effective solutions is online marketing. With the emergence of digital media and social networks, it’s easier than ever to reach specific audiences directly. By using HTML e-mail campaigns, social media networks, online forums and blogs, and company Web sites, companies are able to post information instantly about new developments and correspond with customers in real time through the Internet. The cost associated with this communication medium is significantly lower than its predecessors, which often included fees to print and/or place collaterals piece or ads. One of the main benefits to online marketing is the ability to track the results through numerous online channels.

The Internet also allows companies the opportunity to participate in ongoing conversations about their industries. Over the last few years, the public relations sector of marketing has expanded to include online blogs and citizen journalists in addition to traditional media outlets. In many instances, companies can secure coverage for a news release or trend story ideas more quickly and with greater control of the initial content.

While it is important to explore new outlets for communicating to your audiences, an economic downturn can provide many opportunities to get more exposure in traditional outlets for less money. Publications are increasingly willing to negotiate on rates for placement advertising than they had been in recent years. Many publications are willing to give companies special pricing on long buys and offer deeply discounted prices on open space once the publication is laid out. Publishers would much rather fill the space at a discount than run the risk of leaving it empty.

In addition to price, companies who remain in the media strengthen their voice. With so many companies cutting budgets and pulling back their marketing efforts, those who remain enjoy more exposure. This is true both in print ad placement as well as media relations activities. With fewer and fewer ads appearing in publications, companies are going from one of many to one of few. Continuing to advertise gives them the opportunity to stand out.

Ad placement is not the only way companies are currently saving money. Printers, promotional vendors, graphic designers and even agencies are adjusting pricing to compete in today’s market.

Marketing during a down economy can be a very strategic business decision for any company. The key is to use an integrated approach that combines a variety of different communications disciplines. Companies should use this time to examine the way they are reaching out to their audiences and adjust accordingly. Maintaining a consistent and effective conversation with customers, especially in times like these, will lead to long-term growth and success for any company.

Kassi Belz, APR,
Director of Client Services,
MassMedia Corporate Communications
http://www.massmediacc.com/

Author: Kassi Belz
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Digital economy, mobile technology

Most solopreneurs I know are not excited by the planning involved in running a successful business. It may be difficult for you to know where your business is going or to put into words your intentions. However, there is no more essential a step to having a successful business than being able to put a business plan together.

In traditional businesses, a business plan is used to approach a bank or other source of funding. Imagine the bank’s response if the company couldn’t describe their goals. Your business has equally important planning needs even if you do not get bank financing (a good thing these days). If you cannot complete the planning process, your business is starting from a disadvantaged position.

The purpose of a business plan is -

* to help you to identify where you are,
* to decide where you want to be,
* to create a pathway that you will use to get there.

Does this sound familiar? It should – because this is exactly the process you must go through to successfully achieve any goal. Would you allow your client to step into a vast, important project without considering the exact destination or the route to take to get there? Of course not!

Your business plan is like your client’s goal – it is a record of all the tasks you must do to succeed as an entrepreneur. Think of it as your guide book that you will use – and change – on a regular basis as you move towards your successful business. This becomes especially important if you do not have a background in business. Walking forward in your business with your eyes wide open and a solid plan in your back pocket can help relieve a great deal of stress and anxiety.

Traditional business plans contain a lot of information. This often includes a company overview; descriptions of services and products; target markets; competition; analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; positioning and marketing strategies; financial plans and contingency plans. Whew – that’s enough to make anyone’s head spin and it is not all necessary for a successful business plan that is not directed towards obtaining financing.

The elements you need in your business plan can be much simpler. Try this outline to produce a clear and simple document – not necessarily more than a few pages long. The current version of my company business plan is three pages long and is still more concise than a traditional business plan.

Fit your planning into these five sections.

Vision – Describe what the business is going to be. What is the dream that you would like to have five years down the road?

Mission – Why are you going to run this business? This is your passion and your intended gift to the world.

Objectives – This is where you describe exactly what you are going to achieve. Describe your product(s), revenue, expenses, client base and size of mailing list. Be detailed and specific.

Strategies – These are the overall techniques you will use to achieve your objectives. How will you reach those prospects and new clients? How will you structure your business and your time?

Action steps - This is a description of all the specific action steps that need to be done to accomplish your objectives. A successful plan will include a timetable for the steps to help you monitor progress. Take your time with this part of the process because this is where the rubber meets the road. Design a plan that is thorough, specific for the needs of your target market and individualized to your personal strengths and preferences.

Once you have a business plan like this in place, you can step forward confidently. This document is a road map for the development of your business. It will work best if you review it for changes every few months and use it regularly as you decide priorities and what tasks need your attention.

Business planning is an easy step with the support of a business coach. Get a free strategy session to review elements of your plan with business coach Janet Slack. Contact Janet at janet@solopreneur.biz to schedule your strategy session now.

Author: Janet Slack
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Humorous photo captions