Now's the time to plan for your firm's success in 2011
Halfway through December, you know how your business' year will wind up which makes this an ideal time to consider what it will take to make 2011 a better year. Here are some ideas to mull over:
• In light of what the Great Recession did to your marketplace, take a fresh look at your business' strengths. When you know what truly sets your business apart from its competitors, hammer your advantage home in marketing-sales-advertising.
• Really do check out your most important customers. Make certain they've survived the recession with enough resources to remain on your VIC (very important customers) List.
• If you rely on suppliers that build what you sell or supply components your business assembles, check them out, too. You don't want a supplier's weakness to be the glitch in your customer's supply chain.
• Determine whether social media Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and the like have a place in your marketing scheme. You need to know whether your customers and prospects are likely to hang out on Facebook, for example; if so, create a plan to reach them within the boundaries of Internet etiquette.
Balance the still-coolness of social media marketing against the fact that doing social media well takes considerable time. Maybe your time and effort would be more productive elsewhere.
• Look at the employment market. With so many once-valued workers still looking, you might be able to find a gem in the unemployment lines. Consider seniors, whose experience you perhaps can tap for relatively low, part-time cost.
• Look at your website as though you were a customer. Does your website sell? Does it present your product, or service, in a manner that will make site visitors want to buy?
Is it easy for visitors to find what they want on your website? For that matter, is your website easy to find? Web customers are in a huge hurry; they won't look long to find your website, and, once they've arrived, they won't look long for the information or product they came to see.
If there's a “No” of “Hmmm” answer to these questions, fix your website.
• Take another look at traditional media. The e-version of the old print newsletter can be an extremely valuable selling tool, quicker and less costly to produce and deliver. Look again at newspaper advertising, local radio, cable TV, even doorhangers.
Match media, new and old, with your target customers and sell away.
• Get help if you need it, even if the help is just a friendly conversation. From no-fee Small Business Development Centers and SCORE to pay-us consultants and advisers, there are good sources available.
E-mail me. I know lots of people.
• Contact Jim Kendall at JKendall@121Marketing Resources.com. © 2010 121 Marketing Resources, Inc.