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Marketing
for Success
For
every small business that succeeds there are nine failures!
After ten years, only 10% of small businesses are still
operating. So why the high failure rate? And, more importantly,
how do you avoid it? Being a small business ourselves we
are tempted to blame corporation tax increases, red tape,
banks and enterprise support policy changes amongst many
in the mix. But maybe success is more in our control than
these other factors suggest. Click
here to read full article.
Eight
Steps to Creating a PR Launch, In-house
Announcing
the launch of your company, new product or service might
seem like a daunting task but as with most things in life,
the simpler you keep it, the better. Click
here to read full article.
How
to maximise the efficiency of your marketing budget in a
downturn
“brands
that maintain or increase marketing spend in a recession
tend to do better than their rivals in the long run.' So
says Hugh Davidson, author of “Offensive Marketing”.
However,
that doesn’t mean keep spending money on arbitrary
advertising and promotions – but looking at how you
can become more efficient without negatively affecting demand
for your products or services. Click
here to read the full article.
Give
your business a Customer Boost
That your best
customers are your existing ones is more true today than
it was when the economy was growing. The common mistake
small businesses make is spending much more time, energy
and resources trying to attract new customers while ignoring
existing ones. Apart from the fact that existing customers
cost less to service and pay premium prices, if you can
therefore develop relationships with existing customers,
they become advocates for you and can refer business - almost
like having an unpaid sales force.
Research shows
that after four purchases, a customer has already referred
up to five people without you having asked for it. Referrals
happen because your customer values the products and service
you provide enough to recommend it to someone else.
Click
here for top tips to encourage this process.
Do
you know who your key influencers are?
Key influencers are the people within or
outside your organisation who can have a positive or negative
impact on your success. Within the organisation they may
be respected individuals who can capture the attention of
people within their sphere of influence. Alternatively they
may have an area of responsibility that is an enabler to
your success. Externally they may be existing customers,
newspaper reporters, politicians, local councilors or members
of a regulatory body – people you may need to work
with, have onside or positively influence in order to ensure
your own success.
Establishing good relations with key influencers
is vital to the success of your organisation. The challenge
is often that there are a great many people who can have
a positive or negative influence over your organisation
but finding the time to spend getting to know or ‘man-marking’
them is often difficult.
Click
here for an exercise to help you identify and prioritise
your key influencers.
