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(Article first published in Apr '10. It has been modified slightly to suit its publication on our site)
If you have recently started your own business or you are thinking of doing so, then this article is for you. In this article I am going to highlight the 5 things that a new-business owner needs to think carefully about before opening their doors to customers:
- Learn The Ropes
Very few people are true "business people"; what I mean is that in most cases we are "technicians" or "experts" in a certain field and because of our vast experience in our chosen subject we think that running a business is a great next step. However, being the best plumber in the country does not make you the best plumbing services business owner!
I am not a business coach, but any good business coach or advisor will tell you that in order to run a successful business you have to learn a whole raft of new disciplines, from accounting to HR and marketing. This is not so that you can do it all yourself, but instead so that you can have a solid conversation with your chosen supplier about any subjects relating to your business.
For instance, the vast majority of people shouldn't learn the very in-depth techniques of optimising a website, but they should know what it means to optimise a website and the top-level techniques used to do so. This helps in finding a supplier to deliver SEO and also to understand what they have done when they deliver the report.
The same goes for design work. Advertising design should take a very specific format and if you understand the top-level principles you can ask the right questions.
- Think About The Intangibles
You might have heard the saying "people buy from people" and it really is true. YOU are your best marketing conversion tool, yet so many people ignore that and go straight for the logos, websites and leaflets without ever building the foundations of their business. That is, they concentrate on the tangibles because the intangibles are difficult to work out.
How you are going to do business? How you will handle customer enquiries and interact with clients both before and after they buy? Are you a jovial down-to-earth person or are you very formal and "business-like"? This sounds like an obvious question, but do you want your business to be a quirky "Confused.com" or a more formal "Bank Of Ireland"? This is important because your marketing elements and materials should reflect the experience people have when they do business with you and too many times business owners get this completely wrong and create a disconnect that confuses customers and often throttles their business.
- Marketing Budget
New businesses forget to think about a marketing budget. Sounds like a crazy oversight seeing as they budget for everything else, like furniture and equipment, etc. But when it comes to their marketing they don't budget. In most cases this is because they don't know how much everything costs and also because most people look at marketing as a cost and so will spend when they need to.
The answer to the first part can be found in point 1; basically find out what everything costs. For the second part, see point 5.
- Marketing Plan
Everyone will tell you to write a business plan and doing so has a great deal of merit, but what is absolutely vital (and will form a part of your business plan) is a marketing plan.
This doesn't have to be a 200 page epic, but could be a one-page plan, but it should contain:
a. Your Target Revenue For The Year
b. Your Marketing Budget For The Year
c. Your Target Customer Base
d. The Activities That You Want To Run Over The Year (Based On Your Target Customer and Budget)
e. The Spend And Activities Split By Quarter (Taking Into Account Any Seasonality That May Impact You
Positively or Negatively).
Remember that your marketing plan is a live document and can be adjusted as you go. So if things are going well you can increase spend and if things are not going so well you can change the plan to suit your new goals.
- Consistency
When things don't go to plan the simplest thing to do is to stop everything and run for cover. DON'T do this. Stick to your plan. I don't mean stick to it blindly, but review your activities and the successes & failures and adjust what needs adjusting, but make sure you keep moving forwards. Inconsistent marketing delivers inconsistent results and creates uncertainty. Both of which you don't want in your business.
Franco De Bonis has worked in the field of sales and marketing promotion since 1990 and was most recently the global marketing manager for a major international technology company before setting up The DG Group in January 2007.
The DG Group is dedicated to delivering all the marketing solutions any company may require. Whether it's a website or leaflets and brochures, or even some product packaging; The DG Group will manage the whole project and even provide guidance along the way.
The content in this section is the original creation of The DG Group and is protected by copyright. You may use this content on your site or in other materials providing you acknowledge The DG Group as the author and include a link to our site.
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