Posted by marianchapman on October 17, 2010 under Business Planning, Marketing, Strategic Planning | 
How to find your way around the marketing maze
On an average day we are all bombarded with marketing from all directions. Advertising messages on trucks, vans, cars, roadside hoardings, bus stops, posters in shop windows, radio and TV ads, text messages promoting products, marketing via email and in the post, every item with labeling we pick up is marketing something. Then there are ads on supermarket trolleys even on the floor in the aisles! Look up and you can sometimes see promotions on balloons and blimps, then there are all the ads via search engines and on websites and ads in online and printed directories, magazines and newspapers and even inserts into publications. The humble business card is also a form of marketing.
Just about the only way advertisers cannot get to you is in your sleep it seems. Wonder how long it will be before someone works out a way to sell advertising via our dreams?
All this adds up to a huge amount of opportunity – potentially – but most business owners find it actually adds up to a huge amount of confusion. Often meaning that it is easier to do nothing rather than risk spending money and time doing the wrong thing.
Of course some businesses know exactly where their business comes from but for the rest of us…
Why, who, where and when
So what is the answer? The start point is not where to advertise but why and to whom. First work out:
• What your business needs to achieve, this might be as simple as sell more to existing customers or sell more to new customers. Could be both. That’s the why. Put some numbers in this part of the plan either as percentages, turnover or profit.
• Then determine who your best prospects are, try to develop a feel for them as people (a brief pen portrait can help) including what they might read, look at, listen to. If you have good relationships with existing customers ask them.
• This will help you determine which channel(s) to use for your marketing. At this stage you will have to accept that nothing is guaranteed and a period of test and learn is fine (so long as you set up tracking methods so you do learn).
That brings us to where and when:
• The work you’ve done to determine who to aim your marketing at will give you a good indication of which channels to use and your testing will refine that. Often more than one channel works well for example ads in the local press coupled with a mailing and follow up by phone will get your brand known and the direct mail contact (but only if followed up) will gain you meetings at which to close the sale. Or maybe a PR campaign with regular Tweets will reach your target audience.
• When is relatively Location Premier Bank easy – your business may have in-built seasonality or quiet periods. Plan your marketing activity accordingly or consider fairly continual marketing such as networking or pay per click ads.
We have not covered one of the most important aspects of marketing in this blog – the messages. We will cover that next time.
In the meantime you could start on your plan but bear in mind that marketing is not a tap you turn on and out pours business however if you have a plan – and stick to it – over time (sometimes a short time) it will deliver return on investment and help you meet your business goals.
Free Resources
Marketing-Simply – A Guide to Marketing for SMEs –
Business Plan Template – Cashflow Template – Start Up Guide
Guide To Strategic Planning – Small Business Guide
www.ukba.co.uk
Posted by martinparry on October 5, 2010 under Business Planning, Marketing, Sales, SME News, Start Ups, Strategic Planning |
20 Years of marketing management in such corporate giants as Rover Group, AT&T and ntl: taught me little about the marketing and development needs of SMEs. The objectives and imperatives of such companies are light years away from the focus and immediacy displayed by small companies who rarely have a clear view of their objectives and strategies preferring to move forward on a day to day basis. This lack of clarity and simplicity however was not totally new to me. Before my marketing career among the corporate giants I had owned and managed business within the Travel, Leisure and Computer Services sectors and was very aware for the need to generate profitable sales at minimum investment in cash and time based on clear and simple objectives.
The size of business and market sector however has little impact on the essential truths of business marketing. All need to deliver the right products competitively but profitably priced; backed up by effective promotion and communication and supported by everyone in the business to deliver the best possible customer service and positive messages. It is therefore vital to remember that marketing is not the responsibility of a single part of the business tasked with generating enquiries. Marketing, like quality, is the responsibility of everyone. There is no point in investing thousands of pounds in websites, brochures and advertising if the installation engineers are scruffy and unhelpful!
This holistic marketing approach is reflected in a number of projects on which I have worked. The first example is a business that imported and distributed electric and woodworking tools to hobby modellers. Distributing via a team of sales agents to the retail industry my client had a respectable and profitable turnover of circa £3m. Family owned, the problem was that the business was not thriving. It hadn’t grown in years and chairman dad wanted to retire and was pressuring CEO son to deliver the growth that would enable him to do so.
The whole business was flabby! Dispatch from the warehouse was slow; sales unremarkable; too many customers buying too little. The company lacked direction, strategy and meaningful targets. Working with the board we undertook a complete review of the business resulting in a re-organisation of the sales team; a sharp knife taken to the retail customers cutting out those who failed to reach sales targets, focussing on those willing to respond positively to a new retail incentive scheme. As far as delivery was concerned, we invested in the distribution centre reducing average dispatch from 5 days to 1 thus allowing us to improve customer service; speed invoicing and improve cash flow by cutting stock and debtor days. All this activity was underpinned the identification of management criteria and reporting available at management meetings and ensured that senior management took responsibility for their delivery.
As a result sales revenue grew; profitability improved and morale throughout business recovered rapidly. Since the completion of this project the business has been successfully sold for a good sum; dad has retired and son is a senior director of the new expanded business.
A second project involved a larger business, circa £10m revenue working in motor components. They manufactured suspension systems for manufacturers like GM, Land Rover and Scania. Their problem was simply despite having a number of successful product lines they had identified a product gap during 2011 – 2012 and wanted to develop a product to fill it. The excellent management team had discussed this on several occasions but had failed to agree. And it is true to say that my suggestion to ask the staff was met with a degree of scepticism. However I was given a team made up of machine operators and junior supervisors and we set to work.
Our task was to make new product recommendations that would make maximum use of existing skills and resources within the company. Three days was spent brainstorming the project and undertaking detailed SWOT and PEST examinations of each idea put forward. After hard work from all involved I was given 10 product ideas to put to the leadership team. Of these, three were adopted by the business for initial development and my team were asked to be heavily involved in programmes that ultimately delivered two new and profitable products for the business.
My purpose in selecting these two case studies for discussion was simply to demonstrate the truism that marketing is not websites, brochures or social networking. Marketing works at a strategic level within businesses to deliver high quality, profitable products and services by a trained and motivated team of people led by those who have a clear commitment to the company’s objectives. Lack of sales is often blamed on the web site or the sales manager. As advisors and consultants we should be prepared to look much deeper than that!
Sc: martin.parry@mgba.co.uk
Free Resources
Marketing-Simply – A Guide to Marketing for SMEs –
Business Plan Template – Cashflow Template – Start Up Guide
Guide To Strategic Planning – Small Business Guide
www.ukba.co.uk
Posted by John Alves on September 28, 2010 under Business Planning, HR, Legal, Operations, SME News, Strategic Planning |
The future of many small businesses is in jeopardy because their managers are failing to adopt basic business practices, according to recent research.
The survey, which was conducted by Simply Business, found widespread evidence of inadequate financial management, an absence of basic business planning coupled with uninformed decision-making and totally inadequate employment policies.
29% of SME bosses admit to keeping inadequate checks on their company finances due to competing pressures on their time but the picture is likely to be worse than this, with detailed balance sheets and profit and loss forecasts only being reviewed every 18 weeks, on average. In addition, managers are failing to perform basic due diligence on customers and suppliers; 65% don’t credit check new customers, whilst 76% don’t check existing customers requesting to extend their credit terms. 30% have no formal contract at all with their business customers.
The research shows that business planning is also lacking; 54% of the businesses surveyed have no written business plan, and 68% have no detailed plans for coping with unforseen changes in the operating environment. When it comes to decision-making, 68% of those questioned say they rely primarily on gut instinct; only 56% perform any first hand market research, whilst a mere 54% consult the company accounts to inform their decision.
Finally, the survey shows that inadequate employment practises are leaving millions of SMEs exposed to the risk of costly legal action. 21% have no formal contracts for their permanent employees and 79% have no dedicated person to handle HR operations. This is reflected in the fact that 40% of firms have no formal, written HR policy while 46% have no formal health and safety policy.
Jason Stockwood, CEO of SimplyBusiness.co.uk, commented:
“Limited time and resources are characteristic of growing businesses, and the recession will have stretched UK entrepreneurs further than ever before – understandably, Location Cass Commercial Bank many have become so focused on working in the business, that their time working on the business may have suffered as a result.
“Those entrepreneurs left standing have successfully managed their firms through the credit crisis, but can not now afford to expose their companies to easily avoidable risk.”
Source: Mike Symes
www.smebusinessnews.co.uk
Free Resources
Marketing-Simply – A Guide to Marketing for SMEs –
Business Plan Template – Cashflow Template – Start Up Guide
Guide To Strategic Planning – Small Business Guide
www.ukba.co.uk
Posted by martinparry on May 26, 2010 under Business Planning, Finance, Grants, Loans, Resources, SME News, Start Ups, Strategic Planning |
According to an article in Regen.net The Treasury has announced that England’s regional development agencies will have to save £270 million in the current financial year through “ending lower value spending”.
Setting out how the coalition government intends to save £6.2 billion in 2010/11, chief secretary to the Treasury David Laws said that RDAs will “have to cut back on spending which has the lowest economic impact”.
A document published by the Treasury following the announcement said that the budget for the RDAs would have to provide £270 million of savings in 2010/11 “from ending lower value spending”.
Laws said: “Tough decisions are being made … Quangos across government will have to make major savings in their budgets.”
A spokeswoman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said that no decisions had been made yet on how the cuts would be spread across England’s nine RDAs.
But speaking in Warrington last week, new business secretary Vince Cable picked out the South-East England Development Agency (Seeda) and the East of England Development Agency (Eeda) as examples of RDAs whose existence is hard to justify.
Cable was quoted by the Financial Times as saying: “It is very difficult to see the justification for RDAs in the South-East and East, prosperous regions with a large private sector.
“There are areas like the North-West, Yorkshire and the West Midlands, where there are really serious structural problems and there seems to be a broad agreement with local businesses that the RDAs are doing a good job.”
Sc: www.regen.net Sc: www.ukba.co.uk
Free Resources
Marketing-Simply – A Guide to Marketing for SMEs –
Business Plan Template – Cashflow Template – Start Up Guide
Guide To Strategic Planning – Small Business Guide
www.ukba.co.uk
Posted by martinparry on May 12, 2010 under Business Planning, SME News, Strategic Planning |
Last month EnterQuest carried out its latest subscriber survey of small business owners to identify the issues that are causing the most concern in the year ahead, irrespective of which party will form a new government. We also asked for views about business owners’ own abilities and weaknesses, where they might require support, and who they preferred to turn to for help and advice.
Survey participants were mainly service-based enterprises with between one and nine employees in a wide range of sectors and professions ranging from design, consultancy, tourism, cleaning, training, crafts, security, advertising, childcare, IT, complementary therapy, catering and retail.
The headline results reveal that business owners are most concerned about tax, business rates, red tape and business costs – with 80% of respondents saying they were quite concerned or very concerned about each of those particular issues. Respondents were least concerned about finding skilled/qualified staff and IT/technology issues. The weakest reported skill was in sales and marketing, with one in three business owners saying they were quite weak or very weak in this area.
For more details about this survey, click here
Sc: Cobweb Infornation for Business Sc: www.ukba.co.uk
Free Resources
Marketing-Simply – A Guide to Marketing for SMEs –
Business Plan Template – Cashflow Template – Start Up Guide
Guide To Strategic Planning – Small Business Guide
www.ukba.co.uk
