The Silent Avatar Speaks

Every business owner knows that the key to success is how well you market your business. Your business is not any different. Your success depends on your marketing strategies.

There are many different marketing techniques, all with their own price tag attached to them, and no matter what your business you will need to develop a marketing plan that generates sufficient customers to reach your goals. No customers = no sales = no growth = failed business. Even if you are not growing you are failing as there are many other businesses to step into your shoes and take your spot.

Using many different marketing techniques will quickly drain your bank account. Your first goal will be to determine how you can reach the most people for the least amount of money.

Here is one internet marketing technique that is cost efficient and a little more adventurous for you the “Business Owner.”

Become an Expert

What is your business? Look around at your competition. How do they present themselves to the general public? How can you present yourself differently?

Go buy a local newspaper, local magazine, listen to your local radio station; watch your local TV station. Are any of your competitors currently marketing themselves as an expert in your field? Too often we get bogged down ion our own business to keep in touch with what other businessess are doing in the marketplace.

I suggest you contact your local media and discuss the various ways that you could work with them. Local newspapers and magazines will have opportunities to write “Advice” articles. Local radio and TV stations may have talk shows that could host you weekly or monthly.

Contact the various local organisations that are looking for speakers for their monthly luncheons. Your Chamber of Commerce is an ideal place to start. Join your Chamber and get an article about you and your business published in their monthly magazine.

Study your customers and choose the type of media that would reach them. Talk to your current customers and ask them to give you their opinion about which area you should market in. Find out what they listen to and what they read, and what organizations they belong to.

What type of personality do you have?

Make sure that your personality matches your marketing strategy. Radio and TV would be a perfect match for you if you enjoy speaking in front of people, have an outgoing personality and a voice that carries well. Newspaper and magazine article writing will be perfect for you if you do not enjoy speaking in front of groups.

Becoming an expert in your area of business will not take years to achieve. Stay on top of the latest news about your business. Subscribe to trade publications to keep informed about new trends. The Internet offers many ways to stay informed on any topic.

The key to becoming an expert is to take the knowledge you have and the new information received and decide how your customers can benefit from this information. Not all news is beneficial to your customers.

Your goal is to cause your customers to look at you as the one to come to when they need what you are selling. You want them to refer their family and friends to you.

Don’t be shy. Go out there and market yourself as the expert that you are. The more exposure that you receive, the more exposure your business will receive.

I’m the silent avatar and I have spoken

Tags: Internet Marketing, Marketing and Advertising, Online Business, Promotion and Marketing, Tools For Your Business by the silent avatar
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Just What is a Marketing Plan?
A marketing plan includes a list of actions needed to accomplish marketing targets. It can be for a product, a service or a brand. There are marketing plans for short term goals – 1 year, and long term goals – five years.

A marketing plan might be part of an overall business plan, and a good marketing strategy is the basis of a well-written marketing plan.

Why does a Business Venture necessitate a Marketing Plan?
A marketing plan is an invaluable tool for guiding a small home based business owner to organise their marketing efforts. It ensures a systematic technique to creating products and services to meet and gratify customers’ needs.

How to write a Marketing Plan
Drawing up a marketing plan is not difficult. Focus on the goals and the efforts needed to achieve them.   Your goals need to be stated clearly in the marketing plan.

Remember that a good marketing plan sets clear, realistic, achievable and measurable objectives. It should consist of deadlines, a budget and allotment of responsibilities.

Marketing Plan Outline
A basic marketing plan outline may comprise of these topics:

Current Market Analysis
Depict the current market environment which your business is in. This analysis can later be used as a benchmark to fine-tune the marketing plan in the future.

Define your SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis and also the PEST (Political, Economic, Social, Technological) analysis tools, write a short description of the current product or service available, the marketing benefits and barriers the business could come across. Contemplate the threats posed by competitors and also consider other factors that could affect the business in the year to come. This may aid in the formulation of strategies in the future.

Target Market
Every product or service needs a market. This explains why customer analysis in marketing plans is essential to its success. The product could be directed at the online market as well as the conventional offline market.

It could be targeted at the general public or it could be aimed at a niche market. For an online market the analysis should include reasons why people shop online.Once a target market is selected, write a target market profile based on demographics and include selection yardsticks.

Marketing Objectives
Express your business’s marketing goals for the coming year. The targets should be specific, realistic and measurable to asses the marketing progress. Avoid vague statements like, “Increase indoor sales” Incorporate specifics instead – “Increase indoor sales by 25%.”

Strategies to Achieving Objectives
If the marketing goal is to boost indoor sales by 25% then a strategy has to be developed to meet this end. For example, there could be special a promotion for walk-in clients. This promotion can be marketed via an emailed weekly newsletter to clients. The strategies should be detailed and cover the 4P’s of marketing -

• Price
• Product
• Place
• Promotion.

Marketing Budget
Putting into affect marketing strategies to fulfill marketing objectives costs money and it’s just plain stupidity to think that you can have an online presence and just by the mere fact that you are online and have been indexed by the search engines you will have a successful business.

There’s a saying… spend some money to make some money. Create a breakdown of marketing connected expenses associated with the strategies. Have a look at the numbers and decide if it is too much. Do not be afraid to lower or revise the budget until a feasible figure is achieved – and then make sure you stick to it. Don’t be tempted to buy yourself the latest “toy”.  You are growing your business so you can have as many toys as you want.. but only when your marketing has paid off.

Bear in mind that a marketing plan should remain a constant process throughout the life of a company.

Revise your marketing plan at least every 6 months, and for goodness sake… track where your results are coming from! Analyse, analyse, analyse!

I’m the Silent Avatar… and I have spoken

Tags: Business Tips, Business and Management, Internet, Internet Marketing, Marketing and Advertising by the silent avatar
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What is a Marketing Plan?
A marketing plan contains a list of actions needed to accomplish marketing goals. It may be for a product, a service or a brand. There are marketing plans for short term goals – 1 year, and long term goals – five years.

A marketing plan could be part of an overall business plan format. A good marketing strategy is the foundation of a good marketing plan.

Why does a Small Home Business require a Marketing Plan?
A marketing plan can help a small home based business owner to focus his marketing efforts. It ensures a systematic technique to developing products and services to meet and gratify customers’ needs.

How to create a Marketing Plan
Creating a marketing plan is not hard to do. Center on the content and do not fret too much about the writing style. Center on the goals and the initiatives required to realize them need to be stated clearly in the marketing plan. Bear in mind that a good marketing plan sets clear, realistic, achievable and measurable goals. It should provide deadlines, a budget and allocation of responsibilities.

Marketing Plan Outline
A basic marketing plan outline may include these topics:

Current Market Analysis
Explain the current market condition which the organization is in. This can later be used as a benchmark to tweak the marketing plan in the future. By using a marketing plan SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis and also the PEST (Political, Economic, Social, Technological) analysis tools, write a basic description of the current product or service offering, the marketing advantages and obstacles the business could experience. Consider the threats posed by competitors and also consider other factors that could affect the company in the year ahead. This will help in the formulation of strategies later on.

Target Market
Certainly every product or service needs a market. This explains why customer analysis in marketing plans is of paramount importance to its success. The product could be directed at the internet market as well as the offline market. It could be directed at the general public or it could be directed at a niche market. For an online market the analysis should include internet shopping stats.Once a target market is chosen, write a target market profile based on demographics and include qualifying benchmarks.

Marketing Objectives
List the company’s marketing goals for the coming year. The goals should be specific, realistic and measurable in order to asses the marketing progress. Avoid unspecific statements like, “Increase indoor sales.” Include specifics instead – “Increase indoor sales by 25%.”

Strategies to Achieving Objectives
If the marketing aim is to grow indoor sales by 25% then a strategy has to be devised to meet this objective. For instance, there could be special a promotion for walk-in consumers. This promotion may be marketed via an emailed weekly newsletter to consumers. The strategies should be comprehensive and cover the 4P’s of marketing – Price, Product, Place, Promotion.

Marketing Budget
Executing marketing strategies to reach marketing goals costs money. Create a breakdown of marketing connected expenses associated with the strategies. Have a look at the numbers and decide if it is too big. Do not be afraid to rescale or revise the budget until a viable figure is attained.

Keep in mind that a marketing plan must remain a constant process throughout the life of a company. Marketing plans should adapt to changes in environment in order to remain applicable.

Tags: Online Business, Promotion and Marketing by the silent avatar
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Happy New Year! And welcome to my first blog post for 2008.

My intention over the next 12 months is to supply you with quality articles, tips and news to grow your business.

I welcome any feedback or questions on my blog posts.

Let’s all have a great year and get moving towards a bigger and better online business.

New Year’s Eve was raining cats and dogs so I decided to stay in and watch the New Years fireworks on TV.

It’s a spectacular sight watching the fireworks – even more so if you are on Sydney Harbour watching from one of the many vantage points along the harbour foreshore. I silently wished I was there with the other million plus people. It’s truly a sight not to be missed.

My interest peaked after the celebrations had finished with the first advertisement of the year. No doubt a captive audience was high on the agenda (what other night would so many people still be up late?)

What was the first advertisement for 2008?

None other than a telco company offering fireworks screen savers for your mobile phone (or cell phone as they say in the US).

I’ve got to hand it to the marketers who plan ahead and capture every possibility to market to their target audience, and I couldn’t help but admire the opportunity some enterprising marketer took to “seize the moment”.

It’s was obvious they had thought about what to market well before the date, and put into place an opportunity to capture the market and sell their product.

So while we are all getting over New Year’s celebrations dedicated marketers were sitting back gleefully rubbing their hands together and counting the fruits of their labour over the previous months.

Now some may call it blatant commercialism. I say it’s clever. After all.. isn’t it every business goal to target their market and do it in such a way they make the most of it?

So here’s my quick formula for increasing your business.

Opportunities + Good Planning = Desired Outcomes

And let’s face it every holiday, every celebrated event is an Internet marketing opportunity.

If you haven’t given any thought to capitalising on these “business opportunities” sprinkled throughout the year, now is the time to get out your pen and paper and plan for these events.

Start brainstorming how your business can “piggyback” on yearly celebrations and events, and make it a priority to plan your marketing to coincide with them.

Consider your products and how you can entice purchasers with offers and deals to bring in the extra bucks.

Give your marketing plan the attention it deserves and work towards completion.

Remember the saying… “If you fail to plan then you plan to fail”.

As I write this today my inbox is stuffed full with New Year offers.

Diligent Internet marketers have produced products all geared around the New Year – and why not? My inbox clearly shows who’s on the ball and who isn’t.

Carpe Diem I say!

Tags: Business Tips by the silent avatar
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