strategy - Kimberly Brewer Strategy & Business Development

“Strong Marketing Plan Series: Step 1: Market Research”

May 10, 2016/3 Comments/in business growth /by buildbizness

In part one of our Strong Marketing Plan Series, we will explore market research—what it is, why it is important, and how you can conduct it to help your small business. To achieve sustainable business growth, you must first get to know your customers, your competitors, and your industry. Market research is the process of analyzing data to help you learn which products and services are in demand, and how you can gain a competitive edge. Many people fail to include this important step in their marketing strategy and dive head first into creating content. It is natural to be eager, but without market research you run the risk of creating the wrong content. As an entrepreneur, you don’t have that time to waste.

By incorporating these 4 dos and don’ts into your marketing plan, you will gain valuable insight that will help you identify business risks, trends in your industry, and sales opportunities.

1 Do: Size Up Your Competition

Before you can play the game, you need to know who your opponents are and how they operate. This can be as simple as running a Google search for popular terms in your industry or searching “top 10 (insert your niche) blogs”. You can also turn to social media and learn who the prominent businesses and influencers are in that space. Who are people following, engaging with through comments, or re-tweeting? Many industry leaders are writing e-books. Visit the Kindle section on Amazon and search with key words to discover which authors are most popular. Keep track of what you learn about your competition on a spreadsheet.

2 Don’t: Assume Your Customer’s Needs

As a business owner, you are a problem solver. But before you can provide your clients with a solution, you need to know what they need help with. To do this, refer back to your list of competitors. Dig a little deeper and visit their websites. What customer problems are they solving? Do they have a list of FAQs? Do the majority of their blog posts address a specific challenge their customers are facing? What are they selling and at what price? Add this information to your spreadsheet. As a result of this research, you may opt to add additional services or change the way you deliver your product. As your business grows, you will have ample opportunity to get creative with product development. However, to ensure success from the start, market something that you are confidant people want.

3 Don’t: Recreate The Wheel

Trade groups, business magazines, academic institutions, government, and other third parties gather and analyze research data about business trends. Internet databases are chock full of information related to your location and industry. In addition, you may already be collecting analytics that you aren’t aware of. If you have a Facebook page for your business, you have access to helpful data about who is clicking and when. The same applies to your blog. Comments are indicators of engagement, but you can also learn a ton from the back end of your platforms. For example, if you embedded an infographic with tracking capabilities, you can monitor every time it is clicked, viewed, shared, and how long each online user viewed it. This wealth of knowledge will afford you a greater understanding of what makes your target market take action. You can then adjust your content accordingly to make it even more relevant.

4 Do: Get To Know Your Customers

While secondary research is critical, it is also important to go straight to the source. This means conducting qualitative primary research such as interviews, surveys, questionnaires, or focus groups. Once you have a group of willing participants, you can design and questions that inform your business plan. You might choose to incorporate questions about a person’s demographic, buying habits, what they dislike about similar products on the market, or what problems motivate them to purchase a product.

Once you have done your market research, you can incorporate it into your marketing plan. You will no longer be throwing a dart while blindfolded, hoping to hit a target. Instead, you will have incredibly valuable information about who your customers are, what they want, and how they are likely to purchase your product or use your services.

Have you been surprised by something you’ve discovered in your market research? If so, please share in the comments below!

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Business Growth Equals Selling…Create and Implement an Effective Sales Strategy

February 2, 2016/4 Comments/in Uncategorized /by buildbizness

If your business involves selling a product, you are probably looking for ways to improve sales. A sales strategy will focus your efforts on your most important customer audiences, existing or potential.

Here are the most important things to keep in mind when designing a sales strategy.

Create a sales plan. Having a document that outlines your sales goals and strategies will help you to stay on track and assess your progress. As you begin to define your sales plan, keep these things in mind:

Sales goals: These goals should be specific and measurable, not something like selling a million units. Base them on the nature of your product and try to break them down into manageable parts. For example, sell 50 units to end-users in 30 days and sell 100 units to local independent retailers in six months.
Sales activities: These are your tactics—how you plan to make the sale. You may say you’ll sell direct-to-consumer through a website or via craft shows, for instance. Or this part of the plan may include activities like developing a sell sheet to send to independent retail stores.
Target accounts: Your sales plan should also include the accounts you want to sell to. If it’s end-users, for example, plan how you’re going to reach them through eBay, classified ads or your website.
Timelines: Put dates to all of the above elements so you can define your steps within a realistic timeline. Don’t forget that your timelines should be fluid; if you’re underachieving, your sales plan can help you figure out why and define the corrective steps you need to take.

Could Your Business Be Failing Due to Branding?

January 27, 2016/in Uncategorized /by buildbizness

Owning your own company is an exhilarating experience for many people. You have finally put your ideas into fruition and you want to get the most out of your company. The only problem is that you fear your business may fall victim to the same thing that many small businesses have succumbed to: that no one will remember it and it fails. Did you know that one of the number one reasons that small businesses (or any business, really) fail is that they don’t have a good brand? Effective branding is one of the most important things you need to do in order to keep your business running full steam ahead.

The first thing you need to do is conduct in-depth marketing research. You need to find out what other companies like yours are doing to make themselves known. Customer preferences and tastes will vary depending on where you open your business and knowing what sets you apart and how to combine the two will put you ahead of the other companies in the area.

Next, you need to offer customers something that is unique, that stands out, and sets you apart. What is it about your proposed company that you can offer to clients that others cannot or what can you give your customers that other companies seem to have a hard time offering? Once you find that unique niche, you can work on the next steps.

Now, you need to choose a brand name that not only stands out but that sets you apart. You want to choose a name that reflects what you feel customers’ needs and desires are, but you also want it to convey your company and what you intend to come from your company. You want a brand name and a message that clearly states what you are about. Consider the industry that you are breaking into and work from there. Are you working in the art industry? Then you don’t want a name that sounds boring. Are you in the legal industry? Then you don’t want an artsy kind of name. Giving your company a name that hones in on what you offer is the best way to start. The key though is to make it unique to you!

Once you establish a name, you need to establish communication with your intended clientele. Did you know that about 85% of communication is non-verbal when it comes to running a small business? Communication is about more than just words. You communicate through emotions, so try to invoke emotions. For example, if you own a resale shop for toddler clothing, you wouldn’t paint the girls section blue, you would paint it pink. You want to set direction and focus through more than just words.

Now that you have established communication, you want to establish consistency. Doing the same thing over and over that works will keep people coming back. Deliver the best customer service time and time again. Have a great resolution center or procedure that others cannot compare to. Keep things new and lively. It will push you far above the rest.

Making The Most Of A Business Coach

January 20, 2016/in Uncategorized /by buildbizness

A business coach is one of the most important things you can have when you are trying to grow your business. It doesn’t matter what industry you are in – strategy & growth need to be top focuses, and often, you cannot do it alone.

Here are some tips to ensure you make the most of a business coach. It’s always a good idea to find someone who has experience. You should also be sure you are establishing a strategy early on.

At B3 Consulting, we have worked with 100+ businesses in a wide range of industries and are in different levels of entrepreneurship. Choosing a business coach is not something you want to take lightly.

Below are three ways to make the most of a business coach.

Be Open to Ideas

Be open to the ideas that they share. They are the coach and you hired them to learn from them. This means you have to be willing to take their ideas and turn them into strategies that are going to help you and ultimately deliver business growth.

Explore New Options

It’s always important to explore new options. We have created all sorts of new ideas for search engine optimization, improved customer engagement, and changed employee infrastructure. If something has not been working for you, there is no reason to keep following that route. Your coach is going to look at the big picture – something that you cannot do because you are too close to it all. They are going to show you new ways of doing things and this can be just what you need to be more successful.

Take Notes

You probably aren’t going to have a business coach in place all the time, throughout the duration of your business. This means you want to listen to what they say and understand the reasons for why they suggest different things. Pay attention to the analysis so that when you hit another bump down the road, you can remedy the situation on your own. When you have plenty of notes from the consulting sessions, it can ensure you know how to tackle problems that you run into.

Not all business coaches are created equally. When you decide you are ready to make a difference and get professional help for building strategies designed to take your business to the next level, you want to hire someone who can truly make a difference and help you achieve your goals are.

Don’t hire a coach and then not be willing to listen or make changes. You want to reach goals and grow your business to be bigger and better. Make the most of your time with a coach by choosing the right one and being open to the suggestions.

Still not convinced about the benefits of business coaching? Remove the risk and sign up for a FREE 30-Minute coaching session!

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SWOT Analysis Can Help With The Growth of Your Business

October 7, 2015/in Uncategorized /by buildbizness

Before planning any marketing strategy, project or venture, a small business owner needs to focus on planning methods as well as the best assessments in order to help their company go forward. SWOT analysis has been proven to be extremely effective, identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the business. By studying this, you will be able to set goals and achieve results.

Here is a look at what goes into the process which will help with small business growth. It will begin with the internal factors, which consist of strengths and weakness, followed by external issues, which are the opportunities and threats that come into play and which one has to be aware of.

Strengths – You will know what does well in terms of sales and how certain employees help with the growth. Keep on focusing on what you are good at and how you can improve on these areas. Clients and customers enjoy good service with some variety in products.

Weaknesses – A business needs to look at various areas where they are suffering. They may not be optimized for the internet and this can bring them down. Even if they do have a website, they need to focus on internet marketing, social media and mobile marketing. Keeping statistics and records over the last couple of months will tell a business where they have not been performing as well. It is also important to look at the way your staff is working because this can bring a business down. Someone with a bad attitude is not going to help with the small business development. Employees should enjoy what they do.

Opportunities – There are always opportunities available in the business sector. However, it is nothing that you can rush into because too big of a risk is going to damage your reputation. This is where planning is important. However, one should always be thinking where the business can expand.

Threats – This could come from other businesses that are similar in nature. Competition is always something to bear in mind and one has to look at strategies which will help the company progress. Once you have found what the problem is, you need to find solutions and this may mean bringing in extra staff having the experience and qualifications. For example a small business may have developed with creative and talented programmers and designers. However, one needs marketers onboard so that word is spread.

There are certain coaching techniques and consulting firms that help with this SWOT analysis. It is not something that you can just suck out of your thumb. It is especially useful to have a professional help you with this should you have something specific to look at, such as new technology or a trend that you want to introduce.

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