It all starts with a great idea and in may ways that is the crux of it, the idea really is just a start. I'm often surprised as to the amount of new entrepreneurs being extremely precious over their ideas. Yes of course there may be merit in this if you have come up with a new technology or invention but nine times out of ten the idea is out there. Access to high quality digital marketing services will also be important. The key element of business success is not so much the idea or the business plan, but the various processes, the people and the commitment that goes into the business becoming a success. The and of course the ability for te business to gain access to business funding when they needed it. Give the same idea to 10 people and only one or two will make a success out of it. If you have a look at the way Richard Branson and his Virgin group of companies have created success then its mostly the way that they took existing ideas and added value to it.
Your business may be based on a hobby or skill, but to make it a success you need a market big enough to support it. Research potential markets thoroughly from the very beginning.
In addition, joining business forums will help you network and grow your customer base. Social networking sites, for example, are becoming an increasingly popular means of reaching out to new markets in order to find new clients.
It might sound obvious, but it is important to know what it is that you offer. There will be countless competitors around the globe eager to service your customers. You should also be thinking about positioning yourself in and around their territory. What is your unique selling point? What can you offer to make your business more attractive than your competitors? Put yourself in the shoes of a potential customer - why should your target audience buy from you? To grow smoothly and stand out from the crowd, you need to know what makes you different from the rest.
Base your prices on what people are prepared to pay, not your costs. Add value to what you provide wherever possible. Remember that, while everyone likes a bargain and customers want as much ‘bang for their buck’ as possible, few people associate bargain basement prices or free offerings with value. Equally, they are unlikely to want to buy in bulk at exorbitant prices.
Knowing the price your competitors charge and bettering them is key to you retaining existing customers, as well as attracting new ones. Charging more than what your market can afford will only mean what you provide will be harder to sell.
Taking your product or service to market is never a one-off task. In order to secure and successfully grow sales and orders you must continually approach potential customers without alienating them.
A famous quote has it that advertising “works 50% of the time - the trick is to work out which 50%”. It is crucial to adopt a strategic approach to advertising. Think of your target markets: which publications do they read? What television and radio programmes do they consume? Think laterally - where do they socialise? Who do they talk to? Work out the answers to these key questions – and of course decide on your budget – before planning an advertising campaign.
With PR, there is always the possibility of achieving publicity in local and even national newspapers and trade magazines. However, this is dependent on you having a good story. Understand what journalists (even business journalists) want. Don’t try and pass off a thinly concealed or obvious product promotion for your business as a story. Reporters are a savvy bunch. Your press release will be deleted or binned and you will quickly get a bad name.
Ask yourself: what is the real-world problem being solved or made better thanks to you and your company? What are the political, commercial and economic threats or barriers that get in the way?
The benefit of proactive PR over direct advertising is cost. It can be much less expensive, even if you employ a PR agency or consultant. The downside is that you do need to make more of an effort to be relevant. As well as general news stories, you can also consider writing expert columns. These may not be of interest to the print media at a time when paginations are well down, but there are many websites that will readily take well-written and credible articles.
With the emergence of the internet as a major force in new media, having a website is one of the cheapest, most cost effective ways to grow and promote your business. Even if you cannot afford a fancy website, a single page with your contact details is better than nothing. To repeat, social media and online networking are increasingly being seen as invaluable ingredients in the ‘marketing mix.
Your drive, commitment and determination to succeed as an entrepreneur is in many ways 90% of what will make or break your business. Find something that inspires you and make you come alive, assign the necessary commitment, drive and energy to it, understand your clients needs and what will make them buy and you will find that half the race is won already. Enjoy!
The start of the year brings a new mind set, a fresh start. As an entrepreneur its the perfect opportunity to renew your passion and enthusiasm for the business that you are running or are looking to start. Many would be entrepreneurs will take this opportunity to get your business plan written, find the business finance that you need or look for that business partner that will get you past the obstacles you have been facing thus far.
In many ways this is also the best time to forget about failures and ensure you move on and improve the way you do things the next time round. Its time to evolve as an entrepreneur. And that needs to start now!
So what are some of the resolutions you may be making?
Focus on the client
Relentless focus on what the client wants will ensure that you not only take time to understand your clients but also that you give them WHAT THEY WANT. To often do we get caught up into what we want to/can provide while not focusing on what the client wants. Whatever your views on clients - they are the source of revenue for your business so they have to come first.
Take a Risk
Over the past two years, it may have felt that every business decision you made was a risk. Since the market was topsy-turvy and the stocks were diving, you might have felt that just being in business was success enough. It’s not. If you want to thrive in your market, no matter what it is, you need to step up, take a deep breath, and take a risk. You need to do something or say something that NO ONE else has thought of. Or you might want to just do something so insane that people can’t help but talk to you. Risks are exactly why you became an entrepreneur…stop playing things safe this year.
Be Ready for a Stormy Day
That said, having some funds saved up for a rainy day is a good idea too. You want to take risks without having to resort to Ramen noodles for your meals. Each time you get paid, pay your savings account first, then the rest of your bills. It’s going to seem like a lot at first, but once you see that nest egg grow and your blood pressure go down, you’ll see just how important it is to stop spending it all today. You want to have a future, don’t you?
Know Your Market
If you don’t know your market by now, you need to start yesterday. Each and every person that comes to your website, your store, or your Facebook page needs to be someone you know. Even if you don’t know what their middle name is, you need to know their hopes, their dreams, their education level, their income, etc. You need to know who you’re trying to persuade to buy your products. If you don’t know who you’re selling to, you may not be using the most effective sales tactics. For example, if you’re trying to market to a group that’s never on Facebook via a Facebook fan page, you’re not going to get a lot of return on that investment. Get to know your customers through surveys, market research, and talking to loyal customers.
Adapt, Adapt, Adapt
You can’t simply put something out into the market and expect it to be perfect forever. You change, the market changes, and the world changes. For example, today, you can buy your books to read on an e-reader. While this doesn’t seem like a big change, this also means that you should sell any informational products in that e-reader format since that’s what customers will be looking for. Be aware of the changes in your market, adapt your services to them, and see what happens. You don’t have to change your entire business to stay effective.
Look at what the market wants, what the market has, and how your business can stay caught up.
Spread Out
If the last few years taught businesses anything, it’s that you need to spread your marketing out. You need to make sure that you’re not just advertising via mailing lists, but also on Facebook, on Twitter, etc. There are a number of ways you can post your information in all of these spots at the same time, so don’t think this is going to take up a lot of your time. That’s not an excuse. What you will want to do is to find as many social media markets as possible and make sure that your company message and brand are there. You can’t be singularly minded anymore.
Take some time to think of and put an action plan in place to ensure you resolutions are not left behind the first time the going gets tough. Entrepreneurs are a hardy bunch and if you are really passionate about your business you will start TODAY!
As a business owner or entrepreneur you are often reminded that you need to be different or unique in order to be successful. You need to have Unique selling proposition any consultant will tell you and you need to be doing something different from all the other businesses out there. While there will of course be some merit in this advice, its not necessarily the holy grail when it comes to starting up a new business.
When it comes to raising business finance many business angels and VC firms will be happy of there are a number of other already successful competitors out there. This after all will mean that there is demand and a real possibility that if you do things right your business may also be raking in the profit soon.
There's no question that an element of uniqueness in your marketing can make your business more memorable, competitive, and special to your target audience. These are all reasons why being different can be good. But how different should you be?
A student in one of my classes had noticed there were no display ads for management consultants in his local Yellow Pages. "What a great opportunity," he thought, "to make my business stand out to prospective clients." He spent over R2000 per month on a large ad for a full year. The result was not a single phone call, unless you count the ones from vendors trying to sell him photocopiers and phone systems.
He had neglected to ask his consulting colleagues WHY none of them had ads in the Yellow Pages. It seemed like a good idea to him, and no one else was doing it, so he pulled out his checkbook. What never occurred to him -- and what any experienced colleague could have told him -- was that companies don't choose management consultants from ads in the phone book.
Sometimes you can be too unique for your own good. There's a lot in sales and marketing that is tried and true. If you decide to forge a completely new trail, you may be attempting an experiment that many others in your field have already tried with no success.
It's not always just your marketing techniques that are a little too different. The same problem can afflict the product or service you are marketing.
I met a fellow while networking who had a "unique process" for helping companies resolve conflicts between employee groups. When I asked him to explain his process, he said I would have to experience it to understand it. I inquired how it compared to solutions like mediation or team building, and he told me it was a totally different approach that defied comparison.
Since I knew a company that needed help with a problem like the one he described, I would have liked to refer him. But I couldn't picture myself calling my friend at the company to say, "Hi, I know someone who says he can fix your problem, but he can't explain how. You'll just have to hire him and see."
Being noticeably different from the competition can help you attract customers and close sales. But claiming that you have no competition is naive. Comparisons to a known quantity can help prospective customers understand where your product or service fits in the range of solutions they are considering. If they can't compare it to anything, it's doubtful that they will be able to see how your offering could work.
Your market, too, needs to be a group of people who already exist and can be readily identified. A reader once wrote to ask me for some advice on getting her new book published. I asked what market category it fell into, and she replied that she hadn't really thought about it.
I pressed her bit, explaining that her book needed to be categorized in order to be marketed and sold. Even something as simple as where to shelve it in a bookstore depended on having a category to print on the back cover. Was it self-help, spirituality, careers, business? Who did she see as the audience for her book?
She asserted that she was creating a new paradigm, and if I was going to help her, I needed to think more creatively. My reply was to tell her I couldn't help her at all. Her idea may have been brilliant, but no publisher was going to touch her project.
Creating the perception that your product or service is one of a kind can help you capture people's attention and make them remember you. But you have to be able to identify the people you want to reach and communicate how you can be of service in words they can understand.
You know those car commercials that go, "Zoom, zoom, zoom?" I had to see those ads dozens of times before I could remember that the car being advertised was a Mazda. "Zoom" was unique alright, but what did it have to do with Mazda? Or with the benefits of owning one? A catchy slogan like "Inspiration Beats Perspiration" may be clever and unusual, but what the heck is it marketing?
Definitely look for a unique way to express the benefits you offer to your clients, but make sure it still communicates what you actually do. It's okay to get creative with your marketing, but don't bet the rent money on untried techniques.
If you really want to make your marketing more effective, cheaper and less stressful, stop re-inventing the wheel. Find models that work and replicate them. I'm not suggesting that you plagiarize your competitors' marketing copy, but when you see someone successful in your field, find out what they are doing right, and follow their lead.
Don't let your business be a victim of "terminal uniqueness" -- the belief that you are so different from anyone else that none of the rules apply to you. Being distinctive is good; being eccentric can be unwise.
