You,know,when,your,business,fa marketing You know when your business is failing when...
Automation technologies represent a fundamental aspect of any modern industry. The major types of industrial automation solutions, such as DCS, PLC, SCADA, and MES, are used on a large-scale in process and discrete industries.DCS technologie Awhile ago, I got an email from one of the "gurus" I follow and it shocked me. The gist of it was this person wanted to trade services for a household item.To say it floored me would be an understatement.What was worse was a few days later t
You have permission to publish this article electronicallyor in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.YOU KNOW YOUR BUSINESS IS FAILING WHEN by Joann Marsili © 2001Over the years, we have talked with many different types of businesses. The businesses having the most difficulty being successful inevitably have the same type of issues.YOUR BUSINESS IS FAILING WHEN YOU....Assume Everyone Already Knows What Your Business Is -- Just hang out your shingle and everyone will come running, right?Wrong! People won't notice you unless you take the time to interest them in what you do. Consumers or businesses are very busy just trying to go about their business. Tell everyone what you are doing, give everyone your business card, and volunteer to give presentations in your specialty. In addition, don't qualify people indiscriminately -- tell EVERYONE! The bank teller may have a brother who is looking for exactly your product. You never know where or how networking connections are made.When people do express an interest, get their name, address, and phone number and start a database of potential clients. These people have pre-qualified themselves and you need to find out how to sell your product to them. If you sell to consumers, you might gather names through business-card drawings, guest books, etc. If you sell to other businesses, you might run promotional seminars or sign up to display at a trade show. DON'T PUT TOGETHER A MARKETING PLAN Who needs to market a business? I'm in a great location and I can't afford the expense, right? Wrong! Marketing is the lifeblood of your business. There's an old saying that goes "nothing happens until you make a sale." If you have no one to make a sale to, you don't have a business. Marketing dollars are not an expense; it is an investment in the success of your business. Plan a monthly marketing budget and then look for ways to cost-effectively use your dollars. The decision on where to allocate your marketing dollars will depend on what type of business you have, where you are located, where your customers come from, and whether you offer a product or service. Reading anything by Jay Conrad Levinson will help set a framework for anyone involved in the marketing of a business.Take everything an advertising representative has to say at face value. They understand advertising, so they are helping me spend my dollars wisely, right?Wrong! This is not a knock against advertising reps, but you have to understand, they have sales goals to reach. If making you spend your money with them will help them reach their goals, they are going to push for your business. Spending money on a certain media may not be the best way to invest your marketing dollars. For instance, I had a client that opened an organic grocery store in a top 50 metropolitan markets. Before I started to assist them, a cable-advertising representative sold the store on a cable network that reached viewers 20 - 50 miles away from them. They spent most of the budget they set aside for the first 6 months of marketing on these commercials. In turn, they had nothing left to spend on advertising in their own backyard. When I audited their advertising, they didn't even realize their commercial had never run in the same marketplace as the store. Therefore, buyers beware. The easiest way to prevent this from happening is to know your market, know your customers, and talk to many different ad reps from many different types of media. You'll usually get a better view of how you can use the media to help your business. Advertising agency and marketing firms will also help you plan your media usage.Joann Marsili has over 15 years of marketing experience from which to draw for both traditional and on-line guerilla marketing strategies. Her strength is conceptualizing and strategizing a marketing plan custom tailored for your business needs. Visit her web site at: http://www.b2bstrategicmarketing.com or mailto:[email protected].
You,know,when,your,business,fa