A little ENTREPRENEUR wisdom for 2017

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E –Increase EFFICIENCY and output: whether you are manufacturing a product, conducting training or writing a book, increase your efficiency by literally micro-managing your time.  You must be able to quantify what you have achieved for every minute of every day this year.

N – Know when to say NO.  As much as you believe that you are invincible, you cannot do everything for everyone.  Learn to sift through the many requests you receive and say NO to the ones that will take up lots of time with very little output.

T – Develop a healthy TRUSTING relationship with your stakeholders.  No man is an island, if your business provides value to your customers, suppliers, funders and other partners, they will have no issue working with you to provide the best possible product or service to your customer.

R – RESPECT your employees.  It was Famed Entrepreneur and Founder of Virgin Airlines, Richard Branson that shared “the way you treat your employees, is the way they will treat your customers”.  This from a man who has built a highly successful, world-recognized business, it must be worth something.

E – Strive for EFFECTIVENESS in your business.   Make your 2017 business goals results driven.  Have a big picture as to what you would like to achieve in the business and make them goals.  Tick off as you go along and don’t forget to stop and celebrate your achievements every now and again.

P – Take PRIDE in what you do; after all, it is your business.  Your customers will definitely notice the improvements in your products and identify the quality in the service your business provides.  More importantly, customers are willing to pay a premium price for a product that is well done.

R – Don’t be afraid to RETOOL in 2017 both in your personal and professional life.  Just as rest and relaxation is important to the body so is building the mental and physical capacity of the business.

E – Aim at improving customer ENGAGEMENT in 2017.  Your customers want to feel part of the process.  Ask their opinions about an existing or new product through surveys, feedback forms and product testing.

N – To maintain existing clients and attract new ones, develop a NEW brand strategy.  Marketing your business in 2017 should not be business as usual.  Identify and explore new media outlets through which to funnel your business information. 

E – EXPENSES are a feature of business, but with increased EARNINGS, your business can manage to make a profit.  Strive to maximize your spending as well as your operations to get optimal financial results.

U – Keep your contacts UPDATED.  Ensure that your database is in tip-top condition so that when you are ready to contact your clients, there is little incidence of bounced emails or ‘wrong numbers’ being called.

R – REPOSITIONING your business to attract new clients is a must for survival.  Don’t wait to hear what the competition is doing to get moving, keep updated with the trends in your industry as well as according to your customer needs.

Startup Marketing Resolutions for 2017

With 2017 just around the corner, it's only wise for startup business owners to resolve to do things differently in the coming year as it relates to their marketing portfolio.

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The following are just some of my suggestions as to what may be included on their 'New Years' resolution list':

1. Vow to include Marketing as a budget line item in your business - It is absolutely foolish to have a business; product or service and no one knows about it.  Marketing is the only way that your ideal target market will find out about your hidden secret.

2. Hire a marketing professional - Even if its on a contractual basis, include a marketing professional on your team.  This individual will know how to guide your marketing campaign, advise on the best marketing mixes and methods which can get you the best results for your budget, regardless of how small it may be.

3. Build a website/Get online - We are now living in the digital age; where smart phones and other technological implements rule.  Most consumers begin the the buying process by checking out the products online.  Added to this, more consumers are now into instant gratification; an online presence guarantees that your business can be accessed 24/7; 365 days a year.

4. Start a blog - Yes, I know you are the 'head cook and bottle washer' in your business at this stage but start and schedule blogging as a regular part of your business activities.  It could be once per week or twice per month.  Blogging provides you with an outlet to inform customers about new developments and milestones in your business, as well as new product announcements.  It could also be an outlet to share with other business owners who are at the same stage as you.

5. Spend time building networks - Business is not all about producing the next batch of products, it is also about getting to know more and more people in the different capacities of life.  People who can partner with you in varying aspects of your business as well as provide leads that generate more business for your start up.  Dedicate time to building networks this year; attend industry events, capacity building workshops, trade expos etc.,

Evaluating your Marketing Campaign: How to know for sure that you are reaching your target market (Offline)

In terms of marketing, practicality is key.  So while online tracking is important, offline tracking is also critical to ensure that those non-traditional marketing channels are working.  Offline tracking is also where you see the actual fruit of your labour in terms of increased sales and increased buzz around your product.

The following are the ways in which you will know for sure that your marketing campaign is reaching your target market offline: 

1.       Increased production: If there is little or no demand for your products, then production either remains the same or decreases.  An increase in production, no matter how slight is a sign that there is an increased need for what you are offering.  A well-defined marketing campaign reaches the targeted customer wherever he is and awakens the need for the product being sold.

2.       Customer Response: Have you seen an uptick in the number of customer purchases? Have you been getting consistent feedback from your customers about varying aspects of your product or the business in general? Then your marketing campaign is working.  A well-designed marketing campaign usually results in an increased awareness of your business, a re-awakening of latent customers and increased buzz around your business.

3.       Improved sales numbers: Improved sales numbers are the best indicator that a marketing campaign is working.  Improved numbers show that the product is at the very least reaching the target market.  It also possibly means that due to the increased notoriety of the product, new customers are influenced to make purchases as well.

4.       Competitor Response: If your competition has amped up its marketing strategy, then that is a sure fire response to the fact that your campaign is making an impact.  It could be that the competition feels threatened or it does not want to be left in your dust.  Use your 'first out of the gate' advantage to wow existing customers and win new customer loyalty.

The line between online and offline marketing almost blurred at this point because one feeds into the other.   However, as a startup with a small budget and a scaled marketing campaign, it is important that you know that your limited budget is not being wasted.

Evaluating your Marketing Plans: How to know for sure that you are reaching your target market (Online)

An integral part of a business's marketing plan is the evaluation process.  Evaluation allows the business to review and make adjustments where necessary.  Importantly, it helps to determine the business's success and profitability or conversely, its failure and re-evaluation process.

A very important metric in evaluation for start-up businesses is determining which portion of the marketing budget is reaching the target audience directly.  With the changes in how marketing is done, a number of new metrics have emerged to help you to determine if the right audience is being reached, if not, why not and what other tools may be engaged to achieve your marketing goals.

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Here are a few terms to associate yourself with:

Engagement: a term more popularly used just before a couple marries; now, very much associated with the number of likes, shares, reposts etc., that your social media posts receives.

Insights: a social media tool which provides demographic information on who is reading your online posts.  Insights define information by gender, age, location and interests.   Insights also defines your posts' engagements by the number of likes, shares and mentions.

Google Analytics: Google analytics allows you to see where your traffic is coming from and how visitors interact with your website.  You can track the responses to different social campaigns and see which are more successful at moving users to and throughout your site, as well as tracking specific conversions.

Conversions: a marketing tactic that encourages a customer to take a specific action.  For example, in e-commerce, conversion marketing is the phrase used to describe the act of converting a customer who browses your website to a paying customer.

Feedback collection: Whether this is done online or offline, feedback, particularly from customer is a critical tool in determining the impact of your marketing plan on the customer.  Is the customer receiving information about your company and from where; is integral moving forward.  Are the methods being used the ones from which the customer retrieves information?

Leads generated: Lead generation is the life blood of any business, regardless of type, age or size. The business's ability to convert leads into actual business also speaks volumes.  It could be the product being offered, it could also be the influence of another user or the combination of marketing methods that makes the business attractive.  Whatever it is, lead generation feeds into the ultimate success of your marketing programme.

Subscriptions: an increase or decrease in subscriptions to your business is a definite tell-tale sign as to whether or not your marketing plan is working.

Thought Leadership: Is your business respected within the industry that you operate?  Are you or your business a point of reference for expert opinion?  Believe it or not the perception of your business by those within and outside of your industry counts, and although this may not be quantifiable, there is a popular saying "image is everything"!

Next time, we will look at evaluating your offline metrics.

Maintaining your business’s image … A guide for startups to build a great reputation through holiday marketing

As we’ve intimated before, the holidays are as great a time as any to unveil your business’s marketing programme to include launching and testing new products and services, as well as revealing your customer relationship management programme.

But some businesses tend to get carried away during this time.  From misleading advertising to promising rewards and benefits that are impossible to deliver, some businesses will inevitably leave the holidays with irreparable damage done to their reputation.  

 The following are a few tips for my startups to maintain their business’s image before and after the holidays:

Be truthful in advertising – Many companies in a bid to move inventory from the store during the holiday buzz will conceptualize catchy customer benefits including ‘free gift/s’ with purchase of a certain amount, or buy one, get one free or the famous ‘bait and switch’ in order to attract more sales.  In addition to the fact that there are legal implications for businesses caught in these situations, misleading advertising reduces trust and credibility with customers and thereby damages the business’s reputation.  As a startup, you do not want to introduce yourself to the market with this ‘monkey on your back” --- say what you will do and be truthful about.

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The case of the ‘hidden fees’ – Hidden fees are essentially a way to ‘trick’ customers into paying more than the advertised amount.  When you advertise the purchase price for a product or service as the full amount; honour that commitment to the customer.  This means that activation fees or other service charges must also be included in the advertised amount.  While it is the responsibility of the customer to read the fine print, it is also the responsibility of the business owner to be straight forward with the customer.  A word to the wise; hidden fees do not increase profit, they prove that your business is unscrupulous.

Use of ‘conditions apply’ – I find that two of the trickiest words in advertising is ‘conditions apply’.  For some business owners the ‘conditions’ are a moving target.  As a startup define what the conditions are and write them in stone.   Ensure that your customers know what your sale conditions are as well.  If space allows, include them on your printed material and post them in your commercial space.  Also, ensure that the conditions benefit you as well.  For example, putting a timeline on your offer can control how long the conditions are in-force.

There is ‘no risk’ – Of all that’s been mentioned, this is the one that scares me most is no risk.  Firstly, if it is a medical product, there are side effects; if you are accessing a ‘free trial’, particularly online, you are required to provide a credit card number; so essentially, there is a risk!   With online ‘free trials’, customers must monitor their credit cards to ensure that they get what they are paying for, while business owners must ensure that they deliver what they promise.

By no means is it a hard balance to strike, businesses and brands must endeavor to build and maintain impeccable reputations.  It is your reputation that will allow customers to trust your business and refer it to other customers who are looking for exactly what you offer.

Don’t get lost in the advertising clutter (Part 2)

Today, I want to go back to providing some additional Christmas business tips for startup and small businesses by re-emphasizing the importance of not getting lost in the advertising clutter. 

I find that particularly for these types of businesses, the inability to expend the big budget on advertising can present a real challenge in getting the customer’s attention and more importantly, play on the psyche of the entrepreneur. 

Remember however that your business is not the same size nor does it have the same kind of budget as the bigger businesses do.  In your own corner, use tried and tested methods such as direct mailing, email blasts and in-store/dashboard promotions to get your message across. 

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The following are just some quick tips from me to you; to help you remain grounded and keep your expectations realistic this season:

·         Don’t try to compete with bigger competitors, you will lose; and any profits you make over the holidays will be eroded after paying for those big advertising bills you racked up in the run-up to Christmas

·         Focus on creating lasting relationships with customers; use customer interactions to build your database and keep in touch.  Give your customers a wow experience to improve the possibility of securing future and referral business from them

·         Keep your expectations realistic; remember what you put in, is what you will get out.  If you spend small, your returns may not necessarily be small but the key is to maximize your spending by selecting the very best marketing mix to reach your targeted audience. 

·         Conduct an evaluation of your marketing programme after the holidays; this will help you to determine how well (or not) the marketing mix worked, identify any gaps that you could have plugged as well as to help to quantify the returns on your marketing dollar.

The Christmas season is always filled with high expectations; businesses tend to expect more than the ordinary simply because it’s the season of giving.  The key to keeping you grounded however is to project expectations in alignment with trends from previous months as well as from the previous Christmas.   

Three factors that should influence your marketing in 2017

So after all the time we’ve spent together and all that we have shared, I sincerely hope that you now have a marketing plan in place, or at the very least, have some notes jotted down on how you will approach marketing your startup business.

A very important factor in marketing is influence.  Your business’s ability to influence buyers is critical its success and profitability.  In order to comfortably exhibit this influence your business must be properly positioned to get the very best results from your marketing efforts.   Positioning your business means identifying your target market precisely and choosing the right marketing mix to communicate with that group. 

The following are the three factors that I believe should influence your marketing output in the coming year:

1.       Consumer buying behavior – A customer’s buying behavior is influenced by social, cultural, personal and psychological factors.  In order to communicate with the customer, a business must understand how consumers feel, reason and select products for their use.  The ‘why’ of purchasing is critical when designing or defining your product, in other words the customer must see a need for that product.  Also identify sources that influence consumers such as celebrities and opinion leaders as well as the media.  These three sources play a significant role in how consumers buy.

2.       Creating a great customer experience – The importance of a satisfied customer cannot be overemphasized.  Businesses must see each customer interaction as an opportunity to outdo the previous interaction.  Doing customer service right can increase revenue, reaffirm customer loyalty and secure an ‘evangelist’ for your business who will spread the good word without hesitation.

3.       Social media & online marketing trends – In this digital age, the use of exciting and interactive videos, smart apps and digital displays must form a large part of your marketing in 2017.  If your business is not online, get there! The market is bigger than your locale and there are many bigger markets that your business can reach if you have 24/7 contact for your customers.  Particularly in this world of instant gratification, having an online platform is critical.  Ensure that your website is also optimized for mobile.  Use social media as well; there is still 1 billion and counting per month on Instagram and 100 million per month on Facebook.

One thing you must realize is that the art of marketing does not change but the science changes daily.  To remain in-step with the competition, even in startup mode, it takes constant out-of-the-box thinking and creativity.

Four advertising techniques to stand out in the Christmas advertising clutter

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So it’s Christmas and inevitably businesses of all sizes and types are eager to share their Christmas ‘deals’ and ‘steals’ with their different customer groups.  In a bid to get your business’s message out to the right audience, you might be tempted to force all the messages that you didn’t get out during the year into the one Christmas advertisement. 

There are significant dangers in putting too many messages in one advertisement, Christmas or otherwise.  You run the risk of confusing the customer possibly resulting in lost business because your competition took the time to do their advertising right.

Today, I am sharing with you four advertising techniques to help your business stands out from the competition in the Christmas advertising clutter:

·         Have a focus for your advertising campaign – Too many messages in one advertisement will end up confusing the customer.  If a customer has to contact you to clarify your message, it means that there are multiple prospective customers who are also confused by what you are trying to say.  Drill down to a single, clear message and focus, focus, focus!

·         Use multiple media outlets – Consumers get advertising messages from multiple media outlets, therefore it is recommended that you use as many media channels as possible to send your message.  Get the best mix of traditional and non-traditional media and maximize each channel to ensure that your brand receives the best overall value.  Using multiple media outlets also helps to improve customer recall.  The likelihood that recall is improved when a customer glances at your ad in a magazine; hears your advert on the radio and then catches it on Television.

·         Start early – There is an old adage which says ‘it is the early bird catches the most worms’ and it is just as true in business as it is in real life.  If your business is first out of the gate with your advertising campaign, your business has an increased likelihood of gaining some new customers.  Business is about continuous planning and though life happens, particularly as a startup, planning for each stage of business in advance will definitely help you to be ahead of the game at all times.

·         Provide solutions – A definite technique in standing out is offering a solution to a customer problem instead of selling a product.    Most if not all products were invented when a problem was identified.  For example, hammers, wrenches and pliers were made when houses, furniture and other like items were required by a customer. Promotion of your business is all in the packaging, position your business as a solution to the customer’s problem and yours will definitely become a sought after product in this busy holiday season.