Marketing Planning is too important to leave to the marketers!

I hear it all the time ‘Why do I need a marketing Plan?’ or ‘We are too small to spend time planning our marketing sure it’s only for big companies!’. Wrong: marketing planning is for companies of any size who are serious about building their business, their brand and making money.

Let’s start with talking about what is Marketing? Simply put: It is a matching process between on one side what the market needs and on the other what a company can supply or deliver (it’s capability) with the goal of delivering a profitable competitive advantage. The other way of looking at it is how can you attract potential customers to consider what you are offering and to get them to buy from you while creating some form of competitive advantage.

As Peter Drucker, the Father of business consulting said: “The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer" he also very wisely said “Marketing is not a function, it is the whole business as seen from the customer’s point of view.”

Bottom line is that without attracting customers a business will not survive. And to attract customers you need to understand the process of marketing and marketing planning along with the benefits it can and will deliver for a business.

Marketing planning should be a logical sequence of decisions and actions, helping a business develop products and services that meet the needs of a target market. The actual marketing plan is the driver of the business which will help a business grow or die! It’s objective is to turn strategy into tactics, bridging the gap between ambitions and actions.

To kick off any planning process you need to know the desired result: what exactly do you want to achieve, is the objective to launch a new product or service, generate new leads, increase sales, build brand awareness. You need to set specific and measurable goals that inevitably will be a sales number you want to achieve. Simple, well not really, many business owners start spending money without a thought on what they want to achieve so they end up with no means to measure if the marketing was a success and delivered an acceptable return on their investment (ROI).

A key fundamental to any marketing planning process is research and planning. Starting with market exploration: is there a gap in the market or put it another way: is there a market in the gap? And if so what is the market size and how much of the market are you looking for.

Who are the competitors, what are their strengths and weaknesses, what areas of the market are they not fulfilling, how will you compete against them in terms of quality, service offering, value, performance, reliability, innovation, convenience, location, price, delivery, brand, packaging, promotion, advertising and messaging.

You need to clearly define your target market. Who exactly will be buying your products or services, what are their needs and wants, how are they currently fulfilling those needs and why should they think about buying your products or services. What are their buying behaviours, interests, demographics, likes, dislikes. The research process is a time to listen and learn with the goal of making a better commercial decision leading to a more successful and profitable outcome.

How are you going to reach out to your target audience, what marketing channels are you going to use: traditional off-line advertising, trade shows, events, promotional offers or online campaigns such as Facebook advertising and social media?

By planning your marketing it will help the day to day running of the business allowing you to allocate resources and budget, focussing effort, improving products, launching new offerings, motivating your team, rewarding performance, increasing brand awareness, evolving and building your business.

How long should the marketing plan be? Well no one has the time to spend reading War and Peace! Write it so it will be read and used and not placed in the bottom drawer or on the top shelf in your office gathering dust. It should be as long or as short to be effective – why not aim to get it down on just one page – here is an link to the Get 2 Growth One Page Marketingplan site – worth checking it out.

If you are looking for help to work on your business growth or marketing strategy why not call or email me. (M: +353 87 2555263, E: howard@kentconsulting.ie)

13 Proven Social Media Marketing Tips for Small Businesses & Entrepreneurs

5 Tips for Finding the Perfect Business Idea

There are so many things to consider when you're trying to decide what kind of business to start. No matter the size of business you want to own, if you give thought to these five areas you'll be able to choose the business that's right for you.

One of the biggest challenges I had when starting my business was actually coming up with the idea. I wanted something that was scale-able as well as in demand. For years I went through hundreds of ideas before settling up my first business, in fact the idea was always there but needed three of us to come together to make it happen. Through this period, I uncovered what I believe are the five most important concepts in determining what makes the perfect business idea.

So, what is a perfect idea? Each individual entrepreneur has their concept of the perfect business. While Google is a great business for the founders of that company - it may not be a great business for others that are non-tech savvy or who do not want to run such a large organization.

Therefore, each perfect business is defined by the business owners. Keeping this in mind, let's start on the following five tips of finding the perfect business:

1.  Understanding your customer

This might seem strange to start here as how do you know your customers before you have a business idea in place. The answer is simple - your customers make the business, therefore without customers there is no business. If you have a business idea don't try to develop the idea around what YOU think potential customers will like or need, but find out what your customers actually want. Too often business owners get an idea in their head and jump right in with both feet. However, they soon find out that their target market does not want what they are offering. Spending both time and money on a project just to see it languish is not the perfect business idea.

Moreover, let's say you don't already have an idea - getting out and understand consumers (those who will eventually become your customers) may lead you to the perfect idea. Knowing what potential consumers need and building products to meets those needs will get customers beating a path to your door - that is a perfect business idea.

2. Passion

Passion here does not mean being fanatical about your product or service. But, it does mean having some interest in what you do. More times than not, you will be spending 15 to 18 hours a day working on your business in the beginning - usually for the first 12 to 18 months (more like 2 years in this economy). You have to constantly be thinking about ways to improve and grow your business as well as be out talking about it to everyone, everywhere. If you end up starting a venture that you don't have passion for, something that does not make you jump out of bed each morning, it will be very hard to put in the hours and energy to make it successful - thus not a perfect business idea.

3. Understand Your Competition

Every business has competition - either direct or indirect. Think about the cinema. They have direct competition from Net Flix, DVD rental and of course television. They also have indirect competition from any other activity that consumers spend their disposable income on like bowling, leisure activities, golf, etc. Anything that people do in their spare time.

Further, some competitors are ruthless. Meaning that if you promote and offer a product that is similar to theirs but at a lower price, these competitors will just lower their price to match or beat you. If they are already established businesses - they may be able to undercut your price enough creating a price war to drive you out of business.

If you don't know your competition - what they are willing to do to keep you out of their market - you may be spending more of your time in a pricing war then growing your business - not the perfect business idea.

4. Cash Flow

Lots of entrepreneurs enter the business world with great ideas but very poor understanding of the capital it will take to get their venture off the ground. Most will prototype their product or service and understand what it takes to make the product or provide the service but they don't understand the capital it takes to manage the rest of the organization - including marketing (big investment but vital for growth), employees (more than just salaries or wages), insurance or supplies and all the little miscellaneous expenses that add up very quickly like phone, internet, computer services, etc. Knowing your total cash flow will help ensure that all of your costs (variable and fixed) can be covered by the business - the perfect business idea. I have seen way too many businesses with great ideas fail because they could not cover simple expenses like rent or utilities.

5. You and your mindset

Know who you are or as Plato said ‘Know thyself’. Know your strengths and weaknesses. Know that you are ready, willing and able to do what it takes to make your venture a success. Many business owners think all they have to do is open the front door and hang out a sign and ‘bang’ they have it made. But, when it comes down to actually running the business day-to-day - they are unwilling to invest the time, energy or money necessary for success. The question is to know how hard you are willing to work and how much ‘skin in the game’ and not just money are you prepared to invest in YOUR business.

Moreover, know your personal financial situation and what you need the business to generate to cover your lifestyle. If you think your business will pay you a great salary from day one - it will not. And, if you need it to, it is not the perfect business idea for you. Take away outside distractions like your personal financial situation - get those in order - so when your business concept does materialize - you will be able to solely focus on its conception and growth. In the end providing you the financial security you are seeking - it will be the perfect business idea.

Regardless of the level of your desire for your business - a lifestyle mom and pop operation or a multi-national conglomerate - if you develop a business idea with these five concepts in mind - your idea will be the perfect business idea for you.

Source: https://www.businessknowhow.com/startup/findbusinessidea.htm

Programming your mind for success | Carrie Green

How great leaders inspire action | Simon Sinek

The difference between what a customer wants as against what they need

By understanding the difference between a customer’s ‘wants’ versus their ‘needs’ is one of the key fundamentals to marketing and future business success and growth. Often what a customer ‘wants’ is diametrically opposed to what they ‘need’. As a business owner and marketer, your objective is to interrupt the conversation going on in their head and to give the customer what they want. Helping them to understand what they need is important. However, it’s not your responsibility to convince customers to get what they need. Businesses make money by satisfying their customers wants not needs. Often it’s easier to sell them what they want than what they need. Clearly this is where business, marketing and sales people should primarily focus their energy. Buying versus Selling Most people prefer to buy something rather than have it sold to them. There is a subtle yet significant difference between the two. When people do the research then decide for themselves what they want and they go out and get it, they feel like they have ‘bought’ something and feel good about the purchase. On the other hand, if if they are undecided and a salesperson convinces them to buy, even if they actually need it, the customer may feel that it was ‘sold’ to them, what we would call a ‘hard sell’. It often makes them feel like the sales person has seized the power in the relationship. If you want customers to feel good and are interested in future sales, you have to give them what they want. So what about their needs? What a customer wants is not what they need. As a caring person you may feel it’s your responsibility to tell them as much about the product or service. In that case the best you can do is share the information you think they need to know but allow them to make what they feel is the right decision without feeling under pressure. Sometimes the customer will agree with you, change their mind and thank you for your help. Other times they may completely disregard what you say and still pursue what they want over what you know they need. For your business sake and profitability you should be willing to sell them what they want without making them feel bad about it. Needs versus wants In sales, a need is something that solves a real or imagined problem. A want, on the other hand, is simply something that would be nice to have. Often customers have no idea what they need, they simply know what they want. When you give them what they want, in the long run this enables you to build a lucrative ongoing relationship with them. One in which they feel they’re in control. Wants are way more powerful What the customer wants is more often a powerful motivator than what they need. This becomes clear when you take time and listen to your customer and ask them to tell you why they want what they want. Usually they have a burning desire to get what they want and simply want you to show them how they can get it. Customers tend to get more value, joy, and satisfaction from purchasing what they want versus what they need. Successful sales people understand this and know how to use it to their advantage. Customers want to feel good and they are in control of the ‘buying’ process Business and sales people make their living satisfying customers’ wants and needs. It becomes clear very early in their careers that the average person is usually willing to spend more on want they want than what they need. The purchase makes them feel good so price is never a barrier, as long as they can afford it and don’t go too much into debt which they regret in the future (buyers remorse) Understanding what your customer wants and giving it to them at a price they can afford has made countless business and sales people successful. It’s a lot easier to sell people what they want than what they need. +++++ If you need help to grow your business and looking for some practical advice why not arrange a call with me or visit to find out more.