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A Problem For Marketers
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Very often new marketers lack a solid success plan.
Many start with high hopes and great expectations, but in "failing to
plan, they plan to fail".
Here is how to start correctly...
Step # 1 - Planning
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Your first task is a modified SWOT analysis.
* Strengths - Note your personal strengths in terms of skills, knowledge, experience,
and personality. How can you use your strengths to give your business a competitive
avantage ? Be realistic and objective.
* Weaknesses - What are your weaknesses ? What personal an business skills
do you need to improve on ? How will you remedy these ?
* Opportunities - What business opportunities will you exploit ? For instance
are you interested in selling digital or "real" products ? Are you
going to work largely alone or are joint ventures your forte ?
* Threats - What issues do you forsee ? Identify the competition, consider
your cash flow, think about targeted traffic and search engine ranking etc.
How will you cope with each issue ?
Your next task is to create a business plan consisting of :
* Financial Plan - Here you write up your borrowing requirements, your own
capital stake in the business, and general business budgets.
* Marketing Plan - Detail your marketing and advertising strategies. Set budgets
for these key activities.
* Sales - Estimate sales levels and timescales when you anticipate the sales.
For more details on constructing a business plan consult
* An accountant
* Your bank
* Your local small business advisory service or
* Use Internet resources such as :
The small business administration for US businesses http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/planning/basic.html
Business Plan for UK businesses http://www.businessplanning-4- you.com/businessinfo/business_plan_uk_.html
International business can start at http://www.bplans.com
Above all, your business plan must be realistic in the sales estimates and
it must not under estimate your time and money costs.
Step # 2 - Research and Find A Niche
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If planning is the "road map", research shows the
"destination".
Research and planning are simultaneous, parallel activities. One is incomplete
without the other.
* Product Centric Research :
Based on your SWOT analysis, define the business, products or services you
want to focus on.
For instance if you have a strong interest and experience in a sport, or the
breeding of a type of pet, you may choose to cater for others with similar interests.
Being easier, most new marketers use a Product Centric approach to define their
business interests.
* Market Centric Research :
This is the difficult, but more likely to succeed, approach.
It focuses on identifying clear market needs and then finding very specific
products to satisfy those needs.
This approach is based on market research techniques such as interviewing people
about their needs and then finding out how best you can satisfy those needs.
With this approach you know your business will succeed before you commit money
!
Your aims in finding your niche are to :
* Identify a "hungry" market
* Find out the exact nature of the "hunger"
* Determine how best to satisfy the "hunger"
Step #3 - Create a Feature Rich, Content Site
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Most people will not buy from you at their first visit, even if they have previously
expressed an interest.
Visitors must learn to trust you, before they will buy from you.
It takes time and communication to build trust.
A content rich website is an invaluable tool for building trust.
Building and marketing such a site achieves two goals :
* Depending on your advertising strategy, it attracts targeted traffic, and
builds good double-opt in mailing lists.
* It encourages "pull" marketing where customers come looking for
you, rather than the more costly "push" marketing where you go looking
for customers.
Step # 4 - To Be An Affiliate Or Not To Be
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The content rich website is the top of your marketing funnel. A mechanism for
pulling in highly targeted visitors who have expressed an interest in your product
or service.
This builds trust, but little hard cash.
New marketers are often concerned about what to sell, real money comes from
"Back End " products.
* The first and easier option is to research and join good affiliate programs.
These not only pay good money for hard work, but they provide high quality,
good value back end products.
An excellent example of such a program can be found at http://shmyl.com/bgz
A good affiliate program, such as http://shmyl.com/bgz, not only provides you
with products, they also provide web templates and sites for you to use immediately.
You can be marketing in the time it takes to sign up !
* The second more difficult option, but one which offers you more flexibility
and control, is to create your own products.
Until the end of March 2004 we are offering a FREE e-book at our website to
show you how to create your own info products in less than two hours.
(If you read this article after March 2004, contact us and we will send a copy
of the e-book to you.)
If you choose the do it yourself option, you will need to build a professional
product web page, per product, along with all the merchant facilities such as
credit card processing required to make the site operational.
Visit http://www.iprobuilder.com/14127 for the easiest currently available
point and click, "No HTML Required", professional web site building
and hosting program.
Step #5 - Get The Sale
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Whichever option you choose, you need excellent copywriting to market your
products and services.
Even if you use Market Centric research, do not fall into the trap of thinking
that your market will buy whatever you show them on your product sales page.
The copy must be compelling and drive the prospects to take the action you
want i.e. buy from you.
Copywriting is an art almost anyone can learn. However, if you feel your skills
are not yet good enough then pay for a copywriter to do the work.
Good copy can sell almost anything. Bad copy cannot sell the best product in
your chosen business line.
Step #6 - Mind Set
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From discussions with other marketers, many people get to step 5 ready to sell
products, typically 6 to 9 months after setting up business.
Frustration begins when sales fail to materialise and your cash flow is more
out than in !
Be prepared, pre-plan and you will avoid this frustration because :
* Your business Sales Plan will indicate a realistic timeframe and level of
sales.
* Your SWOT analysis will have prepared you for business issues as well as
opportunities.
The planning you carried out up front is your insurance against frustration,
and disappointment. It is also an excellent yardstick by which you can measure
your progress.
This focuses your mind and effort on attaining small successes which build
up over time into major career successes.
This is why it is critical to go through the planning and research stages in
fine detail, realistically and objectively.
About the Author:
Charles Kangethe of http://www.simplyeasier.com is a leading new wave marketer
and a published author from England. The
"Simply Easier" brand name is your guarantee of high value, quality
Marketing Products, Services and Resources. |
