Jumpstart Your Marketing For The 3rd & 4th Quarters
Is your business profiting in this recession or are you barely staying a float? Is your marketing strategy strong for 2010 to increase your sales by 15 percent or more? Are your marketing concepts consistent with your business vision? Or the better question should be “Have you written your marketing and business strategy out?” It’s the beginning of the year and it is traditional to make New Year’s resolutions, but you should have your strategies in place for building your business. According to the market researcher Dr. Steven Kraus, author of “Psychological Foundations of Success,” only 15% of the people who have made New Year’s resolutions manage to keep them, but have you? So what are you planning to do the rest of the year to assure that your business is on pace for success?
Planning and strategizing consists of clear defining priorities, considering in advance the resources available, monitoring performance, breaking the strategies down into clear measurable objectives based on a timetable that are easier to achieve along with fostering a well organized team around you. All of these of which are to create an environment of success for your organization. It is always excellent business practices to have strategies in place for business growth because without these commitments, businesses will fail. A lot of businesses are failing because of choosing goals and strategies that are not in relation to the business vision and some are not measurable or realistic. Without these strategies in place, it is hard to convert annual declarations into your daily action plans which then convert to business slipping away in light of other responsibilities and conflicting demands of your time. If this happens the business will go throughout the year without having completed any of the goals set and having to revamp for business failure.
Some of the top business strategies to increase success that are suggested for 2009-10 are that of the following:
1. Commit to your business success by making a decision to pursue your goals consistently.
With each passing day, your business success should be your number one priority. You should have a commitment to work on your business daily with specific goals in mind of what you want to achieve that day, whether it is working on the administration on Monday, marketing on Tuesday, business development on Wednesday, client work on Thursday and finances on Friday. As long as you have a plan that you are working on daily basis you are measuring your success daily with small wins. It makes you more excited that you have accomplished something daily and you look forward to working towards your dream.
The reality is that no one is looking over your shoulder as an entrepreneur or business owner and you are the one that is making things happen. So prioritizing will assist you in making it more enjoyable. For instance, if you have a huge proposal to get done and you have a deadline of three weeks out, would you work on it daily or would you wait to the last minute? Which one will give you the most enjoyable satisfaction, or course, the daily option would be better as opposed to procrastination. Your intentions have to be deliberate in order to be successful.
2. Know exactly what you want, what it will take to get there and how long.
When you are building or operating your business, it is easy to get caught up in the “shoulds” of business such as, “You should be looking at specific territories,” says the sales representative. “You should be going after the big accounts,” says the industry veteran. “You should be advertising your business,” says the advertising agent. All of these which are somewhat necessary, but you knowing what your business needs to succeed is the key. You may not need all of those things at that particular time, but know what is needed to build your business to the specificity of proven strategies for that particular industry.
By being self-employed, you can make your own agenda and do what you need to perform and operate. As a business owner, you cannot operate your business and do the marketing, finances, business development, administration and all that it entails without being overwhelmed. A good suggestion for an entrepreneur is to surround themselves with professionals that have the expertise that you don’t have or don’t have time to do, so that the business can prosper. In other words, know your strengths, weaknesses and limits. You have to make decisions that are best for the business, but with trusted support.
3. Keep your strategic plan reasonable, yet stretch the business for success.
Normally, the straightforward and simple the plan, it will be easier to execute. If you have too many people involved in the assisting with the plan, it will be a challenge and perhaps slow your progress down. Understand that if you have a simple plan you can stay focused on the tasks on a smaller scale as opposed to a complex plan that will perhaps never get done. Strategic plans need to be:
• S-I-M-P-L-E. It doesn’t need to be elaborate.
• But it needs to be where you or your employees can execute within a reasonable amount of time and with excitement.
• The results need to be seen as tangible measurements that can be completed within 30 to 90 days. Make sure that the measurements are noted and celebrated even for the smaller tasks.
No comments:
Post a Comment