SALES AND MARKETING

Small Business Marketing

Small business marketing is more constrained than traditional marketing because of funding and limited sale training. Marketing tends to be limited to business plan stage when a marketing plan is produced.

Mention marketing strategy to the MD of small business and his response is a limited marketing definition.

Strategic marketing that includes, product marketing, sale marketing, target marketing, marketing promotion, viral marketing are very important considerations to all businesses. Engaging a marketing consultant or marketing firm is often prohibitive, due to resource constraints.

We offer marketing consulting as an affordable solution, combining business marketing with value added consulting. The marketing plan sample provided gives marketing tips on how we approach each project. This marketing article plus the marketing plan sample can be taken as a template on small business marketing

The MD of a small business is often the director of other functions as well. The function of sales and marketing is usually delegated to the person / director who gets on better with people and who has the most business contacts. This is often the MD's responsibility. The result is that sales and marketing as taught in the classroom is far removed from the reality of managing a small business!

The practice of developing a marketing plan and marketing strategy as part of wider business goals is often a one off exercise, done at inception of the business to secure finance. Going forward however, tight resources limits the ability to engage sales and marketing professional and sales training.

With constant pressure on working capital and staying profitable, sales and marketing should be given higher priority!

Our Approach To Increasing Sales

Our Approach To Sale Marketing (Sales and Marketing) begins with getting the basics right, that is, the bottom line, them applying sales and marketing techniques to increase the top line.

Having closed the gap between the 'cash value of orders' and receipt of equivalent cash from customers, this often results in more sales to existing and new customers. We can now focus on increasing sales in the knowledge that the attendant processes are working efficiently to optimise working capital.

In delivering more sales our sales and marketing strategies include the following:

• Joint ventures / partnerships
• Viral marketing
• Target marketing
• Product marketing
• Marketing promotions
• Trade associations
• Internet
• New product development
• New markets
• Direct Marketing
• Tele sales
• Developing from existing clients
• Advertising
• Press releases
• Discounting (marketing promotions)

Strategic Marketing

For a small business, this would include:

1. Research for your marketing

Marketing research helps you understand your competitive position, spot opportunities, lessen risks and take better decisions. It is more than just market research, which is concerned only with examining aspects of a given market, such as its size, location or growth potential.

Marketing research can give you indications, but it cannot give you answers. What it can do is allow you to make marketing decisions based on the best, most up-to-date information available.

Research for your marketing covers:

• Using different research methods
• Sources of information
• In-house and commissioned research
• Budgeting for marketing research

2. Planning Your Marketing (Marketing planning)

Successful businesses focus on getting the basics of marketing right.

Marketing is based on identifying and satisfying customers' needs - profitably. It encompasses market research, pricing, promotion, distribution, selling, customer care, and much more.

Planning and monitoring your marketing covers:

• The basic objectives of all marketing
• Reviewing your market and how you fit into it
• Creating a marketing strategy
• Setting out your marketing action plan

3. Pricing

The prices you charge for your products can have a dramatic effect on sales and profits.

Setting your prices too high can reduce sales abruptly, while undercharging can devastate your profits. The logic is simple. Your optimum price is one that gives the largest total when you multiply your margin by the number of sales you can achieve. But making sense of that, in relation to the costs you pay out and the markets you serve, is a key issue for every business.

Pricing covers:

• Understanding the market and how your product fits in
• Deciding on a pricing strategy
• Pricing tactics
• How to increase prices

4. Building customer loyalty

Successful companies focus first on selling more to their existing customers, rather than finding new ones. The cost of selling more to existing customers may be minimal.

A loyal customer tends to buy more, more regularly. And throughout the period, a loyal customer will regularly recommend your business to others.

Building customer loyalty covers:

• Understanding who your most valuable customers are
• How to achieve a high standard of customer care for all your customers
• How to turn your most valuable customers into your most loyal customers

5. Marketing to your database

Databases make information management easy and relatively inexpensive. Mail shots, telemarketing and customer service activities can be more purposeful when you have instant access to details of all your customers and prospects and all your contacts with them.

Using the database as a marketing tool. It covers:

• Using your database as the main tool for achieving your marketing objectives
• Selecting what information to collect
• Designing your database to make it flexible and thoroughly useful

6. Design

Businesses that underrate the importance of design are missing a major opportunity.

Design is not just about the way products and brochures look. It is an essential part of improving your business, developing new products and innovating. Effective use of design can increase sales, reduce costs and present a new image to your customers.

In outline, you must know how to ensure that your business makes the most of design to:

• Improve your business processes
• Strengthen your marketing
• Develop better products

Summary

For the smaller business, 'sale marketing' best describes the functions of sales and marketing. Marketing consulting is focused on the needs of small businesses to generate sales and advise on other areas where costs savings and efficiencies can accrue. The cost of employing a marketing consultant and a sales manager is prohibitive for most small businesses.

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