Did you know entrepreneurs, small business owners, and other entities as such will spend months writing their business plan and only a few days to weeks writing their marketing plan?
Why?
Many feel that their brand name, products, or services will sell itself!
Well, trust me when I tell you this but if you fail to put in the required time and effort into the marketing practices of a business the business will eventually be deemed a less valuable source in the marketplace.
Do not become a victim of this mishap!
Follow these 4 strategies to help you determine if your business requires the skillful tactics of a marketing professional.
1. Failed Advertisement Campaigns
When it comes to running any sort of advertisement campaign you have to understand cost, demographics, target industry and the overall purpose of the advertisement. This measure has to be done prior to purchasing the advertisement. For some reason, businesses ignore this marketing strategy and dive head first into the next big advertising venue. In the end, the business suffers a major financial lose; which damages the economic standing of the entire organization.
The Moral of This Story: If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail!
2. Failed Promotional Strategies
The purpose of a promotional strategy is to keep your products or services in the eyesight of your customers. Just like advertising campaigns, promotional strategies give a business the additional opportunity to increase sales, publicity, image and brand awareness.
However, 9 times out of 10 a business will not promote their products or services in enough marketing mediums such as rebates, contests, discount coupons,...etc.
For instance, a business may only run a coupon promotion once every six months but neglect to do any other promotions in between that time period such as radio promotions or contests.
The Moral of This Story: If You Snooze...You Lose!
3. Negative Public Relations
Public relations (PR) is quite simple to understand. It's basically how the public relates to the image of your company. For instance, when a customer discusses your company with their peers are their reviews positive or negative?
Did you know this review can make or break the overall image of a company?
I am sure you have read reviews of a company and based on the shared information it determined whether or not you conducted business with them.
Many businesses nowadays forgot how powerful negative press and Internet reviews can have on the total company's well-being.
Believe me when I tell you that if issues in a business are not corrected accordingly, negative PR can lead to the total destruction of a business in mere moments.
The Moral of This Story: Negative PR = Negative Revenue!
4. Declining Sales
Let's face it, in any business you want to make sales. The last thing you want is to develop products or offer a service that does not equate to a profit.
After all you are in business...right?
However, for some reason businesses at some point will experience a decrease in sales.
This could be due to various reason, nevertheless if a business fails to pinpoint the cause they could eventually reach the point of no return and dismantle.
If a business is experiencing a decrease in sales, one of the first things I recommend they do is contact their customers and inform them about the benefits of having the product or service.
The customer may have forgotten about the unique features or benefits your items provides them.
A friendly reminder may be in order and could quite possibly turn your declining sales around.
The Moral of This Story: Building Stronger Customer Relationships Will Increase Sales!
What would you say are other tell-tell signs a business may require the assistance of a marketing professional? Add your comments below!
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| Kimberly Collins, MBA CEO, T.E.N Marketing, LLC |
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