I asked myself; why all of the sudden did the Cardinals begin to dominate the number one ranked defense in the league? I concluded that just like in life, when you take the bull by the horns and focus like there is no tomorrow, things get done.

The hurry up offense in football is like being on the end of a deadline. I call this “get it done yesterday mode”. At that point you dispense with fluff, excuses, and dead weight that slow you down. Your playbook of 200 plays becomes a select few; your pace heightens and your resolve seems to grow by leaps and bounds.

This is not a football thing but a life thing, because we all use the hurry up offense. Whether it is finishing a proposal in the 11^th hour, meeting a deadline, or just being fed up with a situation, we find moments where we explode with a focus and determination that gets things done. The Cardinals during their comeback reached that point, and just like in life when you decide to swing back the competition flinches and plays from its heals.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could harness this magical hurry up offense when our backs are not against the wall, and our neck is not on the line? What kind of difference would that make in our life, our business, in our marketing? …..HUGE!!!

So here is the drill:

1.       Set a business, marketing, sales, or any goal for that matter

2.       Create an opponent who gets in your way. The bigger, meaner, and unstoppable the better

3.       Set a deadline to accomplish your goal / task

4.       Create a play book to achieve your goal. Keep in mind your opponent and all the ways they will try to stop you

5.       Play the game and use your playbook to guide you toward your goal

At set intervals, maybe every other day or during a selected time period, put it into overdrive.  Imagine the opponent has your back against the wall, his foot on your neck, and it is do or die. In your mind think I have to get this done now, because there is no tomorrow.  Make it challenging, stretch yourself, and find a place where you are out of your comfort zone.

What I have found is that I get a hell of a lot more done when I am purposefully going into the hurry up offense mode. It is exhilarating, thrilling, and exhausting. One time I stayed up 47 hours straight to accomplish a goal I set. And here is the thing; the project was not due for two more weeks. It didn’t matter to my imaginary opponent, because he was bearing down on me, which meant I had to crank it up into hurry up mode. As a result I had two weeks to tweak, correct, and refine my work.

If you do it this way you can always lace up the cleats and give it another try. The other way works too, when our necks are actually on the line.  The difference is there are no do-overs, repeats, or second chances. For example, in the Super Bowl the Pittsburg Steelers proved too formidable. They went to their own hurry up offense and snatched victory away at the last minute. When the whistle blew signaling the end of the game, it was final and forever sketched in the record books. That sucks if you are the Cardinals, because had they a few more chances, redoes, or a mulligan they might have won.

So I implore you to find your motivated and spirited self that comes out in crunch time. Pull him out and match her against a worthy opponent. Stack the deck and play from behind like the game is on the line. You will find that victory will be yours long before the whistle blows, because your star player will be playing the whole game not just the final 2 minutes.

Knowing if your marketing will pay off is all about understanding the relationship between expected returns and cost, or in other words knowing your expected ROI (return on investment). Knowing this relationship saves you tons on money on wasted marketing gimicks and has the added benefit of breeding optimism within a company.  This is why the savvy company takes time to evaluate return on investment scenarios. The benefits include:

1. Knowing likely returns
2. Finding solid information to plan on
3. Breeding optimism based on sound planning and information (we call this reality)

Getting these benefits does not take a whole department, huge budgets, or much time; all it takes is a dedication to making purposeful decisions. Once you have made that commitment, then the rest is easy as 1,2,3.

Note, some of the equations we used to get ROI figures may seem complex, but with a little study, and using our excel cheat sheet, you can help your company measure expected ROI of proposed marketing.  Use the attached excel file for a quick reference to calculate your ROI 3 Step Guide to ROI Marketing Calculations

Step 1: Know Your Variable Margin Rate

The variable margin rate is your incremental profit rate. It is a measure that allows you to estimate how certain decisions will affect your bottom line profitability.

To begin we will setup a contribution format income statement. This type of income statement organizes cost by behavior. It shows the relationship of variable cost and fixed cost, regardless of function a given cost item is associated with. Or in plain English, it shows the fraction of sales that offset fixed cost, hence each unit’s sale profitability.

Above is a example table with a contribution format income statement. Our example statement list $1.35 Million in net sales, with a variable cost breakdown of $607.5K. To get the contribution or variable margin we divide total variable cost by net sales. In our case variable margin equals 45%.

With our variable margin rate we can estimate that 45% of each sales dollar represents profit. From this point we have an informed foundation to measure the outcome of proposed marketing decisions.

Step 2: Scenario Building

This step includes creating a scenario matrix using your variable margin rate. These scenarios will give you baseline information about how to proceed and measure activities. Baseline scenarios should include:

1. Break Even Sales Level: the amount of sales to break even (no profit)
2. Shutdown Sales Level: the amount of sales that just cover direct fixed cost (those cost you have to pay)
3. Target Profit Sales Level: the level of sales needed to meet profit goals

Here are the formulas and examples using our previous table:

Break Even Sales Level (BSL):

• BSL = fixed cost / variable margin rate
• $744,444 = $335,000 / .45
• So our company has to make at least $744,444 to break even

Shutdown Sales Level (SSL):

Note,direct fixed costs are those things you have to pay regardless, as they are required to run the business. Items like a professional fees, rents, insurance, etc. Things like advertisement, marketing, and other add-on fixed cost are not included in this figure.

• SSL = direct fixed cost / variable margin rate
• $466,667 = $210,000 / .45
• So our company will lose money if it does not at least make $466,667

Target Profit Sales Level (TPSL)

We will use $300,000 profit level for our example

• TPSL = (fixed cost + target profit) / variable margin rate
• $1,411,111 = $335,000 + $300,000 / .45
• So our company would need to make $1,411,111 to make $300,000 in profit

Step 3: Evaluate Marketing Options

Now that we have some baseline figures at hand we can begin to evaluate marketing options. Let’s say we have 3 options before us to market our company.

1. Radio advertisement
2. Brochure Development & Mass Mailing
3. Video Commercial Spots

Let’s evaluate each scenario:

Radio Advertisement:

• expected cost = $33,000
• expected return = $135,000
• contribution return = $135,000 x .45 = $60,750
• contribution - cost = $60,750 - $33,000 = $27,750
  • running the radio ad would profit us $27,750

Brochure Development & Mass Mailing

• expected cost = $45,000
• expected return = $170,000
• contribution return = $170,000 x .45 = $76,500
• contribution - cost = $76,500 - $45,000 = $31,500
  • the brochure development and mass mailing would profit us $31,500

Video Commercial Spots

• expected cost = $125,000
• expected return = $200,000
• contribution return = $200,000 x .45 = $90,000
• contribution - cost = $90,000 - $125,000 = -$35,000
  • video commercial spot would lose us -$35,000

Using our formulas we can see that the radio ad and the brochure marketing are profitable, while the TV spots lose $35,000. Special note: though radio and brochure marketing are profitable, brochure marketing has the edge because of cost to benefit ratio.

Radio has a cost to benefit ratio of 1.19 or roughly 19% return on investment (33,000 / 27,750), while the brochure has a cost to benefit ratio of 1.42 or roughly 42% return on investment (45,000 / 31,500). This means brochure marketing has almost 21% more relative return than radio in our example.

Another great figure to know is your minimum sales requirement. This gives you baseline revenue that your marketing must reach to break even. If you do not feel absolutely confident your marketing can reach this figure, then it probably is not a good idea to proceed.

Minimum Sales Requirement (MSR) = Change in Cost / Variable Margin Rate

• Radio Ad: $33,000 / .45 = $73,333
• Brochure Development & Mass Mailing $45,000 / .45 = $100,000
• Video Commercial Spots $125,000 / .45 = $277,778

The minimum each marketing campaign should bring in to break even is listed above.

When you use these simple formulas to make educated decisions about your marketing dollars you are empowered and in the driver seat. You would not set out on a trip without a destination or road map, same thing with marketing. Understand your cost and options to make the absolute best decision possible.

Below is a link to a excel sheet which allows you to easily create a contribution statement and evaluate potential marketing choices.

3 Step Guide to ROI Marketing Calculations

Note: this article was adapted from a worksheet. Know Your Marketing Position Worksheet

Positioning

Positioning is the process of narrowing down a few key benefits that customer’s want and you have competitive advantage in. In other words, it is about playing to your strengths. There are two basic types of questions in formulating your positioning. Who & What. The Who concerns target markets, and competitors. The What concerns target benefit and competitive advantage.

Who: Is Your Target Market

I know you have heard this time and time again, but it is worth restating. Know who you are targeting. It helps in many ways. Including:

• decreasing marketing expenditure
• yielding higher returns on marketing investments
• narrows competition
• creates niche expertise
• provides richer information for decision making

The process of selecting a market segment can be intensive, but well worth the effort. In future Bazooka Biz articles we will get into more detail about selecting target markets. Below is an outline of some steps to begin the process of target market selection.

Target Market Worksheet

Q1: Who is most likely to want or need your products/ services? Describe your typical customer(s).

Q2: Why this particular market? Is it profitable, do you have advantage, niche, etc. WHY?

Q3: Who are the customers in this market (specific)?

Q4: Customer Psychological Make-Up (Lifestyle)

Q5: Where are they located?

Q6: What’s important to your customers

Q7: What are 3-6 Key benefits your customers seek? (e.g. what points-of-pain or problems need to be solved)

Q8: How do you fulfill these key benefits?

Q9: What do you customers consider before they purchase your products or services?

Q10: How are your customers influenced by price?

Q11: What other factors can affect your customers purchase or use decision?

Q12: What attitudes do customers have about the industry you serve (e.g. are they enthusiastic, confused, lacking information, expect high quality, could care less, etc.)?

Q13: Can your product / service be easily replaced? What other products do you compete with?

Q14: What are some key frustrations your customers have with your business?

Who: Is Your Target Competitors

During this phase you want to carve out a list of competitors. Try to get beyond the most visible competitors (e.g. top of mind, leaders in the industry, etc.) to get a more comprehensive list. Types of competitors to consider include:

• top of the market (those you are chasing)
• at your current level
• same geographic area
• startup competitors
• etc.

To get even more competitors on your list, ask current customers and do internet research. Remember, that your list should only include those who are competing directly with you in the target market you have selected. A company may sell similar products, but not target the same markets you have isolated.

Another key thing I like to do when doing a competitive analysis is create an imaginary company. This company does everything well and my target market loves them. In envisioning this company I get a better understanding of my ?company’s weaknesses. This also is useful if you have no direct competitors, as it gives you a way to measure your strengths in regards to perfection.

Target Competitor List

What: Is Your Value / Benefit to Your Target Market?

No other point means as much to business success as providing value to customers. That is why knowing what value / benefit you provide to your target market is like possessing the Holy Grail. You instantly have this magical power to give customers what they want, providing real value.

Providing real value starts with working with accurate information. Accurate information comes from primary sources, directly from the horse’s mouth, namely your customers. Customers are the ones who can give it to you straight and un-filtered, providing useable data on your true value. Other sources of information are to be strictly used for supplemental purposes.

Below is a list of ways of getting information about your company market value. Note they have been arranged from best to worst.

1. Customer Base (Primary)
   • • current customers - full of useful information about how you stack up.
     • new customers - may be able to tell you why they patronize your business
     • lost customers - where did you go wrong
     • heavy users - know all the wonderful things of your products
     • potential customers - concerns, questions, apprehensions
2. Industry Research (studies) / Books / Publications
3. Internet Research (e.g. epinions, review page, view points, etc.)
4. Employees
5. Management
6. Senior Management
7. Business Owners

Notice that the higher you go up the chain of command in a company the worse the source of information becomes. This is due to the fact that generally the higher up you are in the company the further removed you are from the customers. Also the higher up you are the more vested you are in the success of the company, which biases you to objective critique.

Knowing who and where to get the information on perceived value from is only 20% of the battle. The lion’s share of work is in creating vehicles for information collection, analysis, and implementation. A full in-depth look at any of these 3 areas could fill many books. We will briefly summarize a few steps in each area of Information Collection, Information Analysis, and Information Implementation.

Value / Benefit Information collection

Collecting information from customer base should be a part of the organizational workflow. Each touch point should maximize the process of collecting information. This means that things like employee interactions, email correspondence, web sites, flyers, promotions, etc. all should somehow tie back into information collection. Examples of a company’s touch points might include:

Direct survey and industry survey groups are other ways of getting rich data from customers on the value of your services. Conducting random surveys of customer base (see above) will give your company much needed real-time information to plan from. Recent research indicates that using mixed mode surveys is key to deployment. This means a company should use several vehicles for survey deployment. This may include a combination of:

Value / Benefit Information Analysis

Analyzing information does not need to be super complex. Depending on your type of deployment, data entry into a centralized database should be simple and straight forward. Services like Zoomerang allow you to export online and email survey data to be used with offline data.

For example, we recommend a simple value based table be created ranking the relative importance of each value and how you think you stack up. (Note full in-depth study of organizational capabilities is in the next section)

The above relative value to capability table is a simple example of how a doctor’s office might organize information collected from patients. In this example the patients place high value on reputation and convenient location. This is good news for our doctor’s office because its capabilities match up well with these values.

The key here is not to get stuck in the paralysis of analysis. Find the trends and act on them.

Implimentation

All the information in the world means nothing unless it is acted upon. Once you find a trend in value perception, seek to fix it or use it. That is, if you see a trend of value being customer support then beef up your customer support yesterday. If you find a trend of mobile phone use, then develop a mobile website yesterday.

Values shift, wants and needs change, so information collected has a short shelf life. To be effective you must use information quickly and develop a get it implemented yesterday mindset. This type of company emphasis can only work with full support and dedication from top management. (See Information is King & 5 Keys to Successfully Implementing Your Marketing Plan for more information about implementation)

Brief summary of plans of implementation: (note this is only a summary. The implementation should be comprehensive and backed by serious planning)

What: Is Your Competitive Advantage (edge)?

Business growth and sustainability is based on competitive advantage. That is, your company’s future is bound to your capabilities as they relate to your competitors. If you have capabilities that are unique to your company, and customers that value that capability, you have an edge.

The advantage whether it is a skill set, resource, geographic location, inside information, or other, is what separates competitors. Further distance is created by the uniqueness of the capability advantage. For example, a gas station that installed an automatic car washing system that customer’s value has a distinct edge over competition. That is, until the competitors have a similar system installed. In this example the advantage was not unique, so the advantage could only be held in the short term.

The first step to finding your edge is to examine your capabilities to find areas of competitive advantage. These advantages become an edge when you can link them directly to customer value. An advantage that customers do not value means little.

We recommend 3 types of analysis:

A combination of the above 3 competitor analysis works best depending on budget and availability. Using your touch point questionnaires and survey model as discussed earlier you could easily deploy a customer based competitive analysis. Industry study may not be available for small industries or local types of businesses. An in house team analysis is an inclusive effort, not a one person thing. Getting comprehensive feedback from all team members will yield much better information than isolated analysis.

Competition table information

The type of information you collect is the same regardless of analysis method chosen above. In each case you want to find out how your company and competitors rank in relationship to values / benefits of your target market. You will then arrange this data into a competition table for review.

The Competition table displays 3 types of data.

1. Values of Customers: you have already listed values in above steps
2. Organizational Capabilities: how does your company meet each of these above value
3. Competitor Capabilities: how your competition meets each of the above values

Each type of data will have a specific type of ranking.

1. Values of Customers: 10 - 1, with 10 being highly relevant to target market.
2. Organizational Capabilities: Below Average, On Par, & Superior (in relationship to your competitors) & is your superiority future proof (sustainable)

For example you have identified reputation as being one of the key values of your target market. Does your company have a superior reputation than your competition? Is your superior reputation future proof and sustainable? The below table outlines an example Doctor’s office and how it might display a competition table.

Competitive advantage table

Competitive Advantage: a capability that allows an organization to provide a benefit to its customer base at a superior level than the competition.

Cell Key:

• Par / Average: means you are meeting with sufficient capability in regards to this value. You are running with the pack, thusly on par / average
• Superior: you are leading the pack and out pacing your competition
• Future Proof: you can hold this advantage in the foreseeable future (sustainable)
• Empty: means below average (competitors are better than you)

From the above table, our doctor’s office core strength is reputation and convenient location. The office should promptly add capability in the areas of available hours and facility upgrades. Parking may be one of those things they can’t change without moving, which may alter their advantage in terms of location.

Sample Positioning Summary?

Our doctor office studied his market and narrowed down his efforts to focus on the young professional crowd 26-41 years of age. This target market reside near where they work in the downtown area, which makes his location very valuable. He knows from his target market study that they also value convenience (do not like to travel far). This market likes  highly reputable professionals who they can look up in seconds online. They are green, so they tend not to own cars. The young professional also display anti establishment characteristics (don’t like big brother).

The doctor’s edge (value) to this market is his strong reputation and convenient location. The young professional prides themselves on associations. So having a top doctor is an emotional, psychological, and social boost.

His competitors do not have the location he has or the reputation. Our doctor knows his reputation is the number 1 selling point so he protects it. Our doctor makes sure he stays published in local papers, and contributes to published medical journals, and contributes to local environmental efforts. He also conducts countless surveys and has maximized his touch points to collect further information about the perceived value he is offering to his patients.

Though our doctor is near a big medical provider, our doctor knows his target market appreciates one on one service that big brother companies can’t provide.

Having the above information to plan from sheds a lot of light on the path you should take in business. The positioning process is an important one and will take time and effort, but will prove valuable in no time at all.

Note: this article was adapted from a worksheet. Know Your Marketing Position Worksheet

First Things First

Let’s clearly get a hold of what implementation entails. In a most technical sense it involves managing change. A strategic marketing plan is nothing more than a set of actions geared at change, augmentation, and modification. These changes fall into two broad areas.

1. Organizational &Procedural: things like products, work routines, how things are done, what is done, what is emphasized, etc.
2. Behavioral & Attitudinal: things like beliefs, orientation, thinking, skills, routines, etc.

The key word is change, and as we all know change in any organization can be an uphill battle. That is why as we start to lay down keys to successful implementation of a strategic marketing plan, we will have to make certain assumptions about the plan itself.

We will assume that your strategic marketing plan was created using best practices. Our assumptions about your plan include:

• Company Communication: a plan conceived without consulting each department or relevant persons is asking for disaster. It is always best practice to get the input off all relevant departments when creating a strategic marketing plan. This is will reduce errors, decrease future resistance to change, and provide insight into the dynamics of how the company operates.
• Strong Foundation: a plan should start first with the company mission and business statements and seek to fulfill those sentiments. If it sticks to these values and positions then all parties in the company should have no problem going along with it. If they did have issue, they would have issue with the very fabric of what the company exists for.
• Top Management Support: a plan should have participation and support of top management and leaders in the company. Without their full support, implementation across the organization is next to impossible. This means the plans in its infancy was in part created with top managers and leaderships input.
• Resources: if the company does not have the resources to carry out the plan then needless to say implementation will be compromised. A good plan is developed with a good understanding of company resources. This means it was created with intimate knowledge of the financial background and future plans already in place.

There are more things that go into best practices when creating a solid strategic marketing plan, but these are among the top pitfalls.

Key 1: Give the Glory to Top Management

Top management ultimately is the most influential part to successful implementation. They control the purse strings, how things are done, attitudes and beliefs, and most importantly the direction the company.

Without their full and complete support the plan will have serious hurdles to overcome. Give the glory and duty to top management to disseminate the plan. Tasks that top management are essential to include:

1. Communicating to entire company
2. Allocating resources to carry out plan
3. Influence beliefs and attitudes as to why the plan is important
4. Mediate power struggles or conflicts
5. Etc.

If we followed best practices and included top management in the design and planning phases, then implementation is the next step of an ongoing process. The more top management is involved and tied to the plan, the more they will contribute to the plans ultimate success. In a nut shell, they have married the plan and will work like hell to make sure it works.

Key 2: Know Everyone’s Role

The second step to a successful implementation is to know everyone’s role in the plan and how they are involved. Top managers are privy to the whole plan as they disseminate the organizational and behavioral change outlined in the plan. Department heads do not need the whole plan. They need to understand their duties and requirements outlined in the plan. Employees and further down the ladder do not need the entire plan. They need a set of guidelines to influence behavioral & procedural shifts.

The main point here is, that if you give people more to handle and process than their pay grade, they will ultimately implode. Give them a vision and tasks to match what they are capable of. This empowers the individual to work with purpose towards realistic and achievable goals. This intimately ties each person and group in the company to the role they play.

This means you should not make 500 copies of the plan and start handing them out in company mailboxes. Keep it hush, secret, and for higher up eyes only. The stated above advantages are also supplemented by the psychological ramifications of keeping things lock and key. People will want what they can’t have. Simple human nature, unfold it slowly, leak some key parts here and there. Besides it is a huge security risk to have your plan in too many hands.

Key 3: Goal Setting

In implementing the plan special care must be given to developing a scheduling and task system to measure intermittent success. By intermittent we mean that if the ultimate goal of the plan was to increase sales by 24% over an 8 month period, we need a way to check our success. Maybe weekly as it relates to our core objective.

Top managers should create step by step tasks and completion dates that department heads can evaluate and disseminate to personnel to keep all parties on track. The method that is done will vary depending on the organization, but creating routine personnel meetings, developing committees, setting up goal and time tracking processes, etc. are all part of making sure everyone is working to meet the plans objectives.

Key 4: Feedback & Training

Hitting goals is a lot easier if everyone is on the same page by developing skill sets, beliefs, and procedures needed to implement the plan. It is up to top management to setup training and informational sessions that will help personnel groups’ meet goals, and stay motivated.

Motivation is one the biggest concerns going forward. By staying motivated employee groups are more effective in every capacity. Motivation of company members can be facilitated by

• Getting them involved: make them feel like they are a part of the process.
• Present things in terms that motivate them: if your staff is motivated my profit speak in those terms. If staff is motivated by security, comfort, giving, respect, loyalty, etc. speak to those values and how working the plan will help them meet these values.

The training and information disseminated will also create a great opportunity for feedback which will help with the next key step to successful implementation.

Key 5: Strategic Marketing Plan Calibration

Many times a strategic marketing plan is implemented with initial gusto, but not evaluated and calibrated along the way to meet the changing landscape and newly gathered information. This can lead to a plan becoming obsolete and met with resistance within the company, causing disillusion.

You can offset this process by emphasizing that the plan be a living document. It will grow, change, and calibrate upon feedback from personnel, department heads, and real world results. The feedback from various parts of the company will reinvigorate the plans objectives, because real time feedback is facilitating information flow. Information flow is like blood in the veins; when it flows, the business remains healthy. Developing methods to collect and analyze information is beyond this article but one should always be looking for ways to tweak the current plan. Things change, assumptions prove to be wrong, so adaptability is key to successful implementation.

Implementation is not easy and takes a certain amount of dedication regardless of company size. Conceiving the plan using best practices helps because many hurdles have already been jumped like getting all parties input. Getting top management involved early is a top most priority. Developing key goals, tracking, and feedback systems will help the plan meet its desired results. Last but not least creating processes to continually evaluate and update the plan will ensure its remains relevant. Successfully implement your plan by following the 5 steps listed.

If we could eliminate or control the unknown factor in our marketing, we could alleviate this big headache. This is easier said than done, because marketing is complex, and is as much art as it is a science. Despite these complexities, there is one thing that always works and proves instrumental in decreasing the unknown factor. It’s called systematic planning.

Yes, the secret of secrets is planning. It’s not fancy or even glamorous, but useful, and worth its weight in gold. By systematically planning your marketing efforts, you can effectively track, monitor, and most importantly CHANGE based on solid information. As you change, based on solid information the picture of what works and where success lies, becomes clearer. It is clearer, because you have past information, present understanding, and a plan to drive future efforts.

The old saying is, “We never plan to fail, just fail to plan”. This is especially true in Marketing and Sales as many of us float in the wind; throwing darts in the dark, guessing at what to do next. A direct mail campaign this week, a flashy website that week, and a full blown news paper ad for good measure; never once asking the pertinent question, ‘How does this fit into my greater systematic marketing plan’?

So, ask yourself a few questions before you tackle your next proposed Marketing and Sales project. See if it fits into a broader and more functional plan. Question yourself, your sales team, that marketing consultant, or whoever else claims to be able to help you increase sales. At the very least the questioning process should help you feel more secure, alleviating that paralyzing syndrome of NOT KNOWING.

Like anything worth doing, strategic market planning takes effort. You can kick start the process by reflecting on your past success, reading up on business marketing, and even calling Market Bazooka (shameless plug). Whatever you do, start planning today and reap the reward of strategic action. It beats driving blind folded in the dark!

Here are 8 solid questions to ask before any Marketing and Sales effort.

1. What is my marketing and sales objective?
2. How does this proposed effort help me achieve my objective?
3. How will I know if my efforts have failed or succeeded?
4. How will I track my efforts?
5. What are the possible outcomes of this effort?
6. How will I deal with the possible outcomes?
7. What else can I do to support my current efforts?
8. What will be the next step(s)?

These are a few key questions you can ask yourself as you begin to create systematic market plans. Go to Bazooka Biz for more tips and a complete list of 50 Key Questions to Market Planning.

You see, the glasses they use at the restaurant were not big enough to hold a lot of water. They also were more than half full of ice. This made the job of keeping them filled with water harder than it had to be. Why not use bigger glasses, I thought? Why not use less ice? That would save the poor waiters from having to fill up water glasses every 2 minutes.

Then I thought about it. By keeping your customers in need you have provided an opportunity to fulfill. Meaning, when my waiter comes to fill my glass for the 20^th time, he/she has had 20 opportunities to serve me. They had the opportunity to ask if I needed anything else. They had the opportunity to see if I was satisfied with my experience. Each small service was an opportunity to deepen our relationship, enrich my experience, and sale me something else…. How about some desert sir?

As a marketer and salesman this is the crux of customer support and continued satisfaction. You find something that you can offer that needs constant attention and service. It should be easily obtainable by your clients and even easier to fulfill by you (e.g. filling a empty glass of water). In the end your customer will be ecstatic that you have added value to your existing service. Then you have the opportunity to cross sale, keep current clients happy, and most importantly create a sales advocate for your business. I have no choice but to refer Phuket to friends; the food is great and my glass is never empty.

So ask yourself, how can I make the glass small, full of ice, and easy to fill? Figure that out and like me you will find your customers will HAVE TO LEAVE A BIG TIP.

Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide

If you are looking to go into business online, or are trying to improve your online businesses take a look at the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide. This guide is an invaluable resource that ranks the top 500 ecommerce retailers each year. You get all the information you need to understand trends, best practices, and what all the big players are doing in the online market.

Pros:

• great overview of who is doing what
• good information about how each measures up (traffic, server response, affiliate programs, web analytics, etc.)
• good information on features that stand out for each ecommerce retailer
• good information on online trends

Cons:

• Not cheap, $75 with shipping
• To get at best information you need to study. No real tips or best practices summary.
• Information becomes obsolete quickly. You need to order each year to stay up to date

To purchase or find out more click here

Trump University Marketing 101 (Recommended Resource)

As introduction to marketing goes Trump University Marketing 101 is hard to beat. It gets to the brass of what you need to know and do to market your company. A pure read for anyone who wants to get into marketing theory, with just enough practical examples to keep the reader intrigued.

Pros:

• Easy to read
• Provides links to resources with worksheets and exercises
• Covers most of the basics of marketing theory

Cons:

• More theory than practical real world examples
• Does not outline a 1,2,3 step procedure for following advice
• User will have to pick and choose when and how to implement advice, because there is no set curriculum or procedures to follow.

All in all, we recommend this book as a supplement to developing your marketing strategy. It has useful information, exercises, and resources to build upon.

Guerrilla Marketing

When the economy turns, and tactics are not pulling in the returns you are used to, it may be time to pull out the Guerilla? Guerilla Marketing, 4^th edition is a business gem, full of no nonsense, to the point marketing ideas. Sure to spark conversation, planning, and most important action toward profits.

Pros:

• To the point information
• Easy to comprehend and implement ideas
• Tactically sound (useful and practical )

Cons:

• Not a complete strategic resource and thusly a business should use this book as part of a more specific marketing plan.

Apple launched a series of successful advertisements that framed the debate of PC’s being for geeks and only spreadsheets, while Apples are for families, entertainment, and having fun (click here to see example ad). That message stuck, because it was relevant and spoke to core values of computer users. Certain segments want to easily access photos, videos, share music, etc. Apple has won over this audience with their message.

The “I am PC” ad builds on a collective sense of community; drawing on similarities. Similarities like wearing glasses, supporting certain causes, having a beard, or having a NBA ring. Now ask yourself, when you go to buy a computer will you be thinking about the fact that you wear glasses or sell fish. No, you will be thinking about how the computer fills actual needs. It helps to find the fuzzy feeling of commonness, but people buy computers based on on function. The value of being like someone who sells fish is not a big enough draw for most.

When computers become disposable, fashionable, something to share, and speak more to who you are (image) than what you have to do (function), then yes, who else uses them will have far greater impact. Moral of the story, understand your audience and why they value your products. If not you may find your message off key and doing nothing real in the market place to change behavior or increase sales.