Members Only: Main | Benefits of Membership | Articles & White Papers Presentation Archive | Photo Gallery | Member Directory | Job Opportunities Discussion Forum | Board of Directors Only Marek on Marketing: Ready to Market Your Business Next Year? -- by Annemarie Marek How much money and time should you spend marketing your business? And what marketing tools should you use to reach your goals? These are important questions which require some foresight and planning. If you're like hundreds of other businesses, developing your marketing budget and overall plan for next year might be relegated to handling today's most urgent issues. But it's important to consider how you reach your existing customers, as well as prospects, to keep your pipeline filled throughout the year. Here are ten tips for evaluating the best ways to market your business and measuring the results of your efforts: Review your customer list. Whether you maintain a sophisticated database that allows you to analyze your customer's buying habits throughout the year, or a simple filing card system with names and addresses, take a look at who's buying your products or services. Try to group these customers according to their value to your business. Some businesses consider overall sales volume. Others measure their customer's value according to the profitability of their account. Still others value long-term loyalty and believe that well-established and nurtured relationships are worth their weight in gold. The key to reviewing your customer list is to prioritize those whom you wish to reach throughout the year with your specific marketing messages. Recap and evaluate your marketing efforts to your existing customers. Ask yourself these questions and answer them honestly: How did we reach these customers during the year? What people or tools did we dedicate to the task of promoting our products or services to these customers? What did it cost us to reach our customers? What can we do better to market to them? Recap and evaluate your marketing efforts to new business prospects. Ask yourself the same questions. Decide which of your marketing efforts produced the best results in terms of sales, new customers, or repeat business. Identify similar marketing strategies that could produce these types of results. Look at the products or services that you sold which were the most profitable during the year. Evaluate their sales potential for the New Year if you were to devote more marketing energy, dollars, and activities towards promoting those products and services. Try to define which customers purchased these products so you can create an accurate "profile" of the prospective buyers of your goods. Consider your current sales staff and customer services personnel. How well did they market to your customers and prospects during the past year? Are there areas for improvement? Are there new technologies that could streamline their work and make them more productive? Are there marketing tools they could use to better service your customers and prospects? Now, it's time to plan your marketing campaign for next year. Set up two plans: 1) to reach your existing customers, and 2) to reach new customers. With your knowledge of who you're reaching, how and how often you're reaching your customers and prospects, and what products or services are the most profitable, you should have a concise profile of the selling patterns and sales results of your company. Analyze the best ways to market and communicate with each of these two groups. Explore a range of questions: Should you advertise? Is direct mail better? Would publicity grow your business? Would telemarketing improve your sales? Would a Web site open up new avenues for revenue? Your marketing options are numerous and wide-ranging. The key is to plan your year with frequent contact to keep your company's name "top of mind." And remember, to build frequency you must be willing to invest time, money, and a little imagination in your efforts. Shape your marketing plan to reach your goals. If your goal this year is to grow your customer base by 10%, be sure you use marketing tools that will help you acquire these customers. That might mean setting up a referral or networking program. If your goal is to increase your sales volume by 20%, then consider the tools that will get you there, such as new sales reps, new products, or a more aggressive marketing campaign. Take time to pull all these elements together. Lay out a marketing calendar. Tally up your marketing tools and their related costs. Spread your efforts over a full year -- or, if your business is subject to seasonal cycles, realistically determine where you will concentrate your efforts. The results of good planning and budgeting for your marketing campaign should not only be apparent at year-end, but throughout the year, quarter by quarter. Fine-tune your marketing if you see that your goals are not being reached. But, above all, stick to your plan. When everyone in your company understands your focus for the year, you'll be amazed at how well your marketing efforts will pay off. Happy selling! Annemarie Marek is the Principal of Marek & Company, a Dallas-based consulting firm that specializes in business publicity and promotion. Home | About the BMA | Calendar of Events | Members Only Sponsors & Partners | Free Newsletter | Related Links | Site Map © 2002 Business Marketing Association. All rights reserved. Contact us at info@bmadfw.org for more information.