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Sales & Marketing
Promoting your Business
Marketing
(i) Direct marketing: the basics
Direct marketing is any unsolicited contact your business makes with existing or potential customers in order to generate sales or raise awareness.
For many businesses, it's by far the most cost-effective form of marketing. From direct mail and leaflet drops to telemarketing and email marketing, it allows you to target customers with greater accuracy than any other method.
But careful preparation of direct-marketing campaigns is essential if you are to make the most of your investment, get the response rates you want and ensure you do not contact individuals who have decided they do not want to receive direct marketing mailings.
The set of activities described below sets out the different types of direct marketing and outlines the advantages and disadvantages of each. It gives details of current legislation and industry best practice, and tells you where to get more help and information on both.
* Why use direct marketing?
* Using your database
* Direct mail
* Leaflet drops and handouts
* Telemarketing
* Email and fax marketing
* Get help with a direct-marketing campaign
* Legal issues and best practice
(ii) Sales & marketing: the basics
Getting your sales and marketing right is crucial to the success of your business. Creating a marketing strategy will help you identify potential customers and target them with appropriate products or services. Using the correct sales techniques will help you turn interest in your product or service into customer orders.
The set of activities described below provides an introduction to practical advice and information on establishing successful sales and marketing methods and policies - from pricing and advertising to sales techniques and a profitable Internet presence.
* An overview of marketing
* An overview of pricing
* An overview of advertising and branding
* An overview of effective selling
* An overview of customer management
* An overview of online marketing
* An overview of selling and marketing overseas
(iii) Understand your competitors
Knowing who your competitors are, and what they are offering, can help you to make your products, services and marketing stand out. It will enable you to set your prices competitively and help you to respond to rival marketing campaigns with your own initiatives.
You can use this knowledge to create marketing strategies that take advantage of your competitors' weaknesses, and improve your own business performance. You can also assess any threats posed by both new entrants to your market and current competitors. This knowledge will help you to be realistic about how successful you can be.
The set of activities described below explains how to analyze who your competitors are, how to research what they're doing and how to act on the information you gain.
* Who are your competitors?
* What you need to know about your competitors
* Learning about your competitors
* Hearing about your competitors
* How to act on the competitor information you get
(iv) Create your marketing strategy
Developing a marketing strategy is vital for any business. Without one, your efforts to attract customers are likely to be haphazard and inefficient. The focus of your strategy should be to make sure that your products and services meet customer needs better than competitors and develop long-term and profitable relationships with those customers. It may also help you to identify whole new markets that you can successfully target.
Central to any successful marketing strategy is an understanding of your customers and their needs. The ability to constantly satisfy your customers' needs better than your competitors are able to will make you the preferred supplier in the marketplace. In order to achieve this, you will need to create a flexible strategy that can respond to changes in customer perceptions and demand.
Once you have created and implemented your strategy, it is equally important to monitor its effectiveness and to make any adjustments required to maintain its success.
The set of activities described below helps you to identify which customers to focus on and your key objectives in reaching them. It explains what to include in your marketing strategy and how it can be used as the basis for effective action.
* Key elements of a successful marketing strategy
* Understanding your strengths and weaknesses
* Developing your marketing strategy
* Tips and pitfalls
(v) Write a marketing plan
Marketing is a key part of business success. You need to decide which customers to target. You need to work out how you will reach and win new customers. You need to make sure that you keep existing customers happy. And you need to keep reviewing and improving everything you do to stay ahead of the competition.
Your marketing plan should be the reference document you use as a basis to execute your marketing strategy. It sets out clear objectives and explains how you will achieve them. Perhaps most importantly it looks at how you can ensure that your plan becomes reality.
Remember that marketing in itself will not guarantee sales, but by adopting a well-researched and coherent plan, you have a much better chance of building long-term, profitable relationships.
The set of activities described below outlines the key areas to look at and what to include in an effective marketing plan.
* Marketing plan summary and introduction
* External and internal analysis for your marketing plan
* Your marketing objectives
* Marketing strategy for your marketing plan
* Plan your marketing tactics
* Implementation of your marketing plan
(vi) Trade shows and exhibitions
Trade shows and exhibitions are specialist market places that allow exhibitors to promote their products and services, reach new customers and generate new sales. They also give visitors the opportunity to find out about the products and services on display.
Trade shows and exhibitions can also provide business people with the opportunity to network and make useful contacts with other people working in their industry.
The set of activities described below aims to help you get the best from exhibiting at one of these events (for simplicity, we'll call them all trade fairs) or attending as a visitor.
* Using a trade fair to promote your product or service
* Going to a trade fair as a customer
* Choosing the right trade fair
* Exhibiting - using specialist event companies
* Exhibiting - doing it yourself
* Access and legal issues
* Checklist: exhibiting successfully
* International trade fairs
* Following up from a trade fair
(vii) Market research and market reports
All successful businesses need to have a close understanding of potential and existing customers and the marketplace they work in.
This understanding allows you to target customers, sell effectively, compete with other suppliers and spot new opportunities. Performing market research on potential customers and your competitors will help you to gain this vital knowledge.
You can build a picture of general trends using published market information - from free government statistics and data to paid-for market reports from commercial providers. Your own contacts and sales records can also be a great resource.
You can add to your knowledge by using field research - from surveys and discussions to product tests - to investigate customers' attitudes and examine questions specific to your business.
The set of activities described below explains what you need to know about market and customer research, how to build your knowledge and how using field research can fill in the gaps.
* Customer research: what you need to know
* Information on market trends and competitor intelligence
* Using market reports and other data
* Interpreting market information
* The basics of quantitative and qualitative field research
* Planning field research
* Tips for successful field research
* Should I use a market research agency?
Online marketing
(i) Manage your customer database
Organizations are increasingly using databases to manage customer relationships to increase both sales and customer satisfaction. A database can help you identify key trends and important information such as your most and least profitable customers. A customer database can form part of the coherent management of relationships with customers. This Customer Relationship Management (CRM) plays an important role in many small business' sales and marketing strategies.
The set of activities described below will help you understand both how to use a database for marketing and the concept of CRM. In particular, you will learn what kind of information your business should collect in a CRM database and how to integrate it with other systems in your business.
These activities also outline the practical steps in getting a database started, such as what sort of system to acquire, how to find the right supplier or solutions provider and how to develop your customer database.
* Database marketing and CRM - the benefits
* Set up a CRM system
* Compiling your customer data
* Developing your customer database
* Keeping your customer database accurate
* How to choose a customer database supplier
(ii) Email marketing
Promoting your products or services by email can be a powerful and flexible form of direct marketing. You can communicate your messages quickly and cheaply. You can also tailor your message to specific types of customer more cost-effectively than with paper-based marketing.
However, you should plan your email marketing with care to make it relevant and interesting to recipients. You also need to be aware that you must always obtain their consent before sending them marketing emails.
The set of activities described below shows how to get customers' permission to receive email from your business and how to ensure you reach the right people. It also covers how to monitor the effectiveness of email marketing and newsletters and the legal issues you need to be aware of.
* Target the right people
* Get people to opt in to your email marketing
* Create an email newsletter
* Make your email newsletter engaging
* Monitor and follow up your campaign
* Legal issues
(iii) Develop an e-marketing plan
E-marketing means using digital technologies to help sell your goods or services. These technologies are a valuable complement to traditional marketing methods whatever the size of your company or your business model.
The basics of marketing remain the same - creating a strategy to deliver the right messages to the right people. What has changed is the number of options you have. Though businesses will continue to make use of traditional marketing methods, such as advertising, direct mail and PR, e-marketing adds a whole new element to the marketing mix. Many businesses are producing great results with e-marketing and its flexible and cost-effective nature makes it particularly suitable for small businesses.
The set of activities described below describes how to develop an e-marketing plan and provides guidance on implementing that plan and monitoring its effectiveness.
* The benefits of e-marketing
* Stages in developing your e-marketing plan
* The importance of brand and image
* Building relationships with your customers
* Getting the technology right
* Implementing e-marketing
* Monitoring the effectiveness of your e-marketing campaign
* Legal considerations in e-marketing
(iv) Generate business from your e-marketing plan
The overall objective of any marketing initiative is to help sell your goods or services. Used successfully, e-marketing can enhance customer relationships and increase your business' profitability.
Your e-marketing plan needs to consider which techniques to adopt in order to attract potential customers to your e-commerce website and keep them coming back.
There are a variety of different approaches that you can take, and your e-marketing plan will usually include a mix of different strategies that are best suited to help you meet your overall objectives. Some of these will be innovative, while others will be automated versions of traditional marketing techniques.
The set of activities described below provides an introduction to the e-marketing techniques most commonly used by small businesses.
* Email marketing
* SMS marketing
* Promoting your website
* Getting the most out of search engines
* Advertising and sponsorship
* Sales promotions
* Community building
Advertising, branding and design
(i) Advertising: the basics
Advertising is an important component of the promotion element of your marketing strategy, along with direct marketing, PR, exhibitions or a website. The aim of each of these is to promote your business and communicate the information you want to send to your intended audience, usually with a view to increasing sales. Until a customer deals with you directly and actually buys your products or services, your advertising may help to form their first impressions of your business. While advertising can attract new customers, it can also turn potential customers away if it seems amateurish compared to your competitors. The set of activities described below discusses how advertising could help you and gives advice on where and how to advertise. It also shows you how to manage the process and ensure you get value for money. * How advertising can help your business
* Local advertising
* Advertising on the Internet and in online directories * Advertising in the trade and technical press * Radio, cinema, outdoor and national advertising * Planning an advertising campaign
* Getting value for money from your advertising * Managing responses and monitoring the campaign * Tips on writing a print advertisement
(ii) Best practice in web design
Irrespective of whether you are intending to use a flat "brochureware" website or an interactive e-commerce site, the overall look and feel will play an important role in its usability. It is important that visitors to the site can quickly and easily access the required information. The design should present the content in an intuitive manner, making effective use of color, layout and site organization. There are also legal issues to consider in the design of the website. You have to ensure that you comply with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). The set of activities described below provides advice on the principles of good web design, taking into account the requirements of the DDA. If you decide to use a third party to design and develop your website, this guide can help inform your discussion with them. * Planning your site
* Technical website design considerations
* Accessibility issues
* Designing the site
* Designing for the user
* Web typography
* Site navigation
(iii) Branding: the basics
Every business wants to be a customer's first choice. Building and managing a brand can play a significant part in making that happen. The concept of a brand extends far beyond just your company logo to your business' core values and to every interaction you have with customers and suppliers. In effect, your brand creates and maintains your reputation and so reflects your customers' experience of your organization. Customers and employees can build up emotional attachments to certain brands, allowing for strong loyalties and even a sense of ownership. This can help maintain employee motivation and increase your sales but it can also cause problems if you don't consult these stakeholders as your business grows. A strong brand can make any business stand out from the crowd, particularly in competitive markets. If you want to build and manage a brand, you'll need to focus on what your customers want and how you can guarantee to deliver it. You'll need to be consistent in your service and every other point of contact customers have with you - for example, phone calls, letters, faxes etc. The set of activities described below shows you how to create a brand, how to budget for it and how to manage it. * First steps for creating a brand
* Building your brand
* Managing your brand
* Reviewing your brand
* Budgeting for a brand
* Ten tips on branding
(iv) Choose and manage an advertising agency
Advertising can increase sales and raise brand awareness for your business as part of your marketing strategy. You can develop and book your own advertising with media owners direct, eg newspapers and radio stations, but you may find it useful to use an advertising agency if you feel you lack the knowledge or time. Advertising agencies can help you devise an advertising strategy. They can then create the media campaigns that will best promote your business. Remember that although agencies will generally receive discounts from media owners as they book regularly, the charge for their services may mean it is still cheaper for you to approach the media owner directly. It's important that you choose and effectively manage an agency that understands the needs of your business and is not tied to any media owner. The set of activities described below helps you select the right agency for your business. It outlines what you should put into an agreement with an agency and how, once you have struck a deal, you can best work together. It also advises you on ending the relationship with an agency. * Find an agency
* Choose an agency
* Set a budget
* Strike an agreement with the agency
* Manage the relationship with the agency
* End the relationship
* Checklist: choosing an advertising agency
* Checklist: ten things to watch during an advertising campaign (v) Choosing the right advertising media
When you're advertising, you need to choose the most cost-effective media to get your message to the right people. There is also a tool that will help you to make that choice. It asks you a short series of questions about: * Your product or service
* The target audience for that product or service It directs you to guidance on the advertising media most likely to help your business, providing you with a series of options to help you develop your own media plan. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice and will take you no more than three minutes to complete. Important:
* Which advertising media are right for my business? (vi) Comply with advertising standards
Nearly every business advertises at some stage - but whichever media you choose, the claims you make for your product or service must comply with a number of regulations. This also applies to direct mail shots. The regulations are, for the most part, very simple. As long as your advertisement is legal, decent, truthful and honest, you usually won’t have anything to worry about. Two Committees of Advertising Practice, one for broadcast advertising, the other for non-broadcast advertising, are responsible for drawing up codes of practice - CAP Codes. The set of activities described below outlines how these codes and various laws affect your business. It also explains how to avoid breaching any regulations and covers what happens if your advertising is the subject of a complaint. * How advertising standards are regulated
* The CAP Codes
* How to comply with the CAP Codes
* Handling CAP Codes complaints
* The Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations * Online promotions and advertisements
(vii) Design and print your business stationery
Stationery is one of the most visible aspects of any business. From letterheads and compliments slips to business cards and invoices, your stationery will be seen and kept by customers and will influence the way they see your business. Stationery can be used to project your business image. But there are also legal requirements about the information your stationery must include - such as your VAT number and your company's registered address. The set of activities described below explains how to create a simple business image for use on your stationery. It also outlines the specific information you're required to include on certain items of stationery and provides help and advice on choosing a printer for your business stationery. * Develop your business image
* Deciding the types of stationery you need
* Information to include on your stationery
* Choosing a printer for your stationery
* Typical costs for printing your stationery
(viii) Get the right website for your business
Many businesses reach more customers by having a website. By answering a series of simple questions about your business, you'll find out: * Whether a website could work for your business * What type of website would be best for you?
* How a website could help you get more customers There is also a interactive tool to discover if a website will help you. This should take no more than three minutes to complete. This tool is not a substitute for professional advice. You may also want to: * check what type of website your competitors have * discuss your current and future website needs with an IT adviser * take advice from a range of website development and design agencies * get impartial advice from your local Business Link adviser * Will a website help my business?
(ix) PR: the basics
PR - or public relations - means getting people to talk and think about your business in a positive way. It can be a vital weapon in your business' armory. It's a way to get good publicity without advertising. And if there's ever a problem facing your business it helps you deal with it effectively. You can use PR to attract and impress people such as customers, suppliers, distributors, banks and other lenders, potential employees and possible business partners. And PR isn't just for big companies using national newspapers or television. Even the smallest business can use publicity opportunities to catch the eye of its local audience. The set of activities described below will help you generate positive media coverage and identify the media you should target. It will also tell you how you can go about writing a press release and give you tips for dealing with bad publicity. * Identifying your target media
* How to get media coverage
* Building contacts with the media
* Dealing with bad publicity
* Should I use a PR agency?
* Writing an effective press release
* Get coverage for your press release
* Sample press release for a local newspaper * Non-media PR
(x) Use design in your business
Design opens up valuable opportunities for businesses. Its importance is often underestimated, but good design brings several business benefits. The research and prototype stages of the design process can generate new product ideas and allow you to discover your customers' needs and preferences. Design can then help you turn these ideas into innovative and competitive products and services that are suitable for your market. You can also use design to make your business processes more efficient and to strengthen your marketing approach. The set of activities described below explains the different ways that design can benefit your business, from product development to business strategy. It also outlines what's involved in the design process as well as how you can manage the process and measure its success. * The business benefits of design
* How businesses use design
* Make design part of your business strategy * Using design to improve product development * Use design to win new customers and markets * The design process
* Maximize the success of your design projects Maximize your Sales
Selling
(i) Choose and manage a commercial agent
Commercial agents are intermediaries that sell your goods or services on your behalf in return for commission.
Businesses usually appoint agents because they need their specialist help in reaching markets in a particular sector or geographical location.
Agents can be particularly useful for new businesses that have yet to build up a substantial number of contacts or can't yet afford to employ a dedicated salesperson.
Many businesses use agents to access domestic markets - but they can be particularly useful in overseas markets where different customs, ways of doing business or language barriers come into play.
The set of activities described below will help you decide whether a commercial agent can help your business and explains how to find and choose a commercial agent and ensure the relationship works.
* Pros and cons
* How a commercial agent can help your business
* Find a commercial agent
* Making sure you select the right agent
* What to look for in an agent
* Drawing up a contract with an agent
* The law on self-employed agents
* Getting the most out of the relationship with your agent
* Handling problems and ending the relationship with your agent
(ii) Close a sale
You close a sale when you get a customer to commit to purchasing your product or service.
The set of activities described below explains the simple techniques you can use to get customers to agree to a deal and points out how you might negotiate in different ways with both existing and first-time customers.
Remember your commitment to the customer doesn't stop once you've closed a deal. Good after-sales care is essential if you want customers to return.
(iii) Forecast and plan your sales
Accurately forecasting your sales and building a sales plan can help you to avoid unforeseen cash-flow problems and manage your production, staff and financing needs more effectively.
A sales forecast is an essential tool for managing a business of any size. It is a month-by-month forecast of the level of sales you expect to achieve. Most businesses draw up a sales forecast once a year.
Armed with this information you can rapidly identify problems and opportunities - and do something about them.
While it's always wise to expect the unexpected, a well-constructed sales plan, combined with accurate sales forecasting, can allow you to spend more time developing your business rather than responding to day-to-day developments in sales and marketing.
The set of activities described below shows you how to put together a sales forecast and a sales plan.
* A basis for sales forecasts
* Your sales assumptions
* Developing your forecast
* Avoiding forecasting pitfalls
* Creating a sales plan
(iv) Identify and sell more to your most valuable customers
Being in a position to focus on your most valuable customers might sound like a luxury. After all, many small businesses are grateful for customers of any kind.
But every business finds that some customers are more valuable than others. This can be for a range of reasons, from the size of their purchases to the relative ease of managing their account. Successful businesses are generally those that identify these customers, build relationships with them and work to bring in new customers with a similar profile.
The set of activities described below outlines how to identify which of your customers are the most valuable to you. It also provides tips on selling more to them and attracting new high-value customers.
* The benefits of understanding your customers
* Learn about your customers
* Make customer information available
* Analyze your customers
* What makes your customers valuable?
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