www.1001TopWords.com |
Marketing Tips- Who Are You Competing With?
Before you can market, you need to know who you are marketing to. Who is your customer? How will you market? Will you cold call, mail, set appointments or employ a walk in approach? Be careful with the walk in approach as many businesses do not permit soliciting. You might just want to drop off information and follow up with a telephone call. In order to determine who your market is look at your business plan. How did you define your average customer? What was your estimate of total market size? What territory did you intend to service? You might want to make a table for the following: Product/Service - list your product(s) or service(s). If you offer a variety of models or types, list them separately. This will more clearly define your market. The more specific the answers to these questions, the easier it will be to determine a marketing plan. What marketing techniques did you delineate in your business plan? Are you using them, and if so, how effectively? One of the best ways to determine what works best is to look at your competition. What is your competition doing.? How are they marketing? What services do they offer? How do their prices compare to yours? Some of the ways to determine this information is to talk to prospects who are now using your competitors products or service. Ask them, "How can I offer and deliver the same things my competitors do - or better?" Obtain and study your competitors literature, for example, promotional materials that outline price, what services they offer, products they are selling, etc. Keep all the materials obtained on your competition and update this information on a quarterly basis. If there is a industry publication that contains information on your competition, subscribe and read it. You may be surprised to find stories that reveal important information on your competition. Attend trade shows, exhibits, and conferences for your industry. Read the local papers and papers in the area your competition is located. Ask your customers what they like and dislike about your services or products. Copyright DeFiore Enterprises 2000 Interested in having your own successful, home based creative real estate investing business? Chuck and Sue have been helping folks start successful home based businesses for over 19 years, and we can help you too! To see how, visit http://www.homebusinesssolutions.com for the latest FREE tips and tricks, educational products and coaching in creative real estate investing and home based businesses. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to our "how to" Home Business Solutions Digest, it's like having your own personal coach: mailto:subscribeHBS@homebusinesssolutions.com
|
RELATED ARTICLES
The 30 Incredible Ways To Sell Your Products Now and Sell More How to sell more and sell quickly online for your products and service? Here is the long list for your reference. Secrets of Trade Show Success The ropers at Annie Oakley's Real Western Dudette Ranch were all riding high in the saddle. It was just before their first ecotourism and adventure travel trade show in Chicago, and they just knew they would rope in big sales. The Top 10 Ways to Market your Business or Professional Practice Without Networking While focused, strategic networking is usually the most efficient way to build your professional practice, there are many other ways to market your business. Personal networking may not be appropriate in some areas, or for certain types of services, and some people simply don't like to do it. The following are the Top 10 methods my clients have used to increase sales and grow their practices without networking: Want To Be A Stronger Marketer? Work Your Marketing Muscles! You want to be more flexible? You have to stretch your muscles. Want to be physically stronger? You have to find a way to workout and build your muscles. Want to be a stronger marketer? You've got to work your marketing muscles. Business Promotional Items ? How to Stimulate Word of Mouth Advertising If the promotional items you give out end up in the attic or shoved in the back of a desk drawer, they are probably not doing what they are supposed to be doing. However, if items you passed out to clients and customers are being seen again and again, chances are, word-of-mouth advertising is stimulating your business. Matrix Web Sites - Scam or NOT? While I am not talking about the movie "Matrix", you may be wondering like many others if Matrix Web Sites are Legal! Marketing: Are You Focused? In early 1992, President George H.W. Bush was riding high. He was sitting on an almost unprecedented 80% approval rating following the first Gulf War. Conventional wisdom pegged him as a shoe-in for a second term. Fundraising Letters Should Raise Donors, Not Donations, When Mailed to Strangers Are you willing to spend $1.25 to raise $1? To lose money to make money? You should be. Most donor acquisition mailings never pay for themselves. They lose money. And rightly so. Mortgage Broker Marketing - Sell Problems, Not Solutions Are your marketing messages to Realtors® guilty of these promises? Ten Easy Marketing Tasks You Can Do NOW Who says scientists can't market? Here are 10 easy marketing ideas that a group of folks at the National Institute of Standards and Technology came up with today during our monthly Marketing Action Group: 5 Great Ways to Reach Your Target Market There are many ways to reach out and find the people you are trying to attract for your business. Here are just a handful of ways to get you started: Wooing Women With Packaging In just one month three California vineyards have introduced new wine product lines specifically targeted to women. The product offerings are intriguing with names such as "White Lie" and "Mad Housewife" to the latest introduction "Working Girl White." These wine companies are responding to the message: A wine just for women. Interestingly, all three wines have different product approaches. From clever white lies on the corks, to retro chic on the bottle graphics each has its own unique appeal. The Secret to Adding Credibility to Your Business ? Testimonials! You may not realize it, but you already have a gold mine ofendorsements waiting to be created. Everyone who is seriousabout building a business and creating credibility uses thisidea. What is it? Testimonials from your satisfied clients. Marketing to Women -- Can I Buy You A Clue? A while back a small business owner paid me a visit. He wanted help marketing his fitness business to women. Before we even started talking, he handed me his business card. The card was very professional and said all the right things. But it also included a huge blunder. The Anatomy of Hype On a copywriting board I frequent, someone expressedbafflement that several respected marketers criticized thetone of a sales page he wrote. "Why did they apologize to their subscribers while linking to my pitch? This approachsells," he said. How to Expand Your Target Markets Are your products or services geared towards only one target market? You can increase sales and profits by increasing your target markets. Below are some creative ways to increase your target markets by using your existing products and services you're selling right now. How to Conduct a Successful Fax Marketing Campaign 1. Focus your fax marketing on one objective Wife?s Marketing Prowess Helped Edison See the Light It is well known that Thomas Edison was an inventor, a genius, and he never slept. Did you know that Mrs. Edison was a genius and never slept too? She was the marketing guru behind his engineering success.True, Tom had discovered what is today known as the light bulb. When he showed it to the Mrs. Mina Edison, his second wife, she asked "what are you going to call it?" An Easy Start to Mail Order Listing names of Big Mail Requestors, and sending out packages ofBig Mail is an easy way to get your start in the business ofselling by mail. Laws of Marketing ? The 10 Immutable Most marketers believe that anything is achievable if you are energetic, creative or determined enough. But laws of marketing follow laws of business, and if you violate them, you risk your marketing dollars. The conventional answer to all marketing questions is money, which is not true. |
© Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |