This scenario is equivalent to walking a tight rope without a net.  If you make one wrong move, SPLAT!!   Do you want this to happen to you and your business?  Walking the proverbial business tight rope is just as dangerous without your marketing plan(safety net), a specific plan to market your business.

A big mistake small business owners make is neglecting marketing.  I know some of you look at marketing as a waste of time, but believe me, the success of your business really depends on it.  Without a solid marketing strategy, one that is evolving and flexible yet consistent and reliable, efforts to reach and please everyone could leave you out of business altogether.  Without consistency and rapport, your customers won’t see your value and what it adds to their lives.  You need to be clear on how to give your customers what they want and have the ability to overcome objectives.  This creates an opportunity to provide assurances that you have their best interest in mind.  Terrible things can happen if you don’t have a marketing plan…you could spend too much money, have no ability to track the effectiveness of your efforts, your message could seem inconsistent and all this could lead to disloyal customers.  Is that what you want?

Be smart, do a marketing plan and if necessary, acknowledge your limitations and find some one to do it for you because the only way to balance on the tight rope is to know how to assure, compel and retain.

Butterfly Marketing Group is here to help.  If you find yourself living the scenario above and unable to figure it out, contact us.

Building Confidence comes when you are sure about your capabilities.  It is a feeling or consciousness of one’s power (knowing that you know what you know and you know it well).  As a child, Bill Gates was exceptional in math and science.  He and a friend spent hours on a computer his high school paid General Electric to use.  He and his friend loved programming this computer so much, they skipped classes and got in lots of trouble (he developed a skill).  My point is, Bill Gates had a strength and that strength took him to the top and afforded him many opportunities for success.  It certainly generated attention and he’s definitely been productive by any stretch of the imagination.

Weakness, or the lack of strength in certain areas in your business on the other hand, can lead to a fear, decreased confidence and hindered creativity.  Most of all, it opens you up to a number of threats that could decrease your likelihood of having a successful business.  Asking yourself how you can improve?, if strategically partnering with more qualified individuals would be helpful?, and/or how you can avoid having  your competition taking advantage (or exploiting) your vulnerabilities? is one way to improve your odds.   Identifying your strengths and weakness is done during the initial stages of strategic planning.  Looking at your strengths and weaknesses both internally (what are your challenges), and externally (how are those challenges perceived), provides an opportunity for you to make the decisions necessary to overcome obstacles that may arise during the implementation of your marketing campaigns.

Many “marketers” will offer there expertise in social media, graphic design, etc. but if you don’t do your do-diligence, you are not only wasting your time, but you could potentially be wasting your money.

At the beginning of your journey to success, research is paramount.  There may be a vision, interest, or skill you feel worthy of entrepreneurship, but without understanding your prospective customer, you will spend a lot of money casting a wide marketing net.  What good is having the information if you aren’t going to use it?  Don’t just use it to determine price points and location, use it to provide solutions to problems your customer didn’t anticipate.  Think outside the box and give them  a little something unexpected.  Here is a great example of this, Neiman Marcus.  My pastor loves Neiman Marcus.  He is always surprised at how far they will go to please their customers.  His wife’s favorite suit (she had owned it for years) was destroyed by the dry cleaner.  He took the suit back to Neiman’s with hopes of finding a similar suit by the same designer.  When the manager heard the story of how the suit was destroyed not only did he help locate a similar suit, but he allowed them to exchange the destroyed suit for the new one.  WOW,  that was unexpected!

Engage!, engage!, engage!  This is one of the best ways to know what customers want.  Begin a dialog with your customer and continue it through emails, personalized  notes, and of course….SOCIAL MEDIA.  When you receive complaints, accolades, or questions via email  make sure you return those emails promptly.  Send a note on birthdays, anniversaries, and special occasions.  Customers want to know you’re interested and they’re valued.  They want to know that you care before they care what you know.

How can you serve if you aren’t sympathetic to the needs of your customer?  Becoming sympathetic goes back to your overall understanding of them.  Think of it this way,  your customers (the ones you know so well because you have studied them and engaged in dialog with them) are like  your children.  When they are bombarded by the messages from the competition, when they hear negative comments about you.. they know they can always count on you to give them what they need.  Just like the prodigal son… they may stray briefly, but they will always return home.

Customer service is a marketing.  It is a tool used to solidify your position in the eyes of your target market.

Principles like “know yourself and seek self-improvement”,  “make sound and timely decisions” , and “know your soldiers and look out for their well being” are all similar to the principles of a strategic plan.  Creating a strategic plan that works is all in the details.  It requires a clear understanding of exactly what you want to achieve for your business and an extensive amount of research to stay relevant and understand your customers needs and behavior.

Proper planning lends itself to proper implementation and principles like “seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions”, “keep your subordinates informed”, and “build the team” are perfect example of good customer service.  Whether you use phone calls or a personal note to keep customers informed, it’s building that relationship that matters.  It’s about understanding the needs and concerns of your customer that help you recognize mistakes and take responsibility when necessary.

Finally, good leadership requires an ability to motivate and influence.  Principles like “developing a sense of responsibility in your subordinates”, “ensuring that tasks are understood”, supervised and accomplished”, and “employing your unit in accordance with its capabilities” require qualities that come with time and experience.  Much like the army, entrepreneurial leadership has to be demonstrated in order to be an influence.

What is your company doing to demonstrate its leadership?  Don’t you want it to be all it can be?

If you find this to be your situation, visit my website: http://www.butterflymktgroup.com and fill out the business form.  I will do a FREE 30 MINUTE CONSULTATION for you.

4 C’s: Condition, Consumer, Competition, and Climate

1. CONDITIONS:  Here you need to take a hard look at what you have to offer your customer (your value-add), your image in the industry, and the culture and goals of your company.  You should also look at your strengths and weaknesses because strengths provide opportunities and weakness can present threats, but if you know what they are they are easier to overcome.
2. CONSUMER:  Do you even know who your preferred customer is? or are you casting a wide net hoping for the best? Research your market segmentation (Demographic, Geographic, Psychographic, and Behavioral) to paint a picture of your customer.  There needs, wants, expectations, and most importantly how they like to receive information.
3. COMPETITION:  Who is your competition?  That takes research too, you know.  If you are going to beat the giant, you have to know the giants weakness.  All you need to do is find their Achilles heal.  Is their customer getting everything they need, or can you provide that special something they didn’t know they couldn’t live without?
4. CLIMATE: The climate factors are those factors related to the political, regulatory, economic, and technological environments.  This information is invaluable and should be weighed heavily when developing a marketing strategy.

1 Plan to Measure Marketing Objectives:

Your marketing decisions shouldn’t be made hastily or mimic another companies ideas.  Marketing decisions are made by the overall objectives of the company.  What do you want your campaigns to achieve? Some of the most important areas to consider when creating marketing objectives are: (1.)  Your target market, which should include market share information as well as a breakdown on customers. (2.)  Promotional objectives, which help to measure the effectiveness of branding efforts and marketing campaigns.  (3.) Distribution objectives which provide the measurable data needed to understand order/processing and delivery times as well as provide a clear picture of the best way to get your product or service to the client .  Though these are not the only marketing objectives to consider, they do give you a great start .

1 Marketing Strategy:

A marketing strategy is a road map designed to increase visibility, build relationships and increase/retain customers.  Don’t be think by creating one plan at the beginning of your business your done. The information compiled while creating a marketing strategy is always changing, not just because your company grows or expands its product line, but also because the customers themselves change.  Research is constantly necessary.

I think it is obvious by now, I’m not using slang and I’m not quoting the lyrics of Mary j. Blige, but instead it was all about the information.  In order to grow and sustain the desired level of success, go answer the question for yourself…..WHAT’S THE 4-1-1?

Brian was right, “The only resolution to help you begin your path to learning lies in the questions you ask and answer yourself.”  Information is important to your business.  The benefit from putting in the work required to be an actual expert means understanding the why’s, what’s, and how-to’s on your own.

I believe learning and building on what I learn helps me to grow personally and makes me a better person.  If I am not learning, I don’t feel I am growing.  My business, by the same token, depends on me searching for and understanding information, trends, and tools that could benefit not only my business, but the business of my clients.  In order for me to become a new creature (forming new habits), it is necessary for me to push myself outside of my comfort zone and overcome the fears of being faced with a challenge.  It is in recognizing and pushing beyond our fears that true success will begin to emerge.

If your business hasn’t been as successful as you would like, take a look at the following area’s and see how you are measuring up.  It may be time to make a change in order to make a difference:

1.  Time management – Limited daily accomplishments is a good indicator of poor time management.   I know it is easy to waste a day away doing piddly things, but If your business is like mine, it relies on you getting out and meeting new people.  Establishing a presence and solidifying yourself as an expert in your industry can’t be done without managing your time properly and incorporating  a healthy mix of face-to -face’s (meetings, classes and networking events) and social networking (social sites, blogging, etc.).  Schedules are our friends.

2.  Organization – There has to be a place for everything.  When you are organized, it makes your work day much easier and you can accomplish a lot more.  Organization limits stress and frustration and saves you time.  Time saved from looking for what you need is time gained to complete one more item on your to-do list.

3.  Social Skills – When it comes to social skills, It’s not just how you behave with colleagues and fellow networkers in a social setting, but also how you engage your customer and vendors using  social media.  Yes it is important to get out there and meet people, putting a face with the brand, but if you are not doing that effectively it may be time to make a change.  As a small business owner, sometimes the “way you’ve always done it” may not be the best way at all.  No one explains the important of becoming social and engaging your clients/customer base better than Brian Solis.  His books, “Putting the Public Back in Public Relations”, and “Engage” are excellent reads and will help you appreciate the value of good social skills.

Well, here I go.  Today is a new day and  I’m making a change in order to make a difference! Join me?

In your small business, developing time management skills early will help not only your sanity, but the growth of your company.   This post is meant to inspire a change.  If you have been struggling with how you manage your time this is for you.  I have found, just in doing the research, areas I need to work on myself so I hope it is as helpful for you as it was for me.

Effective time management can…

Learning time management skills can help you prioritize what is important and teach you how to become more productive.
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