Stuart Kiefer had an interesting article on the BusinessWeek Small Business blog yesterday. He discussed using customer loyalty rewards to ultimately reduce your marketing costs. Take a look at it and let us know what you think.
The strategic foundation of any business
A strategic plan is an integrated process for defining an organization’s strategy or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. The planning includes the use of its capital and people over a five to ten year period. Strategic planning is the formal consideration of an organization’s future course. Strategic planning deals with questions such as:
In strategic planning, two major considerations are innovation and marketing. Some businesses have unfortunately separated the two. In fact, Peter Drucker (1985) stated, “The business has two and only these two basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results, all the rest are costs.” When planning strategically, learning what consumers want when they want it, is very important because marketing messages are in abundance causing them to be much more diluted than in the past. Reaching audiences is difficult in today’s information highway overload.
Today and in the not so distant past, traditional method of collecting primary research took months or longer. Surveying and polling were grueling tasks for market researchers. Responding to change and the needs of consumers was costly and time consuming.
The good news is that social media is now allowing marketers to discover new ways to innovate products and services simply by listening to consumers. This is achieved through forums, feedback, customer reviews, and social media networks. It’s actually easier today to research what consumers want than it was in the past.
The key things that you need to do in today’s new age of consumer-centric marketing are:
Putting your ideas on paper in the form of a strategic plan is the best thing you can do for your business. Always consider innovation and marketing as investments not costs. You’ll soon learn what consumer’s want, when they want it and you’ll be able to respond quickly. Ultimately, your business will thrive.
Trisha Ahlman is the CEO of Augment Marketing Group and has nearly 20 years experience in marketing for corporations and small businesses. She sits on several creative and strategic development boards nationwide. “Inspired by growth” from its inception, Augment’s mission is to inspire growth in all businesses large or small when developing strong brands. We believe in inspiring, learning and growing please contact for more information: trisha@augmentgroup.com.Earlier this morning the U. S. Senate announced the confirmation of Karen Gordon Mills as the 23rd Administrator of the U. S. Small Business Administration. Mills has more than 25 years of experience working in and providing financing for small businesses.
On April 1, Mills made the following statement when she appeared before the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
“I was there on the factory floor in Arkansas and Ohio working to weather the
recession of the early ‘90s. Those experiences give me a deep understanding of what our small businesses need today to survive this downturn and to prosper in the years ahead. Since then, I have helped grow companies in organic food, and women’s media, and spent time in rural Maine working with our boat builders and composite technology to help them compete throughout the globe.
“The sum of my experience is this: I am a believer in American small business. I am a believer in America’s ability to manufacture goods and services that are world class, and I am a believer in America’s spirit of entrepreneurship. This spirit is one of our country’s greatest assets and we need to cultivate it today, more than ever.”
This flash alert just came in from the Small Business Administration:
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Release Date: February 18, 2009
Contact: Mike Stamler (202) 205-6919
Release Number: 09-11
Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news
SBA Warns of Fraudulent Attempts to Obtain Bank Account Information from Small Businesses
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Small Business Administration issued a scam alert today to small businesses, warning them not to respond to letters falsely claiming to have been sent by the SBA asking for bank account information in order to qualify them for federal tax rebates.
The fraudulent letters were sent out with what appears to be an SBA letterhead to small businesses across the country, advising recipients that
they may be eligible for a tax rebate under the Economic Stimulus Act, and that SBA is assessing their eligibility for such a rebate. The letter asks the small business to provide the name of its bank and account number.
These letters have not been sent by or authorized by the SBA, and all small businesses are strongly advised not to respond to them.
The scheme is similar in many ways to e-mail scams often referred to as “phishing” that seek personal data and financial account information that
enables another party to access and individual’s bank accounts or to engage in identity theft.
The SBA is working with the SBA Office of Inspector General to investigate this matter. The Office of Inspector General asks that anyone who receives such a letter report it to the OIG Fraud Line at 1 (800) 767-0385, or e-mail at OIGHotline@sba.gov.
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The Small Business Administration released the following information today.
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SBA Applauds Stimulus Bill, Planning Underway For Broadest,
Quickest Small Business Impact
WASHINGTON – The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contains a package of loan fee reductions, higher guarantees, new SBA programs, secondary market incentives, and enhancements to current SBA programs that will help unlock credit markets and begin economic recovery for the nation’s small business sector.
For more information, visit the SBA site at http://www.sba.gov/news
I just finished reading a post by John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing. He was talking about his top seven ways of digging yourself out of a recession. After reading his tips I found that I’ve implemented three of them already. The others are on my short list now.
Read the full article here.
I received this by email today. I believe it will affect many of you, so I’ll give you the full text below.
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U.S. Small Business Administration
– News Release –
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Release Date: September 29, 2008
Contact: Christine Mangi (202) 205-6948
Release Number: 08-100
Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news
SBA Submits Final Women’s Contracting Rule
WASHINGTON, DC — On Friday, the U.S. Small Business Administration
submitted to the Federal Register its final rule concerning women-owned small business (WOSB) contracting procedures, plus a new proposed rule on the industries eligible for WOSB contract assistance. The rule was submitted in advance of this morning’s hearing in a federal lawsuit that requires SBA to show progress toward finalizing the rule.
The proposed rule introduces a new data source that, if adopted, would
significantly increase the number of industries under which a set aside could be established to 31, from the four that were permissible under the previously proposed data set.
The proposed rule notifies the public of an inherent limitation with the data set used by the Kauffman-RAND Institute for Entrepreneurship Public Policy (RAND) to determine in which industries WOSBs are underrepresented. SBA recognized the limitation during hearing preparations for its Administrator-designee.
The data limitation was not among those specifically disclosed by RAND in its study and consequently was not discussed in the proposed rule. None of the public comments SBA received on the original rule noted this issue, although it was inherent to and discoverable from the underlying data disclosed to the public.
In the newly proposed rule, SBA describes an alternative data set which was not available for the RAND study or the previously proposed rule and was obtained by SBA from the U.S. Census Bureau. The new proposal gives the public a 30-day period to comment on the available data sets. The comments will be evaluated to determine the best available data to determine in which industries WOSBs are underrepresented in federal procurement.
The final rule submitted sets forth procedures for implementing set asides in the eligible industries. The procedures are similar to those set forth in the proposed rule published on December 27, 2007.
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If you haven’t taken advantage of these SBA programs, take the lead. Don’t pass up any opportunities to become a leader in your industry.
by Hiett Ives
At networking events I’m usually asked, “What do you do?” It’s more common than, “What company are you with?” It’s not that different with trade shows.
As a delegate walking a show where there are lots of vendors, what’s more important to you:
What a company does?
or
Who they are?
Most would answer the former, yet what do the vast majority of exhibitors have on their header or at the top of their booth?
THEIR COMPANY NAME. – Usually in BOLD – Often repeated multiple times
Which of these tells you more?
Orange Research of Texas
or
Differential Pressure Control Equipment
by Orange Research of TexasANI-Mate
or
Atomatic Pet Feeders
by Ani-Mate
The first example is a Houston company exhibiting at the Instrument Society of America (ISA) show. Their second header literally stopped delegates in their tracks, with comments like “Do YOU do THAT?” or “I’ve been looking for someone like YOU for days!!” They chose to tell delegates what they before telling them who they are.
The second example is a British company attending an independent hardware stores owners show with a new product – An Automatic Pet Feeder. Using their company name header at a previous show brought them little interest (who or what is an ANI-Mate?!?!?!). Telling delegates WHAT THEY SOLD had lines waiting to place orders for their unique pet feeders.
The moral of all this is – People don’t care what you know until they know that you care. What better way to tell your trade show prospects you care than to let them know what you can do for them? Make your trade show booth WORK FOR YOU by having it tell delegates WHAT YOU DO.
I don’t get jazzed about a lot of products, but I just started working with the private beta version of DropBox and it promises to be a hit.
I’m always looking for new ways to share files and collaborate on projects. Since many of my files are high resolution graphics, many of the current file sharing systems don’t provide the features I need. DropBox is simple, fast and has reasonable file handling. I’ll keep you updated as our beta testing continues – but I urge you to drop by Get Drop Box. Take the tour. It takes only a few minutes and you may find that it helps you solve a few file sharing problems.
by Hiett Ives, Show Dynamics
Your company has a booth at a Business to Business trade show. What questions do YOU ask passing delegates to identify qualified leads?
Three potential approaches to use:
The problem with this approach? It usually nets you a, “Great!” and the delegate walks on without being engaged.
A likely response is, “No!” And again you see the delegate walk past your booth.
In the Chit-Chat Approach, there is NO prospect qualifying. You have 2 – 3 seconds to initiate delegate interaction so this approach totally wastes that opportunity.
The Yes / No Approach is better because it makes an effort to qualify the prospect. The YES/NO question is the problem. This gives delegates the opportunity to use the “NO” response and move past your booth. Even if the delegate does need your product or service, your approach gives them the ability to avoid your features and benefits presentation.
The Open Ended Question Approach is your best option. The same open ended question is asked of every delegate passing your booth, whether they acknowledge you or not. You’re targeting them – and if they’re in any way interested in or related to your product or service they’ll stop. That gives you the opportunity to give them a Lead Qualifying Card and wait for them to fill it out.
So, avoid the pleasantries, at least while staffing your B2B trade show booth. In addition, avoid the yes/no questions that let delegates off the hook. For each show and each audience, always develop an open ended question that engages your prospects. That way you’re effectively using those 2 – 3 seconds you have to gain their attention.
