7 Tips a Marketing Strategy Will Expand Your Business

"What is the best money I can spend in marketing to grow my business?" Without a doubt, this is the question I'm most frequently asked by small business owners. It may seem like a question that is promptly followed by an "it depends" type of answer, however, it's actually quite easy to pinpoint one tool that is relatively inexpensive, delivers a high ROI and, sadly, is not commonly found in a small businesses' toolbox. It's a marketing strategy.

Why is a marketing strategy the most powerful tool for growing business? The straight-forward answer is that a solid marketing strategy will address current challenges and map out paths by which a business can grow in the future. It will audit a business's brand and message, but isn't limited to branding alone. Rather, a marketing strategy is a combination of big picture and detail analysis that incorporates a wide range of marketing channels tailored for that business's industry, market, and budget. The majority of marketing strategies I write for small businesses include a high number of items that can be performed for free by current in-house staff, resulting in a plan that won't lead to a fortune spent. In fact, a good marketing strategy is an investment in saving money because it targets a business's efforts and helps avoid waste.

At this point I need to qualify my earlier statement; the best money spent in marketing is a smart marketing strategy written by an experienced marketer on behalf of a specific business, not something sketched out by a rep at a service shop (think printer or web firm) or from a generic, 'small business strategy' check list. For a marketing strategy to be truly effective, it needs to be a customized effort involving research, analysis and a careful matching of opportunities with the business's resources and budget. This can never be a quick or off the shelf effort - a smart marketing strategy takes some time to develop properly. My own typically take less than a month and are generally under $2,000.

It's important to keep in mind that while a smart marketing strategy won't force a business beyond its means, it will present a mix of opportunities that meet immediate goals and show paths for growth. A marketing strategy's advantage is that it paints a picture of a business, highlights who that business is targeting, focuses its marketing budget, and develops a schedule for reaching out to buyers. It accomplishes this in 7 key ways:

1. Develops Brand & Message

A brand is simply a business's public look and message. Businesses all have the beginning of a brand - an official name - and some have taken steps to identify a logo, tagline, and possibly a general color scheme or style guide. In small businesses, these are often a reflection of the owner's personal taste rather than an evaluation of the market and targeted buyers (years ago I had a client who chose her corporation's color scheme from her kitchen wall's paint chip). They may be a result of a family brainstorming effort or an owner's flash of inspiration. Sometimes they are geographically influenced or an attempt at gimmickry. The point is that while it's rare to find a small business that developed its name, logo, and message as the result of true market research, it's a universal rule that, for good or bad, small businesses will refer to these items as their business's brand.

7 Tips a Marketing Strategy Will Expand Your Business

And this is where a marketing strategy steps in. A smart marketing strategy will thoroughly evaluate a business's brand through experienced and unbiased eyes. The marketer is not (hopefully) a member of the family and most likely hasn't seen the kitchen's walls. Instead, an experienced marketer will audit the brand as both a buyer and a marketer, and evaluate its ability to quickly convey the business's story, whether or not it targets the appropriate buyer, and if it is unique enough within the marketplace to set the business apart from the competition. The marketing strategy will highlight any brand challenges, inconsistencies, or weaknesses before suggesting modifications and improvements.

Unfortunately, 'brand' seems to be a point at which many small businesses abandon their strategic efforts. A business's brand is essential and well worth a hefty effort, but 'branding' isn't enough of an action item to grow a business and isn't where a smart strategy ends...

2. Audits Current Program

Which segues nicely into the next stage of a strategy: auditing the current marketing program. This stage goes beyond branding to review all of the business's marketing efforts and is an essential component to any smart strategy. It's at this stage that wasted money or effort is discovered, missed opportunities highlighted, or where I find that a client had started down a positive path in the past but either abandoned it too early or was off in its message. Has the business's marketing program been well thought out or has it been a shotgun approach through a series of one-off efforts spread over time? This is where we find out.

My audits look for strengths as well as holes and weaknesses in a business's marketing program by dissecting the marketing channel mix, promotional locations (both online and traditional), frequency, and more, then matching the entire program to the targeted buyer profile. I spend quite a bit of time looking through the business's marketing tools such as its web site, brochures, newsletters, and social media and evaluate the business's staff resources, factoring any strengths into the final evaluation.

3. Profiles Buyers & Marketplace

It may be hard to fathom but there are small businesses that face each year without knowing much about their own marketplace and the very buyers upon which their livelihoods depend. As a marketer, it baffles me how any business can hang its shingle without taking the time to first evaluate who it will sell to and from whom it will grab market share. Questions such as, "how many buyers are out there?", "how do they like to be reached?" and, "who am I competing against?" are all fundamental to business success because it's only through this knowledge that a company can adapt and grow. The only way to create this profile is through research!

I start by pulling information directly from my clients through a combination of interviews and surveys filled with carefully crafted questions. I'll ask then re-ask until I've developed a complete profile from my client's perspective. My work then turns to generating a buyer profile from a marketing perspective that stems from my client's high level buyer description. I'll dig and research until my profile is complete, then compare my profile with that of my client's. Hopefully we're in synch, but if not, I'll point out where we differ and evaluate where my client can hone his or her efforts.

At this point I'll also want to look at the marketplace from my buyer profile's point of view, and will "shop" the competition. I'll look at the business's geographic reach and investigate both demographic data and local economic growth plans. All of this data will play into the final evaluation of whether my client should continue in its current market or branch out into an area that's buyer-rich.

4. Evaluates Competition

"Who is my competition and how do we differ?" That's a question every business owner should be able to answer at any given time! Business owners should be aware of who is snagging market share from them and how each competitor compares in services, quality, customer service, messaging, and overall marketing efforts. It's wonderful to be the best service provider available, but that won't mean anything if the competition is signing more buyers!

For this stage of a marketing strategy, I like to shop the competition from a buyer's perspective before comparing my findings to my own "client shop". Since I'm an outside consultant, it's fairly easy for me to assume an unbiased buyer's approach to most shopping efforts, be it B to B or B to C, and I look for easy shopping situations, who could satisfy my buyer needs, would entice me to make a purchase or conversely would turn me off as a buyer. I use these results to suggest ways my client could improve his or own business's message and to...

5. Determine Marketing Mix

This stage of a marketing strategy is a game of, 'find the buyers'. After all, what is marketing if it isn't an effort to communicate with buyers and lure them to a business? To me, this is the truly strategic stage of a strategy, but one that could not exist without all the previous steps. It is at this point that the strategy should answer questions such as, "should a business adopt the latest trends or stick to more traditional methods?" or, "what will provide the biggest bang for a limited budget?"

It's also the stage where experience really pays off as there are many, many ways to spend money in marketing and only so many options that will reach the right buyers. I enjoy this stage the most and spend time looking under rocks to discover new options and find cost effective solutions. No two strategies should be ever be the same at this stage, making this the most custom portion of the entire process. A good strategy will look beyond paid search and Facebook ads and find new ways to present the business - within budget.

This is also the most flexible portion of a smart marketing strategy. I like to include a variety of options that range from 'incorporate immediately' to more longer term efforts that make sense once the business has grown or has put other marketing tools in place. A good mix will pull in multiple marketing channels and allow a business to reach buyers on many levels.

6. Finds Internal & Low Cost Options

Many businesses have low cost and free marketing options already at their disposal and may not realize it. A good marketing strategy reviews a business's internal options, evaluates the business as a whole, and discover resources that can be used in the marketing plan. I like to empower my clients and give them the chance to save their budget for bigger ticket items down the road.

7. Designs 1 - 5 Years Marketing Plan

I wrap up every marketing strategy with a 1 year, month by month, marketing plan. This marketing plan lists carefully selected marketing efforts determined in the strategy and provide a schedule for when they should be launched and evaluated. For smaller businesses, I try to stick to the low cost options that can be maintained internally with optional efforts that may cost more money or should happen after an early goal has been achieved. More expensive or involved opportunities are generally reserved for a 2-5 year plan and are contingent upon achieving goals.

By incorporating the above 7 stages into a thoroughly researched and carefully crafted strategy, a small business will have a map by which it can achieve its goals and grow its business. It's money well spent and something a business really shouldn't exist without!

7 MLM Tips - How To Explode Your MLM Business

The following tips are struggles that I personally went through. I'm sharing these 7 MLM Tips with you in hopes that I can help you cut some corners in your journey in network marketing

MLM Tip #1 Master One Marketing Strategy - When jumping into on-line marketing you really want to have one marketing strategy mastered before you start jumping into others. Let me help you see this so that its loud and clear. I recommend indulging your self in a "buffet" of strategies for roughly six to seven days. Explore all avenues of attraction marketing and choose one that resonates best with you it being online or offline marketing. This MLM tip is great if you get it down.

MLM Tip #2 Create Leaders (Alphas) Not Followers (Betas) - Don't hear me wrong, betas are awesome, but if you're new to network marketing you want to prospect people who have leader qualities (Alphas). Create ten leader in your down-line, then fish out betas. Betas take time build up to alpha state, if you have the time to build that, it's a very powerful long-term strategy. Look to see who shines in your crowd of friends or local networking events.

MLM Tip #3 Know That Your First Year In MLM Will Be A Learning Experience - Ninety-five percent of new network marketers quit within their first six-to-twelve months. I found that one needs to educate them self in the industry to know what to expect before plowing in to MLM. This industry is about NET-WORKING, it's a people business. One must listen, see whats going on around them and take action. Basic "things" to master right off the bat are: Prospecting, Rapport-Building, Follow-Up, Follow-Up, Follow-Up and Closing The Deal! I learned this MLM tip through experience, the hard way.

7 MLM Tips - How To Explode Your MLM Business

MLM Tip #4 Envision Your Success - This Is Extremely Hardcore - You have to - have to envision your self succeeding at this game. One needs to envision the results that one is desiring in conjunction with taking action every day. Every day you should be doing something - anything that is getting you closer to your dream. Find the reason WHY... you're doing this business, that's the motivation behind everything anyone does. We all do something for a reason, that reason is the WHY we do anything and everything in life. FIND YOUR WHY

MLM Tip #5 Follow the Formula - Every MLM company out there for the most part has a training system, if your company doesn't have one you have to ask your self "Am I with the right company?". What I consider a great "FORMULA" is a training system has Rapport, Prospecting and Closing modules, goal setting training, weekly training events available to you 24/7... Your company has a system - follow it. Talk to your leaders and start cranking the wheel...hard. My personal recommendation is creating 1-2 pieces of content everyday [article & video], Invite as many qualified prospects to watch your company presentation online or offline, attend every MAJOR event, NEVER pitching your opportunity, grab everyone elses business card and follow-up...

MLM Tip #6 Get Money in the hands of others - If you're doing online marketing I recommend promoting other peoples product. Get attention from the people you want to be like. They will help if and when you put money in their pockets, trust. Now, if you get cash into the hands of your new recruiters and teach them how to make cash online to give them a return in their investment, trust me when say you will be successful in this business. This builds a great down-line culture.

MLM Tip #7 Work on your mindset 15-20 min per day - Personal growth is something I strive for on a daily basis. For fifteen-to-twenty minutes a day I work on my mindset and envision how I would like my day and future to manifest, similar to tip number four, but different. My mindset is How I started gaining the confidence to approach and invite anyone I thought would make a great fit in my personal team on top of that my mindset allowed me to receive money from others yes receive money. Many have issues allowing money in their life. Not having enough or having more than enough is a mindset. I Love this MLM tip, if you haven't yet, pick up "Think And Grow Rich" from your local book store.

These MLM tips and strategies are worth as much as you apply them. These MLM Tips can make or break your business. Absorb these MLM 7 Tips to explode your down-line.

Written By: Umair

5 Business Tips Every Business Person Should Know

There are a lot of business tips that are written, published and told to bring us success in business and in entrepreneurship. Some of them may work for you, but others may not. So you should be wise to choose and use what will bring you the best results. The business world is just like any world - a place yet to be fully discovered. The market seems to be crowded, but the actual market can actually be a place with many empty spaces. The following are five secret business tips you should know in doing business and getting its real success.

1. The market is too wide to focus on competition.

In business, you can't be too greedy. The market is so wide to share with others. There are still many untapped markets that we need to explore. So instead of focusing on how to beat your business competitors, you can rather concentrate on exploring your mind and imagination. You just need to be creative to discover the several unexploited markets and opportunities out there. Doing business is not all about winning against your competitors, but it's all about winning your customers, your people and yourself. You can do that by always being the best of yourself at your service.

2. You can lose business even before starting it.

Holding and not quitting on your business is one of the most important secrets of business success. That is why before you start any business, you should assure that it is strategically planned, well assessed and backed up with all the quantitative (money and time) and qualitative (skills, manpower, passion, etc.,) resources. If you cannot do that, you are just like a soldier who has already lost the war even before going to the battle.

5 Business Tips Every Business Person Should Know

3. It's not all about passion.

Business success doesn't equals passion. The formula to success includes many qualities that should be added to your passion. One of these qualities is your intention and action to help and make your costumers satisfied. Passion can't be the only ingredient to any business triumph because it only involves your own happiness. You need to ask and determine what makes your customers happy, and then provide them those things even if it means sacrificing your own enthusiasm. Take note that it's more important to give passion rather than to indulge it on your own.

4. Business development should start on your personal development

You can't develop your business if you can't develop yourself. The reason is that a developed business is one that can develop the lives of its consumers. Thus, it takes a lot of personal development and self growth to develop a business. This includes devoting oneself to quality, integrity, honesty and usability. Remember that greed, lack of self-control, deceit, indolence and procrastination cannot help a business to succeed.

5. You can't always charge it all to your experience.

I heard many people saying it's just okay to make mistakes. The truth is it's surely okay to learn from mistakes, but not seems to be okay to just make mistakes. Besides, we do not only acquire lessons from our mistakes, but we can also learn even without committing them. Business errors can be so risky and destructive to the extent that you cannot already recover your lost business. Moreover, many business mistakes are only discovered when it's already too late to save your business. That is why it is very essential that an entrepreneur should always exercise prudence to commit these kinds of mistakes. You cannot charge all your mistakes to your experience. Experience is not only a room for all your mistakes; it is also a room for accurate experiences.

Six Sigma Jobs

The demand for people with Six Sigma expertise is constantly increasing. More and more organizations are discovering the many ways that the Six Sigma methodology can help them grow and improve. As the methodology spreads to many different industries beyond its genesis in manufacturing, you can now find many service and government organizations advertising for Six Sigma help. Plus, it is no longer the largest corporations looking for Six Sigma help. Smaller companies also are taking on the projects and hiring people as consultants or permanent staff. The need for full-time Six Sigma professionals will only increase.

Types of Six Sigma Jobs

There are many Six Sigma jobs in many industries at junior and senior levels. The positions have descriptions and requirements unique to that organization and its requirements. It is true that many positions are filled internally as organizations train their own people already familiar with the organization's culture in Six Sigma skills. However, organizations frequently reach outside to add personnel with Six Sigma expertise to lead projects or even the full-scale implementation of Six Sigma throughout the organization. These positions are usually dedicated full-time to Six Sigma projects.

Six Sigma jobs are advertised under many titles, not always as obvious as "Six Sigma Black Belt," "Six Sigma Consultant," or "Six Sigma Analyst." Other possible titles include things like "Functional Project Lead" "Six Sigma Program Manager," "Lead Analyst/Project Manager," "Director of Operational Excellence," "Business Process Manager," or "Senior Projects Manager." Whatever the exact title, the organization is looking for someone with the skills of a Six Sigma Black Belt. A Black Belt is an individual trained in the Six Sigma methodology and experienced leading cross-functional process improvement teams. They will lead individual Six Sigma projects.

Six Sigma Jobs

Very senior Six Sigma positions are sometimes advertised. These are Master Black Belts, individuals trained in the Six Sigma methodology who acts as the organization-wide Six Sigma program manager. They will lead Six Sigma implementation at the organization and will oversee Black Belts and process improvement projects and provides guidance to Black Belts as required. Master Black Belt positions understandably demand the highest level of Six Sigma experience and qualifications.

Qualifying for Six Sigma Jobs

To be considered for a Six Sigma job, you need a combination of relevant academic and work experience. The first and foremost qualification is to be trained in Six Sigma, ideally as a certified Six Sigma Black Belt. This means formal training from qualified Six Sigma consultants who have extensive experience in training and implementation of Six Sigma. Specific training in Six Sigma DMAIC and/or DFSS methodology is often requested. The best teacher is, of course, experience and organizations will strongly prefer, if not insist, on people who have completed at least one Six Sigma project.

In addition to possessing Six Sigma training and project experience, organizations will ask that you have experience working in the industry of the organization's business. So if the company is a manufacturer, they will usually want you to have direct experience in a manufacturing environment. Organizations will ask that you have a certain minimum period of experience (often five years) in that particular industry.

Management experience is a huge plus and will almost certainly be a requirement for a Six Sigma project team leader. Having on your resume proven project management success within a structured environment and being able to demonstrate good managerial skills will take you a long way. That's because leading and facilitating Black Belts, Green Belts, and business teams through a Six Sigma project is often the role organizations are seeking to fill.

There are also essential personal skills. You need to be able to demonstrate a good understanding of processes and quality methodologies and a willingness to take an initiative and lead change. Another crucial skill is the ability to link strategy to execution. The aptitude to look beyond the surface and be creative to think conceptually about strategic business issues and develop creative but practical solutions is key.

Defining the Six Sigma Infrastructure

Any major change initiative requires a clearly defined supporting infrastructure to drive the program. Infrastructure is defined as the underlying foundation and basic framework of personnel and supporting systems needed to support Six Sigma deployment activities. Because every part of a company participates in Six Sigma activities, the infrastructure must be clear, consistent, and comprehensive.

An effective infrastructure facilitates the development of the core competency that will establish and link Six Sigma project teams to (1) projects, (2) financial targets, and (3) the strategic plan. These project teams will be multifunctional and will need multi-functional support to execute the projects.

If Six Sigma has any chance of being successful, the infrastructure will span from the CEO and his leadership team to business leaders and to people executing the projects. Remember we learned earlier that one of Kotter's eight stages of leader change is "Create a Guiding Coalition." Thus, there is the goal of the Six Sigma infrastructure.

The infrastructure creates a strong network among the Executive Team, the Six Sigma Champions, the Belts, and the functions and businesses. This makes sense because the CEO's leadership team holds the accountability for executing the corporate strategic plan, and Six Sigma projects are instrumental in moving along the strategic plan.

One learning challenge of a Six Sigma deployment involves training the Six Sigma project teams. The human resources on these teams must learn how to work as a Six Sigma team. A new roadmap and a new set of tools, plus a more distinct focus on project accountability, add to the changes confronted by an organization when creating a Six Sigma environment.

Equally more important and complex is the learning challenge of the senior executives. Teaching the leadership team to learn how to lead a team-based organization is essential to strategic and long-term success. Because executing the strategy is a clear responsibility to which the senior executives are accountable, it follows that becoming a dynamic team leader within the Six Sigma deployment will support the strategic efforts.

Executing a good strategic plan entails the coordination of multifunctional internal activities. Senior executives must learn to deal with a multifunctional arena rather than the traditional functions. Hundreds of Six Sigma teams launched simultaneously is the outcome of an exemplary deployment of Six Sigma. Each of these teams need at minimum

1. Clear purpose for the Six Sigma team structure.

2. Clear Six Sigma program expectations.

3. Six Sigma project charters.

4. Six Sigma infrastructure tracking the number of teams.

5. Centralized repository for project results.

6. Six Sigma team goals.

7. Six Sigma team reporting mechanism.

8. Rewards and recognition alignment.

9. Six Sigma training and development plan.

10. Six Sigma team performance measures.

11. Deployment management of Six Sigma teams.

To accomplish all of the preceding requirements demands an extensive infrastructure with supporting systems. Preexisting resources are largely used to staff this infrastructure. Deploying a Six Sigma program, however, does not assume a requirement to add outside resources in a lot of new positions. The additional costs will usually have to do with the external consulting group you hire.

Defining the Six Sigma Infrastructure

For example, the only resource that Larry Bossidy added when he launched Six Sigma into Allied Signal was a corporate program leader. Larry brought in Richard Schroeder from ABB to drive the program. All the other resources for AlliedSignal's Six Sigma program already existed within the company. A small number of additional resources were added by the businesses as needed.

Because accountability represents the hallmark of successful Six Sigma deployments, defining the Six Sigma infrastructure and staffing and training the infrastructure players should happen very early in the Six Sigma deployment. Training is essential since, as Larry Bossidy has advised in his book, Confronting Reality, you must "Learn the guts of the initiative." He also adds that key members of the leadership team should learn the guts of the initiative. Early leadership training becomes a natural part of Six Sigma deployments to allow the program leaders to learn the guts of Six Sigma before the program gets too far along.

Defining the Six Sigma infrastructure is a little tricky. There should be a small centralized unit to ensure consistency and cost effectiveness of Six Sigma activities across the businesses and functions. There should also be a decentralized process that allows each business and function to tailor the Six Sigma deployment to its special needs. There is a big difference in deploying Six Sigma into the Human Resources function when compared to deploying into product development and R&D. So, our recommended infrastructure has both centralized and decentralized elements in it.

Six Sigma Careers - Setting Up the Organization For Success

One reason for the growth in popularity of the Six Sigma methodology is its evolution into a process that finds use in a number of different industries, from services to government organizations.

All of these niches require the use of Six Sigma professionals in order to implement the process so that it achieves its fullest potential.

Organizations both large and small have begun to implement Six Sigma, and as a result, there are more and more open positions for trained Six Sigma professionals as permanent employees or consultants.

Six Sigma Training

The requirements of Six Sigma professionals will be unique, and are dependent on the organization that does the hiring. There are jobs at both junior and senior levels, with many organizations preferring to train their own Six Sigma professionals in house.

This helps when it comes to saving time in training employees in specific processes in house, but many organizations look at hiring externally when they need to implement a large scale Six Sigma program throughout the entire business.

Job Titles

As we said in the previous paragraph, the job titles needed as far as Six Sigma professionals will vary from one organization to another.

You may hear terms such as "Six Sigma consultant", "Six Sigma Analyst", "Six Sigma Black Belt", and so on. In addition, titles may vary according to degree; "Senior Project Manager", "Lead Analyst Projector", "Senior Projects Manager", "Director of Operational Excellence", "Business Process Manager", "Six Sigma Program Manager", and so on will all be floated around when it comes to hiring.

What they all refer to, basically, are the skills of a Six Sigma professional who has been certified as a Black Belt under the Six Sigma training program.

Six Sigma Careers - Setting Up the Organization For Success

These professionals must have training in the Six Sigma methodologies as well as experience in handling cross functional process involvement teams.

Senior Level Professionals

If you come across an advertisement looking for senior level Six Sigma jobs, you can bet that the business is looking for those who have been certified as Master Black Belts.

When hired, these Six Sigma professionals will oversee a corporation wide implementation of Six Sigma, usually in the capacity of program manager. Master Black Belts have been trained in the various Six Sigma methodologies.

They must provide guidance to the Black Belts throughout the process when required, and this position is usually filled by those with the highest levels of Six Sigma experience and qualifications.

Most organizations will prefer to hire people who have been certified as a Six Sigma Black Belt. The certification indicates that the professional has passed training held by competent Six Sigma consultants with relevant exposure to training and implementation of Six Sigma, with a focus on Six Sigma DMAIC and DFSS methodology.

While some companies may not insist on candidates who have completed at least one Six Sigma project, experience is usually an asset.

Experience Counts

Another common expectation when it comes to companies who hire Six Sigma professionals is that those professionals have experience in a similar industry. As an example, a bank will prefer to hire a professional who has background within the financial sector.

Another big advantage for a Six Sigma professional is management experience as a large part of implementation includes contact with people and organizational abilities.

Organizations love to hire professionals who they know have the experience required when it comes to facilitating efforts between Green Belts, business teams, and Black Belts throughout the projects.

In addition to a deep understanding of business process and business methodologies, successful candidates must also demonstrate creative skills and an ability to take initiative.


Written By: Umair