Okay… as small business owners, leaders, and marketers, we all know that in order to soar we need to create a sound marketing plan. So let’s see… what did we learn in Marketing 101 again?
Oh yeah, start with a Business Review… that should be simple enough…
Uhh… hmmm… here it is… Business Review:
Alright… Corporate philosophy and Business Objectives… no problem there… give me a few minutes to think about it.
Identify Core Competencies… okay… we’ll come back to that one.
SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)… that’ll be easy… I’ll come back to that one too.
Assessment of on-staff Marketing talent… hmmm… Mary’s pretty good… and of course, there’s me… if we just had some time. Yikes.
Whoa… then there’s Product Review… Category Review… Sales Process… Goals and Results…Pricing Models… Distribution… Customer Behavior… Market trends… Economic Outlook.., this is just step one?!
Ahh… here we go… Competitor Review.
No Business Review would be complete without analyzing the Competitive Landscape…
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Many small business owners I speak with love to start here… we all have an idea who we’re competing with.
Or do we?
As service businesses… which is what I have… and which is who I serve… identifying the true competition isn’t always as easy as it would seem.
Twenty years or so ago, I learned an important lesson that transformed my marketing… and my company.
In an instant, companies that I thought were my competitors were transformed into partners… indeed, some even became advocates.
That was the good part.
However, at the same time, the very companies that I desired to serve seemed to be my fiercest competitors. Not intentionally, mind you… but if you’re in a service business you’ve probably seen it too.
A new plan was desperately required… a different relationship needed to be forged… and that is exactly what we did.
I look forward to speaking with you.
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