Plan Archives - Page 6 of 10 - BOLLYWOOD SURKHIYAN

7 Steps to Creating a Successful Small Business Marketing Plan

Small business marketing is all about determining the needs of your target market and then providing solutions to meet those needs.

These 7 steps are aimed at entrepreneurs starting a small business and those who want to create a successful small business marketing plan for an existing business.

Most small business promotions focus on how great their products and services are. Instead, you should educate your target market consistently and start building a relationship that will establish your credibility and trust. It is important to develop a marketing mindset. “Think Marketing” your products and services all of the time. It is very important to consistently market your products and services. Don’t fall into the trap of stop and go marketing. Some small business owners only market when sales are down.

You can’t have a successful small business without having a successful small business marketing plan. Effective small business marketing is the way to growth and profits

If you’re a small business owner or you want to know how to start a small business in the future, this simple 7-step plan will help you understand your business and your target market.

How to Start a Small Business Marketing Plan: 7 Steps

Begin the process by answering these questions:

1) Who — Who specifically is your target market? Who is your ideal client? What research can you do to find out more about your target market?

2) What — What products and services do your ideal clients want and need? What does your product and service do for your ideal client? What problems does your product solve for your customer? What are the solutions that your ideal client is looking for? What is your area of specialty that will differentiate you in the marketplace? What are the industry trends? What type of message will your ideal client likely respond to? What are you ultimately selling? For example: Are you selling eye glasses or are you selling vision? What is your unique mix of products and services? What is your pricing strategy?

3) Where — Where is your ideal client? Where is your customer located geographically? Where will you position yourself so they can easily find you? Where are the best places to get your marketing message to them? Will you speak to groups, hold seminars, or write a blog, newsletters or articles?

4) When — How frequently does your target market need to hear your marketing message? When are they most likely to buy your products and services?

5) Why — Why are you in business? Why do customers or clients buy from you? Why should they choose your product or service over your competition?

6) How — How does your customer buy your product or service? How are you going to reach potential buyers for your services and products? How will you communicate your marketing message? How will you provide customers or clients with the information they need to make their buying decision?

7) Marketing Mindset – Practice mastering a Marketing Mindset and you will be on the path to a profitable small business.

With these 7 steps, you can take action towards starting a small business marketing plan that targets new customers. “Marketing is about testing and evaluating your return on investment. But it’s primarily about helping people get what they want.” Master these small business marketing steps and you will be on the path to more profit and success as a business owner.

Advantages Of A Good Business Plan

Planning is a vital ingredient in the success of any business. Developing a business plan is not just a requirement, but a basic necessity for building one’s business nowadays. It is an honest truth that every business needs a plan, starting from large corporations to entrepreneurs. Developing a business plan will help one build a framework that would push his business to his actual destination. The business plan helps one develop work guidelines, map out strategies, understand one’s target market, measure performance, monitor progress, make future plans and raise additional capital either for expansion or to boost operations.

Quite often, the thought on the mind of most business owners or investors is failure. The only way to overcome this failure is to address the common reasons why businesses fail up front. Presently, the world is facing though economic challenges, global economic meltdown, high cost of commodities, high rate of foreclosure and difficulties in obtaining credit from banks, stiff competition, complicated tax laws and high operational costs, etc.. All these challenges faced by businesses today, even make it more challenging for start-up businesses to survive. In today’s world, both small and large-scale businesses have come to realize the need to evaluate their business potentials and formulate strategies for the future.

However, inadequate planning has been the reason so many businesses fail, and the rate at which they fail is overwhelming. It is usually believed that most businesses fail in their first year of operation and among those that fail, 80% of them do not have a well researched plan. It has been observed that business failure is not only connected with small businesses alone which I chose not mention here, go down too. Though the rate of failure is highly significant in small businesses, and it is the main reason why a good business plan is needed. Probably for raising additional cash and to provide potential investors and lenders with the information required to make investment decisions. This makes developing a business plan extremely important. One’s business plan has to stand out and his projection has to be firm due to higher competition in attracting funding for his business. Investors no longer risk their money on businesses that do not prove to have great potentials for them.

A business plan is like a road map, it shows one the route to take, the pitfalls to avoid in order to reach his destination, For instance, if one decides to travel by road from one place to another, he would first need a road map that shows him the route to take. He will need to determine the distance and how much gas his car will need to take him to his destination. Moreover, he will need to calculate how much the journey will cost him, if he intends to raise money, if he’s borrowing, how he intends to refund the money. Putting all this into consideration, he now has a traveling plan that will take him to his destination. In the same vein, that’s what a business plan provides one with, the strategies, the route, and a road map to success.

Incidentally, the idea of working with a business plan is for one to keep focus on his set goals. Statistics has it that many businesses fail due to inadequate planning. If one doesn’t know where he’s heading to, any route seems to be the right one. Most people make great mistakes by jumping into business without adequate preparation and planning. A good business plan helps one maintain focus on his goals and execute the strategies that the plan assisted him in creating. Just like a road, one’s business plan has to be consulted to make maintain his focus and not running business in a layman’s way.

Working with a business plan, it will prevent one from entering unfamiliar territory. The plan becomes a working map for him and his organization. I t spells out the things to do and things not to do, the functions and how everyone and every department should operate. It helps one become more efficient, reduce waste and redundancy, channeling one’s resources to rightful place and being a guide to the successful running of his business.

As a performance tool, it measures the progression of goals in one’s business by tracking, monitoring, as well as evaluating, and can also be used as checkpoints in measuring performance. The world today, is so dynamic that what applied today might not apply tomorrow, and as a result of this dynamism, a good business plan needs to be setup in order to protect one against risks associated with business.

In addition to a performance tool, perfect business plan should contain other necessary tools in its system, which really make it a perfect plan. It must have a human resource tool, a marketing and strategy tool, financial tool, communication tool, and most importantly, an investor’s guide. A well-defined business plan attracts others to be part of the vision. It has to have a well-defined goal and objective that will set the stage to bring others into the business. It should inspire teamwork and creativity among its people and ensures everyone understands the goals and objectives.

However, a good business plan defines one’s target market, the class of people he intends to sell his products to, how to reach them, promote his products, in addition, defines one’s market mix- people, place, product and price. People- this defines the people involved in the promotion one’s goods and services. Product- this defines what one’s goods and services are. Place- defines the location which also includes the means of delivering the goods and services. Price- defines how much one’s products and services are worth in the market which will enable him analyze and evaluate his return on investment (ROI). A marketing and strategy tool defines one’s business strength, his weakness, his opportunities and threats. It plots a graph that helps one reduce cost while maximizing profit.

A financial tool in a good business plan enables one understand his business financial position, develops his budget and determine how his finances will be allocated. It also calculates one’s return on return on investment, analyzes his income statement, cash-flow, balance sheet, break-even point i.e. the analysis that tells one how much sales needed in order to cover expenses, which gives the basis for pricing his products and services, and at the same time calculates how much that is needed to finance one’s business which helps in making his financial needs clear.

A good business plan communicates one’s ideas to people, communicates his mission, objectives, management approach, responsibilities and demonstrates how one’s strategy will increase profitability and performance, identifying his audience without overreacting his aims and objectives of his business plan. A business communicates in two ways- Internal communication and External communication. Internal communication includes communication of corporate vision, shared value, strategies, guiding principles and employee motivation. External communication includes branding, customer relation, marketing, advertising, media and public relations etc..

A good business plan is used to attract funding from investors. Most investors will look at a business plan as a decision-making tool. There are certain things investors look out for in a business. These include one’s management team, every investor will want to know a business owner’s managerial skills, passion, and his dedication to his business. A comprehensive description of how one’s products or services should be discharged, his customer base, his market and financial analysis. A business plan should have a realistic financial forecast. Every investor will always like to see his business associate’s return of investment, cash-flow and break-even analysis. Hence, a well prepared business plan is the key to attracting investors.

19 Questions to Supercharge Your Business Plan

Whether you are seeking capital for your company or are optimizing your business strategy, the most important element – particularly for outside investors -may be your written business plan. You can tune-up and supercharge your plan using this 19-step checklist. When your written plan firmly answers yes to each of these 19 questions, your market/product strategy is in terrific shape plus you increase the odds of attracting investment capital.

If you don’t already have a written business plan – write one! Your business plan is a blueprint for your whole company. It describes in detail your goals, the financial and technical viability of your goals, and the strategy you will use (or are using) to reach those goals. And your business plan is a working tool – it is a yardstick to measure your progress and a compass to keep you on course.

Must a business plan be written?

Yes! A plan which is not written usually has not been thought through fully. And despite what you may have read, it is doubtful that any business ever attracted capital on the back of a napkin.

Use this checklist as a way to identify where your strategy, as spelled out in your business plan, needs work. Each of the questions below highlights an area considered critical to technology investors.

1. Can the key ideas behind your product or service be stated in one or two sentences? (y/n)

2. Does your company have at least one unique and compelling competitive advantage, which cannot quickly or easily be duplicated? (y/n) Examples are a special feature, a cost advantage, a technical refinement, a new delivery system or a special supplier.

3. Is your competitive advantage proprietary? (y/n) That is, can it be copyrighted, patented, trademarked or otherwise protected? Can you keep it exclusive to you?

4. Is your industry segment growing by 25% or more? (y/n) If not, can your new product dominate its segment? If the answer is no, you probably won’t be able to generate the kind of financial returns investors look for.

5. Does your product or service create a new market? (y/n) Although generally positive, this could be a trap – in a brand new market, the potential can be slow to develop. Lotus Notes created a new category but took years to create value for investors.

6. Is your market in “early momentum” – the market growth phase where market revenues have recently taken off? (y/n) Venture investors prefer markets in this stage because the time-to-create-value is shorter and the growth potential still large.

7. Is your target market segment 1) tightly defined over a population sharing common characteristics, 2) large enough to support significant profits, 3) served by communications channels to reach that market – i.e., trade or special interest publications, response mailing lists? (y/n)

8. Is your company filling a gap in the market, or do you have a “gee-whiz” product which you think is so terrific that customers will surely want to buy it? (y/n)

9. The benefit of your product or service to users is 1) significant, 2) quantifiable and 3) cost-justified? (y/n). If you provide a benefit which is important, and you can prove it – there is a much higher probability of generating sales.

10. Is there a demonstrated market for your product? (y/n) If you have an existing product, is your customer base expanding? Investors would rather fund sales and production than product development.

11. Is there wide appeal for your product or service? (y/n) Are there enough potential customers in the target market that you can earn significant profits, for a long time? Are there follow-on products to sustain revenue and profit growth?

12. Does your company have the ability to sell your product? (y/n) Particularly in companies where the founders have technical backgrounds, a question to ask is “Who is going to sell your product or service?” What about outside distributors?

13. Is there an experienced management team? (y/n) Investors would rather fund a solid team instead of one lone genius with a great idea. The team should be highly qualified in marketing, sales, finance, and the product/service area itself. Of course, a demonstrable track record helps.

14. Can you demonstrate a likely return of 5-15 times investors’ capital, over a period ranging from three to seven years? (y/n) The actual parameters used by venture investors will vary based on which stage you are in (idea, startup, development, expansion, turnaround).

15. Is there a clear exit strategy for investors? (y/n) The most common strategies for returning investors’ capital are 1) going public; 2) acquisition of your company; 3) new investors; 4) founder’s buyback or management buyout.

16. Have other investors already put money into the company, particularly the senior management team? (y/n) This reduces the apparent risk, reduces overall exposure, and shows that management “has its money where its mouth is.”

17. Have you clearly defined a structure for the investment you seeking? (y/n) The structure should include: who is involved, how much capital is needed, what minimum investment you will accept, how much equity that will buy – and, of course, the projected return on investment.

18. Are your financial projections realistic? (y/n) Have you soundly justified your projected growth rates and other financial assumptions?

19. Have you clearly examined the risks? (y/n) Investors like to know that you have considered the risks. This is key – can you turn your risks into opportunities?

Too many no’s? Remember, each “no” opens up an area for you to strengthen your business. Even if you aren’t seeking capital, each question highlights a critical success factor – which, when mastered, will increase your profits, your performance, and your future success.

In order to help you discover hidden value and opportunities in your existing business, and to make it easier to spot potential problems while you are just starting out, I’ve created the Business Building Guide. A remarkable aid to accelerating the growth and profitability of your business, this program of insight-provoking questions and checklists enables you to rapidly diagnose, troubleshoot and optimize every part of your business, from marketing to sales, customer service to product development and finance to production.

Eight Steps To The Next Level – The Business Plan, "The Engine of Small Business Development"

This is the second of a series of articles describing how small business owners and managers can drive their business growth and profitable development through the creation and implementation of a business plan.

I know the prevailing view among many small business people is that “planning” is for the larger, more substantial business and “they are too busy running their business to have time for planning”. Indeed, many small business owners are “too busy” running the business, but they ignore, at their own peril and survival, that “failing to plan is planning to fail.”

I am convinced that the small business owner will benefit from engaging in this business planning process because of the nature of carefully examining and thinking through the way their business competes and operates; – and how that will align with their determination of “what business they want to be in”.

This business planning process yields a stronger, more profitable business which provides real value to its customers and the marketplace.

The business planning process described in this article is the most logical, pragmatic and practical examination possible of the small business. This process is far from arcane or mysterious, but totally focuses on the reality of the small business environments (the business, the economy, competition, customers’ needs, wants and desires) as well as the determination and allocation of the firm’s resources).

Business Planning Process – Eight Major steps

For the past thirty years, I have successfully used the following business and strategic marketing planning process. The following process consists of eight major steps which are sequential and continuous. I will describe the nature and function of each of these steps.

This process applies to all types of organizations; regardless of size, products, services, or industry…. I have even used this process with a national religious organization.

1. DEVELOP MISSION AND POSITIONING STATEMENT

2. SITUATION AUDIT

a. Internal

b. External

3. WOTSUP ANALYSIS

4. MAKING ASSUMPTIONS

5. DEVELOPING OBJECTIVES

6. STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT

7. SPECIFY TACTICS AND ACTIONS

8. PREPARE FORECASTS/BUDGETS/FINANCIALS

1. MISSION AND POSITIONING STATEMENT

With respect to the definition of your businesses’ purpose and mission, there is only one focus, one starting point; it is the customer or user of your products/services. The user defines the mission of any function or business. The question “what is our mission or purpose” “what business do we want to be in?”, can therefore be answered by only looking at your business from the outside, from the point of view of the customer or potential customer. What the user or customer sees, thinks, or believes at any given time must be accepted by your business management as an objective fact to be taken seriously.

By definition, the customer is purchasing the satisfaction of a need or want.

For example, here is a well-known and real example of a business mission which defined the way in which that company conducted its activities.

A drill bit manufacturer defined its mission as determining “what size holes customers need” their focus was directly on customer needs and not on their product specifications. They were customer-focused and very successful.

Once the mission statement has been completed develop the positioning statement for competitive advantage and prepare the USP – your unique selling proposition. “Why the business is able to provide more effective solutions and greater value than the competitors.”

2. THE SITUATION AUDIT- Internal and External

The situation audit is a description and analysis of past, present and future data (information) which provides the basis for pursuing the business planning process. It is an organized method for:

collecting pertinent information
interpreting its effect on the business’s environments (market conditions)
analyzing significant trends
projecting all pertinent factors, which could influence company activities.

3. WOTSUP ANALYSIS

The acronym WOTSUP stands for Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats and Strengths Underlying Planning. This step flows naturally from the fact base (Situation Audit). The Weaknesses and Strengths constitute an internal analysis, i.e. “what are we at good and bad at?”-

Opportunities and Threats, on the other hand, form an external analysis. From this analysis, objectives can be formulated with specific action plans designed to overcome weaknesses and threats by exploiting the business strengths and opportunities.

4. MAKING ASSUMPTIONS:

Assumptions make planning possible. Without the use of assumptions, planning would be almost impossible. Since planning deals with the “futurity of current decision-making” and events in the future are almost impossible to predict with unfailing accuracy; – assumptions make planning possible.

5. DEVELOPING OBJECTIVES

Overall objectives are the real crux of the Business and Marketing Planning Process. They deserve every last ounce of time and effort – often frustrating. The objectives form the umbrella under which the balance of the whole planning structure is built. Because of the key role they play they must be thought through and be expressed in the most specific and concrete fashion. In simplest terms an objective is… “what do you want to accomplish?” Objectives are prepared to overcome weaknesses and threats developed in the WOTSUP Analysis and to exploit the opportunities and strengths.

6. STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT:

Once the objectives have been developed, the preparation of strategies is the next step in the process. Strategies, must explain, in a broad sense, how the objectives will be achieved.

7. SPECIFY ACTION PROGRAMS:

After the objectives and strategies have been developed, describe the work to be performed. The actions must be very specific; what work is to be done, by whom, how and when.

8. FORECASTS/BUDGETS/FINANCIALS PREPARED:

The action programs when completed form the basis for budget preparation. The cost of each action and the revenues derived from the detailed actions generate the operating budget and cash flows for the Business Plan.

Many organizations confuse planning with budgeting. One important purpose of the budget is to ensure the business has adequate financial resources to function. Budgeting is about not failing, planning is about what is possible.

Writing Your Affiliate Home Business Plan

Here’s a typical scenario: You are deciding to start a home business and suddenly everyone you know has his nose in your business, literally. What do you tell them? And how do you answer your own questions? What should you expect from the company in terms of stability, longevity, vitality, trust, income, and so forth? First the bad news: there are no guarantees. Then the good news: there is plenty of information from which to draw your own conclusions. The internet is huge, and any good company will offer free marketing tools and training.

But back to the WHY of that business plan. You’re going to be starting small, slow and boy! is there a lot to learn. What’s the point of actually sitting down and writing a business plan? You’re not Bill Gates, this isn’t Microsoft, just you in your home office a few hours a week, slowly building an online business presence, not really understanding what the heck you’ll be doing.

Relax and breathe. Unlike Mt. Rushmore, your plan won’t be designed to withstand the weathering of the ages. You can expect it will change and bend with the flow of your real experiences, which will be totally yours, not identical to anyone else’s.

What writing your plan will do is cause you to pause, think, dream, study and focus. The written document, whether it is one page or twelve, will give your business a framework to work within. The internet is vast and seemingly endless. It is easy to lose focus and drift away on a different whim or idea every day. Understanding where you are today, what tools you have to work with, what your goals are, and how you can best achieve them and measure your success, will help you stay on target and not waste what few hours you may be investing in your business at start-up.

Whenever you feel lost or confused, you can return to what you have written. When you analyze your situation and decide to make a change, rewrite that part of the plan. Understand that it’s a living document, intended to grow with you and your business. Your business plan is your friend.

Getting Started with the Business Plan

First you need to study the company and its management. You need to read and learn about the products, the compensation plan and the network structure. See you next month. Just kidding.

Plan on doing SOME reading each and every work day for the next few months, if not indefinitely. Keep up with the company forum entries every day; read something in the training reports every day. Your education will continue. Plan for it.

When you are ready, open up a Notepad window and answer these questions:

What service/products does your business provide and what needs does it fill?

Who are the potential customers for your product or service and why will they purchase it from you?

How will you reach your potential customers?

Where will you get the financial resources to start your business?

Ok. Maybe your company offers many products and services. What do you want to focus on? I suggest that, at first, you focus on one or two products and/or the affiliate opportunity. In other words, keep is simple. Once you get the hang of what you’re doing, you will KNOW when it’s time to expand. Do only what you are comfortable with, every step of the way. This is YOUR business, it’s your right and privilege to decide on your approach.

Internet marketing hinges on building trust. How will you do this?

Reaching customers means marketing. Your decision, once again. And again, the options should be in your company’s training materials.

So we’re talking developing a reading/study schedule. Here’s a possible list, once you’ve read enough to make your own decisions to answer the above questions, start writing. Your writing can be lists of words and phrases, free-form brainstorming, outlines, mind maps, whatever works for you. Just write it down, and don’t forget to save often. If your home office is inhabited by cats or small children, they have the tendency to press on random keyboard keys. Documents do occasionally just disappear. Saving avoids total disaster.

Study the products.
Read the training materials.
Read about commissions, bonuses, etc.
Study the marketing aids and strategies
Find out what free tools are available.
Visit the forums on a regular basis. Read everything about getting started.
Ask questions.

Your final written business plan will have at least four parts:

Introduction/background: history of the company and its founder, internet marketing trends, why THIS company and why NOW, and so on.

Goals: I suggest you think of what you would like to be earning in two years, but mainly focus on goals for your first year. Realistic goals can be projected based on info on the company website, in newsletters, searches on the forums, and focused questions to other affiliates.

Marketing plan: based on your answers to the first 3 questions above and your study of marketing aids and tools.

Action plans: the specifics of what you will do on a monthly, weekly, and/or daily basis for the next year.

I can’t tell you what your answers should be, because you have to decide how much money you have to invest. Only you can decide how many hours per day, week or month you can invest in your business. What products you feel most comfortable marketing, and who you decide to target as your customer base, are all decisions only you can make. If you get stuck and don’t understand a question, don’t know where to find information, or don’t know how to ASK a question, contact your sponsor or someone in your upline. If they can’t help you, they should be able to send you to someonewho can.

You should NEVER feel alone. Work should be FUN!…

How to Create a Value-Based Business Plan

Business plans are usually written by executives who want others to invest in their companies, but they can be an effective tool for helping new businesses to plan for their futures. The plans are a kind of snapshot of where the organization is at present, and where it hopes to be, typically in three years.

Value-based business plans emphasize what they will give to the customer or the investor, rather than what they will get in return as a result. This is opposite of the way many such plans are written.

Business plans consist of seven sections: Executive Summary, Products and/or Services, Operations, People, Marketing, and Appendices.

Executive Summary

The Executive Summary is similar to the overture in an opera. It ties together all of the main themes that will be presented in the document, and enables those who read it to get an overall understanding of what is to follow. Although it appears first, it’s written last.

Products and/or Services

This section explains in some detail the what of the organization. What is the company selling? Does it sell physical products or services? The answer you give will dictate how the rest of the plan is written.

Operations

This part of the plan explains the how. How will the organization deliver the products and/or services it described in the previous section?

People

This section lists the primary players, and briefly summarizes the contribution they will make. Why does the success of the business depend on this person or team of people.

Marketing

This section describes how the organization will make itself known to potential customers. Topics include target market and the expected return-on-investment. Sometimes letters-of-intent and existing contracts are placed here.

Financial Projections

In even the most complex business plans, this section often can be kept to one page. It summarizes the expected income, expenses, and profit-before-tax for each of the years covered by the plan.

Appendices

This section is usually the longest part of the plan and can include copies of patents, descriptions of research and development projects, or a more detailed description of complex processes.

It may also forecasts on the quantity of units that it will produce, or the number of customers it expects to serve over the term of the plan. The resumes of the personnel described earlier in the plan will be here, and detailed financial projections for the period.

There is no prescribed limit on the length of business plans, but without the appendices 30-50 pages is the norm.

While the plan may be for internal use only, this is not the place to skimp on the detail. The more that readers can understand about what you do, the more likely they will be able to help you achieve your goals.

The Best E-Commerce Marketing Calender Plan

Not everyone has a planned up map that they need and in today’s date eCommerce is at its boom and it is projected that it will increase to $4.058 trillion by 2020, which is really a very big number.

So here we have a solid plan making you go through what actually works.

1) Build Up Your Base

Hire up understanding and the right people for your WooCommerce business. Plan according where you want to see your business reach. Build social media profiles, email subscriber list, automation services like MailChimp.

Some plugins that can greatly help you are-

For Marketing Automation Management- Hubspot WooCommerce Integration Pro,Mautic WooCommerce Integration.

2) Start Content Marketing

Make your content rich and keep track of what your competitors are doing.
Try to analyze the industry’s good content.
Share your content on social channels.
Show them what they can make, not what you have.
Use SEO research for blog creation.

3) Social Media Platform

Use Social media ROI(use UTM codes, using built-in analytics).
Interact with your fans.
Use paid options properly to increase your traffic.

4) Attract Customers

Use Google Adwords for your ads which can be highly responsive. Correct audience and use of efficient and effective keyword is most important.
Eyes take customers to products that look attractive. Use plugins like WooCommerce Gift Card to attract customers through attractive cards.
Offering them points for their purchase may do the same. Use Woocommerce points and rewards.
to by offering them points and coupon codes.

5) Use Email Marketing

Personalize tour emails so that your customers feel valued.
Personalize your messages according to their age, location, and industry.
Use an influencer marketing campaign.

6) Observe and Learn

Analyse properly the results which you got.

Learn from your mistakes.
Use Google Analytics(free tool) to analyze your consumers.

Analyse, learn from your mistakes and improve

7) Attract More Traffic

Traffic!! Something that every storekeeper craves for.

Offer discounts/coupon using plugins available at WordPress and codecanyon.
Use a Free with scheme for your products.
Use holidays and festive season to boost up your sales(Black Friday, Thanksgiving, Cyber Monday etc.)

8) Grow Using Affiliate Partnerships

Use your main page to create affiliates by providing a section for it.
Review before you affiliates.

9) Find Sources That Generate More Traffic

Focus on better CPC.
Reanalyze your data and look for improvement on your site.
Update old adds with good content by taking ideas from those which are doing good.

10) Create A Strategy With Your Teammates

Take help of your teammates to build a fantastic strategy from the results so far because they have been with you from the beginning.

United we stand, divided we fall.

11)Start Some Free Services And Products.

Everyone loves free stuff. Start a giveaway.
Think of quizzes or contests with free gifts and prizes.

Yay!! thanks for the gift.

Now you can see your traffic spike.

It is an effective and simple way. Obstacles may come, but learn to improve and move up. Thanks for reading

Hope this helps you.

Team

MakeWebBetter

connect@makewebbetter.com

5 Tips To Writing A Good Business Plan

Starting up a business is an exciting time, but writing a business plan can seem daunting initially. However, being able to write a good business plan is an essential skill to have for any entrepreneur or new business looking to increase their chance of survival.

1) Identify your audience. A good business plan should be written from the prospective of the audience. First, you need to decide on the purpose the plan. Are you trying to persuade an investor to take on your project or communicate the future plans for the company? The purpose of the business plan will affect the style and content so make sure you are clear on this before beginning. A good business plan needs to be tailored to the specific requirements of the target audience in order to be engaging.

2) Do your research. In order to be able to write a strong, comprehensive business plan you need to possess a sound knowledge of the market you are involved in. You need to actively conduct market research and ensure that your plan makes reference to your findings. It should include factors such as market size, the predicted growth path of said market and how you propose to gain access to it. For example, if you are planning on opening a bar then your business plan should include figures based on the local population, cost of suppliers, predictions about whether the bar industry is likely to grow or decline in the area and a review of the competitive environment.

3) Assess your competition. Understanding your competition is an essential component to understanding any business environment. Whatever the business you are looking to establish, you will always have competition in varying degrees. Perhaps you want to open a restaurant in an area that is already saturated with eateries; you then need to think about what is the unique selling point of your restaurant. Or maybe you have found a niche in the market, why is that? In order to make your business a success you should look to your competitors to see how they are managing their business or areas where they could improve. You also need to assess whether you can compete effectively with the existing businesses and how you plan to do so.

4) Attention to detail. A plan that is concise and clear reads professionally so don’t make yours too wordy. The reader needs enough detail and information to be able to make an informed decision. As with all professional documents, care must be taken to avoid spelling mistakes and use correct grammar and punctuation. A plan that makes absurd or unrealistic assumptions is of no use so stick to the facts and make sure you are making credible projections and accurate content at all times.

5) Cover all bases. Before embarking on your plan it is a good idea to undertake some research in to what a professional business plan should include. You can then use this as a check list to make sure you have covered all the relevant areas. Sections of the business plan should include information on the company, the product/service market, competition in the field, management team, marketing strategy, operations and financials.

Once you have done all this you should have a complete and detailed professional business plan. The most important thing to remember when developing the plan is to see it as a living document and include specifics regarding dates and specific responsibilities. Your plan will need constant reviews and updates and things change so expect it to be a work in process for a good stretch of time. It will all be worth it in the end, a well-written plan will help ensure that the business is fully focused on what is required to achieve the company’s goal.

Building Your Business Marketing Plan and Referral Marketing System

Recently I had a conversation with a client about their business, their marketing plan and their referral system. Their question was, Should we be working by referral only, or should we consider other aspects of marketing? My feedback was simple; you should not be doing either with out a plan.

Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, services, organizations, and events to create and maintain relationships that will satisfy individual and organizational objectives.-Contemporary Marketing Wired (1998) by Boone and Kurtz. Dryden Press.

How does your marketing plan relate to your business plan, your mission statement or your vision statement? Your company’s business plan provides the environment in which your marketing plan must flourish. The two documents must have continuity between them according the American Marketing Association.

Inside your marketing plan, you look at all aspects of how you get your message to prospects that might be in need to your product or service. For instance, you may have advertising as one of your marketing activities. Under advertising you may have, TV, Billboard, Coupons, Radio, Google Ads, and so forth. For each of those you need a budget, a timetable to implement, a system to measure results, and a target market.

Your referral system should be part of your overall Marketing Plan. Unfortunately, most people do not have a plan for referrals. They might implement a reward system for people or customers who send them referrals and they stop there.

A good referral system should have a target market, a timetable for implementation, a budget, a training system for your referral partners, and a system for tracking your results. Your referral-marketing plan should be part of your over all marketing plan.

Should you be By Referral Only that is really a question that you must ask yourself. There are many business professionals who are by referral only, because they know they have plenty of work, many good clients and they know that referred clients have a longer shelf life, spend more money and are more likely to refer others to them.

Building your business by referral takes more time than money. (remember time is money) Relationships and trust take time and cannot be rushed or bought.
Advertising, PR, and many other forms of marketing take more money than time.
Both must have a plan.
Building your brand and your business takes a combination of both.

Business must stop letting referrals happen by accident, and they need to look beyond the “customer referral” to actually developing a plan to find, train and reward referral partners. Having a quality referral marketing plan will increase the quality and quantity of referred prospects. Organization like the Referral Institute work with business across the nation to develop their Referral Marketing Plan while the American Marketing Association supports a variety of professionals who can help a business develop their marketing plan.

If you are a new business owner or an established business owner, make sure you have a plan and review it often.

Automobile Business Plan – Four Steps to Success

Like other business plans, the contents of an automobile dealership business plan cover four primary steps towards success. These steps are “opportunity”, “capacity”, “activities”, and “results”.

Opportunity

The industry, customer, and competitive analysis in your business plan proves the opportunity. This should identify that customers in your local market are in need of a dealer of the type you’ve chosen to be because competitors are not fully serving their needs, or because their demographics are changing (more population, richer, poorer, more families, etc.) The opportunity could also be that a certain combination of services by your dealership could improve on what competitors are currently doing. The overall industry situation should look ahead to how the car sales market will be doing six months, one year, or more in the future, when the dealership will actually be open.

Capacity

The experience of the management team, your license as a car dealer, and the financial resources the partners can bring to the table cover the capacity of the entrepreneur to jump on this opportunity. Funders reading the business plan expect that there will also be an element of cash missing from the entrepreneur’s capacity at the moment. Otherwise, they would not be reading the plan in the first place.

Activities

Marketing and operations plans cover the activities the company will engage in to bring in car buyers (and car sellers if you are a used car dealer as well), and run the business as efficiently as possible. As a small car dealer, consider how you can make up for this lack of scale, and the cost savings that come with it for dealer chains, through creativity and hard work.

Results

Finally, the projections of business success and financial section of the plan show the results that you and investors should expect. If results take into account the full costs of the methods you’ve described, and include adequate compensation for staff and key team players, readers will be less likely to question elements on the cost side. If your revenue projections are based on reasonable, researched assumptions about the car buying behavior of your local market, then readers will be more likely to accept this side of the projections as well.