Business Articles

1st June 2005 - By Dave Price, Metropolis 2 Ltd

Ready, Steady... GO!

Are you ready to take part in the business race for success and survival? Now you're sure you know what is what and you are confident...

Steady?
Now its time to launch and off you Go!!

Starting a new business is a real challenge which good preparation and thought through strategies can pay dividends. The product or service you plan to provide is your business and no doubt will have absorbed most of your thoughts to date. It is our intention to make you now look at revenue generation and exactly how are you going to make this project succeed!

This article is aimed at helping you get the very best from your marketing plan and to ensure that any marketing you do is effective.

However unless you are one of the very lucky few then your resources may well be very restricted and as a result every activity you decide to do has a cost in your time and on your bank of other resources - not least your bank balance.

As a result the better you plan and the more efficiently you allocate and use your resources the better the returns and your chances of success. So it's a training regime that's required, one that will give you an insight to your marketing capabilities and the opportunities and barriers you face. Recognise these and you will have a good chance of optimising your resources and more importantly avoid those expensive and often very public mistakes that your business cannot afford.

Metropolis 2 - check list for marketing success.

Competitors
Who are your main competitors?
Why are they so good?
What do they do well?
What do they do badly?
What will you do that is better?

Customers
Who are they?
Where do they live?
Where do they work?
What do they read?
How will they find out about you?

Sales
What's you typical order value?
What's your breakeven point annually, monthly, weekly, daily?
What discounts do you propose to offer?
What trade accounts do you intend to operate?
Do you have detailed sales forecast and sales targets?

Cash
How will they pay?
When will they pay?
When do you pay?
Do you have cash flow forecast?

Packaging
Do you have branding?
Do you have labelling?
How will you deliver?
Where will you deliver?
When can you deliver?

Advertising
Is it the right paper?
Is it the right advert?
Is it the right proposition?
Is it the right price?
Does it have the right trigger mechanism?
Does it include your web and brand ID?
Are you planning data capture?

PR
Do you have a launch plan?
Do you have an integrated campaign?
Do you know who to invite and how?
Do you know what you want to say about yourself/product?
Have you produced a press pack?
Have you involved clients/friends/family?

Needless to say most people sail through the first few sections but they get to the advertising and PR section and realise they are indeed dealing with the black arts here and maybe they should bring in the specialists. If you do plan to do this then make sure you get the right team on your side. Before you appoint someone lets make sure they are value for money and you are prepped to help them, there is nothing more frustrating than paying consultants to do what you could have done easily yourselves!

Your briefing can make a major difference and ensure that your valuable resources are not wasted unnecessarily:

Discuss your current Marketing plan
How do you sell your products services?
How much budget do you have?
Have you developed any strategies yourself?
What is your market share?
What is the potential market share available?
What is your capacity to meet this demand?
What would you look for as evidence of success for this relationship?
Are all of your current sales/marketing/advertising strategies complementary?
What staff/resources can you provide to assist recommended projects?
Who is your main competitor?
Why are they so successful?
How can you beat them?

So there you have it more questions than answers but if you can be honest with yourself and you think through each of the above then you will have a fighting chance of success.

Good luck!!

Dave Price
Metropolis 2 Limited
0121 236 6116
www.metropolis2.co.uk
dave@metropolis2.co.uk

David Price is a one off - once met never forgotten! M2's Marketing Guru he started his career as marketing manager at Peugeot were he was responsible for all accessories and own brand goods in the UK. He was also part of the team who launched Motaquip Peugeot's all makes parts division developing a nation-wide retail strategy to facilitate the successful rollout of some 3000 new product lines. He then went into training and development producing a range of training courses, which were exported world wide, and just one of his duties at this time involved spending some £1/2 million per year in off the page coupon response. David subsequently devoted a decade to the management consultancy arena focusing upon communication and Human Resource management within a number of blue chip financial, business to business and fast moving consumer goods clients including High Street banks and major players in the beverage and leisure industry. David is passionate about fishing and a Division One football team. While he wins silverware each season for his angling prowess the same cannot be said of his favourite soccer team.