Making a Decision

Posted October 23, 2009, under Uncategorized
No comments yet

There are thousands of resources and experts that provide guidance on the right way to make decisions for a business. Each expert has an opinion about the process that needs to be followed for effective decision making. What I find lacking in most of the reviews is the mention of the unique set of factors for each decision.

Are there time pressures? Financial pressures that shouldn’t impact the business, but impact individuals making the decisions? Is the market moving and the business model changing? Does the CEO want more time with his or her family?

Business decisions are never easy, that is why the people who are responsible for the tough decisions get paid the big bucks, because their neck is the one on the chopping block. Hero or villain, there really isn’t an option for an in between.

One of the greatest examples of making a tough decision is Advanta. They decided to get out of the small business credit card business. That was their business, not part of their business, but their core business. They recognized that there was a greater risk of sitting in the back seat and crossing their fingers than mitigating their losses, retaining some assets and starting over.

I remember what a trusted professional and friend once said when I asked about a business that was on a roller coaster. “Sometimes the best decision that you can make is to walk away”. To give him credit, his name is Gil Beyda. His simple, yet powerful message was that you can’t force things. You have to take the information in front of you and make the best decision possible. Walking away from a business, an ideology, a product, employee, geography… we have to make decisions every day that create a feeling of loss. It is very hard to walk away when so much time, energy, sweat and money has been committed. But what is a worse outcome? Cutting your losses or incurring more? More stress, more money, more time… more missed opportunities.

The key to sound decision making is finding the right balance between planning, timing and objectives.

  • What are your short term and long term goals?
  • What are the potential outcomes that are unacceptable?
  • What are the potential outcomes that are most desired?
  • What are the time, monetary, quality of life and missed opportunity costs associated with each option?
  • What is the best, worst and most likely outcome for each option?
  • With whom can you surround yourself to ensure a timely, well-informed decision?

    Remember that good decisions are NEVER MADE ON AN ISLAND!!! Sorry to yell, but you don’t know it all…none of us do. The truly wise gain wisdom from others with different experiences, insights and outlooks.

    So,

    1. Create a simple matrix in excel
    2. Weigh the benefits and risks
    3. Make the best decision possible
    4. Track the progress
    5. Measure the results
    6. Prepare to adjust along the way

     

 

Leave the first comment ▶

Developing a Local Marketing Plan

Posted October 13, 2009, under Uncategorized
No comments yet

Developing a local marketing plan is not as simple as point and shoot. Don’t get sucked into what everyone else is doing and don’t let some wet behind the ears sales rep tell you why you should spend $3,000 a month with his TV station.

Local marketing is about relationships above all else. The people who will purchase from you walk by your store or block every day. To develop a relationship with these consumers you must understand their schedules, their lifestyles and their needs. That may sound difficult, but it really is as simple as asking yourself a couple of basic questions.

  1. What types of individuals walk by your store everyday? College students? Lawyers? Government employees? Stock brokers? Nurses? Understanding the type of schedule and job/lifestyle that these people have will help you develop a marketing plan to establish a loyal relationship.
  2. What are their needs? If most of your foot traffic is from college students you can bet that their need is cheap, quick and caffeinated because they are probably late for class and half asleep. If most of your foot traffic is from government employees than you can bet that their need is a break from the office. They are not in a rush to get back, but a simple, calming experience that lets them escape from the daily grind

Focus on the following three words; Offering, Messaging, Service.

  • Create the right offer to provide consumer value; 10% off, comfortable seating…etc
  • Craft the right message to attract consumer attention; getaway from the daily grind at “your company here”
  • Provide incredible customer service; make customers feel welcome by remembering their name or order, offering loyalty rewards and making them feel welcome

Marketing is not a magic science. Successful marketing plans start with understanding your target customer and end with delivering real value based on the customer’s needs… to the consumer everything else is just noise.

Leave the first comment ▶

Strategic Business Planning

Posted October 11, 2009, under Uncategorized
No comments yet

There is so much data available today and so many tools to measure search advertising effectiveness, email response rates, TV viewership, site opportunity, investment ROI… where do you start?

Start with your objectives. Do you want to drive brand awareness, user impressions, revenues, or target gross margins? Remember that your objectives do not have to be, nor should they be mutually exclusive. Creating an effective business strategy should involve the right combination of brand awareness, user impressions or revenues with target gross margins. The question really lies with what is of the upmost importance today. What short term objectives do you have, long term goals and how do the two meet through your strategic business plan.

At the core of all strategic planning is data such as target customer behaviors, market size or financial projections. Data drives good business decisions. Good business decisions give you the best chance for success. Understanding how each piece of information translates back to your bottom line numbers is the key.

The challenges with data, in my opinion, are identifying what information is most important, what information is dependent and then turning the results into a plan of action.

Keep it simple and work backwords. What are your objectives based upon in hard numbers?

  • How much money do you need to make this month to cover bills?
  • How many impressions do you need to show up on the ”but list” for target advertisers?
  • How many stores do you need to have your product in to meet your target sales growth?

Once you know what you need to achieve, identify what efforts can help you meet your objectives with the greatest margin. If you set up the right spreadsheet, for lack of a better term, you will easily be able to see which tactics move the needle across any category from impressions, to gross margins to product sales.

Leave the first comment ▶

Psychographics, Demographics, Behaviors of My

Posted October 6, 2009, under Uncategorized
2 comments

In the world of marketing the difference in the value and validity of Psychographics, Demographics and Behaviors is heavily debated.

Why? Because each category of consumer market research provides a different type of insight into consumers enabling a unique type of targeting.

  • Consumer Demographics provide basic information such as age, ethnicity, gender, occupation and income. While this information is valuable it only tells you if a consumer can afford something or could be interested in purchasing a product targeted to a specific age group or gender.

  • Consumer Behaviors are the detailed insights into where a consumer shops, what they buy and how often. This is very powerful information because it allows a business to tailor its’ inventory and message to the consumers in their geographic area.

  • Consumer Psychographics provides the insights into what a consumer thinks, feels and desires. Purchasing, decision making is all driven by a need, a desire to perhaps be up to date with the latest fashion trends, be the first to have the latest mobile phone, invest very carefully due a discomfort with the stock market. What psychographics do is provide you, the marketer or business, with a deep understanding of what drives consumers to make purchasing decisions today and what will drive them to make these decisions tomorrow.

In the end consumer market research is only as valuable as the hands in which it sits. Sometimes the term in and of itself can be intimidating. But once you unlock the power of deep insights into consumer behaviors you will have the tools that you need to build   a more profitable business.

2 comments so far, add yours ▶

I am # 1, I am # 1

Posted June 8, 2009, under Uncategorized
No comments yet

Watch out for the “I am # 1″.
I worked in media before, both selling and buying and the biggest problem is how easy it is to confuse the advertiser with #s.

First of all, every media property is # 1 in something, but that doesn’t mean they are # 1 in what is most important to you.

There are a few basic steps to choosing the right advertising partner.
1. Understand who your ideal customer really is. Are they people who eat out a lot? Someone who is graduating college and needs to buy a car and get an apartment?… maybe a new married couple who could be house shopping.

2. Know how far your customers may actually travel. Are the majority of your customers walking in from the neighborhood or traveling just to visit your business? If the majority of your traffic is local, don’t buy any media that isn’t 75% focused on your local footprint or you will be paying to reach people who are highly unlikely to visit your store.

3. Know your size. If you can’t handle more than 15 customers a day, why pay for advertising that would have to result in 30 customers per day to break even?

Make sure you ask the right questions and always run the #’s. As much as we all hate the spreadsheets… financial analysis is key to successful decision making.

Leave the first comment ▶

The Miracle of Child Birth, also known as Starting a Business

Posted May 23, 2009, under Uncategorized
2 comments

Ok guys, none of us really get this, but for those of you who have been through it with your significant other it is an intense roller coaster ride. So what does this have to do with business?… the steps in starting a business can be compared to the steps of conceiving a child.

  1. You conceive the initial idea… That is always the fun part, your drunken moment so to speak… You think of this great opportunity, love the idea of creating your own business and enjoy the initial pursuit.
  2. You find out your pregnant… this would be the oh my god moment when you see that this is real. You are excited and a little nervous. You actually start to ramp up preparing to open the business.
  3. You start to feel the effects of pregnancy… morning sickness, bloating, eating for two, mood swings… You are excited one minute and mad the next because some things work out right and some dont. It is a lot of work to nurture a business from idea to reality. Incorporation, funding, marketing collateral, business strategy… it’s not as fun as it was when you first found out you were pregnant.
  4. Complications set in… we all pray that this never happens in giving birth especially, but in a business, however this happens all the time. Things happen, things out of your control start to drive the final delivery of your child.
  5. Your baby is born… now comes the really hard part because having a kid is 3 full time jobs. You have no life, get no rest, spend every waking hour and penny on your baby and have no idea how all of this work will turn out. Will they be an astronaut, will your business succeed… will your child be a petty criminal, will the business fail… will your child live at home until they are 50, will the business linger on but never get out of the break even phase.

The real lesson is this, starting a business is not easy… so don’t get discouraged, but don’t be delusional. It requires a lot of work, patience, commitment and care. If you want to prepare for starting a business, talk to one of your female family members or friends with kids and ask them what it was like to carry, give birth to and raise a baby. It will have its glorious moments, but like anything in life, it will have its trials and tribulations.

2 comments so far, add yours ▶

Conducting Market Research… why this phrase is so intimidating…

Posted May 10, 2009, under Uncategorized
No comments yet

Conducting market research. That statement in and of itself is intimidating, but why is it so intimidating?
Maybe because many of us don’t even really know what it means. Maybe because we have no idea where to start. Do we look at how many similar businesses are in the area?… How many people are there who will buy our product or service?… What is market research, what should I be looking for and what do I do with it if I can find it?

To keep it simple, let’s break research into 3 groups.

1. Target Customer - Where do the greatest # of my target customers live and work and what do they look like (demographics). Remember that target customers are not anyone who would buy your product or service but those who do buy similar products or services today or will have a need to buy your product or service in the near future.

2. Competitive - How many other businesses in my area fill the same need. Notice I wrote “fill the same need” not sell the same service. A need can be filled by someone selling a different service. Anything that could be chosen to replace or substitute your product or service is a competitor. For example, you want to open a health club in an area where there is an outdoor park or great mountains 15 minutes away…these other options for staying active are competition for your business.

3. Financial - What will starting and running the business by geographic area and type of location. What financial benefits could each option provide. A strip mall may cost a little more for space but provide instant exposure…or competition… A location a little bit off the beaten path may be cheaper but could require more marketing to create awareness.

Proper business planning will save money and time by helping you make the best decisions possible.

Leave the first comment ▶

Business Planning

Posted May 6, 2009, under Uncategorized
No comments yet
There was a line in the movie Sentinel where Keifer Sutherland said that “once a forensics investigator has a notion of how a crime was committed all of the evidence they find is used to support their assumption”.

Many small business owners do the same thing. We guess, have a hunch or have talked to a few people and then look for evidence to support our theory rather than try to poke holes in it. The danger in that way of thinking is that you quickly end up in debt and 1 year down a path for a business that doesn’t really make sense. Don’t feel bad, there are a lot of great ideas that don’t make sense as a business and we have all had that moment where we realize our idea isn’t such a great idea after all.

The key to making good decisions is always information. Whether it is an article, why your girlfriend is upset, how is traffic for the morning drive. Everyday we react based upon information, information that we seek out because knowing if there is a back up on 76, if our significant other is upset because their cousin passed away or if the CEO of the company you work for got caught streaking through city hall helps us decide how we should act or react.

So why do entrepreneurs and small business owners guess? Because, quite honestly gathering information is a pain in the you know what. But you have to do it. Knowing where potential customers live, work, what they buy the most, what they read or watch, how many competitors are in the area, how much will it cost to advertise, how much it will cost to run the business…this type of information is either used to create an effective business plan or turns out to be an “oh #!&*” moment when you find out after it is too late.

Well, our goal was to make business decision making easy by giving small businesses and entrepreneurs access to this local consumer and media research at an affordable price and in easy to use reporting wizards. 
Like you, we had a vision, came up with a plan and are now cannonballing off of the high dive. We’d love your feedback. So take a free test drive, tell us what you think and if there is anything that we can do to help you…whether it is finding a resource or just knowing where to get started, let us know.
Leave the first comment ▶

TheMarketMatch.com – Effective Local Business Planning with Local Consumer Research

Posted , under Uncategorized
One comment

May 1, 2009 – Philadelphia, PA – TheMarketMatch.com launches and officially ushers in a new generation of data-driven resources for hyper-local businesses at small business prices.

Launching with local consumer market research for over 100 targeted industries, 209 metropolitan areas, and every Zip Code and County in the Continental U.S., TheMarketMatch represents the first on-demand reporting tool providing small businesses and entrepreneurs with actionable insights into their local consumer market at an affordable price. 

TheMarketMatch was created to bridge the gap between information and decision making by providing access to a robust database of 60,000 consumer behaviors through easy 3-step reporting wizards and dynamic, chart-based reports.

Customers of TheMarketMatch can leverage the power of local consumer research to improve business planning in many ways, including the following;
• Segment their local market to create marketing initiatives with the greatest potential ROI
• Identify the advertising types and channels with the greatest potential ROI for their business
• Identify which geographic areas provide the greatest market opportunity for their business
• Identify the demographic segments with the greatest purchasing power for their product or service
• Identify the types of business or franchise chains with the greatest local market opportunity

With easy-to-use, three step reporting wizards businesses can get real-time insights into things such as the demographics of consumers who eat out most often, the Cable TV stations and programs watched most often by consumers who expect to purchase a new car in the next 6 months, the geographic areas with the greatest number of consumers who plan on redoing their kitchen in the next year or the brand of women’s jeans purchased by local consumers.

Understanding that conducting market research is the result of comparing data, TheMarketMatch developed reports that enable unlimited on-the-fly demographic, geographic and consumer behavior customization allowing our customers to
• Look at a different Counties
• Focus on Hispanic purchasing habits
• See how a different brand performs in a specific area

TheMarketMatch was created with one goal, to make effective business planning easy.

To ensure that our customers receive the highest quality insights into their local markets we have established exclusive relationships with major data providers such as Simmons Market Research Bureau, an Experian Company, and Demographics International, publishers of The Media Audit.

To celebrate the TheMarketMatch launch we are inviting small business owners, entrepreneurs and consultants nationwide to take a Free test drive.

One comment so far, add another ▶
Newer Entries ▶