Small Business | Teik Oh

How To Choose Marketing Strategies Suitable For Your Business

Nov 15 2016

One of the questions I am always asked is “how do I choose the right marketing strategies for my business?”

You see, marketing has been historically steeped in mystique. It seems you have to go to a marketing “expert” and then they do some magic and the right marketing strategies for your business just pop up.

It doesn’t have to be like that. You need a process, for sure, but after that you just need to know your product, know your market, and know your business.

To start with, you need to think logically.

What makes people attracted to your business? What makes them want to buy your product?

Then, all you need to do is to match your strategies to their needs.

Watch this video to take you through the simple logic of it all.

See? It’s all quite logical if you follow a step by step process.

If you think your customers are attracted to you because you are a professional brand and they need a conservative approach, then find strategies that show off your knowledge, your experience and your dependability. In such a case, don’t sponsor a football team, go and speak at a business conference!

If they are into health and fitness then show them the results you produce and what fun people have when they train with you. Make sure your marketing activities are about health and fitness through fun and enjoyment, don’t wear a suit and give a boring speech!

If they seek coaching and are attracted to your leadership qualities, create marketing strategies that show off your personality and the effectiveness of your products.

And don’t forget to ask what part of the sales funnel are they in. If they are at the top and need to be made aware of your business and your products, tailor marketing strategies that broadcast your brand and your name; if they are in the part of the funnel that needs to pique their interest then your strategies need to define the difference between you and your competitors; and if they are ready to buy, your marketing strategies need to be about conversion.

Hey, if you want to know more about marketing strategies and actually go through a virtual workshop and create your own marketing plan, check out my online course and workshop called SMART Marketing. This course is specially designed to take you through a simple 7 step process to create your highly targeted killer marketing plan. Click here to learn more about this online marketing plan creation resource.

Now, finally, if you are reading this on one of my social media platforms, you really need to get over to my website teikoh.com to check out the loads of free tips, tools and resources to grow your business or click here to sign up and get free resources emailed to you every week.

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Marketing Plans – Why and How?

Nov 08 2016

Do you need a Marketing Plan?

You run a small business, surely not? I mean, you’re not Amazon, but customers come in don’t they? They find you, and sometimes they even refer their friends to you. Sales are ticking along smoothly, why would you need a marketing plan?

Well, let me ask you: could you improve your sales?

When you started your business, what was your dream? Is your business shaping up that way now?

If you are honest, most of you would say that in your “dream” your business was running a little better than in reality, right? Let’s face it, how many of us “dreamt” of being middle of the road?

Yes, you do need a marketing plan or you are just cruising. If you don’t market, you’ll end up floating with the tide, not going where you want but going where it takes you. Is that the way to grow your business?

A marketing plan need not be this expensive, consultant-led exercise that you don’t understand. Why don’t you use your knowledge of your own business to design a targeted set of marketing activities that will reach out to your ideal customers?

Here’s how –

Here are the seven easy steps again:-

Get to really know your product or service from the viewpoint of your customer. What are the benefits that it gives your customer? What needs does it fulfil?
Get to know your ideal customer. Where do they come from? What’s their profile? Why do they need your product? What are their personal traits and emotional triggers?
Set up your whole business, not just your product, to meet the customers’ expectations. How do they like to receive your product? What happens after sale? What responsiveness must you have? Do they like the experience gift-wrapped or just off the shelf?
Utilise the right pricing strategy – make money, but set your price so that it attracts the customer. Should it be priced as a luxury category or a cheap one? Do you price for the unique experience or to compete?
Choose the appropriate marketing activities. Are they appropriate for the stage of the sales funnel you are pitching at? Are they appropriate for your market and the characteristics of that market?
Schedule the campaign. Build your marketing activities so that they reinforce each other, not some random set of happenings.
Put it together, and while doing so, make yourself accountable with inbuilt monitoring and measurement systems.

If you want to know more, click here to read about my SMART Marketing Planning system.

And don’t forget, get over to the website and post a comment on your experiences in marketing your business. While you’re there, subscribe and I’ll make sure that you get more free tips, ideas and tools to grow your business sent to you every week.

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Organise Your Staff Before You Have Any!

Nov 01 2016

All small businesses start in a very similar way, and I’ll bet you can relate to this story.

So, Joe and Joan start their small business just by themselves. They did most things jointly – did the sales, ordered stock, stuffed the shelves, wrote parts of their website, kept the books, opened every morning and closed every evening. Then they hired a store helper, Sue. She was really keen and helpful, she mucked in and helped to do everything as well. But things were starting to get missed because they got confused about who was going to do what.

Then, one day, they ran out of stock.

“I thought you were going to do that?” asked Joe of Sue.

“No, I was busy that day, but Joan heard we needed to do it so I thought she was going to.”

“Oh no,” Joan says, “Joe always does that on Thursdays.”

Growing small businesses grow organically. They hire staff as and when they need them. But unless you get organised, things could fall between the cracks no matter how helpful and willing everyone is. Organisation means you know exactly who does what, how they do it and when, and who does it as a temporary replacement under certain, set, circumstances.

That way, there is no confusion.

Watch this video on how to organise your staff before you even have any.

That makes sense doesn’t it? Organise your business so it doesn’t fall into confusion by designing it from the start.

Draw up your “Organisation Chart” or picture of the positions (not persons) who will end up in the business when it is fully grown. Design the units or departments, or just areas of responsibility such as sales and marketing, books and administration, stocks and warehouse. Prepare Job Descriptions for each of the positions noting specifically what they are responsible for, how they are to be measured, and who they report to.

Like most small businesses, even with this Organisation Chart, you the owner will start off doing everything. Take that opportunity to write down procedures for all the tasks each position has to be responsible for.

Then, as you expand and hire people, you have ready a Job Description and a tested routine that you can just hand over.

As usual, the best happens after the story! Get over to the website teikoh.com and tell me what your experiences are about this idea. While you’re there, subscribe and I’ll send you more free tips, tools and resources every week to help you create great strategy, show leadership, and grow your business.

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What Makes a Business Resilient?

Oct 04 2016

As an entrepreneur and small business owner, I know that you want to build a long term business to give you a great life with your loved ones, and to provide financial freedom and independence. In order to do so, the business you are creating needs to be resilient – resilient to bad fortune, bad times, strong competition, unpredicted hardship, and everything else, right?

So what makes a business resilient and how do you create such an ecosystem in your business?

Let’s get straight into it – in this video I give you the three characteristics of resilient businesses that I have distilled from over 35 years of working with small businesses and resilient entrepreneurs all over the world.

I truly mean it when I say that in my experience, all over the world and under any adverse conditions, the entrepreneurs and small businesses I have seen ride the bad times and not just survive but improve, are those who have those three characteristics. This means to me that they are common characteristics you need to have, wherever you are, facing whatever situation, in whatever business, selling whatever product or service!

If they’re common characteristics then learn from others and use their formula.

If you want to know more about how to grow your business into that long lasting dream, go to my website and see all the free tools, ideas, systems and downloads there.

You might also want to get my free download “Entrepreneur’s Business Health Checklist”, just click here.

Are you reading or watching this on one of my social media channels or from an email forwarded to you? Then you’re missing out on getting these free systems and ideas to grow your business delivered directly to your inbox every week. Click here to give me your name and email and I will send them out to you every week, for free.

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What to do when business isn’t great Part 3

Sep 13 2016

This is the final video in the series about what you can do when your business isn’t doing so great just now.

I am truly positive about working on your business. I truly believe that if you reframe any situation, you can look for the positive and you can come up with strategies to take you forward. All my writing and video talks in my blog are about business growth, about the systems and tools to take your business and your life up another level.

However bad times happen.

Only, I believe the same attitude can overcome bad times, and in the last two videos I gave you some ideas about how you can turn a bad situation around.

Do I know what I’m talking about? Yes I do. Apart from spending over 35 years of my life successfully advising entrepreneurs and small business owners across the world on how to create the business they see in their vision, I have also had cause to pull myself out of near bankruptcy.

Bad partners. Yup, bad partners, but even today I don’t see it as “their fault“. I own my own destiny and you should too. I looked at my “near-death business experience” with realistic eyes and relied on all the systems and tools I knew and created strategies and pulled myself out and created a very successful consulting business from the ashes. You can too – in the last couple of weeks I gave you ideas about how to create recovery strategies if business isn’t great for you at the moment, now watch this last video in the series.

Were you surprised by my last suggestion?

Despite my belief that you can and should keep looking for ways to pull yourself out of trouble, sometimes you have to look reality in the face and know when a situation is too wrong to be righted. Don’t make that decision lightly, but realise you may have to make that decision.

Here I am hoping that you never find yourself having to make that final decision, and I’d love to hear what you think – click here to leave a comment under this video-blog post on my website.

GET YOUR FREE BUSINESS HEALTH CHECKLIST HERE

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Just click here and give me your name and email (which I guarantee never to sell or give away) and I will send you updates every week.

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Increase your sales through a highly focused marketing plan!

SMART Marketing: In this book, the owners of a small business are led through the SMART Marketing 7 Step Process to produce a marketing plan targeted at their most desirable customers. Any business can use these principles and in 4 to 6 weeks implement a plan to get them through the door! Find out how...

The SMART Marketing Workbook: Companion to “SMART Marketing”, this workbook sets out the SMART Marketing process in 7 workshops for you and your staff to complete questionnaires and templates that at the end, form the marketing plan you need to sell your REAL product to your REAL customer! View now...

Category - Small Business

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How To Choose Marketing Strategies Suitable For Your Business

Marketing Plans – Why and How?

Organise Your Staff Before You Have Any!

What Makes a Business Resilient?

What to do when business isn’t great Part 3

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