I tend to give a lecture or short talk to business owners once a month, in addition to this in my consulting work I am frequently astonished at the lack of discipline that businesses have when it comes to developing and implementing ongoing marketing strategies.

 

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Given that marketing [and the resultant sales] are the life and soul of every company I am continually baffled at how little time business owners pay to marketing. The title of this article is ’small business marketing ideas’ but when talking to executives from corporates I see a tendency to continue doing what has been done in the past.

That, of course will guarantee past results ! So – what are some of ideas that business owners can start to think about in order to effect change in their organisations ? Without looking at the details of the business of the reader, I would like encourage taking a look at the field of …

• Channel Marketing

… that it to say; stop and think about the various routes ‘Marketing Channels’ that you are currently using to …

• a) Get your message out to prospective clients
• b) Deliver your products and services to the end user

Take for example; some of the large supermarkets – here in the UK we have bit ‘T’, ‘S’ and ‘A’. They present their messages to us via the television, via the internet, newspapers, radio, billboards, flyers and the list can go on. In addition to this we can purchase the goods that they have on offer via the internet, via the TV or we can of course go into the store. We have described various Channels To Market that the supermarkets use to ultimately get us to purchase their goods.

Now, one of the lessons that we can learn from this is that there are / can be / should be various means / methods / techniques in use at any point in time as part of our ongoing marketing strategies. This is of course an ongoing process and something that will be developed / strategised and worked out during any business strategy consultation.

Marketing is a skill and discipline that many business owners who are experts at their particular business field often fail to appreciate – this is not something is done when it comes to Accounting and Finance and Manufacturing, the expert is normally called in to perform these functions. Marketing is the most important part of your business – do not leave it to chance, get expert help that can help you develop an ongoing coherent strategy from which to work from.

If you have any questions about this and would like to discuss personal consulting and coaching with me Stephen C Campbell, do not hesitate to get in touch ….

During the Business Startup show at Olympia, London arranged by the Prysm group; I acted as a resident Business Strategy Consultant for …

 

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… a wide range of business owners that attended and opted to take advantage of the strategy consultation sessions. Here is a summary of feedback given by Hassan of PeopleMatrix whose business is focussed on ‘Activating Mind and growing People and Businesses.

I used the strategy framework that I’ve developed based on business conducted throughout Europe, the Far East and the United states and incorporated this with the business books that I read [typically one a week]. It was good to get such feedback from Hassan stating that my input was ‘the best’ out of all of the other consultants providing assistance at the show.

I hope that my Business Advice & Enthusiasm will be found to be Extremely Useful by you and that that will lead to a source of Inspiration. I work with clients anywhere in the world by the effective use of technology so; please do feel free to get in touch should you feel you will benefit from taking advantage of consulting with Stephen C Campbell.

Always remember that Marketing and resultant sales are the heart and soul of your business, if you are an expert at your specific discipline may it be Furniture, Finance, Beauty, Food, Flooring, Automobiles – do try to appreciate how your business can benefit from making use of expert Marketing and Sales input.

Check out my Business Internet Marketing Expert credentials and then get in touch to see how I can be of assistance to you.

Best,

-Stephen C Campbell

In my role as a broadcaster, the radio station provides a Business Consultation package which consists of an interview

 

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with local business owners in addition to a private Strategy Consultation with myself.

With that said, here is an example on the type of [Advertorial] interview that you can expect from myself. Here I am interviewing Andrew Sparks MBA, who is seasoned Sales Professional expert in developing and executing Sales Processes. Andrew has developed sales teams skilled in selling high ticket items [thousands of pounds] Here is some of what we cover at the outset :-

• Different types of Sales People
• The Science Of Sales
• Importance of following a Sales Process

Andrew Sparks then goes on to outline the fact that Sales is about ‘two way communication’. He makes the point that sales conveys a specific message to the end use client via specific Marketing Channels. One imortant point raised is :-

• Client needs confidence, permission and option to let the company know what they think

Sales is about a transcation so that the customer willingly pays money for the product and/or service as during the sales process; the Sales Professional will have expertly conveyed the key Features and Benefits of the product to the end user. We cover quite a few points during the interview – some of the others are :-

• Positive Motivation
• Negative Motivation
• Laddering
• Needs
• Desires
• Wants
• Length of time of the Sales Process
• Value Proposition of the Product/Service

1. Attributes
2. Consequences
3. Values

Take a listen and as always, should you have any comments  [if you wish to contact Andrew maybe ??] feel free to get in touch.

Best Business Success,

-Stephen C Campbell

The topics of Business, Sales, Marketing and the Internet and their relation to each other is perhaps one of the most relevant topics of conversation that need to be take seriously by all business owners.

 

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It must be stated time and time again that it is the Sales and Marketing that is the heart and soul of any business – not the products and services that are on offer !

The last point made above is a tough one to take in for many business leaders that fall in love with what they have to offer to the public at large – [ i.e. their product or service]. When this happens, we see that the focus on presenting the message/brand to the marketplace that was originially targetted fall away from an external to internal direction of attention.

The process of marketing is used to effectively target just ‘who the products and services are for and then this is where the sales process takes over in order to effect the sale. As for the internet – it is a wonderful tool and the subject that I am being asked to speak about the most. In short – we have to use the internet as a supplementary tool to act in conjunction with the ’standard offline strategies and processes that have been developed.

The internet for sure is a wonderful Sales and Marketing tool but first, any company needs to have well defined messages for which they will be making use of the internet in order to convey that message.

Any thoughts on this ? need my services ? get in touch.

Best,

-StephenCC

Business is at the centre and heart and centre of life in most of the developed world and some people view starting and promoting a successful business as an extension of themselves and; as a vehicle where they can go on and make a positive influence and difference in the world at large.

 

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When we look at how business has developed over time we can see that we are in a highly competitve market place and we can also see that there are so many people who have decided to startup and work in their own; small work from home businesses. This within itself is such a great thing but with that comes many challenges which we shall touch on in this article.

As a Business Marketing Strategy Consultant – one of the things that I am faced with and see in my working life is the fact that the Small and Medium Enterprise Business Owners are in fact experts at their particular field. That may be Makeup, Woodworking, Car Mechanics, Medical and the list could go on and on. Now when it comes to developing a coherent Marketing Strategy – I liken it go one opening up a restaurant and hiring a specialist to prepare the food, to wait on the tables, to serve at the bar and all of the other necessary tasks that are necessary for the smooth functioning of the eating establishment.

You can go on to compare this with all that is needed in order to develop a Strategic Business [Internet based] Marketing Strategy from which to establish ones livelihood. Based on my experience in conducting business in over 25 countries throughout Europe, the U.S. and the Far East I know tend to focus on three main components i.e.

• Channels to Marketing
• Marketing Categories
• Marketing Segmentation

Before I start with anything though – I will work on developing the message that the client has to ‘say about themselves and of their product and service.

More than anything else, the small business owner is encouraged to seek out and to use the very best Business Marketing Strategy consultating services that they can; this will end up saving a lot of time not to mention the amount of monies that they will will end up not losing buy having spent the money up front on using a Strategic Consultant.