Right after a Business Strategy the most important aspects of a business is it’s Marketing and Sales. How a business projects themselves through marketing has a direct correlation on the sales the company generates.
Marketing is an essential investment in the future of the business. Those companies that focus on future sales, brand and customer awareness, value their marketing as a vital aspect of the businesses foundation. Those that have limited focus on marketing program run the risk of becoming lost and overtaken by competition.
Sales is a product a company’s ability to sell a product or service to a customer. It’s very unusual that a business can sustain long term growth in sales without the implementation of a robust marketing plan that organises the sales team to coordinate efforts.
So how does a business do that today with so much clutter and disruption in the marketplace..?? It’s complicated and can be an expensive process if not deployed effectively. Here are some points that might help you formulate your marketing plan to generate sustained sales:
- Define your customer, who are they and how do they talk. Almost every customer base has a different profile and channels and a different method to absorb your marketing message. Some prefer physical meeting, some zoom, others electronic and mass media, many more are using instagram and facebook to target marketing.
- Create a marketing plan with activities throughout the year with a sales expectation for the short, medium and long term and a set budget to undertake the marketing program.
- Target your marketing plan to coincide with the demand your customer requires. Brand becoming a focus of customers when there is a need and a topical event, such as Covid 19, Christchurch Earthquakes, Economic Downturns, Christmas and Easter coinciding with your marketing plan turns into a compelling reinforcement of your brand in the customer’s eyes.
- Your sales may not reflect instant response especially if your intention is not to sell your product or service on price alone. Discount is instant whereas quality is a perception and that takes time to evolve.
- Measure your results with one eye on the now sales and the response you expected. However also focus on the downstream brand awareness and the credibility your marketing strategy has created.
- Be consistent in the manner you market and in the way your sales team follow through. It’s very important that your customer has a certain perception in the way your marketing is deployed and your sales team’s response.
Take time to plan and have a really good think about your product and service. Where do you want sales to be in the future and how much time and money do you want to spend on marketing. Take some professional advice on what if the best form of marketing for your offer. Often your perception of what you think is quite different to what an expert considers. Let me know if I can help.
