Sales & Marketing Resources

If you want to grow your business, you’ll need a strategic plan – which should include how you’ll find new customers and get your products or services into new markets.
Here’s what you need to know to identify new customers and markets.

Advertising should be viewed as an investment that should generate a return, rather than a fixed cost. Many businesses spend money on the same kind of advertising each month without knowing what is working and what isn’t.
Effective advertising builds profile, generates new business, and retains your existing customers. Poorly thought out advertising can create miscommunication and even make you look less credible or trustworthy.

Two examples of this effective technique show you how you can set up your own focus groups.
The concept of focus groups simply involves gathering a few your target market customers together, and then putting a series of questions to them.
It’s best to get an outside person to conduct this type of research, because you’re probably too close to the issues and may end up ignoring the results anyway.

Long-standing customers form the backbone of a strong, well-established business. Make it your mission to ensure that the vast majority of your current customers stay with your business for many years to come.

It’s easy to come up with a number of business ideas but to make sure your idea is viable and can be run at a profit, you’ll need to do quite a bit of market research. The good news is that doing your own market research is not as hard as it sounds. Here are five top ways to research your market.

You probably already have a coordinated marketing plan, set prices, and know what you’re doing. However, to create more awareness and increase sales of your offerings, you may need to make some minor adjustments to your overall marketing strategy.

A competitive advantage is something that you offer or have that the competitor does not. There must be some compelling reasons for people to do business with you rather than with other businesses.
The need to identify your point of difference is important. The more similar your business is to many others, the greater your need to develop competitive advantages.

If you’re serious about getting the best value you can for your marketing budget, you’ll need to develop a marketing plan. Below we outline eight simple steps for making your marketing efforts more effective.

The ideal promotion plan is one that results in clear steps you can put into action immediately. This means concentrating on just the practical, promotional aspects that will lead to results. The good news is that you can do it yourself.

Choosing the best export target(s) for your business is critical because ‘getting it wrong’ can waste time, energy and money. This section provides ideas and information to help you understand the opportunities better and identify the best targets and marketplace.