Business Plan Free Download

 
Slowly but surely, the free downloads are, well, being uploaded…

The latest is How To Use a Business Plan to Build Your Business which is a brief overview of what you should have in your business plan to make it an effective business and marketing tool.

More on LinkedIn

 
Yesterday I posted some observations about LinkedIn as a social networking option and posed a question, using their Q&A section, about finding a telecommunications service provider in Ventura, CA.

I was quite surprised at the response. I received three from individuals with specific suggestions and three from vendors. I don’t know how this rates in comparison to others’ experience, but it tells me that there’s activity on the network and that there are folks out there who are willing to offer their advice and assistance. This is a very good thing.

And, as I do more research and make a final decision regarding my telecom needs, the six suggestions I received – yes, even the vendors! – will be at the top of the list.

This leads – rather indirectly – to an observation on social networking, marketing, business, and life in general:

You really do get out of it what you put into it.

Regardless of what your marketing strategy is, you have to work at it and make it a part of your daily routine. Even the best plans don’t execute themselves. Someone needs to be calling on prospects, writing blog posts, updating the website, or sending out press releases. And it’s a lot of work. It’s easy to put it off, but doing so will jeopardize the long-term success of your business. Even sustaining your current business level requires the infusion of new customers.

LinkedIn Groups

Taking advantage of all social networking has to offer requires time and commitment to set it up and keep it going. But as I found with my telecom question, there is an active network out there to tap into.

One of the best ways to do that on LinkedIn is with Groups. LinkedIn presently has seven general categories for groups with a total of 283,994 individual groups. So, you can probably find several groups that meet your needs.

If not – and I find that hard to believe – you can always start your own. Creating your own group is a simple one page fill-in-the-blank process on the “Create a Group” tab on the “Groups” page.

LinkedIn offers a very professional, business-oriented option for social networking, which may mesh nicely with your business model. Even if it’s not your primary social networking channel, it’s definitely worthwhile to belong and be active.

Market Research – Why?!?!

 
My image of market research has always been one of databases, surveys, statistics, and – well – a lot of things that are even more confusing to me than math!

And, to some extent, that’s true.  Good market researchers will take the ball, run with it for as long as you’re willing to pay them, and do all those mysterious things that market researchers do. However, if you’re running a business on a budget, you probably can’t afford to let them have the ball for very long.

So, the question is: do you need market research and if so, why?

There are two main reasons you do need market research and pretty much everything else is a sub-category of these two: customers and competition. These are inextricably intertwined, as you’ll see. But, let’s look at the separately first and then how they come together.

Your Customers

Simply, if you don’t have customers, you’ll go out of business; unless it’s a “hobby” business you use as an excuse to get out of the house every day. For the rest of us, we need people buying our products so we can make money.

Logically, you want to attract as many customers as possible, within the practical limits of your budget and production capacity (which you can increase if you get too many customers – what a problem to have!). To do that, you have to know something about your customers in order to induce them to purchase your products:

1. Needs
2. Desires
3. Buying Habits

If you have a good understanding of these three things, you’ll have a pretty good handle on how to successfully sell to your target audience.

 For example, if you sell motor scooters, you won’t have much luck selling one to an executive with a six million dollar house and three luxury cars. On the other hand, it will be much easier to sell them to college students of limited means who have to get to class and their minimum wage job every day. They need to work to support themselves and they want to get a college degree so they don’t have to stay in that minimum wage job forever. Finally, will buying your scooter make them look like a loser to their friends, or will it make them cool, eco-friendly, stylish, and hip?

Knowing what your customers and prospects want is half the battle. The second is knowing what your competition is doing.

Your Competition

Understanding your competition – let’s continue with the scooter example – is as easy as visiting their stores from time to time, where you can check their merchandise, the level of customer activity, what items seem to be big sellers, etc.

If you’re running some – or all – of your business online, you won’t be able to directly check out the competition. However, your website host should provide you with diagnostic tools to evaluate visitors to your website – your customers – and you can visit the websites of your competitors, just as you’d walk into their brick and mortar store.

There should also be trade publications (which you can probably receive free as a retailer) and trade shows where you can learn about what’s new in the market and get a sense of the merchandise you want to carry. Commercial publications will be able to tell you what’s happening from the consumer end.

In fact, to revert to the customer side for a moment – you can receive media kits from major publications which will have lots of general demographic information about your customers. Publications send these out in the hope you’ll advertise with them and maybe you’ll want to do that. But in order for them to prove their value to you as an advertising medium, they have to prove they’re reaching your target audience.

These two elements come together in your product research and development, branding, marketing strategy, advertising strategy, and just about everything else you do. To be successful, you must know what your customers want and promote it to them in ways that meet their needs, fulfill their desires, make them attractive to their peer group and – here’s the competition part – which also differentiates you from the competition. You must make your products “unique and desirable” in the minds of your customers.

Quick and Dirty Product Development Idea

 
While working on my earlier post – Plan Ahead to Build a Successful Online Presence – I did some exploring on eBay; something I don’t usually do.

Imagine my surprise this morning when it occurred to me that eBay could be a terrific resource for doing some quick and dirty product development research. What prompted the idea was the BusinessWeek quote from the eBay website which called it “nothing less than a virtual, self-regulating global economy.”

Here’s how I think it might be useful:

1. At a quick count, eBay has 36 general categories from Antiques to World of Good, including Speciality Services and one called Everything Else. Within each category are dozens of sub-categories.
2. Let’s say you want to start a business selling art – yes, I know it’s self-serving, but what the heck. In the eBay Art category there are three sub-categories: Direct from the Artist, Art from Dealers and Resellers, and Wholesale Lots.
3. So, depending on which category best fits my needs, for example Direct from the Artist, I can then drill down to the next level and look at the sub-category Digital Art. Refining my search even further, I can use different preferences to narrow the listings.
4. In this case, I found a 16 x 20 inch gallery wrap photograph of Cozumel, Mexico for $288, along with a wealth of other information about shipping, availability, Buy It Now or Best Offer options, PayPal, and a list of other sizes and prices ranging from 11 x 14 at $231 to 30 x 40 at $693.
5. This happens to be consistent with the research I’ve done on pricing my own work, so it’s a quick confirmation that I’m in the ballpark as far as my pricing goes.
6. Depending on how it’s set up, there can also be a link to the seller’s eBay store, where you can view other merchandise. I once purchased replacement headlights for my truck through an eBay auto parts store and was completely satisfied with both the product and the experience.
7. One other thing to consider is that the photograph appears to be offered at auction as well as Buy It Now and there are currently no bids. From this, I can conclude that it’s either priced too high, no one much likes the picture, or eBay buyers are looking for the very lowest price possible. I suspect it’s the latter because of my research at galleries and art shows which specialize in similar work.
8. Finally, there are also links to online stores with similar products for additional comparison.

My view of eBay – that it’s essentially a global garage sale – hasn’t really changed. In fact, depending on the nature of your business, you might want to avoid it for that very reason. However, if you want a quick, real-world view of what’s for sale, for how much, and in practically real-time, eBay can be a great resource.

Building your practice with advertising

 
Advertising is a sensitive subject for many attorneys. Until fairly recently, they couldn’t advertise and many still feel – perhaps with justification – that advertising is not right for their firms.

Based on the focus of your firm, advertising may not be the best option for you. Your decision will be based on your target audience and what you know about them. If the best way to reach them effectively is through a newspaper ad or radio spot, that’s what you should do.

Should you choose to advertise, make sure the message you communicate is consistent with your firm’s core marketing values and that the medium is the best choice possible for reaching your prospects.