An as it was raining this weekend I opted for the lounge and turned the TV onto the food channel which is one of my favourites.

One show I watched as I was typing away was DC Cupcakes.

Sisters Katherine Kallinis and Sophie LaMontagne opened Georgetown Cupcake in 2008.

As they say on their website they provide gourmet cupcakes. That is right they only make and sell cupcakes.

Watching the show one of the sisters said they decided to specialise when they were thinking about opening their business. If you look at their concept it embraces simplicity and specialisation which gives them many advantages such as the differentiation.

Whether you sell products or services there are a few lessons we can learn Georgetown Cupcake.

Innovation

Because they only produce cupcakes it allows them the opportunity to focus on developing new styles, flavours which from one show they were up to 72 flavours.

The less you offer the more time you have to truly be innovative with your products or services, service delivery, customer service etc.

Signature

One thing they also mentioned in the episode was the signature swirl with the frosting.

Competitors may copy but they own it.

When you have a real specialty you can also develop your own signature that customers desire and want to tell others about.

It can set you apart from potential competitors and this applies whether you sell products or services as long as it is a real difference.

Fame

From opening their first store the sisters now have a TV show, a book about to be published and have appeared on Oprah.

By specialising you may just find yourself in demand because it becomes very easy for others to see there is something different and appealing in what you offer.

This makes it simple for your customers, peers, partners and the media to spread the news.

Creativity

On their website in the menu section, they have everyday cupcakes which you would expect. They also have daily specials and seasonal flavours. On the episode I watched they even made a life sized replica of a dog covered in cupcakes.

When you have a real focus on your specialty offerings you can get creative in the way you present your products or services.

Georgetown Cupcake is just one example that shows specialising and simplicity can have definite advantages for your business.

So now over to you, what other lessons can you add to the list?

Photo was selected from their website.

If you are looking to see how embracing simplicity and specialisation can help differentiate your business feel free to contact me.

So they made sure they dug wells that were in the right place, deep and could supply the water that was needed.

If they didn’t do it correctly then it had serious consequences for all who lived in the village.

When you are developing your marketing strategy the same principles apply.

You need to make sure there is a supply of current and potential customers to ensure your business is thriving and profitable.

Otherwise it can become very difficult to succeed.

Going too narrow and not making sure there are enough customers can stop the growth of your business and it can have nothing to do with your expertise.

It can be a trap whether you are just starting out or if you have been in business a while.

Here are a couple of areas to consider and avoid the too narrow trap:

There Must Be Depth

If there are not enough potential customers then it can get really frustrating. You may think they are hiding somewhere but it may just be a case that there are not enough of them.

You need to ensure that there are enough customers who are in the market for your products or services.

There Must Be Demand

The other side to consider is you may think there are many potential customers that could have a need for your type of products or services.

The issue is the desire part.

It is easy to get a little blinkered with thinking they should have the desire especially if you have a service business as it sounds so logical to you. For a customer this may not be the case.

There needs to be demand and ideally ongoing desire for what you offer.

If it is only a small percentage of customers then it can be tough unless you are marketing a very high priced product or service.

These are just two factors that can have a big impact on your business. From your experience what are other factors we should consider? 

The first interview is with Keyuri Joshi from On The Ball Coaching 

She easily came to my mind when I decided on this new section I am really pleased she took the time to share her story.

Here are her answers to my questions:

 Could you tell us a little about your background and your business?

No matter what role I have held in my life, teaching has been a part of it.  As a nurse, I taught my cardiac patients how to manage risk factors for a healthier lifestyle. As a Sunday School teacher, I taught little kids how to apply values in their young worlds.

As a mom, I continue to teach my son about non-academic life skills to navigate the roller coaster of reality.  Teaching is a good portion of what I now do as a Certified Parent & Emotional Intelligence Coach.

I currently work with parents of children aged birth to 10 years on how to successfully navigate past parenting challenges by setting goals and implementing strategies to achieve them.

I hold them accountable at every step and also enjoy teaching them ways to teach their kids the skills of emotional and social intelligence.  This focus on ESI skills is what sets me apart from other Parent Coaches.

Why did you choose to specialise in the coaching you provide?

Most importantly, I felt a deep conviction about its value to both parents and children.

While most parent coaches are generalized, I have added the speciality of teaching Emotional and Social Intelligence skills so parents can help kids navigate the tough emotions of growing up.

Too many parents just focus on academic growth.  Great grades are important, but they are not going to help kids know what to do with disappointments, bullying, competitiveness, anger, sadness, etc.

Furthermore, we all know that the teenage years are full of angst for all.  Lots of parent coaches focus on that population.

I focus on a younger population so parents can start early with effective parenting strategies and ultimately reduce the challenges of the teen years.

While I currently work with parents of kids birth to age 10, I am seriously considering narrowing my niche target to parents of kids birth to age 5.

This would allow me to attract an even more concentrated population of clients who would benefit from a more targeted approach to parenting in the early childhood development years.

What are the benefits to your business and clients?

The benefit to parents is that they know where to get comprehensive information and solutions targeted to their unique needs.  I hope a parent of a younger child would be more likely to retain my services over a coach who is a generalist.

The benefit to my business is that I can hone my marketing to a specific population and create content specific to their needs instead of trying to be everything to everyone.

Remember the saying “A jack of all trades is a master of none”?  I want to be a master in my field.

If someone was looking to specialise what tips or advice would you give?

First, I suggest finding that service or product that you believe in down to your core.  If you are not confident about what you are selling, you will not generate the enthusiasm to succeed.

Second, I do believe in specialisation.

This allows for easier marketing or core content or products.  In the spirit of supply and demand, it may also allow for increased revenue generation as you provide a service that others may not.

What are the key marketing tactics you use?

Word of mouth is optimal.  There is nothing more valuable than a testimonial of delivering stellar customer service coupled with tangible results. Personal networking at both organized events and casual social gatherings is also helpful.

I have blogged with little success perhaps due to infrequency of posts and generalized content as opposed to targeted content.  That said, I occasionally write for a local publication which has allowed me to stay on the radar of some parents and paediatricians who are generating referrals.

My marketing goals for the new year are to jump out of the computer and into reality by capitalising on more face to face contact.  I am delivering workshops to my target market.

You can find out more about Keyuri and her services at www.ontheballparent.com As well you can you can connect with her on twitter @BestParentCoach

Yet there are just as many articles written urging small business owners to have a presence on the never ending list of social networking sites.

Marketing tactics including networking are an important part of marketing your brand.

You know that and today having a presence on social networking sites can make a difference to you business and customer relationships.

However in one way or another you need to ask the question of what is the return you are getting for your efforts.

The reason for this is whatever you do comes back to money.

Specifically revenue generated versus the cost of participating.

Paying a Price

Normally when you read articles or see tweets etc they are often about the potential benefits to you business and how to participate.

These are really helpful especially when you are starting out.

In the end though, you do need make a decision as to which ones are the most effective for your business and customers. Making these decisions can be difficult as they all sound so good and are enticing.

As they are free to join and participate.

Like all marketing decisions you need to make choices and one way I have found that helps is by asking a simple question.

 Would I pay to be there?

If  for example you had to pay $20 each time you participated would you still have a presence on all the social networking sites you are currently involved with?

If you are feeling you need to simply your activities perhaps asking yourself the question may help you decide where you should have a presence.

As always there are many ways to make decisions, please share how you decide what social networking sites to have a presence on. Do you factor in the cost?

And yet it is one of those “icky” subjects many businesses prefer not to think about much.

I have often heard business owners say they worry they may appear greedy or think they will lose business if their price is high.

Often their thinking is not based on any rational reasons. Sometimes it can be traced back to their feelings about price.

So let’s look at the price and signals.

If you think about any market there are premium products and services, ones in the middle and the cheap and cheerful. And they price accordingly.

Premium

• These products or service can command higher prices due to certain factors such as exclusivity, specialised knowledge or service, high demand and low supply.
• The quality must live up to the pricing, however this is not usually a problem as they have a very definite focus with their business and marketing model.
• They also are pretty clear on their difference and don’t worry about what others are doing.
• You often see them charge a set price rather than a rate per hour in service businesses.
• They keep an eye on their competitors but they are certainly not following them and their actions.

Middle

• Often if you find these businesses have a less focused approach. They don’t want to be amongst the cheap and cheerful but for a number of reasons can’t match the premiums.
• It is like playing it safe, so you may find they offer similar products as services  as their competitors, in a similar way at an average price with a similar message.
• You often find they offer a range and don’t really specialise.
• Because of this customers can think their products or services are in the okay category.
• Not great, not awful. Just average.

Cheap and Cheerful

• Sometimes the cheap and cheerful works if you have an extremely low cost base and there is huge demand.
• Interestingly customers who frequent the cheap and cheerful can be more demanding than the premium’s customers.
• These service businesses rarely set prices. Instead you may find them open to give you freebies or reduce their price in the hope they can get a foot in the door or charge more on another project.

Pricing is one of the key elements when developing your marketing marketing strategy so it is important you make sure you are sending the right signals.

What tips can you share to that you use to send the right pricing signals?

Pinterst is a new social sharing site where as they say “you organise and share what you love.”

It is a specialist site so they do not have to worry about Facebook and Google + as competitors.

One look at the site and you know that it is ideal sharing visuals such as crafts, food, and photography. It is not for everyone.

They have capitalised on a growing trend of sharing, but importantly tapping into visuals and you know the saying about the worth of a picture.

On a completely different tack is Paul’s Famous Hamburgers which started in business in 1957.

Their specialty is hamburgers and many of their regular customers over generations regard them as the best hamburgers.

They have thrived even with the onslaught of fast food chains.

Read the story and you will see that by specialising they operated the way they wanted and not what is normally done.  And be sure to check out the gallery which shows customers lining up in the street.

Apart from specialising both embrace simplicity.

What can we learn from these two examples?

Secure The Base

If you have a speciality that is your base then it is a lot easier to build from. The wider the base the harder it is to have focus and clarity.

The more services you add under the one brand name the harder it is for your customers to know what your specialty is.

And to build a profitable business.

Let Go Of The Fear

Sometimes I call this trying to hedge your bets. You can be fearful if you specialise that you won’t get enough business.

It is like throwing it out there and hoping something will stick and make sales.

This is often caused by not doing real homework to identify the best option that has the most demand.

Once you clarify all aspects the pieces have a tendency to fall into place such as your positioning.

Embrace Both Passion And Profit

You often see articles about follow your passion and success will follow. That is true in one sense however and yes this rather practical but there has to be money in it.

The sweet spot is finding the intersection between the two. Indentifying your speciality needs to be something you really enjoy doing and you can make money from it.

Let’s share. What are your thoughts on this?

Both visuals where taken from their websites.

To have a thriving profitable business, sometimes the most strategic option is to not embrace what is happening and do the opposite.

In this case give complexity the flick and embrace simplicity.

And this idea was reinforced over Christmas eating Lindt chocolate.

Lots of it.

Chocolate has been their specialty since 1845. To me their range of premium chocolate and all they do says they have a great hold on the concept of simplicity as well as focus.

And as other companies have found it is difficult to compete against this brand.

Embracing simplicity can actually be done at any stage with your business. Whether you are starting out or have been around for a while.

Your Products or Services

This starts at the core of what you offer. If you offer a range of products or services across categories you can be up against businesses that specialise.

These specialists have in depth knowledge and expertise. To compete against them you need to use more time or money to get up to their level to compete effectively.

And this adds complexity to your business.

Your Marketing Strategies and Tactics

Continuing on the simplicity concept the more marketing strategies you select to achieve your objectives the more complex your marketing can become.

And the reason is you need to then select and implement more tactics to support the strategies.

There will always be new ideas floated around or the new tools you must use or networks to be involved with but if you go after each one again it adds complexity.

Your Processes

Making it simple for customers to interact, buy and have a strong relationship with your business is a no brainer. If your processes are complex then it makes it just that bit harder for your customers.

If you could simplify even a few of your processes it may help you achieve a competitive edge.

So now over to you. Are you embracing simplicity to have a thriving profitable business? 

And then if you are lucky take a breather for a few days or longer.

This time of the year is also when we reflect and often refocus on what we want to achieve in both our personal lives and with our businesses.

Some of you may make minor tweaks, others may make major overhauls to increase the sales and profits of your products or services next year.

For me I will be making some changes to what I offer and how I offer them as well as finally upgrading to Headway 3.

One thing I know next year will be exciting and challenging which is always the way with the marketing of brands.

And that is what makes it fun.

At this time of the year there are also many articles on predictions as to what will be hot, must do or what will happen.

The only prediction I am making is based on observations over the year:

• Markets are getting increasingly crowded.
• Too many small businesses are what I call generalists.
• Standing out is getting harder when it should be.
• Change will continue to be a constant.
• Information overwhelm is still alive and kicking
• People and business owners are also feeling uneasy hear and read what they ‘should” do with the marketing of their brand.

So my prediction is the way to have success with the marketing strategy for your brand will be by embracing specialisation and simplicity which I will expand on next year.

As this is the last post for the year, I would like to thank you for reading, adding insightful comments and support through sharing the articles through social media.

I wish you and your families all the best for a wonderful Festive Season and terrific New Year.

If you have a few minutes add your predictions for 2012.

Although it does seem to get a few mentions each day on Twitter.

However at this time of the year for those celebrating Christmas the weather takes on importance.

In my country many celebrate the day having picnics and visiting the beach with friends and families. And many from the northern hemisphere travel down under to escape the cold and snow.

However this year the start to summer has been in a word lousy and unfortunately it is not improving.

To sum it up in two words – wet and cold.

The forecast at the moment is for a few showers for Christmas Day which has upset some plans.

Talking to a few friends about this on the weekend as background for this article they had different approaches.

A couple of them lived in hope that the forecast was wrong. And to be fair it often is.

They do not have a backup plan so I am not sure what they will do as a picnic in the rain may be fun for the children but not for the adults.

So they will be anxiously waiting to see what happens.

Others have made small changes to cater for the possibility so there is no last minute scrambling if it is not a sunny day.

They are ready if the weather continues and will be having a much less stressful time this week.

Marketing Strategy Flexibility

As with the weather sometimes we can’t control circumstances affecting our business and the marketing of our brands. However we can be alert to real possibilities that may happen and have a backup plan.

This doesn’t mean redoing everything.

As marketing planning is a continuous process, putting your head in the sand and hoping it will all turn out okay is not a good approach if you want your business to grow.

Having flexibility built into your marketing strategy just in case you need to put it into action quickly with minimal disruption is one key to success. The businesses that are quick to take the right action often gain a competitive edge.

So the question for you this week is do you have flexibility built in to make sure if circumstances arise you can turn them into opportunities if you need to?

Many do and think automatically think it is all too hard.

So nothing happens and growth is stalled.

Healthy growth doesn’t necessarily mean making big sales overnight or making radical changes to your marketing strategy all at once.

It is often the small steps you take that make the difference over time especially when each new step you take builds on the previous one.

As an example and you probably have read it many times when you want to grow flowers there are certain steps to take before they bloom.

You plant the seed, water them, add nutrients etc. Each step builds on the previous one and over time flowers appear.

Prepare

As we head into the new year reviewing what steps and actions have worked and what ones haven’t produced the results you desired is important.

The reason for this is so you can focus on the rights ones and take the next step to grow your brand.

Remember when you review look at your numbers and not just the actions.

Plan

Once you have completed the review and have identified the key areas take a little time to work out the next steps for growth.

This could be a case of making an improvement to your product or service or increasing your activity in a channel.

It is up to you to decide.

And it is important to bring the actions back to numbers to see if they make sense and will get results.

One key thing to remember is not to get caught up in trying to do too much. Instead if you can identify 3 key action steps that will grow your brand then often that is all you need.

The more you add to your list the harder it is to do them all as well as you need to.

Action

Start taking action and don’t forget to review to make sure your brand is growing in the direction you want.

Over to you, have you identified the next key steps you need to take to grow your brand?

For a while I have been noticing quite a number of comments left on my blog posts that  do not come from business owners.

Most of them are general in nature at best and have email addresses like i592h/6@gmail.com which is a bit obvious.

This week I received a comment that didn’t make much sense, had punctuation mistakes and for the grammar it is best not to go there.

So I decided to check it out to see what was happening.

The website and business it linked to looked legitimate so I filled out the contact form asking if one their employees had left the comment or if they didn’t then perhaps someone was using their URL.

This was being polite as the comment referred to having a partner in the business.

I did get a reply but not from the company. Instead it was from an SEO firm who asked if I could send the comment.

To cut the story short the company appears to have employed the SEO firm to increase links as part of the service.

The SEO company turns out got someone else to leave comments and obviously hasn’t overseen the activity to ensure quality control.

My site is probably just one of many that this SEO company is letting the person comment on and who knows what others are thinking about the company footing the bill.

I can only image what the business owner would have felt seeing this type of comment left with his business name.

If you contract out your marketing activities here are a few tips:

Brand Reputation Tips

• If you are outsourcing delegate but do not abdicate.
• Have clear guidelines on what they do and get regular reports to ensure quality is occurring and not rubbish quantity.
• Make sure that anything done in your brand’s name enhances the reputation.
• Find out whether the company doing your SEO or anything else outsources in turn to someone else and make sure the other person or company is quality.

You work long and hard to maximise your brand and reputation so don’t leave it in the hands of another without your input and guidance.

Over to you, what are your thoughts on this and please add your tips to the list.

Do you know which ones are more profitable and key for your business to grow?

Do you focus and specialise in these profitable services?

If you answered yes to the second and third questions, grab your beverage of choice and jump to the comments to share your thoughts.

If not then read on.

Being focused on the most important areas of your business is necessary if you want to grow profitably.

You may not think this is part of marketing your brand, however it is and it deals with your marketing strategy.

A focused marketing strategy keeps you on the track so that is good for your business and your customers.

Speciality

If you focus on your specialty it can open up a number of opportunities:

• You become known for the expertise that will set you apart from others
• You can make it or the process unique to your business
• You can reduce costs by refining the process and make more profit
• You can command a higher price by being a specialist

Having a specialty by itself is not enough as you need to make sure it is profitable for your business as well.

Is There Demand?

If you offer a range of services you will find some are more in demand than others and are more profitable.

There needs to be enough demand by customers to ensure your speciality is profitable. Ideally this demand is on a regular basis so you get repeat business.

You also need to make sure there are sufficient customers who want this type of service.

Do You Have To Tailor?

A question around the process sometimes asked is the customers like you to tailor your services.

That may be true but is it good for your business?

If you think of your service as a product it doesn’t change depending on each customer.

Creating a standard process and make it unique means you can set a price and charge upfront or in a progressive way as you deliver.

Once you have a process to deliver the service it is then a lot easier to finetune it and make it even more valuable and profitable for your business over time.

If you are still unsure about whether to specialise ask yourself a question as a customer, which would you prefer?

A specialist who produces one thing extremely well or a generalist who does an okay job?

As more businesses open and competition increases specialising just might be the profitable path to consider.

What do you think? Have you ever looked at specialising?

The article was interesting especially the section about information and knowledge. Amit Singhal said about a search regarding mosquito nets:

“”Search might give some result, but you can’t rely on it.” Information is fine, but turning it into knowledge is mightier. The future.”

According to the article this is what Google are looking at.

Getting the right answers for people quicker and correctly.

It actually makes sense especially if you look at the amount of information that you have to sift through.

At the moment you have to manually sift through the information to try and find the right answer to gain the knowledge.

So you click, scan, hit the back button and repeat until you find what you are looking for. This could take fifteen minutes or much longer.

Or you may end up not finding the knowledge you were seeking.

So if Google are looking to turn information into knowledge is there an opportunity for your business?

I think there is and there is no need to wait to capitalise on it.

Marketing Opportunity

Currently many of you produce content even some how to articles. However if you are a service provider you may be a little wary of giving it all away for free.

This is understandable.

So how do you tap into the knowledge idea and stand out from the general information overload?

Well, why not start asking yourself a few questions such as:

• Can you package up that knowledge with specific answers and sell it?
• Are there different forms such as video that are ideal to impart knowledge and are suitable for your brand?
• Can you teach?
• Can you get the knowledge out of your head and onto paper?
• Can you deliver the knowledge that doesn’t involve you as the main provider?

The quest for quicker answers to questions and not general information will continue. Instead of waiting for could this be one way for you to get the competitive edge? I would love to hear your thoughts on this so please share them.

The more you think about beating it and getting into action often means nothing happens except more negative emotions.

Time goes by and if left unchecked opportunities to market your brand successfully can disappear.

Some of you probably have procrastinated with the marketing of your brand.

And there can be a number of reasons for this. One is being unsure of the actual steps to take to get things going and achieve results.

When you don’t have a clear path to follow it is easy to get distracted and become busy doing non essential activities at best.

As your time is precious here a few tips to help you stay away from procrastination and the effect it can have on achieving marketing success:

Have A Marketing Strategy

If you have a clear overall direction for achieving the results you desire then selecting the activities is much easier.

The reason why is because you have something to judge against and see whether your activities will actually support the direction.

Without a direction doubts can creep in and this can lead to lack of action.

So, if you are finding yourself procrastinating and not taking action see if you lack a marketing strategy for your brand.

Listen To Your Inner Feelings

Often when you procrastinate you get that little feeling in your gut that something is not quite right.

It could be your marketing strategy or the activities or even the steps you take to implement the activities.

It could also go back to not being clear on what you want to achieve. Just the simple act on writing down the reasons you think are the causes can help you get into action again.

Be Proactive

One way to stop getting into this habit is to have the direction, activities and steps written. This could be on your computer, a note pad or a whiteboard.

It doesn’t matter as long as it isn’t just in your head where you can easily forget one on the parts.

An easy way to get started is to do it as if you are teaching someone else.

Taking each element as if you are teaching helps you to make sure you have everything covered and not leave you wondering what to do next.

This is one way to stop procrastination affecting your brand’s results so please share your tips as to how you avoid it.

It is massive, over 2 floors and 2.5km in length if you want to walk through every department.

Although I knew what I wanted to buy I didn’t take advantage of taking a store map on offer and of course I got lost and was on the wrong floor.

Too much in a hurry I guess.

Luckily a staff member helped and showed me on the map where to go.

Isn’t always the case if you ask for help you find and can do things a lot quicker than trying to work it out yourself?

IKEA has a great deal going for them and the little things I observed gave me ideas for marketing brands.

Here is one example:

Yellow and Blue Bags

When you go in there are yellow bags that you can borrow to put your purchases in.

They are large and by the look of some on people’s shoulders they must have thought you need to fill it to the brim.

What was interesting as I waited at the checkout was a place for you to put back your yellow bag. Beside it were blue bags that you could purchase for $1.99.

As it was a long queue I could observe what happened. Sure enough nearly every person replaced their yellow bag and bought a blue bag.

It was cheap and very practical for their customers. Sure they have many going through but it was the idea that caught my attention.

There was a direct link between the borrowed item and the one for sale. I can see this idea or an adaption of it making the free content, trials etc to a purchase of customers working better.

And that is to shorten the time between free and a purchase.

There is no one solution, however with a little brainstorming you never know what you might come up with this idea.

There were a number of other things I saw in IKEA that gave me ideas for marketing brands which will make the planning a little more fun this year.

Whether it is IKEA or another business, there are many things were can adapt or use to grow our small businesses. We just need to take a moment to observe.

As always I would like to hear from you. Have you ever adapted ideas from IKEA or another business? Add your thoughts so we can build a list and share.

Over the last few weeks I bought a couple of software products.

One I downloaded and started using it immediately and the other I bought last week and have yet to download and install.

In both cases within three days from purchase I started getting automated emails about other products on offer.

The offers carried a discount and I kept receiving them until I unsubscribed.

The missed opportunity in both cases was at no stage did I receive an email asking for feedback or offers of help or tips to make the most use of the products.

Simple mistakes that could have been avoided.

I totally agree with trying to sell other products or services in your range but there is a process that should occur.

And it is based on common sense.

Marketing Strategy

When you select your focus you need to make sure you select the all the key ones. In both cases they missed out on the core element of effective communication.

And that is customer service.

With their communication there was no effort to build the relationship that started with me buying the products.

Follow Up

Be a little patient and build the relationship before you start offering other products or services.

In both cases the sequence, tone and some of the words used were exactly the same.

It was as if both had bought one of those Internet Blueprints that say do exactly this in this way, put it on auto pilot and watch the money role in.

Using a little common sense would have them see this was a wrong way to implement a marketing activity.

Customer Relationships

Whether you sell online or offline having a simple process in place to gain feedback and answer any questions after you have delivered is one of the most powerful ways to build a strong relationship.

It can be automated or not and don’t forget where practical the old fashioned way of phoning them can help build the relationship.

Pricing

Again it seemed they were both following the same tactic. I bought both products when they were on discount.

All the additional offers also had discounts.

They assumed that I would only buy at a reduced price which is not necessarily the case.

This meant that they were reducing possible full price sales by pushing the discounted products so quickly after the initial purchase.

It also meant that as I was being conditioned to realise they offer a lot of discounts if I ever buy from them again it will not be at the full price.

After the initial sale is important when building relationships for the long term. It is well worth the effort to make sure your approach is right.

Have you had a similar experience? Do you have a process in place for follow up, feedback and sales offers of other products?

When sales are heading in the wrong direction your stomach can feel like it has turned into a tumble dryer just churning away endlessly.

Even though all business experience ups and downs with sales this is cold comfort when you are seeing a downward spiral.

There is no one answer to get sales trending in the right direction as it can depend on:

• Your marketing strategy and the implementation of your marketing activities.
• The time and/or money resources you allocate and the market you compete in.

Instead of worrying and not taking action here are 17 possible ways to increase the dollar sales of your products or services:

• Get more profitable customers
• Flick the low price high demanding customers
• Increase prices
• Increase distribution channels
• Sell More To Existing Customers
• Increase the range of products or services
• Increase customers’ buying frequency
• Increase the average transaction value with each purchase
• Focus on higher priced products or services
• Reduce the number of customers who leave for a competitor’s product or service
• Conduct a promotion with a partner’s customers
• Increase the volume of your lower priced products or services
• Enter a new market segment
• Get lapsed customers to buy from you again
• Ask for referrals from each customer
• Create a DIY product from your service
• Create a group class for your service

Don’t forget to do a little number crunching to see which ones you could do that will get you results you desire. This helps you from  jumping in and trying something that may not add to your sales line and waste time and effort.

These are just a few ways to increase sales. What others can you add to the list?

These discussions like many relating to marketing strategy seem to polarise people into two camps.

Some say yes you should have display prices and others say absolutely not.

From reading the comments and I am generalising I know it appears why some businesses are hesitant to show prices is due to a couple of factors:

1. They do not want their competitors to know.
2. They believe they need to tailor their services for all customers and can’t display any prices at all.

The first factor is a little silly as just about any company can find out even roughly what your prices are. It also has a blocking effect as part of the conversion for customers as they need to go at least an extra step to find out pricing information.

The second factor may be true however as we all know times have changed. As have customer expectations and the way customers get information and make buying decisions.

As having a website is becoming the norm you need to think strategically about your business including pricing rather than just concentrating on the marketing activities and tools.

Creative Thinking

Instead of dismissing the notion of offering prices for your services why not put your creative and lateral thinking cap on.

Depending on your customer base you could offer custom services where the price is not displayed and other services that are packaged up.

For example if you look at tailors or dressmakers, many offer custom services as this is their specialty.

The final price for a suit or a dress depends on a number of factors, such as the material used, the style and the time involved.

Many also offer off the rack clothes that customers can buy immediately with prices clearly displayed.

Pricing Options

If you think about it customers are looking to make informed choices.

As part of the buying process is price and even putting in a range of prices can help when they are seeking information.

A price range gives the customer an idea of what they could get within the range. It doesn’t lock you in to a specific price for your services which can be finalised depending on the customer brief.

Customer buying behaviours and the way they gather information about services are changing.

Thinking strategically with a little flexibility can give you the competitive edge over your competitors.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you display your prices?

Or

Do you wait to get dragged into learning and using them years after everyone else?

These are the extremes and neither is ideal when marketing your brand.

You can’t afford to ignore certain marketing activities or tools as they can help build your customer relationships and grow your brand.

However the reality especially if you are a small business owner is you can’t possibly learn about all the marketing activities and tools available.

As this issue will only continue here are a few things to consider:

Do it Yourself

If you are implementing the marketing activities or using the tools yourself you need to have a deeper knowledge than if you are outsourcing.

This means understanding whether they fit into your marketing strategy. You also need to learn the details so you can maximise the results.

It will take time to gain a deep knowledge and in some cases you will need to make sure your knowledge is up to date.

Outsource

If you are outsourcing then you still need to know the fundamentals such as when to use the activities and tools and why you should use them.

The good news is you do not need the knowledge of all the details the actual implementation. However you do need to understand what they are doing and why it is necessary for your business and customer relationships.

Business and Customer Needs

Depending on whether there is an immediate or longer term need determines the time you take to gain the knowledge.

For example with Google + some businesses decided they would wait to get an in depth knowledge until business pages are available.

For some this meant they ignored it and focused n more important activities and tools that would impact their short term results. Others have taken a gradual approach to learning over time and from others.

Of course if your business offers services around any marketing activities and tools then you do need to learn as soon as you can.

The Power of Others

It is unrealistic to expect you to gain knowledge of everything that is available and still run a profitable business.

Here are a number of ways to tap into the power of others.

One is to identify those who you can learn from as they tend to spend a lot of time gaining the knowledge and understanding how best to use the activities and tools.

They often share this for free or at a low cost and you know you can depend on them for information that shortens your learning curve.

Another way is if you have a group who you trust and collaborate to help each other you can assign the learning.

For example if a certain activity or tool is within their expertise they can learn all about it including the details and share the knowledge with the group.

An advantage of this is the group can get the knowledge and understanding they need on more activities and tools in a shorter space of time.

The number of marketing activities and tools will only increase as will the need to learn them to grow your business.

As always please share your tips on how you gain the knowledge of these to grow your business or to help your customers’’ businesses.

For some this is the one time of the year they will bet a small amount on a horse race.

Others who are regular racegoers will outlay a lot of money in the hope they win.

There are similarities in the way businesses approach their marketing strategies and here are a few lessons:

Sure Winner

Apparently this is one of the hardest races to call which horse will win. It is a case of a number of factors such as the weather, condition of the track, form of the horses.

Marketing lesson: There are also many factors to consider when choosing your marketing strategies. It is impossible to say a particular marketing strategy will be a sure winner for all products or services.

Favourite Colours

Some of us who do not have a clue about horse racing will make a choice based on personal preferences. These include favourite colours birthdates.

Marketing lesson:  Don’t rely on your personal preferences when choosing your marketing strategies and tactics as they will rarely work. Do your homework especially understanding your customers’ needs and desires.

Overnight Expert

Some people study the race guides or articles that and become experts on the day telling all who will listen that they know which horse is going to win.

Marketing lesson: As in all aspects of business it takes quite a while to develop expertise in marketing. Close your ears to self proclaimed marketing experts or gurus.

Bet On Everything

Although this may be hard to believe some bet on all the 24 horses as they know one has to win.

Marketing lesson: This approach in marketing is when business owners try every marketing idea, especially the new ones in the hope one will work.

Combine To Win

There are options to help increase your winnings. These include trifectas and quinellas. If the combination is right you can win more than if you just choose one horse.

Marketing lesson: When marketing your brand it is the combination of activities and tools that can make all the difference. Choose ones that combine well rather than relying on just one to achieve results.

Have Fun

It is a public holiday on Victoria where the race is run and many people in other states will take time off to go to lunches to enjoy the day.

Marketing lesson: Business is serious however it is worth noting that that some take certain activities and the tools a little too seriously.  An example is the reactions when Klout changed its algorithm and scores went down.

Only take marketing tools that have a direct impact on your business seriously.

The Melbourne cup is a long race and so is the path for business success. Taking a little time to choose the right marketing strategies for your brand can make a difference to your results.