Success Strategies for Business Owners Know the Market to Position Your Business Correctly

Success Strategies for Business Owners 2 2 About SCORE Douglas S. Cavanaugh Successful and experienced business owners and executives acting as volunteers Free ongoing mentoring: One-on-one Signup on our website – Mentoring Tab Seminars, workshops and Meetup Group Resources for small business: manasota.score.org manasota.score.org

Success Strategies for Business Owners 3 3 Introductions... Your Expectations? Introduce yourself What business are you in? What are your expectations for the meeting today? Record... End of the meeting feedback: Expectation Outcome Gaps

Success Strategies for Business Owners 4 4 Identify Your Marketing Goals Have Your Business Needs Changed? Target customers – Existing customers – New customers Product or service mix Pricing approach Promotion Success Budget Sales channels Karen Bevels

Success Strategies for Business Owners 5 5 Understand your target market Size Income level (for consumers) Sales - Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C) Purchasing habits Demographics Purchasing channels Geographic locations Industry / Geo-Political Trends Surendra N. Kumar, Ph.D. Market Research

Success Strategies for Business Owners 6 6 Industry analysis using the NAICS number to find info about your business segment (North American Industry Classification System) Website searches Customer surveys SurveyMonkey.com, Zoomerang.com Social media Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube….. Focus groups Personal Contacts Market Data Sources

Success Strategies for Business Owners 7 7 Trade associations Census data - to extrapolate information American FactFinder ( EconomicIndicators.gov Fedstats.gov National Bureau of Economic Research ( Harris Infosource ( Hoover’s ( ThomasNet ( Public Library Market Data Sources

Success Strategies for Business Owners 8 8 Is Your Brand Clear? Branding is not the same as marketing. Branding is the image, logo and positioning of the product or service. Three steps to brand creation: 1. Identify unique selling proposition (differentiation) 2. Understand target market 3. Communicate brand consistently Douglas S. Cavanaugh

Success Strategies for Business Owners 9 9 Competitive Analysis Analyze the marketing methods or strategies used by your competition. What is working for you and what is not? Would similar methods work for you? Are there niche openings to exploit?

Success Strategies for Business Owners 10 Exercise 1 – Target Market Assessment / Goals Use the Worksheet in your folder. Fill in your EXISTING target market and then potential NEW target markets you might pursue for growth Fill-in your thoughts about pros and cons of each area list below: Customer Demographics Customer Location(s) Customer Spending Habits / Behaviors Distribution Channel 10 minutes to work and 10 minutes to discuss 10

Success Strategies for Business Owners 11 Exercise 1 – Target Market Assessment / Goals 10 minutes to work and 10 minutes to discuss 11

Success Strategies for Business Owners 12 Is the Strategy Right for You? Not every marketing strategy is right for every business When evaluating the options, ask: Will this help achieve my goals? Will this reach my target customers? Does this fit my budget? Do I have adequate staff to implement?

Success Strategies for Business Owners 13 Assessing Your Business The SCORE Business Needs Assessment, it is in your packet. Download at: It will help you assess the current state of your business in 5 key areas: 1. Management 2. Marketing 3. Sales 4. Finance 5. Operations Decide what additional sessions to attend Develop a customized business improvement plan

Success Strategies for Business Owners 14 Business Needs Assessment - Marketing

Success Strategies for Business Owners 15 Help Us, Help You Please fill out the session evaluation form Your feedback is important to help us improve our programs!

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