Develop Your Website

A website is for life not just for Christmas! Your website is one of the main focal points of your companies marketing activities. If you do nothing else you must spend half an hour a week looking at your own website using the eyes of your customers. Modify it and adjust it until it is right for them NOT FOR YOU. The articles on this page are here to help and stimulate you to think like your customers and develop the site they need, not the site you want.

Marketing Planning Stimulants

There are many misconceptions about the 'M' word. Marketing has been used and abused as a business phrase, misused by many, understood by few, but generally most business don't realise the power of a planned, targeted and monitored marketing plan.

Like all tasks you need to plan your marketing activities to ensure you get the most return on your investment.

Use the following questions as a way of getting focused on how you market your business.

1. Do you have a written marketing plan?
2. How much did you spend on advertising last year?
3. Who is responsible for planning your marketing activity?
4. Do you ever react to telephone offers of cheap last minute advertising deals? Why?
5. Do you know who your competitors are?
6. Do you ask your customers if you did what they expected you to?
7. Do you ask your customers for referrals?
8. Do you ask where new customers found out about your business?
9. What proportion of your business comes from repeat business?
10. What is the normal time between repeat purchases?

Every company conducts marketing activities, even if they do not do the overt activities of advertising in the papers or on radio, every company markets itself.

Just like having a business plan that guides you through your businesses activities for growth, a marketing plan is an essential tool for helping you achieve the steps and goals of your business plan.

If you have been in business a while, without a planned approach to your marketing, look at the marketing activities you have carried out. Make a list of what you did, when you did it, how much it cost and what success you had. This listing and examination of effort and results is the corner stone of an effective marketing plan. We have dealt with companies that have conducted the same marketing activities for years, and when these activities were analysed it was discovered that the return on investment of the marketing activity often did not cover the cost of the activity.

So how do you plan your marketing? The first and most important thing to identify (as far as you are able) is the type of customers who use or buy your products and services. This activity is known as customer profiling.

To give you an example; at W3 we consider our target market to be owner managed businesses within the Waikato who need assistance with planning marketing. They will be forward thinking companies that need help now and ongoing into the future, not only with their website (which is where most of our customers start dealing with us) but with other parts of their companies marketing efforts. W3 customers are investing in the development of their own businesses as a way of increasing their wealth.

We have companies as customers that do not fit into this definition; however in general our customers do. This does not mean that we will not deal with people or companies that don’t fit into our defined target market profile, but it means that we are actively seeking these customers out as we know we are able to serve them effectively.

Once you define your potential target market, the target market is also defined by the products and services you want to offer in your business, you need to assess the merits, costs and opportunities of the various communication methods you have available to promote yourself to these potential customers.

The journey of building your marketing plan and executing it effectively is an ongoing task. But, without a plan, how do you know that what you are doing is right, that what you are doing is returning the money invested with a profit or that your business is progressing?

So what do you do next? I would suggest that you look at the questions at the top of the page, and see which you can answer. If you need help or guidance please do not hesitate to call or email the staff at W3, we are able to help you plan, analyse and develop your marketing plan so you know that you know where you are going.

The 'M' Word

Sometimes you mention marketing services and people think it will cost them a fortune. Far from it. Most marketing techniques are simple, straightforward and cost effective. One of the best kept secrets of W3 is our marketing services. Tony has 25 years experience working in the marketing industry and won third place in the UK Student Marketing Awards and has worked in the industry since 1987. If you need any help or advice in how you market your business please call or email. These articles have been written to give you some ideas on which you can start constructing your marketing plan and how you might implement it.

Marketing Planning Stimulants

There are many misconceptions about the 'M' word. Marketing has been used and abused as a business phrase, misused by many, understood by few, but generally most business don't realise the power of a planned, targeted and monitored marketing plan.

Like all tasks you need to plan your marketing activities to ensure you get the most return on your investment.

Use the following questions as a way of getting focused on how you market your business.

1. Do you have a written marketing plan?
2. How much did you spend on advertising last year?
3. Who is responsible for planning your marketing activity?
4. Do you ever react to telephone offers of cheap last minute advertising deals? Why?
5. Do you know who your competitors are?
6. Do you ask your customers if you did what they expected you to?
7. Do you ask your customers for referrals?
8. Do you ask where new customers found out about your business?
9. What proportion of your business comes from repeat business?
10. What is the normal time between repeat purchases?

Every company conducts marketing activities, even if they do not do the overt activities of advertising in the papers or on radio, every company markets itself.

Just like having a business plan that guides you through your businesses activities for growth, a marketing plan is an essential tool for helping you achieve the steps and goals of your business plan.

If you have been in business a while, without a planned approach to your marketing, look at the marketing activities you have carried out. Make a list of what you did, when you did it, how much it cost and what success you had. This listing and examination of effort and results is the corner stone of an effective marketing plan. We have dealt with companies that have conducted the same marketing activities for years, and when these activities were analysed it was discovered that the return on investment of the marketing activity often did not cover the cost of the activity.

So how do you plan your marketing? The first and most important thing to identify (as far as you are able) is the type of customers who use or buy your products and services. This activity is known as customer profiling.

To give you an example; at W3 we consider our target market to be owner managed businesses within the Waikato who need assistance with planning marketing. They will be forward thinking companies that need help now and ongoing into the future, not only with their website (which is where most of our customers start dealing with us) but with other parts of their companies marketing efforts. W3 customers are investing in the development of their own businesses as a way of increasing their wealth.

We have companies as customers that do not fit into this definition; however in general our customers do. This does not mean that we will not deal with people or companies that don’t fit into our defined target market profile, but it means that we are actively seeking these customers out as we know we are able to serve them effectively.

Once you define your potential target market, the target market is also defined by the products and services you want to offer in your business, you need to assess the merits, costs and opportunities of the various communication methods you have available to promote yourself to these potential customers.

The journey of building your marketing plan and executing it effectively is an ongoing task. But, without a plan, how do you know that what you are doing is right, that what you are doing is returning the money invested with a profit or that your business is progressing?

So what do you do next? I would suggest that you look at the questions at the top of the page, and see which you can answer. If you need help or guidance please do not hesitate to call or email the staff at W3, we are able to help you plan, analyse and develop your marketing plan so you know that you know where you are going.