Ok, Im not going to be able to tell you the miracle to make every small business work but what I hope to do is point you in the right direction. I was speaking to a client yesterday who is a trained chef and wants to start his own catering business. He is a fantastic chef but has never been taught how to market himself and how to pick the right business idea. This made me think that there must be many potential small businesses who don't succeed because of lack of business/marketing training. I thought I would come up with a few tips to point these people in the right direction.
1. Business planning - Draw a spider diagram starting with your original idea in the middle and have this leading to all the different ways you could realise this goal. Also a SWOT analysis - outlining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your business idea at an early stage will help you plan your most effective route.
2. Research Target Market - Look at competitors and who they are targeting, speak to friends and family, conduct some online market research - maybe a question to contacts on face book or linked in. Most importantly you need to find out whether there is a market for your product or service and whether it is big enough to give you a return.
3. Marketing - Once you have decided on a business offering and it is ready to go you need to let people hear about it. Go back to your target market research and think about how they will be best targeted for advertising. Consider a Website, Direct Marketing, Advertising etc and see which method of the marketing mix will work best for you.
Lastly, if you need help with any of these stages please contact The Marketing Hut on 01489 890250 and I will be able to help you with the process.
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