Business Articles

Taking Your Business to Higher Ground?

49 Reasons to Start the Journey
With a Marketing Consultant

By Donna Dahl

Are you an independent entrepreneur? Are you a sole proprietor with a staff of one …namely, you? Are you having to set your own goals and create your own daily agenda?

Working alone in your business can be a lonely experience. You spend long hours working in your business attracting customers and sending out invoices to increase your profit margin. Working on your business? Who do you talk to? Who would understand? You can't just talk to anyone about the insider track of your business. Your business is, after all, your stake holder's claim to your share of the market place.

Your uniqueness is a big part of what brings business to you. Is there someone who could lend you a professional listening ear and offer suggestions? Is there someone who could help energize you when your batteries are a little low? Even if there was such a person, what would you have them do?

Here are 49 reasons why you should employ the services of a marketing consultant.

Branding and Building
Perhaps your business needs more focus. Perhaps it could use a stronger image. Perhaps your brand needs polish. Perhaps you are so new to entrepreneurship that you haven't given your branding a lot of thought. A marketing consultant can help you forecast the strengths and the pitfalls of branding as they relate to building your business and working with your target market. This area alone can potentially save you thousands of dollars down the road.

You want a (new) dynamic business identity.

Your business plan needs updating.

You need to develop a business plan.

Your bank will not give you a company credit card.

Your business has too many items on the menu.

You are afraid to define your niche too narrowly for fear of losing business.

You work long hours but your bottom line is bottoming out.

You could benefit from strategic alliances with other related businesses.

You want to learn more about your competition.

You would like to celebrate your successes but you are not sure how to define success or how to measure it.

You would like to implement a customer appreciation program.

You want a customer loyalty program.

You want repeat customers.

You want a customer referral program.

You want clients for life.

You want to set a dollar figure on your time but you are not sure how to calculate what you are worth.

You can't seem to find the time to work ON your business.

Your business is not growing.

You need a new product or service to offer your customers.

You want to add value to each sale but you don't know what to offer.

Print/Visual Communications
This area supports you best when you involve a team of experts. Members of the team in the virtual communications department of your company could include a graphic artist, a printer, an advertising copy writer and a communications specialist. You may also require digital media expertise and professional layout services. A marketing consultant could head up your project management team or direct you to companies with services that are a good fit for you. Consider the following?

Your business needs a logo.

Your business needs a new logo.

You need to develop a business card that "speaks" for your business.

Your business card needs an overhaul.

Your print materials need a face lift.

Your business needs a tag line…especially if you just said, "What's that?"

Merchandising is a mystery to you.

You want a website.

You want a website that improves on what you currently have.

You want a website that creates e-commerce for you.

You need content for your website.

Virtual Staffing
Everyone needs virtual staffing. Everyone uses virtual staffing already. It is not a new thing. Someone just found a new way to describe it. Do you have someone do your accounting records? If so, you have staff in your virtual accounting department…doing real work on your behalf. Accounting is only one way in which you can increase your staff…virtually.

You need to delegate some of your responsibilities but you don't know where to start.

You would like virtual support staff to handle clerical assignments.

You could use a virtual billing department.

Marketing and Sales
Marketing is everything you do to communicate your business. Marketing is the ad space you purchase…be it print or visual digitals…and it is the advertising space you rent when you are at a tradeshow or at a networking event. Networking, network marketing, and campaigning are all part of the same package. How do you let others know that you are in business?

You have never heard of a marketing plan.

You believe that marketing and advertising are the same thing.

You love your business because you like being your own boss. However, this means you work alone. It would be very nice to talk to other entrepreneurs.

You need a new business uniform.

You want to learn more about solution selling.

You want to create a sales offer that simply cannot be refused.

You want testimonials.

You want to learn more about your target market.

You want your advertising to actually bring you business.

Your cold calls leave you cold.

You have no elevator speech.

You want to take your business to a tradeshow.

You have no up-selling strategy.

You have no follow-up plan for completed sales transactions.

Your business gives away a lot of its services…instead of charging for work that could have a dollar value attached to it. Is this profit lost or value added?

Whether you targeted just one item that you could use help with or whether you located several reasons, you may well benefit from at least one session with a professional marketing consultant. Moving your business to higher ground with a trained, experienced problem-solver on board will generate ideas and suggestions and encouragement in an environment of support and challenge. Local reputable agencies and testimonial references from others can lead you to locate a good fit for you. There is no time like the present. Go for it. Start today.

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Donna Dahl, author of Tradeshows: Building Your Thirty-Second Business, and strategic marketing consultant, specializes in providing consulting services for small business. Purchase her book at www.selfconnection.ca or contact her through amazingpossibilities@shaw.ca. Visit her website at www.makoye.com

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