5 Questions to underpin your business and marketing decisions

I am an eternal optimist! I constantly look for the silver cloud even in a solid grey sky. I believe that one of the silver clouds right now is the opportunity to take a fresh, in depth, look at our businesses, to get creative and to find a way forward.

The following five questions are those we asked as part of Fabulous Networking’s Marketing Planning Challenge last month. They underpin our marketing planning but might also be useful if you are looking for ways to adapt your business in current circumstances.

What do we really sell?

The answer is not holidays, cosmetics, or business networking! It is the results that your customers gain from what you have sold them.

So, holidays may mean relaxation, a break from routine, rest, time to pursue hobbies, stimulus, or time with loved ones. Cosmetics may mean self-esteem, good looks, admiration, camouflage, or confidence. Business networking may be more business, support, friendship, business ideas, learning and opportunities to grow personally or in business.

Knowing what you really sell is vital to planning marketing strategy and tactics.

However, it can also be really helpful when looking for ways to adapt your business. For example, the travel agent may be able to sell a list of activities (legal) to share with loved ones in lockdown or some relaxation videos.

So, what ideas could you find for adapting your business either permanently, or for the short term? What are the benefits your customers appreciate from buying your product or service?

Who is our ideal client?

I wish I had a pound for every business owner who has ever answered this question with ‘everybody’. Are you everybody? I’m not! I’m much more special than that. I don’t want to be lumped into one homogenous group. I want a supplier to see me as unique, or at least part of a select group.

When you really define who your ideal client is you can anticipate their challenges and formulate solutions. You will understand how current circumstances may be impacting their lives.

When you are defining your ideal client try to get beyond the demographic information e.g. mid 30s, married with 2.6 children and get to something more meaningful. Don’t think you’ve cracked it if you say ‘mothers’ or ‘business owners’. These are far too generic descriptions.

Defining your ideal client by their needs for what you sell can be effective. That way your customers will share a common language which you’ll be able to use to communicate with them.

You may also find that your ideal clients have been impacted by the Coronavirus crisis in similar ways. This could indicate a need that your business can meet. Of course, it could also mean that none of your clients have money to spend just now, in which case you may have to look at a different market for your new idea.

Who/what is our competition?

I didn’t always understand that competition is a good thing, but I do now! Competition indicates that there is a demand for what we do.

Most of us understand direct competition… businesses that are very similar to ours. Not everyone has a full appreciation of indirect competition… alternative solutions to the problem we solve.

My networking business has lots of competition from other networking groups but also from training events and conferences where there is time to mingle (even virtually), social media and from membership communities.

Competition can also come from marketing consultants, PR agencies and social media managers all of whom will promise increased awareness of your business which is the number one reason why most people network.

How is our competition responding to the current crisis? Are they ostriches or meerkats?

The ostriches will have their heads in the sand hoping the nightmare will soon be over. The meerkats will be on the lookout for opportunities; indeed, they may already have seized them.

I’m now getting weekly grocery deliveries from a local pub which saw an opportunity to work with their staff and suppliers to provide a service that would keep them in business and employment.

Knowing your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses should allow you to work out how best to compete. You may also be inspired by some of their business or marketing ideas. Don’t be tempted to copy. Therein lies legal hot water and confusion in your ideal customers’ minds.

Instead of copying, look for the tricks they might have missed. Maybe they’re marketing to a different audience. Perhaps their language is less empathetic than yours, they are less fun to deal with, or they are using different platforms.

Could you offer a more flexible or personalised service? Could you package your offer in other ways, maybe offering a premium service?

Who does our buyer consult?

Few of us make significant purchasing decisions in isolation. The riskier the purchase the more your ideal customer is likely to consult others.

They may just be looking for potential suppliers and post a ‘looking for recommendations’ in a Facebook group. That may reveal a competitor you didn’t know about. It may show you that you need to up your marketing game. You may even find some positive feedback when your name is put forward.

The closer your buyer gets to making a decision the more influence the person consulted is likely to have. You should be anticipating what they are thinking, what they might need to know about your business and what other ideas they might have.

Some people will be influenced by celebrities, journalists, or bloggers for instance. What are they talking about, doing, or wearing? Are there some ideas there for you? Should you be engaging on their channels? 

These ideas might be different ways to market your offer or they might be more fundamental than that and suggest a new business opportunity.

What are your ideal clients’ key buying decision criteria?

How does your ideal client choose between one solution and another? Have their decision-making criteria changed since we went into lockdown? Some people may have become more cautious with their expenditure, others quite the opposite.

When we understand the criteria our ideal clients are using we can package our solution to be a good fit. We can tailor our marketing messages to chime with the internal conversations they are having.  

Is it time for a review of your business or marketing?

There is little doubt that we are in for a deep, and possibly, long recession. Growing a business will be challenging. But the old saying, 'when the going get tough the tough get going' rings true. Businesses formed, or transformed, in a recession often do well because they are built on firm foundations.

The right foundations are usually arrived at by asking lots of the right questions and listening to, and acting upon, the answers. So what questions will you ask in order to transform your business or marketing to respond to our current challenges?

At Fabulous Networking we are running 'May is Marketing Month', each day a fresh marketing activity challenges you to tweak or transform your marketing. It's FREE to join and you can do it in your own time so why not join us? Sign up here:https://mailchi.mp/fabulousnetworking.co.uk/mayismarketingmonth