Now that you have developed your marketing strategy, there are a few items you may need to refine for the coming calendar year. We all know that products, markets, and customers and their needs change almost constantly, so as a business owner you’ll need to revisit and tighten up a few marketing items to make sure you are on track to achieving the best results possible for your business in the current marketplace.
- Product. Look at your product as an outsider. Ask yourself the hard questions, such as whether or not your products or services are right for the current market and its consumers. If your business is experiencing difficulty in sales, you’ll need to develop a habit of assessing your business honestly, and compare yourself and your offerings to your competitors. If your products or services are not superior, ask yourself how you could make that happen. Make sure that all of your products or services are those you have confidence in, rethinking the offerings of previous seasons. You may decide it’s time for a change.
- Price. As a small business owner, pricing is key. Develop the habit of examining your prices to ensure they remain appropriate in the current market; sometimes it’s necessary to lower those prices to remain competitive, while at other times you may need to raise them. Combination packaging, special promotions, or free additional items will often help to boost sales at minimal cost to you as the seller. Your pricing structure and strategy can always be revised to align with the market as it stands today, and your openness to change will help you remain competitive and thrive in the ever-changing marketplace tomorrow.
- Promotion. Promoting your products and services should always be top of mind for any business owner. Even a small change in the way you promote and sell your products can bring about a dramatic change in your results. Marketing methods eventually stop working, so experimenting with different methods will help you stay ahead of the game in the new year.
- Positioning. How your customers view your business is critical to your success in the coming year. Determine the single most important attribute of your business, and take the necessary steps to ensure that it becomes deeply entrenched in the minds of your customers and prospective buyers. The position of your product or service in your customers’ perceptions is the determining factor when it comes to how readily they will purchase and what price they are willing to pay. Think about ways to improve your positioning in the coming year, creating the ideal impression in the hearts and minds of customers and continually supporting that ideal. Next, make the necessary changes that will enable your business to achieve resounding success in the new year.
When it comes to strategizing, we know our stuff! Piccolo is here to help you tighten up your business so that you can hit the ground running in the new year.
