Is your business firing on all cylinders? Do you have an enthusiastic, growing customer base that loves your product or service and routinely refers new clients? Are you able to charge a fair price for what you offer? Do your customers feel you offer them exceptional value? Are you earning as much income as you’d like?
How about “the look” of your business? Does every component– your logo, your website, your brochure, your business card– really solidify your brand? Are you even sure what your brand is?
Do you consistently know what paths to pursue and which tactics to employ to grow your business? Is everything “being covered,” or do you constantly feel overwhelmed?
Are you able to maintain long-term, big picture plans, while remaining nimble enough to take decisive action when short-term opportunities or obstacles arise?
Here’s the bad news.
If you are like 99% of other small businesses (and a great many large businesses, too) you probably feel that things are not going as well as they should. You’ve invested a lot of hard work into a very good product or service, but you’re only having modest financial success.
It’s probably not for lack of effort on your part. You may have read more than your fair share of marketing and entrepreneurial books, gone to seminars, worked with a web designer and graphic artist, maybe even hired a marketing consultant. But things just aren’t clicking.
Is it supposed to be this difficult?
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Luckily, there’s good news, too.
As a small business owner or employee, you’re used to a little adversity. The truth is, it’s not that easy running your own business. In most cases, figuring out why things aren’t working is simple and it’s not always marketing related. The wrong personnel, an ill-conceived product, a really bad location, poor distribution– all of these problems could be very real challenges facing your business.
But what almost unilaterally drives a successful business is the quality of its sales and marketing. When those two things are done correctly, a business will nearly always thrive.
Developing a solid marketing plan is not an unsolvable problem. That’s the good news. We’re not trying to cure cancer, or land a man on Mars. Together, we’re going to develop a plan for how your business can identify the true needs and wants of your customers. Then, you’ll implement specific strategies so those potential customers know that what you offer meets those needs and wants.
That’s it.
Sales and marketing are the keys
to a truly successful business.
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The Real Goal of Marketing
A “business” isn’t really a business until a financial transaction between customer and provider takes place. For that to happen, the prospective customer has to want what the provider offers.
Creating a compelling desire in the marketplace for your product or service is the entire goal of sales and marketing.
It’s a 3 step process:
1. Prospective customers have to know that you (and what you have to offer) exist. This is accomplished via the marketing strategies you implement: word of mouth, referrals, advertising, your website, direct mail, etc.
2. Once your marketing tactics get their attention, you must convert that into genuine interest.
To accomplish this, you have to know what that prospective customer really wants, and why they want it.
3. Now that the prospective client is engaged, you present the information he (or she) needs to make a buying decision. The prospect will then decide whether you in fact can meet the needs he has, and provide him with what he wants. (Needs and wants are not the same thing, something we’ll discuss more later!)
The ultimate success of your business depends on how effectively you can accomplish these 3 steps. Don’t make it more complicated than it is: sales and marketing are the keys to a truly successful business.
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Who is Bizzit Marketing
Bizzit Marketing is an advertising and marketing firm. We’re a group of sales and marketing professionals that work as a dedicated team for our small business clients. We offer strategic, creative, development and project management services. We design logos, build websites, write snappy copy, and even produce the occasional television or radio commercial.
We also do something that virtually no one else does. We provide the full resources of an integrated agency to businesses of any size, namely, small businesses.
We help them create a brand. We help them engineer an exceptional offering. We work together to identify who their Perfect Customer really is. Then we build the assets and tools they need to communicate their brand and their message.
Our clients come to us at all stages: start-up companies, older companies looking to refresh their brand, or businesses that are just flat-out struggling with their current sales and marketing plan.
Learn more about us at BizzitMarketing.com
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The BizzitPlanner
The BizzitPlanner will become an indispensable document for your business. It will bring laser-like focus to your brand. Marketing decisions and planning will be easier. Management and personnel will be on the same page. Everyone– those that work for you and those that buy from you– will have absolute clarity on what your business is about, why it’s outstanding, and how it brings value.
Chances are, you downloaded this document from our website. You took a quick look through, and while it doesn’t seem too difficult, it may seem a bit more involved than you had hoped.
It is more involved. Planning the marketing future of your business is going to take a little time.
The fact is, however, that no one, not even the best marketing consultant, the hottest agency, or Trump, or Buffet, or Tony Robbins– no one– can help your business grow if they don’t know exactly whose “needs” and “wants” it meets.
The BizzitPlanner is designed for you to go through a series of steps to uncover who you really serve and what you have to offer them. Then, you’ll learn how to present that information to prospective customers in a way that makes them want to take action.
The Plan Always Comes First
Bizzit Marketing provides marketing services to help businesses execute on their sales and marketing plans. But before we or anyone can help execute, a solid plan has to be in place.
We hope this is the first step in what will be a fruitful partnership for us both. But it doesn’t have to be, and this planning process isn’t a long tease where we slowly put you in a position where you’ll need our services to move forward.
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If you follow these steps, you’ll end up with a concise, crystal clear direction and tactical plan for your marketing. At some point, you are probably going to need professional resources to help you create and/or manage various elements of that plan.
Whether that’s Bizzit, another agency, various freelancers, or your cousin’s daughter that
“knows Photoshop”– it’s fine with us. Either way, you’ll still have a marketing plan designed to grow your business.
This is Not a Marketing Text Book
There are literally thousands of books on sales and marketing. Many are good, some are great, but the majority can be painfully, mind-numbingly tedious.
The BizzitPlanner is not meant to be a marketing “book”. Check the resources section in the Appendix A for some of our favorite picks, many containing ideas and concepts that we utilize or extrapolate here.
This Planner is designed to give you only the basic background information you need to understand a point or concept, and then move on.
We wanted to create a simple and concise plan that will grow your business, not furnish you with an MBA. (No offense to the academic community, but in our opinion, a great marketing plan is worth so much more than an MBA).
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The BizzitPlan is a 4 Step Process
Step 1 begins by focusing on the big picture: the future of your business. We ask the question,
“where exactly is it that you want your business to be?” This is a fun, short step, but one that is critical to laying the foundation for the Plan.
Steps 2 and 3 are a little more math-oriented. Don’t freak out, we’re not talking Good Will Hunting math. However, we do need to establish where your business is now financially, where you want it to be, and then look at the components that need to change to make that happen.
Step 4 is the meat and potatoes of the Plan: identifying and describing your Perfect Customer, innovating your offer so that it addresses their wants and needs, and then distilling that information into an actionable message and brand that will form the core of your marketing.
Easy, right? So let’s get started!
If you follow these steps, you’ll end up with a
concise, crystal clear direction and tactical
plan to grow your business.
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The Big Picture
We could dedicate a whole other book (or whole other business) to the power and importance of having a vision for your business. We work with business people every day, and the ones that succeed all have one particular virtue in common: vision. (Additionally, they’re usually smart, tenacious, good with people, powerful decision makers...you know, annoyingly talented.)
After that, personalities vary wildly: type A’s and B’s, extroverts and introverts, born salesmen and born scientists. They all share a common quest. They are constantly focused on the future of their business and their own fulfillment from it.
As we go through the process of developing your marketing plan, the details will begin to pile up. As you start implementing your plan, hundreds of details will turn into thousands of tasks and actions.
Having a vision is vital so that you can keep the big picture in mind, and not complicate things unnecessarily. Your vision also becomes the “why” for your business. It’s always important to remember “why” you want and need your business to thrive in the first place. Even a hard working, incredibly persistent entrepreneur won’t succeed if a compelling “why” isn’t driving their passion and effort.
The State of the Business Address: 1 Year From Today Every year, the President of the United States stands before Congress to tell them how things are going. He always talks about the current state of affairs, and a little about past successes.
For the most part, however, he talks about the future. He shares his vision for the country and the tasks and priorities he believes we should focus on.
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You are going to write a similar “address”. However, yours will be a little different. You are going to write your Address as if it was one year from today. You will need to put yourself at that time in the future, and then write in the present tense. You’ll describe how your business is doing, how it impacts your life, the lives of your employees (if you have them), and the lives of your customers. You will talk about how it feels to run your business at that moment in the future when the results of all of your efforts over the past year are paying off.
It’s a little like a mission statement or a personal declaration (you can think of the movie Jerry Maguire if that inspires you), but this one strictly revolves around your business. It can be as long or as short as you want it to be, but it must be relevant and exciting to you. Reading your Address should excite you and drive you to make your vision a reality.
CYNIC ALERT: DON’T SKIP THIS STEP.
Yes, cynics, we know you are out there. You were only looking for hardcore, serious, how-to-do marketing stuff, and now we’re hitting you with this. We’re talking about visions and personal psychology, and you’re just about ready to tune us, and this Planner, out.
One measure of intelligence (or at least street smarts) is recognizing patterns. We deal with many business owners day-in, and day-out, and it’s not hard to recognize some patterns along the way.
The business people we work with that thrive, DO NOT skip steps likes these. They are anything but cynical when it comes to planning and visualizing. You’d be surprised at the amount of time and energy they spend thinking about the future of their business. You should too.
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Outland Music Company’s State of The Business Address To help you get started, here’s an example Address from one of our clients. There’s no formula, no particular way it needs to be constructed. It simply must speak to you. Remember, you’re writing the Address one year in the future, when all your hard work and effort is starting to pay off.
Outland Music Company is growing by leaps and bounds. Projects, people and massive enthusiasm are all being attracted to our team, and new productions are soaring with momentum. Our passionate approach to producing music and audio is connecting with our clients, and we’re enjoying more and more high profile collaborations.
We’re on pace to growth the business over 40% this year, and our profitability is increasing as well. Our clients truly see us as bringing immense value to their projects, and recognize that our talent and expertise has value.
I am personally enjoying my work more than ever before. I’m leading our team with more clarity and focus. Morale is high, people enjoy their work, and we all enjoy the mutual success we’re having.
Financially, I’m reaping the rewards of our hard work. We’ll be taking a fantastic family vacation this coming summer, and our personal savings nest egg has gotten a huge lift as well.
I’m excited for the future of our business. We’re positioned to continue growing and producing fantastic results for clients, increasing revenue and having a great time in the process.
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Now it’s your turn.
Remember, don’t skip this step! Have fun with it, don’t over think it, and get excited.
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Defining Your Delta
“Delta” is a fancy scientific term for “the change in”. If you know the value of A, and also of B, delta can be defined as the difference between the two. For our purposes, it refers to the difference between where your business is now, and where you’d like to be.
The time in question is usually a year; this can be either a year from when you develop your plan or your next fiscal year. Use what makes the most sense for your business. We’ll define the delta primarily in financial terms, but you can use it to measure other aspects of your business as well.
Examples of Deltas That Can Be Defined
• Gross Sales
• Gross Profit
• Rate of Growth
• Rate of Customer Retention
When you wrote your State of the Business Address, you focused solely on “what” your business would look like in the future, and “why” you wanted it to be successful. Now, we are going to start formulating a tactical plan for “how” you get there.
When calculating your delta, we want you to think big. But not outlandishly big. Otherwise, your brain simply won’t play along. Nothing kills momentum like a goal that you don’t actually believe is achievable. If your business is currently grossing $100,000 per year, it may be a stretch to think you’ll do $10M and go public in the next 12 months. Trust your instincts. The goal that excites you and gives you a little heartburn (but not too much) is probably the right one.
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Example Delta: Salon Paris (a women’s hair salon) 2010 Actual
2011 Goal
• Gross Sales
$156,000
$225,000
• Rate of Growth
Flat
44%
• Gross Profit
44%
40%
• Rate of Customer Retention
80%
85%
Salon Paris is in its third year of business. The owner feels she has “made it over the hump.”
The salon has a steady stream of happy clientele. Staff turnover has decreased dramatically over the last year, and her current team is happy and professional. With many of the operational aspects of her business on solid ground, she’s looking to spur major growth in the next year.
For most businesses, 45% growth in sales would seem incredibly aggressive. However, the owner regularly networks with other salon owners, and based on those conversations and her own analysis, believes there is still a great deal of room for growth. She assumes profitability will have to dip to afford some new marketing efforts. She’d also like to see customer retention tick upwards.
“Delta” is the difference between where your
business is now, and where you want it to be.
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Define the deltas for your business. Don’t overthink this step, you’ll more than likely make some adjustments as we continue through the Plan. At the least, focus on gross sales and/
or net profit. Note where you were over the last year, and set a bold but believable goal for next.
Define Your Delta
Parameter
Last Year
Next Year Goal
Great! So...how will you reach these goals? It’s time to Weigh Out Your Widgets.
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Weighing Out Your Widgets
If you enjoy spreadsheets (yes, some people actually do) this part’s for you. If not, don’t worry, a clean piece of paper or the back of a napkin can also do the trick, depending on how involved your business is. “Weighing Out Your Widgets” is the process of looking at what you offer, how much you sell it for, and how many customers purchase it. Once you start playing with these numbers, you’ll get a good sense of how they interact with one another. You’ll also know whether or not your delta targets are realistic, or if they feel a little pie-in-the-sky.
We’ll remind you of this once again: you want your goals to be aggressive, that’s the whole point of embarking on a marketing and sales plan in the first place. But if your subconscious checks out every time you think about your plan, you’re dead in the water before you start.
When you Weigh Out Your Widgets, you’re looking to see which measurable areas need to improve in order for you to close the delta you defined in the previous step. Let’s take a look at a sample Widget Plan for Salon Paris:
Widget Plan 1
2010
2011 Goal
• Gross Sales
$156,000
$225,000
• Average Transaction
$65
$80
• Number of Customers
400
401
• Amount Spent Per Customer
$390
$560
• Avg. Customer Visits Per Year
6
7
How is Salon Paris going to increase sales by $69,000? In general, every business has 3
potential paths to increase sales:
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1. Earn more income and/or profit per sale.
2. Get current customers to spend more.
3. Get more customers.
This plan will close the delta by targeting two areas. First, the owner is looking to increase the amount of money earned on every average sale. She feels that there’s room to increase her prices for hair coloring services. Additionally, in the past she hasn’t really encouraged her employees to push product sales. With more of a concerted effort, and some marketing to back it up, she feels confident she can dramatically increase product sales, which will in turn, increase the average sale.
Secondly, the average customer visits the salon 6 times per year, or once every two months.
The owner believes that if she could implement a better system by which the clients could automatically schedule appointments, (perhaps through the salon website) the average number of visits could potentially increase to 7 per year.
If she follows through with Widget Plan 1, earning an additional $69,000 gets focused into two distinct goals:
• Increase the average sale from $65 to $80
• Get clients to visit the salon one more time per year 18
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Keep Weighing the Widgets Until They Feel Right
The owner sleeps on her Widget Plan for a couple of days. After speaking with some colleagues, she’s a little more concerned about the economy, and suspects it could make it difficult for her customers to justify an extra visit per year. Also, she did some preliminary searching on the Internet, and to add a scheduling functionality to her website seems a bit more difficult and costly then she had expected. She needs to weigh her widgets differently.
Widget Plan 2
2010
2011 Goal
• Gross Sales
$156,000
$225,000
• Average Transaction
$65
$80
• Number of Customers
400
470
• Amount Spent Per Customer
$390
$480
• Avg. Customer Visits Per Year
6
6
Widget Plan 2 is now taking a completely different path to increase sales. Like Widget Plan 1, it still aims to increase the average amount of each transaction. However, by now keeping the number of average visits per year at 6, Salon Paris will need to add customers. Ideally, if the salon can add 70 customers, that will close the delta.
(If you’re really good at math, you’ll notice all 70 clients would have to be added at the beginning of the year in order for them to each visit the salon 6 times. This obviously won’t happen, but for the purposes of our example, you get the point. If the owner pursues this Widget plan, she would want to project how many clients must be added on a month-to-month basis in order to reach her target.)
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Which Widget Plan Is Best?
The two widget plans here are fairly simple examples. The owner could also consider a blend of both plans: transaction price increases, and the number of visits increases for a portion of her clients, and she adds new clients as well. How will she know when she’s got the right widget plan? How will you? As we move into creating your actual marketing plan, we’ll acquire more insight and information that will tell us which approach is most likely to meet with success.
For now, start playing with some numbers. You’ll quickly see there are only so many ways to close the delta you defined earlier– optimizing current customers, adding customers, or raising prices - or some combination of the three.
Your Widget Plan
Parameter
Last Year
Next Year Goal
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Your Perfect Customer
The previous three steps have focused on the big picture, as well as some financial number crunching to define your delta. We then explored ways to configure your widgets to close that delta. You have defined what you want from your business, where you want it to be financially, and how you will accomplish that from a sales perspective.
But marketing drives sales. Whether your Widget Plan includes adding customers, increasing transaction size or anything else, just “wanting” it to happen isn’t going to get results.
As we begin crafting your actual marketing plan, we’re going to tackle several very distinct topics one at a time. These steps will require you to do some research, some analysis, and lots and lots of thinking. Each one is critically important to developing a plan that will help you reach your goals.
Who Is Your Perfect Customer?*
If you’re rolling your eyes at that question, and instantly answering “anyone I can get!”, we hear you. In cases where a business is struggling or just getting on its feet, it?