With the exponential growth in the number of internet users, it has been important for any business to establish an online presence and web site promotion strategy.

For the last 10 years or so, many successful businesses have used static websites (coined Web 1.0) with organic marketing methods like SEO and paid marketing methods like PPC to expand their businesses.

Internet Marketing has shifted significantly in the last couple of years and now the use of Social Media Platforms combined with dynamic websites which talk directly to, and connect with your customers are becoming the norm. (These websites have been coined Web 2.0). They use web site promotion optimization to enhance their marketing.

The use of Social Media Marketing is being used by large companies as part of the marketing strategies. Check out the You Tube Video on Socialnomics to understand the full impact. (Click here to see the video.)

Through the social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, businesses are connecting with their customers, their staff and at times other business owners to grow their businesses.

To remain competitive and build trust and connection among your current and future customer’s, successful businesses will have social media campaigns and will use web site promotion optimization for their web 2.0 activities.

While you will need to add these web 2.0 marketing strategies to the way you market your business, you will still need to follow the basics of any marketing campaign when you use social media, it will just be using a new platform.

It will still be important to do your market research, establish your brand, connect with your customers, provide great customer service and have your own unique selling position which allows you to stand out in may market, however now you will need to adapt those strategies to the new media revolution known as social media and socialnomics.

George Birdsall is a visionary business leader who provides consulting services in the area of social media and general business advice. He has been in business for over 35 years and has been applying social media marketing techniques to his wife’s skincare business www.purestuf.com.au for the last 12 months with outstanding success. Email him george@georgebirdsall.com to find out how he can help you with practical advice to grow your business.

When starting any kind of business, there several factors that a new business owner needs to consider. I have touched on business plans, motivation and some business knowledge in previous articles.

However for some businesses which retail products or are food oriented, one of the most important things that we need to consider in setting up a business is the Location. Business location plays a vital role in any business success.

In residential housing many shrewd investors always use the phrase Location, Location, Location. The same applies to a retail or food business.

When choosing a business location to sell your goods three of the issues to keep in mind are:

1. Population of your target market in that area – You have to make sure that you have sufficient target market to gain potential customers in that location. The population around you can also be part of your advertising either by referral or word of mouth through their colleagues, friends or family. This will ensure you that these people around you will soon become your active customers. So understand the demographics of the population around where you plan to set up your business.

2. Financial – Another important aspect is the rental expenses that will incur you to set up your business in that location. Check if it’s within your budget or that you are willing to spend more to have that location on the basis of a larger turnover. If this option does not provide the potential income to suit the rental cost, then let it go and be on the look out for more affordable but convenient location for your business.

3. Permission from Local Authorities – The third aspect to consider is the permission in building your business in your chosen location. Check if your local government allows the building of your business in area as well as the requirements needed.

These are just a few but important things to consider and research when choosing a business location. You need to be patient, keep looking for possible locations and observe where people go to existing shops within your targeted area. The right combination will eventually appear. Good Luck in your Journey.

So you have taken the decision and want to become your own boss? No matter what business you are going into building home renovations, setting up as an internet marketing consultant, a retailer or a coffee shop, it comes down to 2 really simple things you need.

You need to have the drive and persistence to cope with the ups and downs of any business or simply “the motivation” and you to possess some basic business knowledge on how to set up and manage the business.

Motivation

You need the passion, desire and motivation to become a business owner. Imagine everything you have ever accomplished in life already. Whether it’s graduating from university or passing an examination at school, getting your driver’s permit, getting married or maybe purchasing your very first car.

What ever that is, you need to have a good deal of motivation as well as perseverance. There will always be the ups and downs, others hard times and also some challenging days.

However it will be worth while journey if you find something you love, something you are good at and there are customers who need what you provide. All these things with high level of motivation will be one of the essential ingredients to a successful business.

Step By Step Plan – Basic Business Knowledge

You will need to establish a basic business plan (see my previous article). In the business plan you will need to answer the 5 W’s – who, what, why when and where. You will then need to outline the steps you need to take to implement that business plan. I always use lists and set out the priorities of what needs to happen first.

Set up a separate note book with these lists so you can refer to the actions you need to take and mark them off as you go. Using these techniques you will establish the step by step plan on establishing your business. Setting up your business will always be easier if you have the motivation, desire and a step by step plan.

Business plans are always different from one another and reflect the nature of the business owner,  their experience and their vision for their business.

They should be written in the business owners own unique style and not try to copy another business. You are in business to stand out from your competitors, not copy other businesses.

The common thread to all business plans is to  outline the five W’s: who, what, when, where, why.

• They are a useful guideline which forces you as a business owner to write down exactly what your business is about and why it exists.
• There is no best approach or perfect business plan except it is important to write down everything you can think of about the business.
• Acknowledge before you start that this plan will not have all the answers, it is merely the beginning of a road map to help you understand the business and be able to explain your business vision to anyone else who is involved with the business.
• Be prepared for critical analysis and take the comments on board. Its how you and your business will grow.
• The business plan will continuously evolve as the business grows. It is a flexible document and will continually evolve.
• It does not have to be a 100 page book, The best plans are usually 5 pages of each “ W” with each idea listed as a dot point with a projected cash flow attached.

Business Plan Outline with the 5 W’s

• Who are you? A company business plan outline should list your market knowledge and qualifications. Record the company and management credentials – both current and proposed. Include possible future employees.

• What do you want to sell? As part of your business plan outline what you are marketing. Have you been selling goods, assistance or even both? Talk about the sales and also revenue linked with your merchandise or products and services. And refer to a cash flow spread sheet attached to the plan. Outline your starting sales and also marketing and advertising strategy. What tasks you  will be performing to get sales as well as how much time and money will you invest in doing so?

• When did you start the business? Or when are you planning on launching the business?

• Where is your location? Will you work out of your home to start  or will you lease office  or shop?  Where will you be located and why is this a good location for your business

• Why is your business unique? What is your unique selling position ?What sets you aside from everybody else within the industry.

Business plans are a useful document to help you sell your business vision and ideas to yourself, your partners, your bank and your employees. If you are in any business , you are selling something and you need to firstly sell the concept of why your business even exists to those closest to you and then it will be easier to sell your business to your customers.

Making a successful and also lucrative company is no easy job. It is reliant on many outside elements, such as competition, timing as well as need, which you’ve very small to no manage more than in the beginning. Assuming all of these outside factors are in your favor, having a sound company strategy can cause getting a successful business. Here are four easy steps to think about when you’re creating your business from the ground up:

1. Figure out your company. What are you selling?
This query isn’t as simple to answer as you might think. For example, Nike is within the sportswear company, but the truth is the fact that when you buy a pair of Nike shoes along with a t-shirt at the mall you are purchasing a great deal more than sportswear — you’re buying an picture, a feeling. You are purchasing the Nike manufacturer. Richard Thalheimer, the former CEO with the Sharper Image and the founder of RichardSolo.com, has worked in specialized retail for more than 30 years. When asked what business he’s in, he’ll tell you “convenience” or “innovation” before he specifies any particular industry, as well as he’s constructed a single with the most effective brands in America. Maintain in thoughts, there’s more to a item than, well, the item. Your manufacturer is what sets your item apart from your competitor’s.

2. Select your marketplace. Who are you selling to?
This step is really a bit less interpretive as the very first, though equally essential. Who are you selling to? or much more importantly, what do you know about this individual? Understanding your consumer is really a key to achievement. What do they do? Where do they hang out? What do they watch on television? They are just a few with the questions that you ought to be capable to answer about your customer. Understanding the answers to these queries can solution a great deal of questions of the personal when it comes to a devising a marketing method. Richard Thalheimer understood his marketplace for the Sharper Image, probably too as they understood themselves. From an post within the LA Occasions, Tracy Wan, who was president as well as chief operating officer under Thalheimer says “Richard has the amazing capability to determine the things that people wish to have.” This ability to perceive your consumer’s desire can only be a result of knowing them like your neighbor.

3. Create a marketing method. How do you talk to these people?
This is a culmination of understanding your brand and your customer. As pointed out in number two, knowing your consumer can solution a lot of questions regarding your marketing method: Exactly where ought to you advertise? What’s the voice of your manufacturer? What kind of costs are reasonable for this demographic? In order to engage your consumer, a.k.a. market your item to them, you must know where your ads will be observed, how you can talk to them, and also how much they will probably be capable to spend, among numerous of things. Really, this action should have been combined with the last because who your market is dictates your marketing strategy entirely.

4. Learn by example. Seek advice from those who’ve carried out it.
There are numerous books written by professionals who have already started their own company and are already effective in doing so. One that arrives to thoughts instantly, as we’ve currently pointed out him a couple of times, is Richard Thalheimer. “Creating Your Personal Sharper Image” shares the story of how he increased his tiny office supply company, The Sharper Image, into the successful company that it has become today.

Remember, creating a effective company in not all concerning the dollars and cents. Similarly as valuable is you brand equity and your capability to engage your consumer, which can be only achievable by knowing them. Supposing there is really a demand for the product, as well as you are able to compete using the other brands, following these four steps shall guide you within the right direction.

Being on aware of your unique business skills may be the easiest way to improve your chances of business success. This means you have to do something to different to grow your business. So, how to be unique and make it so that your possible customers ONLY think of your business, item or support when they’re contemplating making a purchase. That way you get their business, rather than they purchase somewhere else.

What this means is should you sell widgets, you would like your possible customers to only think with the widgets when they’re thinking of buying widgets. This truly is may be easy if your business is not in a competitive industry. But if you are in a competitive market you will need a point of difference or some added benefit to attract customers.

How can you make certain your possible clients ONLY think of you – and consequently only Buy from YOU – and not all those other companies? Solution: By totally understanding your business and its unique selling position and by win win joint ventures

(1) Finding a position within the category you are able to own. This will separate you from all with the other companies and will make you uniquely skilled within the eyes of your prospect to fill their require. This generally requires discovering a particular marketplace specialized niche you are capable to concentrate on, or discovering a particular item or service attribute or advantage, that is of value for your possible clients, that none of your competitors can claim or are currently promoting. This puts you inside a class of your personal and virtually eliminates the competition. No one does precisely what you do. Or within the really the way you do it.

(2) By finding complimentary businesses to create a joint venture What the heck is really a “joint venture?” It is really a competitor or complimentary business which you turn into a partner or perhaps a cooperator. Are there businesses or individuals with whom you are able to partner, using the concept of referring organization to each other? For instance, a wellness coach could joint venture with a weight watchers clinic or a health club or possibly a massage therapist.

All of those practitioners are promoting improved wellness and nicely becoming, but they can also be positioned as complementary services. Or, let’s say you’re a internet website designer and you select to focus primarily on functioning with small companies (a market niche). You are able to produce a partnership with an additional web web site designer who has made a decision to concentrate on large corporations. If you every agree to only think about on company that fits your identified specialized niche, and to refer company outside your specialized niche to the companion, you each win.

You can partner with other businesses in your exact organization in this manner, by identifying niches, by geographic area served, or by size or kind of customers served. And you can companion with companies in different groups that fill a comparable client require by agreeing to function together to help each and every other get customers.

There isn’t a organization out there that cannot effectively use one of these two techniques to significantly decrease their competition. So figure out which strategy fits your company best, and allow it to be a priority to be on top of competition this year!

Whether you have a Website or Not and Want More Customers, watch the following video and be at the Front of the Next Wave of the Information Revolution – Social Media!

Implementing Website and Social Media Strategies Now is Important to the survival  and growth of your business. The old way of advertising in the Yellow Pages or in local papers will soon be obsolete

So if you don’t have a website – register a domain name and get a website operating quickly. Just establish a presence on the web.

The web 2.0 stuff can follow.

Click here to check out our Introductory Services to get your business on the web quickly and efficiently

So you have a website , How Do You Capture the Growing Gen X, Y and Z market?

If you have an old web 1.0 website and it is not set up to handle web 2.0, then dare to take the next step and move to a dynamic website which operate in the Social Media environment. (Web 2.0)

Click here to find out more about our Social Media Consultancy

Email George Birdsall Now

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