How to create a marketing plan for your small business - build a brand, target customers and set prices that will maximise sales.
The internet has transformed business marketing. No matter what you do, the internet is likely to be at the heart of your marketing strategy.
Good advertising puts the right marketing message in front of the right people at the right time, raising awareness of your business.
Customer care is at the heart of all successful companies. It can help you develop customer loyalty and improve relationships with your customers.
Sales bring in the money that enables your business to survive and grow. Your sales strategy will be driven by your sales objectives.
Market research exists to guide your business decisions by giving you insight into your market, competitors, products, marketing and your customers.
Exhibitions and events are valuable for businesses because they allow face-to-face communication and offer opportunities for networking.
A sales presentation is a great chance to progress or even complete a sale. The audience has already shown at least some interest by allowing you to make your sales pitch to them. It's up to you to make the most of the opportunity to make a truly effective presentation.
Advance planning can make all the difference for a business presentation. To start with, you need to know who your audience will be so that you can tailor your presentation to their wants and interests. A technical briefing for experts will be quite different to a high-level sales presentation to the customer's managing director.
Once you know the audience, you can decide what you can reasonably aim to achieve. Not all sales presentations try to make an immediate sale: your objective might be to create interest. Establish the overall message that you want the presentation to get across: for example, that you offer something that your competitors don't.
Before getting into any detailed planning of the presentation, try to get an idea of what the customer is expecting. Are you going to give a formal sales pitch or hold a more open discussion? How long will the meeting be?
A good selling presentation focuses on a few key points that you need to get across to support your overall message. The key points are put together in a logical argument, together with any supporting evidence or visual aids that will make your presentation more convincing.
One of the best known of all presentation tips is to say everything three times. So as well as the main body of your presentation, you introduce your key points at the beginning and summarise them again at the end.
Once you have the structure organised, it's worth drawing up notes you can speak from — not a full script — and practising. Try to build some flexibility into your presentation in case a particular point doesn't work well, you run short of time or the system on which you planned to show your visual aids isn't working.
It's natural to be nervous when you are about to deliver the presentation. Try to use this nervous energy to give your presentation life and enthusiasm. Deep breaths before you start and a conscious effort to speak slowly can help overcome the appearance of nerves, as can confident body language and projecting your voice.
Even if you're delivering a formal sales presentation, you should aim to engage the audience rather than just speaking at them. Regularly look for eye contact with your audience. If appropriate, ask them questions and use their names to involve them. Try to avoid distractions such as giving them handouts during the presentation or being interrupted by ringing phones.
If you're asked any questions, decide how best to deal with them. You may need to answer a question straight away to overcome a potential objection, but detailed points can often be left until after your planned presentation. In either case, you should try to stay in control of the discussion. Once you have finished your presentation, you should encourage feedback and any further questions. Last but not least, make sure you agree what the next step will be.
