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Stop! To achieve business growth in 2011

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Stop ... To Achieve Growth

This year, Brisbane's economic climate is complex. Many local businesses are on a solid road to recovery from the Global Financial Crisis, while others have been dealt a severe economic blow from the recent floods and cyclones. Whatever situation your business is in, the simple key to sustainable business growth remains the same: increase your sales while using fewer resources.

Easy to say, of course, but how can you achieve it? Sustainable Marketing Services (Australia) utilises a proven Sustainable Marketing Framework that has guaranteed past clients growth and success across a variety of markets. Clients with a range of sales and marketing challenges have been able to generate increased and ongoing revenue streams while reducing their overall investment in marketing.

In this article, Maria Anderson, Managing Director of Sustainable Marketing Services, shares her #1 top tip to help guarantee growth for your business in 2011:

#1 Sustainable Marketing Tip: Stop!

Before you make any moves with your sales and marketing strategies, stop to:

Identify your key marketing challenge

Focus on the real issue to ensure the best sustainable return on your marketing investment. If you don't figure out what's blocking you from realising your full growth potential, you risk wasting resources trying to fix something that's not really broken. Don't be tempted to think, as many businesses do, the key to growth is to tap into new markets. Figure out if your marketing dollars will be more lucratively invested in stronger marketing to your current market, cross-selling and up-selling to existing customer, or holding on to departing customers.

How? Conduct a full audit of your current brand position, your sales force and sales activities, and your marketing and communications strategies. Without neglecting any of the four essential pillars of marketing, determine which one will bring you the greatest return on investment, and focus your efforts on it: branding (to build a solid foundation that will establish customer confidence, lead to quicker sales processes and lay the groundwork for long term growth), acquisition (to bring on new customers and generate swift sales), retention (to protect your valuable customer base and safeguard your initial investment in acquisition) or harvesting (to gain additional sales from your existing customers).

Understand your markets

Avoid wasting money on inefficient marketing efforts by getting to know your target markets intimately. Objectively understand what makes your customers ‘tick' by conducting primary and secondary research. The results will enable you to position your brand to jump right out at the customers you want; you'll be able to tailor your messages to speak directly to them; and you'll be able to target the specific mediums where they'll be looking for solutions to their needs.

How? Use simple yet effective techniques like focus groups and surveys. Tap into the plethora of information available in newspapers, industry publications, Australian Business of Statistics and IBISWorld.

Assess your product or service portfolio

Gain long term profits by balancing today's profit generators with tomorrow's profit generators, and exit products or services that no longer perform. Realise that high growth products and services often take more resources to market than low growth ones. For sustainable growth, don't forfeit one for the other. And stop wasting sales and marketing resources on products and services that simply no longer make money.

How? Review your financial statements. Cross reference sales figures with the cost of sales per product or service. Pinpoint the non-performing products and assess whether they are "dead" products or services for your market. Make some tough decisions to ensure long term growth, rather than simply focusing on short term profits that may burn out.

Go!

By stopping to identify your key marketing challenge, understand your markets and assess your product portfolio, you'll position yourself for sustainable growth in 2011 and beyond. You'll avoid investing in less-than-lucrative markets, squandering resources by creating messages that don't tell your customers what they want to hear or wasting time and energy marketing products that no longer provide a return on investment. For sustainable growth, first stop...and then go!

Sustainable Marketing Services (Australia)

Sustainable Marketing Services (Australia) is a full-service outsourced marketing company that can help you achieve sustainable long-term profits and growth using sustainable marketing practices. We provide strategic products and services ranging from a Comprehensive Marketing Strategy ($5,250 including a detailed marketing calendar), to a Growth Marketing Plan ($2,595) and a DIY Marketing Template ($99).

Sustainable Marketing Services (Australia) can help you stop, so you get better long term results using fewer resources. To help you get off to a sustainable start in 2011, we are offering a FREE AUDIT of your existing marketing strategy.

Stop! And call us on 1300 699 085 or email us here to set up an appointment for your FREE AUDIT to help you grow your business in 2011 and beyond.