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Your EnterQuest Bulletin - Issue 346
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| Thought for the week: "Don't compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got." Janis Joplin |
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In this week's issue:
How focused is your marketing?
When faced with the challenge of getting sales in a new market or finding new prospects and leads for your business, you won't go far wrong if you follow the 80/20 rule when you plan your marketing campaigns. Focus 80% of your marketing effort on getting to know as much as possible about the 20% of customers or prospects who genuinely represent the greatest sales potential for your business.
Select a target niche that you believe, or you can prove, is most likely to buy from you. You can identify this niche by analysing who already spends the most money with you, or on your type of product or service. It will be even more useful to find out and define the unique characteristics that people in this group share.
The following list of questions about your prospects and customers is broken into two tiers, which aim to show the different levels on which you can get to know your customers and prospects.
For example, if you can answer all the questions in the first section, you'll have enough useful information about the customers and prospects in your market, with information on where they are located and their demographic profile in terms of age, gender and ethnicity. This can help you decide where they're most likely to see your marketing messages.
But if you can find and analyse the more detailed information in section two, you'll really get to understand what motivates your target market, and what makes it tick.
Basic information:
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Where do they live?
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What is their occupation?
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How old are they?
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What is their gender?
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What is their ethnic group?
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What is their marital status?
More detailed information:
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How much do they earn?
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What newspapers and magazines do they read?
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What associations or groups do they belong to?
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How do they prefer to buy (phone, online, mail order, face-to-face)?
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What is their education level?
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How do they socialise?
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What are their hobbies?
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What are their tastes and preferences?
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What are their special interests?
This list is not exhaustive, but if you can compile this level of detail about your ideal customers or prospects, you'll be able to focus your marketing message and medium like a laser on the target niche that you've defined.
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For more marketing techniques and ideas, check out The UK Small Business Marketing Bible, which contains hundreds more tips and tactics for boosting your sales using proven marketing strategies that work no matter what product or service you sell. |
Each week we provide you with summaries of some popular or emerging business ideas in the UK and elsewhere around the world.
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Social shopping network idea. Blippy is a social shopping network that lets you share information about what you buy with other users of the site. Users must register one of their credit cards to the site, then each time they use it, details of what they bought are posted online. According to this blog, it has potential for all kinds of uses.
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Online farmers' market idea. VFMUK is a website that allows users to 'stroll' around a virtual farmers' market and order products from the businesses occupying the stalls. There are around 50 stallholders at the moment and they can upload 90-second clips in order pitch their stock to customers. Orders placed are delivered by a courier.
Regularly improving your vocabulary is not just about learning a new word and its meaning. It will improve your general knowledge and make you feel and act smarter in all sorts of personal and business situations.
Do you know the meaning of the word 'militate'?
a) influence adversely
b) soften up
c) repel against
d) divide opinion
Answer at the end of the Bulletin.
The following topical business issues have been recently reported in the media. Did your radar pick them up?
1) Interest charges are expected to increase by a third for businesses that have taken out Government-backed loans under which of the following schemes?
a) the Enterprise Finance Guarantee
b) the Growth Capital Fund
c) the Capital for Enterprise Fund
d) the Working Capital Scheme
2) The British Insurance Brokers Association is calling on the Government to help small firms do more to protect themselves against major incidents such as fire or flood, after it discovered that 45% of owners it surveyed don't have which of the following?
a) key man insurance
b) business continuity plan
c) insurance against fire or flood
d) a fire exit plan
3) Recent research from Specsavers has revealed that employers are unaware of new legislation coming into force in 2011, which requires them to ensure that staff employed as drivers do which of the following?
a) go for medical checkups every six months
b) have more frequent eye tests
c) submit claims for eye test fees within a week
d) inform the DVLA of the results of every eye test
Answers at the end of the Bulletin.
Free factsheet on health and safety for small firms
The Institute of Directors (IoD) and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) have jointly produced a health and safety factsheet aimed at owner-managers of small firms. It covers legal responsibilities for employers and contains a checklist to help owners better address health and safety in their business.
Tool generates sitemaps for free
The XML Sitemaps Generator provides you with a sitemap of your website for free. Sitemaps are useful tools that allow search engines spiders to index each page on a website, and may help to improve search engine rankings. Simply follow the on-screen instructions to generate your sitemap.
Essential market research workshop
The British Library is holding an Essential Market Research workshop on 8 February. Aimed at inventors, entrepreneurs and small firms, it covers reasons why competitors are successful, what customers really want, and product pricing. The event is free of charge.
Promotional methods for freelancers
This website contains hints and tips to help freelancers get more from their online promotional methods. Topics discussed include referrals, new clients, mailing lists, online efficiency and more. There's also an RSS feed on the site, so users can get regular updates and news.
You can get access to hundreds more online business tools, how-to articles, checklists, standard forms and business development resources by subscribing to the Better Business Adviser.
Win a Bluetooth mobile printer worth £199
The PrintStik from mobile working solutions firm PlanOn is the world's smallest full-page printer that makes it possible for users to print documents anywhere, any time, while on the road.
PrintStik offers full-feature printing capabilities on a self-contained, 20-page roll of A4 paper. It is extremely user-friendly and syncs easily with a variety of devices including laptops, PDAs and smart phones, transferring images and documents clearly with no smudging or bleeding.
EnterQuest has teamed up with PlanOn to offer readers the chance to win this really useful device, worth £199.
To be in with a chance of winning this great prize, just answer the following question:
Q: What percentage of businesses don't have a business continuity plan, according to the British Insurance Brokers Association?
a) 25%
b) 45%
E-mail your answer, together with your name, address and daytime phone number, using 'PlanOn PrintStik competition' in the subject line, to enterquest@cobwebinfo.com.
All entries must be received by 31 January. Full competition rules are available on request.
This book is ideal for anyone thinking of starting a business but doesn't have the capital or funding to do so. It features free start up resources and contains hints and tips on where to source business essentials such as office equipment and stationery, as well as signposts to free banking, advice and support. Check out:
Just one word answer
The answer is a).
Militate means to influence adversely.
The poor timekeeping of the freelancer militated against their chances of more work. |
How's your business radar? The answers
1) The answer is a) - Businesses that have taken out bank loans under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee face interest charges of up to a third more than they were previously paying, as an exemption from state aid rules came to an end. The Government has said that it always intended to raise the interest to 2% (from 1.5%) this January.
2) The answer is b) - Some 45% of businesses don't have a business continuity plan, according to BIBA. Over a quarter of those surveyed said they don't know how to create one.
3) The answer is b) - The European legislation means that employers have to ensure that employees who drive as part of their role must undergo more frequent eye tests. The Specsavers survey revealed that more than three-quarters surveyed were unaware of the legislation. |
Visit www.enterprisequest.com to access all back issues of the EnterQuest bulletin. If you have any feedback or suggestions for us to make this service more relevant please e-mail your comments to enterquest@cobwebinfo.com.
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Good luck
The EnterQuest Team
This information is meant as a starting point only. Whilst all reasonable efforts have been made, the publisher makes no warranties that the information is accurate and up-to-date and will not be responsible for any errors or omissions in the information nor any consequences of any errors or omissions. Professional advice should be sought where appropriate. |
