The Ideal Business Plan

by | Feb 4, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights

I recall a few years ago when I was registering a company name for myself, that I was told to talk to a small business development service offered by our local college.

They gave me a form to fill out.  It was to create a business plan.

Mine was simple.  I wanted to help people with their advertising and marketing decision making process, which I had been doing already.  I just needed a company set up so that I could take some of the extra payment I was receiving, outside of my regular employment and put it somewhere.10-steven-lewis used

You really should have some kind of plan and you can make it as simple or fancy as you desire. Just be sure you include all the basics such as the known expenses including marketing and advertising and how you are going to fund those expenses.  You can talk to someone other than me to get a complete list.

But I want to ask you a more important question.

Why and What?

Why are you doing this and what is your motivation?

In years past, I’ve had coworkers come to me with all kinds of online schemes ideas and when I asked them the Why and What, they said they wanted to make lots of money and not have to work hard.

Wrong answer in my book.

If your only reason for doing what you do is to make money as fast as possible with very little work, you will be tempted to focus only on what you get, and turn a blind side to what your customers get.  That’s bad.  If you are that type of person, I probably won’t do business with you.

The opposite is the person who thinks money is evil and wants to run a business but has no concept of what it takes to cover expenses and the like.  That person needs a dose of reality and a mentor, coach or adviser to help them with the business side.

Here’s what the ideal business plan should really focus in on:

What I like to do that others will pay for, that I can earn money from that is a good use of my time.

Like to cook?  Good, you could be a chef and run a catering service or restaurant.

Like to clean?  Great, there are plenty of people who will pay for cleaning services for their business or home.

Like to ________?  Fantastic, as long as there are people who will pay you to _________.

Start with your passion, your idea, your dream.  And I’m not talking about that dream where you retire at 25  with unlimited wealth.

If you are in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area, I can direct you to an organization that can help you move to the next step.

It’s not me, it’s a future client of mine.

P.S.  What happened to my own company?   It’s still there if I need it.  But I decided to earn my living working for WOWO and Federated Media including our Federated Digital Solutions division.  The advice and consulting I was charging for is usually free, because that is how I work.

My goal has always been the same, help others make wise decisions about their marketing and advertising.

 

 

How Not To Use Email for Marketing

by | Jan 16, 2015 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, ScLoHo Sales Tips

Email marketing can be effective, but it can also be a waste of time and effort.  Years ago I switched my own email provider to a Google based account because of their excellent spam filtering algorithms. My Yahoo account was filled with crap and Gmail was soooo much better.

Last week someone sent me an email to my radio station email account that made it past our spam filters.  It was pretty bad.  Take a look:

Dear Scott,

As a business professional, ReachBase would like to occasionally send you relevant and informative business related offers via email.

Each message will contain a link that will allow you to be immediately removed from this valuable program at any time.

We look forward to providing you with this useful business resource.

If you do not wish to receive these useful business offers, please use the link below.

Thank you,

ReachBase

I had never heard of this company.  I don’t know how they got my email address, but the real issue is what this email message is missing.

Who the heck is ReachBase and why do I want their email offers?

They failed to give me a Valid Business Reason for wanting to read their email.

Read it again.  It’s all generic babel. email-marketing

Most people would ignore this or label it as spam.  But I decided to turn it into a lesson.  The one you are reading right now.

I Googled ReachBase included the address that was in the fine print and discovered that the company name is really Reach Marketing. That’s a big mistake. If you are going to send me an email, you probably need to have a spot online that is the same as the name you are promoting.  At least a landing page telling me who you are with the same name you are promoting, not some off shoot.

But here’s the kicker.  I discovered this on their website:

Reach Marketing is the only company that brings together an inter-disciplinary team of IT, software development, marketing, audience development, database marketing, analytics, SEO/SMO and digital experts within one organization to drive the success of its clients.

And:

Email is the single most powerful marketing medium because it generates high response rates at a relatively low cost. Email marketing is immediate, can be tracked real time and remains the preferred method to communicate with professionals and consumers. Despite their benefits, email campaigns can fail to produce maximum results when not properly executed; strong performance depends on skill and expertise.

My B.S. filter just exploded.

First off, to claim you are the only company that has such a team is a lie.  I know other companies and worked for one that has all those bases covered.

Maybe they are the best at something?  Nope.  As I mentioned at the beginning of this piece and you can read for yourself, their own email marketing campaign to me was not “skillfully executed with expertise”.

But it did give me something to write about.

I don’t know all the answers, and I won’t pretend to either.  But if you want help with your marketing efforts to attract customers either digitally or on one of my radio stations in Fort Wayne, Indiana…contact me.