What is the Marketing Mix?

By Lanee’ Blunt

The Four P's of Marketing--
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Marketing is very importantfor your business because it helps you attract new customers and keepsformer customers coming for repeat business. The marketing mix helps youdetermine how to satisfy your customers, and it can be planned, controlled andadjusted until you get the results that are best for your company.

Marketers use the marketingmix to create a value for their product. The elements in the marketing mix areproduct, place, price and promotion. The four-elements of the marketing mix areused and adjusted until the marketer gets the results that he wants. Forexample, pricing decisions are used in the form of cash discounts whichconvince customers to buy.

The product is analyzed forits ability to compete better than your competition. For example, quality andsafety can be used as a benefit. Price includes decisions that you would maketo price your product competitively. Place includes the distribution decisionfor example, how to reach your customers in what geographic location. Promotiondecisions are strategies that you will use to get more customers, such ascoupons and sales.

Reference:

Business Dictionary:Marketing Mix

Net MBA: The Marketing Mix

What Content is Included in the Finance Section of a Business Plan

By Lanee’ Blunt

Include your Financial Section--
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A financial section shouldalways be included with your business plan. A business plan is a written descriptionof your business and what you plan to do and how you are going to do it.  They are used by entrepreneurs that areseeking financing, firms that are trying to hire key personnel, firms trying toget investors.

The finance section of thebusiness plan should include your cash flow statements, of each year you havebeen in business—up to three to five years, company income statements, balancesheets and other financial ratios, such as a break-even analysis. You mayrequire help from your accountant or a good spreadsheet software program.

Reference:

Entrepreneur:  An Introduction to Business Plans

SBA: Writing a BusinessPlan: Financials

How to Get Leads for your Newsletter

By Lanee’ Bunt

Make it easy for people to sign
up for your newsletter--
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Keep your business name infront of your prospects. As a small business you also have to get formercustomers to use your business again and give you repeat business. Although coldcalling is an effective way: by calling the prospect and asking if they areready to buy—it is not for everyone. If you don’t like cold calling there areother alternatives like sending prospects your newsletter.

Buy or rent a mailing List. Makesure that all of the subscribers on your mailing list have opt-in to receive anewsletter from you.  You must havegained their email address by their permission or by signing up for yournewsletter, or subscribing to receive updated information, and they have takensome kind of action to indicate they’d want to receive information fromyou.  Provide a way for recipients tounsubscribe to your email, so make it easy for them to opt-out from your emailprogram.

Make your website easy foryour prospects to sign up for your email newsletter.  Create a way to capture the email addresseson your website. Make sure that all of the subscribers on your list have opt-into receive an email newsletter from you. “The most important thing to rememberis that all subscribers on your list must take some type of action to indicatethey would like to receive email communications from your company,” accordingto Simms Jenkins, in his book, The Truthabout Email Marketing, (FT Press, 2009). You can sign up for anautoresponder service. This service will collect subscriber’s email addressesfrom your website, manage your newsletter account by sending it to people thatrequested it.

Give your prospects anincentive for signing up for your newsletter by giving them a special gift. Forexample, free downloads of your ebook.

Reference:

SimmsJenkins; The Truth about Email Marketing;FT Press; 2009