How well do you really know your clients? 

Chances are good that it’s less than you think.

If you can’t answer (at least with more than a modicum of conviction) the following 10 questions about your target customer, you probably need to consider doing some serious market research this year:

1. If your target customer received an extra $500 from his/her tax refund, how would he/she spend it?
2. If your target customer had to choose a place to eat dinner with family, where would it be?  Why?
3. Where does your target customer like to vacation?
4. What are your target customer’s hobbies?
5. What type of outfit does your target customer wear to work?  What type of outfit does he/she wear at home?
6. What does your target customer value most in the world?  What does he/she value least?  Why?
7. What does your target customer like to read?
8. What are the top three stores you’d be most likely to find your target customer?  (These can be virtual as well as brick-and-mortar.)
9. What type of home does your target customer live in?
10. How would you describe your target customer’s overall lifestyle?

If you think these (and other questions) aren’t important considerations, you’re mistaken. 

Certainly, your target customer will vary slightly, but you might be surprised at how alike many of your clients are.  The best part of all?  Once you pinpoint your ideal clientele, you’ll have a better chance to market your products or services to them. 

We all know it — the economy isn’t exactly at its best.  But that’s absolutely no reason to stop marketing.  In fact, it’s probably one of the BEST times for you to strategically market your business!

See, even during the Great Depression of the 1930s, there were businesses that made money.  What was their secret?  For one, they marketed in one form or another and their companies eventually weathered the decade-long storm.  By all economic pointers, our recession is unlikely to reach the magnitude of the Great Depression, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t put their successful marketing principles to work.

Now, I’m in no way suggesting that you break the bank on marketing — far from it!  Instead, I am urging you to sit down with a marketer who knows what she’s doing and develop a marketing plan that’s going to equate to financial profitability and longevity for your business. 

Will all this mean that you have to be creative?  Sure.  Will it mean you have to spend a little?  Yep.  But in the end, what you reap will far outweigh any investments on your part.

Don’t stick your head — or your wallet — in the sand.  Develop a marketing plan today and get your product(s) or service(s) out there right now!

As business owners, we all want money to come flooding through the door.  Alas, that’s just not the reality.  In fact, 99.9% of people (and I have yet to meet the other 0.1%, by the way… I’m just giving the benefit of a doubt) have to work really, really hard to make their cash flow rather than trickle.

A colleague of mine, Scott McPherson, is a virtual CFO and CPA.  He wrote a particularly good article on the subject of cash flow and why it’s important.  You can find his piece here, and you can reprint it on your blog for free (if you include his links and don’t edit it) if you’d like to educate others.

As a business coach, I often counsel my clients in how to be more efficient and organized so that cash flow problems are minimized.  In fact, many clientele tell me they’re shocked by all the little things they could be doing to improve their monthly cash flow. 

If you don’t have a river of cash coming into your wallet, contact me at julie(at)jadcc(dot)com and we’ll set up a time to chat.  Who knows?  It might just take a little tweak in your daily, weekly and monthly habits to realize amazing benefits.

Small business owners — are you taking precautions in your hiring procedures?  If not, I encourage you to read this post, a warning to entrepreneurs who don’t think they’re “big enough” to entertain such “trivial” matters as background screening prospective employees.

Sure, I know your objections: 

A.  You’re used to listening to your instincts when it comes to doing business.  After all, that’s why you became an entrepreneur in the first place. 

B.  Background screening every new hire would be tedious and expensive.

C.  You hire so rarely and usually only keep them on the job for a limited period of time… so why should you even worry about the backgrounds of applicants?

Obviously, you’re going to do what you want to do.  However, I strongly suggest you take into consideration the following possibilities of hiring the WRONG person:

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Have you ever wondered if it’s time to branch out to the international market?  Maybe you sell a product that would be useful to people regardless of where they live.  Or perhaps you have a service that could easily be relevant from the Ukraine to Australia.  So you’re left with a big question — Is it time to go global?

If you’re leaning toward a “yes” vote, know that you have to make a plan if you’re going to go for a whole new source of clientele.  Sure, you may have business and marketing strategies in place, but they’re going to have to be tweaked in order to make an international business work.

Some factors you’ll need to keep in mind include:

Payment - How will you get your payment from overseas buyers?  Will you require a retainer for services so you don’t get burned?  What happens if you get burned anyway?  How will you collect fees that are owed to you when your clients are thousands of miles away in a foreign market?  Will your rates vary with the exchange rate fluctuations of the U.S. dollar? 

Marketing - How will you market to people in other countries?  Will you pay someone to redo your website into their language?  Will you simply target English-speaking clients from other countries? 

Communications and Customer Service - What kind of customer service will you be able to offer international customers?  Does your phone plan offer a reasonable rate for international calls?  Will you offer service through the Internet instead of via telephone?  What times of the day/night will you be available for customers to contact you?

Infrastructure - Are you able to handle more business from a global market?  Will you need to change the way you work or the hours you keep in order to make your new customers feel supported?  Might it be best to bring in a part-time or full-time employee to help you?  Could you outsource some of your international business dealings to someone else?

The world is wide and opportunities are abundant.  However, before you deliberately market yourself to a global audience, it will behoove you to sit down and seriously look at all aspects of doing business on an international scale.

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You’ve been marketing, marketing, marketing but it’s just not producing the results you expect or desire.  And you cannot understand it!  You love your logo, you adore your website, you enjoy your social networking sites… what’s wrong???

Perhaps it’s not your audience… maybe it’s you.

Many times, we fall head over heels for our own marketing items and strategies.  They seem so great!  Our websites are gorgeous and Flash-intensive, our postcards are four-color with attractive pictures, our billboards have a picture of our grandkids.  But, see, that’s the problem.  These are all marketing items that you like, but they might not be resonating with your potential customers.

You’ve lost sight of the real “bullseye”, the actual target.

It happens frequently in marketing.  We become inwardly-focused rather than asking, “What does my client need to know?  What does he or she want to see?”  Many times, his or her expectations aren’t what you would expect.  In fact, many times, they aren’t what would appeal to you in the least.  But you still have to implement them if you want to remain competitive.

It isn’t a crime to like your marketing, of course.  But if it’s not producing anything in the way of sales, leads or interest, it may be time to ask yourself the tough question:  “Am I marketing for them… or am I marketing for me?” 

Make sure your marketing is targeting the right clientele.  Leave a comment right now and I’ll email you to set up a FREE 30-minute discussion about your marketing today!

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I meet so many people who don’t market through online social networks that it boggles my mind.  Their excuses?  Typically, they site a) inconvenience; b) uneasiness; c) time constraints; and a whole host of other easily-overcome justifications.

I’m going to say this as clearly as I can:  If you’re not marketing your business through online social networks, you’re missing out on loads of opportunities.

Just the other day, Facebook hit 250 million users.  Back in March, Twitter reported it had over 8 million users.  LinkedIn has around 40 million users.  MySpace has millions of users, too.  And there’s no telling exactly how many millions of blogs are floating around the cyberuniverse, as new ones are created daily.

Truly, there’s no dearth of online social networking opportunities… and there’s no reason not to take advantage of their power.  If you’re worried about finding moments in your day to post a blog, tweet about your product/service, post a message on your Facebook wall or update your LinkedIn status, call a marketing consultant who is well-versed in handling social networking sites for clientele.

The online social networking revolution is here.  Get your train ticket today or risk being left behind in the station.

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