Business Marketing Fund

The Business Marketing Fund has been created to help local business get themselves heard by thousands of new customers right across Pennine Lancashire by harnessing the power of advertising on local radio station 107 The Bee

To find out if you qualify for this exciting opportunity call 01254 778013

Marketing Strategy

Creating an effective marketing strategy plan is crucial to the success of your business. An effective sales and marketing plan will help you to identify potential customers and target them with your product or service. The correct marketing technique will help your business turn interest in your product or service into customer orders.

One of the key elements of forming a marketing strategy is the acknowledgement that existing and potential customers will fall into groups. The advantage of placing your customer into groups is that this allows you to address their needs through market research. You can then create a marketing strategy that makes the most of your strengths and meets the needs of your customers.

Once you have discovered your customers needs, decide the best method of marketing that will ensure that your target market know about the products or services your business offers. This can be achieved through several different methods.  

• Exhibitions
• Public relations
• Internet

Strengths and weaknesses

Your strategy should take into account the strengths and weaknesses of your business. A rigorous SWOT analysis will enable you to better understand your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It is of benefit to conduct a SWOT analysis, as this will enable you to build a better picture of your position in the market and your reputation as a business.

Strength could include:

• Excellent customer service
• Unique features that your product offers
• Specialist skills

Weaknesses could include:

• Lack of financial resources
• Lack of reputation
• Limited production capacity

Opportunities could include:

• New technologies that allow reduced number of employees, hence less overheads
• Using the internet to reach new markets
• Emergence of a new market

Threats could include:

• New competitor
• New regulation which increase costs
• Downturn in the economy