Jean Roberts

Be sure to consistently market your business and your products/services, especially when you are at your busiest.

1. Be specific, confident and consistent about your:

• Uniqueness – How are you different and better than other similar business?
• Competitors – Can you measure the difference between their uniqueness and yours?
• Credibility and viability – Can you maintain these?
• Features and benefits – Do you know the difference, and do you market both?
• Priority market segments/audiences – who are they, and why are they your priorities?

2.    Your business objective is to create, produce and sell a product or service for which someone is prepared to pay a higher price than the cost of preparation and delivery.

3. Your marketing strategy is the means by which you have chosen to get your product or service known – and seen to be desirable, obtainable and reliable.

The purpose of a marketing strategy is to achieve specific targets, eg:

• increase in sales,
• increase in repeat sales/customers,
• convert enquiries and opportunities to sales, and/or
• increase market share.

It is important to have a coordinated marketing strategy – which means having a central message or theme that is presented through every avenue of contact or appeal to your target market.

For instance, I have coordinated my marketing message and strategy through my:

• website,
• promotional material,
• workshops,
• consultancies,
• books,
• issue papers,
• tenders, quotes and estimates,
• training manuals,
• presentations,
• corporate stationery/logo,
• language, and
• personal presentation.

4.  There are five factors of equal value and importance in marketing

• your philosophy and values,
• your current identity, achievements and reputation – which together indicate the  credibility and acceptance of your business,
• having a clear, concise and genuine vision,
• being able to ensure that your product or service is accessible, affordable, attractive and reliable, and
• that what you are offering is better or different to any competitor.

5.    Definitions relevant to a marketing strategy

Marketing Activities concerned with acquiring and maintaining markets for your product or service (ie outputs), and for ensuring that these outputs reach those markets

Market Current or potential buyers or consumers of a particular product of service

Strategy A general method or policy for achieving specified objectives

Marketing mix The combination of methods used for marketing your product or service

Market share The ratio of sales of a particular product or services during a period in a specified market to total sales of that type of output during the same period

Promotion Activity intended to increase the number of buyers or users of an output, or to improve  public acceptance of an idea, eg. advertising, personal selling or sales promotion

Publicity Information about your business or its outputs carried by media or channels of communication without payment

Merchandising Activities intended to place or promote your outputs for sale

Selling Transfer of ownership over a defined product or service – usually in exchange for money

6.  Examples of key marketing objectives

a) identifying the point of difference – what is it that sets you apart from your competitors, and your product or service apart from similar products or services?

b) separating the features from the benefits of your product or service:

• features are the technical and tangible components of your product or service.
• benefits are what owning or using your product or service can do for the buyer or user.

c) prioritising market segments/audiences:

• categories of people or places: for example, people who are decorating their new homes, who own computers, who have small children or grandchildren, who own or drive trucks; or places where people meet, spend time, shop, have holidays, attend school, catch trains or buses,
• communities of practice: for example, groups of people who have completed similar studies; who belong to professional associations; or who follow a particular theory, model or practitioner in their areas of business, work or activity,
• communities of interest: for example, people who share the same or similar interests –  which could be sport, recreation, study, travel, investment, history, environment, wines, cooking.

d) increasing both demand and supply – effective and timely marketing will increase demand, therefore make sure you will be able to meet increased demand without compromising   quality or availability.

e) promoting you and your product or service – you may wish to market yourself in the first round, which may be informing the market who you are, what you intend to offer and when, and how they can contact you with any requests, invitations or queries: this would then be followed by a separate marketing of your product or service.

f) attracting revenue, in-kind support and resources – this is a totally legitimate objective for a marketing campaign – but with very specific targeting to key people in positions of influence

g) improving and expanding your image/profile – keeping your name and your product or service in front of people is imperative in establishing yourself and your product or service into the psyche of target markets: and this regular contact needs to come from you, offering something of value in each contact

h) ensuring that each marketing project has specific objectives, strategies, budget allocation, evaluation procedure and monitoring points – marketing has to be an investment, not a straight out cost: it can be as simple as ten phone calls each week or each day to carefully selected people or places, distributing a regular newssheet (two sides of an A4 sheet) whenever you meet with people who may become users or buyers of your product or service, having a special flyer to hand out at professional or business networks meetings.

i) If you plan – or have – a website, make sure it is easy for any person to find, easy to access and easy to find their way around.  Simplicity is the key word – simple layout, simple messages, genuine benefits for taking time to visit your website, with simple and accurate contact details

7.    Tendering is a specific marketing strategy – as is providing quotes, estimates or proposals

A very simple definition:   a tender is a detailed proposal – which will be assessed against specified criteria

As well as being the vehicle for your proposal, the tender document should present a positive, powerful and persuasive business ‘case statement’.   It must have potential as both a marketing and educational document, informing the recipient of the uniqueness and strength of your business, and the value for them in accepting your offer or bid.

A successful tender is one that not only wins the contract, but also ensures that your bid or offer is followed through to a successful conclusion.  Tendering is a core business activity and growth strategy.  It should be a natural follow-on from your strategic and business plans.

8.  Some ideas to use tendering cleverly

Answer these questions carefully and honestly, as they are closely related to your marketing strategy:

• are you using your existing and available resources (including people) as well and as effectively as possible?
• what are you doing with what you’ve got, what you know and who you are?
• what can you offer or do that is different, better and of greater value than any other similar business?

If you know the answers to these questions, you are well placed to use tendering cleverly.

9. Why tender?

Tendering, quoting or estimating are core business activities – a means to an end, not an end in itself.   They should lead to:

• new or increased sales,
• a new, extended or improved product or service,
• addressing or satisfying a need,
• opening up a new market or a new market opportunity,
• enabling you to redress a resource deficiency or create a resource opportunity, or
• enabling you to achieve or improve your market position.

You will need to carefully define and assess tendering opportunities, select the opportunities which will benefit your business and your client/customer base – and then set out to win.

In particular, you will be looking for product, service, customer or market opportunities which will lead to either introducing a new or extended product or service into an existing market or an existing product or service in a new or extended market.

Always remember that tenders are not a one-off activity, they are a means of doing business and are therefore a core business activity.  As a core business activity, tenders must contribute to the success of your business.  They should be treated as a core strategy in achieving your business objectives.

Mostly importantly, aim to increase your strike rate.  If you are winning 40% of your tenders, you are missing 60% of your tenders – and you are winning 40% at a total cost of 100% or your effort!

As a repetitive function, you need an internal policy and procedure to ensure consistency in the content, format and purpose of tendering throughout your business.  To explain these terms further:

content:

a genuine response to the tender brief  plus added value that benefits both your business and the organisation calling the tender

format:

accuracy plus clarity plus conciseness in order to use your tender is a powerful, persuasive and positive marketing tool for your business

purpose:

to enhance your business effectiveness, which may be:

• making a profit or surplus,
• ensuring cashflow and therefore financial viability,
• satisfying the needs or demands of your customers/clients,
• sustaining or increasing order intake and work-in-hand, or
• achieving business growth.

10. Marketing cleverly gives you the opportunity to:

a) expand your business:

• into a new industry sector,
• into a new geographic location or region, or
• industry/profession/customer/competitor recognition.

b) expand your contract or order opportunities:

• a new client/customer,
• additional or repeat work with an existing client or customer,
• breaking into a new market segment or niche,
• creating a new market niche, or
• challenging a competitor or competing sector.

c) provide a service: services are intangible, usually produced or consumed at a close proximity and with significant social inter-action: it is difficult or impossible to re-work deficiencies in services once they are delivered.

d) manufacture a product or component:  products or components can be for use in manufacture by the client or customer or for on-sale to their own customers.

e) import a product or product components:  products or product components that are imported can be for use in manufacture by your client/customer, or purchased for on-sale to their own client/customers.

f) research and develop or design a product or service:

• a research and development (R&D) tender is simply that: to research a problem, need or opportunity and develop an appropriate process, procedure or product for manufacture or implementation,
• an R&D tender rarely moves beyond the development stage which means that a further tender process is required to proceed to manufacture or implementation.

Tools for this Core Business Strategy are provided in:

• One Man Show – the smallest of small business (Jean Roberts, 2008)
• Competitive Tendering – how to write a competitive tender (Jean Roberts, 1997)