Marketing Articles
Should Your Hire a Marketing Consulting Firm?By Marc Aronson If your situation is like most other companies today, your business volume and profits are shrinking. There is no telling when and if the economy will rebound. As the owner of a marketing consulting firm and a former president (board chairman) of the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce, I feel compelled to provide businesses in our community with sound marketing advice and be there for those who need our services. We aim to make sure our services are affordable and employ whatever extra effort we can muster to help. So, the question again is should you hire a marketing consulting firm? Consider and apply the following four criteria and you will be able to make the right decision for your business. These include: 1) your competitive situation, 2) the economic climate, 3) how successful your current marketing efforts are, and 4) whether you can find a marketing company that will improve your bottom line well enough to make it a smart investment. Know Your Competition The most colossal mistake you can make is to assume the economy is going to get better and decide to do nothing proactive to increase your market share. Most businesses today are faced with a declining number of buyers who are also spending less when they do buy. If this is true in your industry, you must increase your market share to have any chance of maintaining your level of viability. Because some of your competitors are likely to market more aggressively just to stay alive, doing nothing to counter their efforts could put your business in jeopardy. Thus, you must keep an eye on your competition, understand their strengths and weaknesses, know how they are perceived by your target markets, and be able to accurately predict what actions they will likely take to attempt to weather this economic storm. You can gather intelligence about your competition by:
Know the Economy You need to comprehend the forces that drive the economy in order to foresee what your business will likely face in the future. The economic factors you must consider are governed by the demographics of your target market(s) (i.e., local, regional, national or international). In this current economic climate, however, business is down in virtually every sector. Will the economy recover soon? You need the most potentially accurate gauge you can find. As a marketing consulting company, we need factual information on the economy. What we have discovered is that we cannot rely on the media for accurate guidance. Based on our observations, we have also concluded we cannot depend on government officials, The Federal Reserve or even the IMF for an accurate assessment. Local economic development resources also tend to listen too much to the media (I could share with you how listening to financial forecasts by local economic experts cost a prominent community business hundreds of thousands of dollars). All of these sources failed to predict that the price of oil was going to drop to $50 a barrel when it was at $135 and rising, and neglected to accurately foretell the implosion of the real estate market and derivatives. The sources we rely on anticipated these events well before they occurred. We have found that the most reliable sources are trends forecasting agencies that possess outstanding track records for predicting upcoming events. Two such firms are The Trends Research Institute and The International Forecaster. Both agencies are apolitical (not favoring Democrat or Republican agendas) and solely base their forecasts on economic indicators. How successful are your current marketing efforts? Most businesses we speak with today are off 30 to 40 percent in volume and/or profits from last year. The marketing strategy and tactics they are employing are not generating the business volume they need to at least maintain their level of viability. Thus, to achieve what they require from their marketing, these businesses must find professional expertise capable of grabbing market share from their competitors. The question is whether marketing firms exist that have the capability of doing so. Is there a marketing consulting firm that will provide you the results you need? We have prepared a detailed free report we suggest you order. It is entitled “How to choose a marketing company that will make you money and avoid one that will squander your budget and get no results”. Read this report thoroughly before interviewing marketing companies. Once you have studied its content, you will be able to evaluate consulting agencies and determine whether one or more could provide you the guidance you need. Should you choose Business Builders? What sets Business Builders apart from our competitors is The Marketing Formula. This proven method of ours is based on 35 years of study and experience working with over 250 clients in more than 80 business categories. Apply The Marketing Formula correctly and you will double your market share or more. This seven-step formula is described in detail here on our website. The Marketing Formula properly carried out will enable you to grab your target market’s attention, interest potential customers in what you provide, convince people that you are the right choice and get many to take action. Just call our e-mail us and we will immediately send you a copy of our report. We are also offering a limited number of free consultations. Despite the fact that we are experiencing high demand for our services, we will do our best to accommodate everyone. Copyright © 2011, Business Builders. All rights reserved. None of this material may be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from Business Builders. |
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