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Posts Tagged ‘When In Doubt’

Let me ask you a question.

Do You Have a Marketing Plan?

Marketing is the real back bone of your business. Don’t you think that it is important enough to need a plan, completely separate from your basic business plan? After all with out a plan how will you know where you are going. Let’s go over the basic information that your marketing plan should include.

First you need a marketing strategy and a budget. It is a good idea to get the basics of your marketing plan written down, so that you can see exactly what you are  aiming for. Start the process by making lists.

List of all the advertising you plan to do. Include websites, newspapers, radio, flyers, the yellow pages etc.

For each form of advertising you should assign an estimated cost. Determine how many customers you expect to reach. This will allow you to work out your cost of per customer, which is how much of you budget you need to spend on advertising to bring in one customer.

Next make a list all of the pricing policies you plan to have, as well as any special offers that you think will be good. Don’t worry you can make price changes and new offers later, The idea here is to have some  basic long term plans.

Another good idea is to have a list of other businesses in your area that could be considered to be competitors.  You need to know who you are up against and a good plan to differentiate yourself from them.

This is just a basic outline for starting your business plan. Remember, when in doubt seek out help. Do a quick search for sample marketing plans online or visit your local library for more information.

 Thank you for reading this post…

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Today let’s talk about…..

The Secrets of Pricing.

Today let’s talk about the secrets of pricing your products for the best results.

Pricing your products or services appropriately is a challenging part of any home business. You know what you have and what you can do, but do you know how much you should be charging, without putting yourself out of business? Consider these few ideas when you are picking your price points.

First find out what the competition is charging. If they are selling a similar product or service do some snooping, make some calls, find out what they offer and how much it costs. Now compare their prices with your own. How do they measure up?

Keep in mind that just because someone else is selling for less doesn’t mean you should lower your prices. It is not always a good thing to be the cheapest out there. You might be surprised to know that you can take away a competitor’s business by increasing your value and charging a higher price. One of the biggest secrets of pricing is that people assume a higher price means better quality and more value.

Here is a simple formula you can follow to help when choosing your price points. First determine your costs per item or service. Include any materials that you use like packaging, advertising, and legal fees ECT. Once you are done, you should have a rough estimate of how much each product you offer costs.

Next figure in a charge for your time and labor. Do this by adding the hours it takes you to complete the task, and then decide what your hourly wage will be. It’s up to you how much you will pay yourself. When in doubt start with minimum wage then gradually increase your wage to raise the price of the product. If you have a problem with this just think about what you might pay an employee to do the same job for you.

Now that you have added the cost and time, you need to add in a profit margin. This should typically be about 30 to 50 percent of the price you’ve come up with so far. You are all done. You should have the perfect price point to charge for your product or service. If you are unsure do some testing. Try selling at a slightly higher or lower price to see which price point will sell better. Keep in mind that most often it is easier to lower prices than to increase them depending on what business you are in.