Entrepreneur Network Australia

Business Growth Via Strategic Email Marketing, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach

Today’s businesses, regardless of their size, must realize how critical it is for them to engage in strategic marketing activities in order to grow and survive in our business world. Using strategic thinking in deciding which channel can offer you the best return on your marketing investment is also essential for success. A strategic marketing approach requires investment of time and money. A strategic marketing approach will include several different tactics that will provide a marketing system that continuously works toward customer acquisition and retention. One of the most strategic and cost effective marketing initiatives is Email marketing.

Strategic thinking and planning for marketing requires that goals be set. A major goal of any marketing initiative is retention of existing clients and customers and acquiring new clients and customers. So, what might be some defined goals for each email marketing campaign you develop? Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach offers the following goal thoughts.

+ Drive your existing clients/customers and your prospects to your website.

+ Maintain a planned number of contacts with your existing clients/customers and prospects through a strategic client/customer relationship management system.

+ Keep clients/customers and prospects informed about you and your company through an E-newsletter.

+ Introduce a news product or service to existing and prospective clients/customers.

+ Feature a product or service for a limited time.

+ Invite and entice clients/customers to attend a seminar, workshop

or special event you are sponsoring.

+ Invite clients/customers to a trade show where you will be exhibiting

Strategic thinking reminds us that you must be absolutely clear why you are sending the email and that you must monitor the results you have set achieve. Using strategic thinking to understand the intended audience for the email is critical when developing the right message to the right audience. It is always critical to have your email entice the reader first to open it and then motivate them to click through to your targeted landing page.

The landing page is the critical target since this is ultimately where it all happens. If your reader has clicked through to the targeted landing page, then he or she expects to see what your email offer promised. It is very important that you understand in the clearest terms that if your landing page fails to fulfill your reader’s expectations they will click away in seconds with feelings of frustration and annoyance. And that means that you will have wasted your strategic marketing effort and worse yet, it could mean the loss of an existing client/customer or prospect for good. Make sure you make their visit to your website an enjoyable experience.

The timing of your email marketing is also paramount to your success. You must be sensitive to when and how often you are going to send each email. You need to know that new and existing clients/customers will have different comfort levels about how often you send them emails. The best way to understand what they are comfortable with regarding your emails is to simply ask them: “How often would you like to receive information by email?” Then let them choose from a variety of options. This will demonstrate to them that you do value their preferences and their time.

A clearly defined and focused strategic email marketing campaign that targets the right segment of your existing client/customer base or prospective new clients/customers can be a very effective way to generate business. And Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach encourages you to fully realize the benefits of business coaching to strategically and effectively market your business for growth.

Article by Glenn Ebersole

Business Growth – Exploring Growth Outside The Core

Golf ranks as one of the most brutal and demanding markets in the sports business. So, despite its fabled swoosh, Nike was regarded as an amateur when it decided in 1995 to branch out from shoes to golf apparel, balls, and equipment. Four years later, however, Nike had scored priceless marketing victories – not once, but three times running. First, the British Open champ wore Nike’s golf shoes in 1999. Next, Tiger Woods switched from Titliest golf balls, the leading brand, to Nike golf balls in 2000. And, finally, David Duval won his first major tournament just after switching to Nike golf clubs in 2001.

Nike’s entry into the golf market appeared to be the business equivalent of sinking three successive holes in one. But those who had followed the company closely over the previous decade were not surprised. They recognized the formula that Nike has applied and adapted successfully in a series of entries into sports markets – from jogging to volleyball to tennis to basketball to soccer. Nike begins by establishing a leading position in athletic shoes in the target market. Next, Nike launches a clothing line endorsed by the sport’s top athletes – like Tiger Woods, whose $100 million deal in 1996 gave Nike the visibility it needed to get traction in golf apparel and accessories. Expanding into new categories allows the company to forge new distribution channels and lock in suppliers. Then it starts to feed higher-margin equipment into the market – irons first, in the case of golf clubs, and subsequently drivers. In the final step, Nike moves beyond the U.S. market to global distribution.

This formula, we would argue, is the reason that Nike pulled away from Reebok as leader in the sporting goods industry. In 1987, Nike’s operating profits were $164 million to Reebok’s $309 million, and Nike’s market valuation was half the size of Reebok’s. By 2002, Nike had grown its profits to $1.1 billion, while Reebok’s had declined to $247 million. Both companies had started out in the same business with the same manufacturing technology and comparable brand names. Yet Nike found a formula for growth that is used successfully again and again, while Reebok seemed to pursue a different source of growth every year with uneven results.

To learn more about how to sustain profitable growth, we recently conducted a five-year study of corporate growth involving 1,850 companies. We tracked specific growth moves and linked them back to individual company performance. Our research yielded two major conclusions. One was that most sustained, profitable growth comes when a company pushes out the boundaries of its core business into an adjacent space. We identified six types of adjacencies, ranging from adjacent links in the value chain to adjacent customers to adjacent geographies.

Article by Robyn Knapp

Business Growth – Announcing 4 Big Methods to Grow Your Business

Here’s how you can easily grow your business:

1. Consider tying up with successful business owners. Create strategic alliances with companies that are offering products and services that compliment yours. This can help you gain more new customers without really spending too much money on your advertising cost. For example, you can ink a deal with people who are selling SEO tools if you are offering SEO coaching programs. Your partners can cross sell your services to their clients while you do the same.

2. Business plan. Revisit your business plan every now and then to check if you are still on track. Sometimes, we get so overwhelmed in doing other things that our priorities get side tracked. Make sure that you implement your business plan so you can easily reach your goals.

3. Assess your marketing strategies. Spend at least a day or two assessing the effectiveness of your marketing strategies. Are they giving you ROI? Which strategy is more effective and which ones are proven to be just waste of money? You will need to do this so you can save money on your advertising cost and still get connected with the people who are most likely to buy from you.

4. Referrals. One of the best ways to boost your sales and revenue is by creating an ocean of referrals. This can happen if you take good care of all your clients. Aside from offering them with top quality products and customer service, you must also offer them some perks in doing business with you. By doing these, you can be assured that these people will get the word out about you and your offerings.

Article by Sean Mize

Business Growth – Grow Sustainably Or Go Bankrupt

Growth and the management of growth present special problems in financial planning. Growth is not always a blessing. Many companies are in a financial predicament, have cash flow problems or even go bankrupt while they have full order books. There can be several causes for this phenomenon. One of the major causes, however, is the fact that companies grow too fast for their strategic financial resources to support them.

A higher turnover implicates higher assets in the form of stock, debtors and fixed assets. To achieve a sustainable growth rate these assets need to be financed through financial resources that is generated by a company or that can be accessed by a company. The biggest constraint, therefore, of sustainable growth, is the ability to generate sufficient capital to finance the increase in assets (working-capital needs increase). Non-financial resources that also need to grow sustainably include a company’s systems as well as the skills and experience of its employees.

Importance of Growth

Growth is essential for the survival of a company. Strategically a company needs to grow to increase its market share and to achieve a competitive edge against its competitors. Other important benefits of growth are a company’s assets that can be used more optimally, economies of scale that occur and profitability that can increase. In the final analysis growth is extremely important to optimally position a company for harvesting purposes.

Determinants of Sustainable Growth

Sustainable growth is dependent on the rate that a company can generate funds and utilise these funds effectively. The maximum rate at which a company can increase its sales without depleting its financial resources is called the sustainable growth rate. The major determinants of sustainable growth are rate of return, financial leverage, dividend policy and external equity.

Rate of Return – The rate of return that a company achieves forms the basis of how fast the company can grow. The profit margin of a company (after tax) multiplied by the asset turnover (sales divided by total assets) gives the rate of return or return on assets (ROA) of the company.
Financial Leverage – A company often uses debt to leverage a constant rate of return (ROA) to achieve a much higher return on equity (ROE).
Dividend Policy – The dividend policy of a company is a critical variable in manipulating the sustainable growth rate. A dividend payout of 50% allows a company to only grow half as fast as a similar company with no dividends being paid out.
External Equity – External equity is the most expensive form of growth financing and dilute the shareholders return. External equity should only be used as a last resource to finance a company.

An Example of Sustainable Growth.

Various sustainable growth rate formulas exist. Some of them analyse much detail and take inflation, interest rates, external equity and various components of a business into account. A basic formula (formulated by Hewlett-Packard) that is very helpful, is:

SGR = ROE*r

where:

SGR = sustainable growth rate

r = retention ratio (1 – dividend payout ratio)

ROE = net profit margin * asset turnover * equity multiplier

The above formula takes the rate of return, financial leverage and dividend policy of a company into consideration. It is based on the following premises:

It is not practical (or possible) to issue more shares (dilute equity).
The company is effectively managed and the profit margin and asset turnover is at optimum levels.
The dividend payout is at the minimum level to keep the shareholders at ease.If we take a company with the following performance indicators:
The debt/equity level is at an optimum level considering the risk profile of the company.

If we take a company with the following performance indicators:

Turnover (sales) – $100 million
Net Profit (after tax) – $8 million
Equity – $20 million
Total assets – $50 million
Dividend Payout – 0.4 (40%).

Therefore:

Net Profit Margin = 8/100 = 8%
Asset Turnover = 100/50 = 2
Financial Leverage = 50/20 = 2.5
Retention Ratio = 1 – 0.4 = 0.6

The sustainable growth rate is:

SGR = ROE*r

= (8%*2*2.5*0.6)

= 24%

It means that if this company uses all its internal financial resources effectively that it can grow it sales at a maximum of 24%. The company’s turnover can thus increase from $100 million to $124 million. If the company grow faster than 24% with its current parameters it is actually creating cash flow problems and this can finally lead to bankruptcy.

How can a company grow faster?

If a company wants to grow faster than what their sustainable growth rate indicates and they don’t want to dilute their equity they need to generate more finances through one or more of the following:

Higher profitability – this can be achieved by several factors such as higher gross margins and lower expenditures.
Better asset management – this can be achieved by creating more sales and profits in relation to assets and to decrease stock levels and debtor days.
A higher retention ratio – the majority of profits are ploughed back into the business.
A higher debt ratio – asset expansion is financed mostly by debt.

Summary

Growth is extremely important for any company to survive, gain market share, get a competitive edge and to position itself for harvesting. Uncontrollable growth is, however, just as damaging as very low growth and can put a serious strain on a company’s cash flow and can even lead to bankruptcy.

The management of a company can, however, scientifically analyse the optimum sustainable growth rate of the company with the use of financial ratios and models. The sustainable growth rate of a company can be increased if its determinants can be managed more effectively.

Sustainable growth should form an integral part of the strategy of any company and should be managed professionally.

Article by Wim Venter

Landscaping Flyers Are Key For Business Growth

You may already have an ongoing landscaping business that is enjoying a steady flow of business or a reasonable sales turnover. However, if you wish your business to grow it is important to evaluate your current marketing strategy and how you are going to proceed to increase customers and convert potential customers to actual customers. It may be that your business currently relies heavily on regular customers which are a great guaranteed income for any business but not going to help your business grow any further than where it is now. So how can you start turning potential customers into customers and start bringing in those much needed new customers on top of your regular ones?

Well there is actually one very simple method for ensuring business growth and it’s also not only very effective, but very cheap too. Flyer printing has been used for a very long time to much success for many businesses but it is also used as the key ingredient for business growth. Landscaping flyers are key for business growth because you are going directly to the customers, not waiting for them to come to you.

Landscaping is not a business that the average household thinks about too often. It can be easy to forget about that aspect of your home and it can take being presented by a flyer about landscaping for someone to think about their own landscaping project. That is why it is essential for you to undertake a flyer distribution campaign in order to attract more potential customers and with a great flyer design to show off your business you can ensure that your customer sales base increases steadily.

Flyer printing campaigns are an excellent way to ensure that your business gets noticed locally. Landscaping flyers ensure that all of your important business details such as services, costs, and contact information are delivered directly to your potential clients. Flyer printing brings your business to the customer, rather than waiting for them to find you, and ensures that everyone in your local area knows who to call when they need landscaping.

Make sure your flyers are being used as effectively as possible and that you are giving your business the growth potential you deserve through sound marketing strategies. Once you have the very best flyer design that appeals to your target audience, gets your business details across quickly and offer special deals to make your business stand out. When coupled with an effective distribution strategy such as direct mailing, newspaper insertions, and handing out flyers – you can ensure you get both new and existing customers coming back to you for their landscaping needs. Not only is flyer printing so effective as a powerful offline advertising tool, but it is also one of the cheapest advertising methods available today.

Article by Chris Barr

Business Growth – 10 Tips On How To Grow Sustainably

Sustainable business growth is essential for the financial well-being of a business. Lack thereof can seriously harm a business or even leads to bankruptcy. The following tips can be used as a guideline to grow a business sustainably:

Understand the financial health of your business (e.g. financial statements, ratios and sustainable growth rate).
Build a model of sustainable business growth and keep it up to date. A basic formula for calculating the sustainable growth rate (formulated by Hewlett-Packard), that is very helpful, is:
- SGR = ROE*r
- where:
- SGR = sustainable growth rate
- r = retention ratio (1 – dividend payout ratio)
- ROE = net profit margin * asset turnover * equity multiplier
Budget according to achievable growth based on the sustainable growth formula. Keep within this budget.
Avoid sales just for the matter of the sale. It is essential to keep gross profit margins as close as possible to budgeted figures. Lower profit margins decrease the achievable growth rate.
Avoid impulse business decisions and keep focused on the core business. To take money out of a good business and invest it into another venture that has not been thought through is often suicidal to the main business.
Improve the business acumen of personnel and improve internal systems to keep up-to-date with the higher sales.
Improve the sustainable growth rate through higher profitability and better asset utilization.
Analyse products, suppliers, customers, regions, etc. more or less according to the Pareto principle (80-20 rule). Get rid of those that are not really profitable or waste too much time and energy.
Put as much money as possible back into the business (in the growth stage).
Only borrow more money (above your pre-specified optimum debt-ratio) or sell equity as a last resort. The first issue increase the bankruptcy risk of a company and the second dilute the current shareholders’ equity in the business.

Article by Wim Venter

Small Business Opportunity: The Top 7 Reasons to Start a Painting Business

House painting is a skill that most people can pick up quite easily. It is one of those rare home based business opportunities that actually work and it is very possible to make $30- $50 an hour without much effort.

Here are the top 7 reasons why anyone with basic painting skills should consider starting a painting business of their own.

1. Residential and Commercial Painting is a 22.5 Billion Dollar a Year Industry!

Every day homeowners across the country (and around the world) spend millions of dollars to have a living room, bedroom, kitchen etc painted. This is an industry that indeed has an unlimited amount of work available.

There is far more work then there are painters. Listed in the top 10 businesses in 2006 and predicted to grow into the foreseeable feature, there has never been a better time to start a painting business then right now.

2. Basic Painting Skills Are Easy to Learn.

It doesn’t take much time at all to develop basic painting skills. Just about anyone can do it. Most painters who learn through “On the job training” pick it up in just a few weeks. All it takes is a little practice.

3. Very Low Start-Up Costs

A painting business is one of the best businesses because it doesn’t require a lot of money to start. For under $250.00 (depending on where you live) you can get a painting business up and running and earning money.

With start up costs this low it doesn’t take long to become profitable and if you target small high paying jobs your overhead costs are next to nothing.

4. No Expensive Advertising Needed

Unlike most other business, a painting business doesn’t require a huge monthly advertising budget. In fact it is completely possible to build a profitable painting business without any traditional advertising at all.

Smart painting business owners spend time building relationships with people who “know people” that can refer them jobs.

5. Earn Professional Income Working Part Time Hours.

Many successful painting business owners earn $60,000 – $100,000 per year working less then 35 hours per week. Once you develop your skills and become proficient, it is not uncommon to make $300-$500 per day working just 4-6 hours.

It is possible to earn more in one day then most painting employees make working a 40 hour week. Every day painters sell their valuable skills to a boss for a measly $12-$15 when they could be earning top dollar running their own painting business.

6. Freedom, Lifestyle and Security.

The best thing a house painter can do to secure their future is to start a painting business of their own.

The potential to earn an above average income working part time hours is one of the biggest benefits of owning a successful painting business.

Many painters are making a great living running their own painting business. They drive nice vehicles, live in nice homes and have the time and money to do the things they love.

7. Outstanding Tax Benefits

Running a small painting business out of your home offers many outstanding advantages like high profit potential and low over head. Expenses like gas, tools and your vehicle may be write offs. (Be sure to check with your accountant) But the tax benefits of owning a small business are wonderful.

As you can see the sky is the limit for painters. Unlimited work and top pay draw a lot of people to the painting trade every year.

Article by Andy Thompson

Can Your Business Be Franchised?

Can your business be franchised? If you have a thriving business that is receptive to a regional or national system of marketing then franchising may be the right choice. To help you ascertain if your business could be franchised, assess some of the qualifiers described below.

First, evaluate yourself as a prospective franchisor. Franchising is more than the business of selling services or products. You will also be a mentor, coach, and you will be perpetually supporting your franchisees. You will also be a collecting an initial fee for the franchisee to begin business and then receiving royalties for the life of the franchise.
Always remember to permit your individual franchisees the flexibility to administer their own businesses and always allow them act as independent business owners, not employees. It is important you thoroughly set forth the guidelines of the Franchisee relationship in the original contract, the Franchise Disclosure Document, and all communications to franchisees.
Don’t consider franchising your business unless you have an identified, local market for your product or service. Marketability is established by need, and need is determined by competition. If you have a unique way of operating a business and you have a unique business model, it is feasible you could franchise it.

Demand is the essential force here. It is just as central as uniqueness. Your unique product or service must be desired not only by the business people who wish to buy franchises from you, but also by the people who will buy products or services from those franchisees. If your product or service is relatively new and not broadly offered by anyone else but is in demand, you first must determine where your products or services would sell, based on the requests of your present customers.

If your product or service isn’t new, you can hire market research firms to create reports on the types of consumers in various regions. You can also perform your own study on the Internet. Government agencies can also provide demographic information and market research data. The U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics has conducted extensive studies on regional consumer behaviors. Search for “consumer habits” on these government websites. If your product or service is unique or in demand, secure this uniqueness through the use of a trademark, for a product, or service mark, for services, so that the public connects your product with a particular trademark. Apply for a registered mark as soon as possible, before the first franchise agreement is offered and reached. Determine that no other entity has already obtained the rights of your mark. You can do so for less than $600 by contacting one of many trademark search firms or by visiting online at http://www.uspto.gov.

Before you commence your franchising plan, prepare a comprehensive business plan so you can look at the financial expenditure each new franchisee will require to get up and running; then contrast that with the revenue you can expect to receive from fees, royalties, and sales. Include costs that are specific to franchising, such as operating costs such as salaries and benefits for you and head office employees, trainers and sales staff; as well as rent, office equipment, car allowances, and travel. Include the cost of finding franchisees — ads, traveling to franchise shows, preparing brochures and videos, and entertaining. Add an adequate amount for startup and ongoing legal, accounting, and advertising fees.

Be very conservative on the timing and income you require from your franchisees. You will have determined the mixture of franchise fees, royalties, and product or service sales that will produce income from your franchisees. Estimate when you expect these revenues will paid, instead of basing your predictions on how your business worked in the past.

Article by David G Komatz

McDonalds Business Analysis

‘In the 1990s managers will be judged on their ability to identify, cultivate, and exploit the core competencies that make growth possible – indeed, they’ll have to rethink the concept of the corporation it self.’

C K Prahalad and G Hamel 1990

Organizations do not exist in vacuum. They operate within a competitive industrial environment. Analyzing its competitors not only enables an organization to identify its own strengths and weaknesses but also help to identify opportunities for and threats to the organization from its industrial environment. SWOT analysis is a systematic analysis of these factors and the strategy that reflects the best match between them.

Let us analyze these principals in relation to the core competence of McDonalds, one of the largest food chain companies in the world. Let us first start with the strengths and the positive aspects which define the performance of this company. How can we define the company’s strengths? Strength is a distinctive competence that gives the firm a comparative advantage in the market place. For instance financial resources, image, market leadership and buyer supplier relations etc
McDonalds is the no: 1 fast food chain stores with a 40 million customers visiting it per day. It has over 30,000 branches in 120 countries. It derives 80% of its revenues from eight countries like Canada, Brazil, Germany, France, Japan, UK, Australia and US. The greatest strength was creating an image in the minds of the people and introducing them to the fast food culture. Delivery speed, customer care and cleanliness are the core strengths on which these stores expanded. They created a corporate symbol and their advertisement campaigns were highly successful in establishing the brand image and logo in the minds of the millions. Two main competitors generally identified with McDonalds are the Burger King and the KFC. McDonalds marketing strategy is concerned with the internal resources, external environment and its basic competencies along with its share holders.

McDonald’s product value is also its greatest strengths. Customers know what to expect when they walk into a McDonalds store. It gives great emphasis to human resources by satisfying both the customer and the employees. Next is the innovation aspect wherein new products line up to catch up with the new trends and tastes of the people. Its diversity into other new business ventures can also be considered as its strengths.

How effective are these strengths to the company in the long run? McDonalds today is not that amendable as it was during its inception. What are the driving factors which results in its present decline in terms of sales and services? To analyze this factor we have to look at the weaknesses part of the companies business and marketing strategy. What can generally be termed as a weakness of a company? The same factors which were considered as strengths also become a weakness if it impedes the overall performance of the company.

Customer trends change and so does their choices. People are generally tired of the same brands that they had been using over the years, so when they do not see the expected innovation they migrate to new brands. Moreover people see McDonalds every where and this over exposure might also be a reason for abstinence. Moreover maintaining the standards of such a huge chain becomes feasible and when there is lack of quality service in one store it effects the whole brand.

The secret of any marketing strategy is to reach the target audience. And here again the target audience should be chosen carefully. In the case of McDonalds as projected in its ads, the targeted audiences were the kids. Demographics and customer financial and psychological aspects define a business concerns success. Health conscious women and senior citizen comprise the major population but kids soon grow out to become adults. Recent law suits and documentaries resulted in the companies recent innovation and a major change related to health related product ranges and this switch over as per the needs of today’s trend and needs has increased the lost popularity of McDonalds a bit.
All the above factors point out the external strengths and weaknesses. There are also internal factors which affect the performance and overall benefits the company stands to enjoy. Kids based marketing strategy which was earlier a weakness has changed since 2003. Now more teenagers and adults rule the McDonalds ad world. The research and develop which lacked earlier is also looked into and the brand quality is being defined with various research and development options today. McDonald at one stage started concentrating on expansion and growing big that it missed out on key factors like quality maintenance and R&D.

One major threat to any brand is its relationship between the management and the franchise dealers. Organization strength is the back bone of any concern and when that starts shaking the whole system will collapse. But slowing McDonald is recovering from all these weaknesses as its brand managers can easily communicate, compare and improve their services through the latest technological developments wherein they can use the internet to motivate, compare and improve upon other centers performances.

The overall analysis of all the external and internal strengths and weaknesses on this company should be linked in order to draft a sustainable plan for the companies’ further improvement. For any improvement or expansion the internal resources must be readily available. And thus analyzing this aspect can lead to a modified strategy to suit its vision. Keeping in mind the available resources the planner should think globally. Hence making use of all the core competencies the firm can definitely sustain in the competitive market.

The change in the top managerial level has creating a new wave in its performance and major changes have been implemented to retain and sustain the brand quality and innovation. As the new CEO rightly quotes,

“The world has changed. Our customers have changed. We have to change too.”
James R. Cantaloupe, Chairman and CEO, McDonald’s, 2003

Now let us analyze the sustainable competitive advantage of the company. What is sustainable competitive advantage? How can it be related to McDonalds? SCA is the advantage a company has which is difficult or impossible for other companies to possess or break through. It can either be the brand, dynamic customer care, cost structure or its patent. Whatever the advantage in order to be considered as sustainable it should either be proprietary or distinctive. Other than this three different aspects that help in SCA are,

o The managerial and organizational process should share a good integration and coordination. The much needed ‘value’ is created thereby as everyone strives to work for a common goal. The organization should learn and bring about changes according to the need of the hour and should always be flexible to changes in the environment such as customer trends, legal or government restriction and developments in the technology. McDonalds is presently concentrating on this advantage by concentrating on organizational behavior and managerial expertise. Previously this advantage was ignored as the organization was more into expansion of its outlets over the globe than strengthening its core advantage. As the result the revenue did not see much of a change while newer outlets were open. The company suffered a massive loss first time since their inceptions which further lead to the change in the managerial heads.

o Technological, structural and financial assets of a company are excellent market position which helps in the SCA. McDonalds no doubt is abundant with such aspects like structure, technology and finance. To identify and implement these assets in the proper direction towards the improvement of the company is all that is needed. After 2003 the company has really started to concentrate on its greatest advantages.

o Most of all the greatest advantage is the vision or the dream with which the company was started. Sustaining this dream over the years is any companies’ greatest advantage. A brand usually revolves around this vision sustaining this vision and working in lieu with it is a great SCA. McDonalds was started out to help people who had very little time to cook or was too busy to get into a proper restaurant. The vision was to provide quick service, cheap products and quality satisfaction. Keeping this vision in mind the company which slackened a bit because of incompetent franchise holders is being weeded and new and better people are put in this place as the torch bearers of the company sustaining and living the vision.

To sum it all up SCA means implementing the best value based strategy using all the advantages which are unique to the company and that which cannot be copied or replicated by other competitors. The importance of this SCA can be evident by the reply the great investment guru Warren Buffet gave when asked about how he evaluates his investment portfolio. He simply answered ‘sustainable competitive advantage’. Hence based on the dynamic integrated and intelligent human resources can always be the only dependable and sustainable SCA.
Outsourcing boom or doom in today’s business environment

Today everything is outsourced from employee appointment to finance and customer care. No organization is best enough to handle all kinds of work. Moreover concentrating on every detail is not possible with a big concern especially like McDonalds. But great care should be taken not to outsource the core competences of the company. General advantages of outsourcing are cheap service, knowledge of markets offshore, flexible resources, speedy operations, expansion in supplier relationship etc. most of all the company can concentrate on its core competencies and outsource rest of its operation. Recently McDonald has tested its drive through order facility. Wherein it makes sure that the order placed with the outlet is accurate. The order taken by the outsourced company is reverted back to the home restaurant. These call center has a digital camera which clicks the vehicle you drive through and the delivery man back home can integrate the order and the person who placed it using the image of the car. Outsourcing thus helps in the increase of the external suppliers and fills up the difficulties faced because of the lack of the latest technologies and other innovations.

What started of as a success story with McDonalds had to face a number of risks, competitions and major set backs. What makes it still strong and ranked among the top business concerns is its core competences and the sustainable competitive advantages both internal and external. Of course keeping up with the changing times the company has also set foot in outsourcing but the point to keep in mind here is not to be driven away by this outsourcing mania. This company has started to revert back to its golden glory recently because of large scale revamping of its organizational and structural changes being implemented.

Conclusion:

No particular competitive strategy is guaranteed to achieve success at all times. Risk attitudes can change and vary by industry volatility and environmental uncertainty and several internal conditions also might be involved. Thus the “four P’s” of marketing (product, price, place and promotion) provide a good starting point for consideration of the requirements of strategy implementation in the marketing function. The mix of these marketing elements should be appropriate and the plans for each of the elements should also be appropriate.

The marketing function is consumer oriented and hence marketing decisions are based on the careful identification of consumer needs and on the design of marketing strategies to meet those needs. The distribution system brings the product or service to the place where in can best fill customer needs. Access to distribution can mean all the differences between success and failure for a new product. Because many products require support from distribution channels in the form of prompt service, rapid order processing etc the choice of distributors, wholesalers and jobbers is extremely important.

Promotion is more than advertising. The location, size and nature of markets which the business strategy defines will guide promotion mix decisions and should indicate the content of promotional material as well. Pricing is a complex issue because it is related to cost, volume, trade offs etc and because it is frequently used as a competitive weapon. Pricing policy changes are likely to provoke competitor response. Using price to jockey for position can lead to price wars, which usually hurt all participants.

Marketing has received increasingly greater attention in the competitive business since the early modern era. The old concept of marketing focused on the firms existing products and considered marketing to consist of selling and promotion to maximize sales at a profit. The new concept however focuses on the firms existing potential customers and seeks to earn profit through customer satisfaction with an integrated marketing program.

Source by N. Vijayarani

5 Tips to Small Business Owners on How to Use Social Media Marketing to Grow and Expand

Social media marketing is an excellent platform to use when you want to build and maintain a strong presence in your industry. Social Media can easily drive thousands of unique visitors to sites in minutes. Large companies have implemented and adapted social platforms into their advertising and marketing campaigns. The question now is: how can the small businesses capitalize from these platforms?

Social media benefits
• Builds community and interaction
• Encourages brand loyalty
• Can create exposure (often virally)
• Enables you to listen

Social media drawbacks
• Time consuming to build up and maintain
• Growth is often slow in many situations
• Difficult to assess return on investment (ROI)

For a small business to take advantage of any social marketing campaign, it has to understand that this requires time investment and that the return on investment or ROI will not happen instantly. Therefore, it is important to focus on essential segments in order to send out the message.

The following are a few tips for small business owners on how to use social media marketing to grow and expand their businesses:

1 – Communication: Small businesses can start to communicate with their clients by joining conversations on social networks. When your social media marketing efforts are geared at local areas, you can be sure that clients will walk into the store and purchase your product. Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and others will make it easier for small businesses and their clients to share media on services and products.

2 – Effective strategies: Customers should be encouraged to send feedback about your services and products. Integrate your website with your blogs, Facebook, Twitter and various other social media sites to allow your clients to voice their opinion and speak with one another about your services.

3 – Multimedia: Take advantage of websites such as Flicker and YouTube, which have exploded in recent years. Everyone loves to share media with friends. When you provide worthwhile content, people will also share, circulate and comment on it. Short videos will also do a lot for businesses, as this is a good way to get a constant stream of subscribers as well as occasional new customers.

4 – Reviews and opinions: Google, Yelp and Zagat all allow customers to review your services and products. You need to participate in local discussions about your business. Encourage your customers to give reviews and get a discount or incentive. For this, you can choose new products or the less popular products and this will help boost sales.

5 – Local business listings: Claim your company listing locally on Google, Yahoo and Bing. This will boost your ranking and visibility on the internet.

In summary
When a business is prepared to take some time and effort in order to become an active member in their local community using social media marketing, this will significantly help to expand the business. When investments are made to develop the website as a primary center for communication, digital media and social media efforts, then the sky will be the limit.

Source by Nashat H. Mostafa