In an article by Mark Morgan Ford in Early to Rise he writes about one of his clients who constantly promotes powerful, small business marketing ideas.
Discussing the difficulty of starting and growing new businesses he offers the “Four Ps” to make these businesses work.
More...
The First Four P’s
1. Program:
You need a business model that works. One that can produce reliable, long-term profitability with a positive cash flow and an acceptable level of investment and risk.
2. Product:
You need products that are easy to sell the first time and even easier to sell thereafter. In other words, you want to sell products that give people what they are looking for at a price they can accept.
3. Prospects:
You need people to sell to. And you need a sufficient number of them to meet your business' long-term goals. Where do you find enough quality customers? Advertising? Sales calls? Mailing lists? Websites? Keyword searches? Telemarketing?
Finding potential buyers through an effective and efficient sales funnel is a critical part of any business.
4. Proposition:
Every market is unique. So is every product. Your first and most important priority is figuring out the optimum way to sell your unique product to a defined market segment. Until you do that, you can't produce profits.
While these 4 P's cover many business issues Mark Morgan Ford thought that they weren't quite complete and added three more.
The 3 More Ps to Consider:
5. People:
Every business, no matter what it does, where it's located, or how automated its processes are, depends on people to create and maintain its profits. Taking a business to the next level - even to keep it from falling backward - is accomplished by hiring, promoting, training, and nurturing a team of key people who work skilfully and efficiently.
You have to find them and then motivate and hold onto them.
6. Promotions:
Discovering the right proposition for your business is the first - but only the first - priority of selling. To keep your business profitable, you have to produce a continuous flow of successful, customer-grabbing promotions (create sales offers that attract attention, offer benefits to the customers, and persuade them to buy your products).
A business that can't produce breakthrough promotions on an ongoing basis is a business that is doomed to mediocrity or even failure
7. Procedures and Processes:
If you get the first six P's working right, your business will never suffer from a lack of sales. But if you don't have effective operations - order-taking, fulfilment, accounting, and customer service - your profits will always be a fraction of what they should be... and your stress will be double what it needs to be.
Putting the 7 Ps to Work
Now the fun part...
Take a few minutes to use the 7 Ps to analyse a business — to think critically about what works and what doesn't. You can use your own business, or the business you work for or the dream business you would like to build.
Click Here to start the business marketing analysis.
Your Small Business Marketing Action Plan
After completing this analysis it's time to start thinking creatively. Finding ways to turn those C's and B's into A's - turning your fledgling business into a thriving one - finding solutions that don't require a huge capital investment.
But simply working out smart and effective ideas.
Side Hustle Advice
1. Getting Started
In this age of change and uncertainty it is important to develop a second stream of income. Thanks to the internet, there is virtually nothing that can't be turned into a profitable venture. There are dozens if not hundreds of small businesses you could start this year.
A word of warning: avoid getting into something you don't understand.
2. The Goal
If you have a side hustle or decide to start one, have a specific financial target and plan to reach that target. Figuring out what you have to accomplish every month to get there and then break the monthly targets down to weekly milestones.
3. The Plan
Allocate learning time every week. Build a simple business plan. Make at least one new influencer contact every month - and use those influencers to help you launch your action plan.
There's no reason to quit your job and risk your life savings. Start slowly, from your home, investing only modest sums, working weekends or at night, and build your small business idea until you figure out the best products and how to sell them.
4. Success
When that's done—and that should take about a year (maybe less)—you'll be ready to hop onto that 25% ROI (return on investment) train... potentially doubling your money every three years.