Hi Cliff
It might be an obvious question but one that so many people forget as being THE most important part of any business. It's all very simple:
Not enought customers = Not enough income = Dead business and possibly big debts!!
I've run lots of businesses over a number of years and in different countries, and what I've learned more than anything is stick to the basics that are proven to work.
Being known as a 'marketing man' works for and against me. Just too many people have be scammed by 'marketing experts' out there who have never run a business and the ink on their certifiate is only just dry!! They just sell advertsining space, pretty designs and useless websites - none of which will build you a solid marketing platform. I give my honest opinion of what will work best for the type of business and focus on DIRECT RESPONSE marketing, which is very different to BRAND marketing.
Unless you have £100s of thousands to play with forget building a brand to start with - that will come in time - focus on getting paying customers first.
If I could offer the two best peices of advice they would be:
a) Don't create a product and try to SELL it to the masses, find out what your target market WANTS and help them to BUY it from you.
b) Test and Measure everything you do in your marketing. If you cannot T&M then DO NOT DO IT! You need to KNOW where your marketing money is being best spent.
There's lots more to say here and in order to try and give my help more practically, I'd recommend you visit my website. I've got a free ebook you might find useful and several newsletters and articles with more advice.
If you want to chat Cliff please give me a call - 0870 896 4422
Nial Adams
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