I often get public relations proposals from my clients to review with requests to put my two cents in and make a recommendation.  Having worked with pr firms for the last 15 years gave me a great deal of respect for this profession and as I said in my last post I encourage all entrepreneurs  to seek them out.  So if you’re a small business or entrepreneur in start-up phase looking to get press here are some tips to help you figure out which pr firm is best for you:

From my experience a marketing budget is often an after thought.  The last thing entrepreneurs think about or plan for.  While it’s fine to make compromises,(all early growth stage companies usually have to) it’s where you decide to make those compromises that can affect your revenue growth.  Too often I am asked for marketing help and then reminded that there is only a shoe string budget. While there are of course always marketing tactics that cost little money they aren’t necessarily the ones that will help you grow your business the fastest.

In a recent discussion among business counselors serving small business the topic turned to what are the attributes that indicate likely entrepreneurial success.  The collective wisdom of the group including a serial entrepreneur is in the following list of attributes we look for to predict success when we’re in our advisory roles:

Just when you thought you were done, you realize that the campaign measurements aren’t necessarily conclusive.  Or you’re left with a lingering doubt as to whether the response was an aberration perhaps affected by a one time event. Smart marketers always retest results even positive ones to ensure before the budget is spent on a costly roll-out that they are fairly secure in a predictable outcome.

Once you have launched your marketing campaigns you will measure your outcome.  To have analytics that are meaningful and useful guess what, you have to plan for them before you launch your campaigns?  As your marketing plan will reflect goal accomplshment through the tactics you choose so the analytics will tell you how successful you were in accomplishing the goals. 

If you’ve been reading the previous posts in this series then you know that I am a strong recommender of planning, planning, planning before you spend precious resources on marketing programs.  But if you’ve been through the planning phases then it’s time to develop the marketing plan and pull the trigger.  The marketing plan itself must take into consideration not only resources and time but most importantly you need to consider how your likely prospects get and absorb information.

I’ve worked in marketing for many years and there is one truism that has held throughout my career which is, “Murphy’s Law reigns supreme.”  Yes, if it can go wrong it will go wrong and the only way to protect yourself against an unsuccessful outcome is with contingency plans.  Please notice I used the plural here.  It’s not good enough to just have one back-up plan. I encourage all the entrepreneurs I work with to have contingency plans to improve their chance of success.  When something goes askew of your business predictions you may not have time to work though an alternative plan. Being ready to change direction or make a course correction can save a business from losing market share.

Once the strategic plan and annual business goals have been documented the marketing plan can be developed. By following this process entrepreneurs and their staff can focus activities on what’s important to the success and growth of the company. I often find working with entrepreneurs that they rush into the marketing plan without the previous planning stages running the risk of wasting time and money. If the wrong marketing tactics are used failure is a likely outcome. If you’ve ever heard yourself saying, “oh we tried that and it didn’t work,” check to be sure the marketing plan was written after the strategic plan and business goals.

Annually entrepreneurs need to set business goals.  Generally these are related to business growth but they can cover any of the normal business functions from sales and marketing to employee management and operations. Well written goals help business owners focus on what’s important so take your time when crafting them.

Writing good goals is as much science as art as they should be measurable and have an estimated time frame for accomplishment. Marketing plans should only be written once the business goals are established. Too often entrepreneurs rush into marketing activities without taking this very important step of writing clear measurable goals and then are disappointed when the marketing doesn’t work. 

In working with start-up companies I always advise them to follow a 7 step methodology that includes:

1. Strategic Planning
2. Business Goal Setting
3. Market Planning
4. Contingency Planning
5. Plan Implementation
6. Program Analysis
7. Retesting

I’m devoting the next series of blogs to short discussions about each step.