Why does your business need Social Media to stay ahead?

Q: WHY does my company need social media?
A: Let us help you understand how it can help your business

Social Media Marketing (SMM) is an effective way for you to interact with new and existing customers and provide value for your brand.

With new competitors emerging daily, your brand must keep customers engaged. Today, social network use is one of the top 4 online activities.

Social media marketing is an unobtrusive marketing platform that allows buyers to interact with your brand at a personal level.

By tracking comments and feedback on social networks your company can determine if customers are happy with your products and services.

This vital, direct-from-consumer data will help your company predict and track emerging buyer trends. If you haven't yet considered this type of marketing, you're already behind the competition.

visit the MMCG website for more help with your social media needs

Why Does Your Business Need a Website?

A website is like a businesses online “store front”.  It is important for consumers to be able to visit a place on the internet to read about what your business has to offer. A simple website helps customers find you, and what you are about.

The simplest possible Web presence is a website that tells people how to find your business in the "real" world. It should include a good Web Address that relates to your company name and business.  Your business address, complete with directions and a good map.   Your business phone number, along with fax numbers if relevant.   A clear and enticing description of what your business offers to customers.  Now of days, this is what a business needs to have in order to stay in the race of the ever-evolving business world.

METRO MEDIA CONSULTING GROUP LLC offers basic website design, and maintenance.  We are ready to help get you started, and we will maintain your website for you.  This service allows you to focus on the daily operations of your business without having to worry about updating your website.

How to generate leads from the resources you already have

Call your partners- Partners can be a great source of short term sales opportunities. Work directly with the sales reps at your key partners. Before you consider working with a partner, be sure you are comfortable with their approach to selling and their reputation on the street. Once initial trust is established, the formula is simple–give a lead to get a lead.

Start with an overview conference call or meeting to determine overall fit- Do they call on the same types of accounts and functional areas as you? Are they active enough to be able to provide you with enough leads to make spending time worth while? Once you have determined that there is a fit, take some time and do a lead swap with them. Be prepared to give them a few currently active projects or at least some valuable contacts in organizations they may want to penetrate. Expect to get roughly the same type and quantity of leads in return.

E-mail your existing contacts- Chances are, if you have executed a performance for your past and existing clients, 9 times out of 10, they are willing to refer you to someone that is in their network.  Many times, companies focus on creating new leads from a “floating source”.  This “floating source”? Pulling from a completely new area that you are not familiar with, or cold calling.  But why cold call when you already have a great network to pull from? 

Creating incentives for your existing clients is a great way to go.  Let them know that you would like to discount their current or future projects in exchange for new business and referrals. 

Creating a perfect business proposal

Having a solid business proposal is as important in strategizing with booking a client as the first and closing steps.  A well executed project proposal is the gate way to showcasing your management skills to your prospect. 

This is a pivital point because it is what can make or break the sale.  The proposal is what can turn a prospect into not only a client, but a client for the long run.  If a potential client has a stack of proposals from 3-5 seperate companies to look at, they are going to stick with the most organized, straight to the point proposals almost every time.   Your proposed business plan for individual projects can easily be interpreted (and many times is) as a resume for your firm. 

What needs to be on a well executed proposal?  What order should these items be in? 

1. Executive summary – summary of the entire proposal
2. Statement of need – why project is necessary for the prospect, or client
3. Project description – How the project at hand will be implemented and evaluated
4. Organization information, Timelines, and execution strategies
5. Project schedule
6. Budget Needed that includes an itemized, well detailed list of expenses
7. Conclusion
   
   These are the things that will make up a great company proposal.  It is also very important to be sure to stay consistent with brand recognition from the first contact, to the proposal, invoicing, to the execution of the project.   

Operational strategy and executing your business plan

Well-implemented strategic planning provides the vision, direction and goals for the organization, but operational planning translates that strategy into the everyday execution tactics of the business that will ultimately produce the outcomes defined by the strategy.  Operational planning is the conversion of strategic goals into execution.   Businesses tend to waste time and money by investing way too much in what the plan is.  More important, the execution of the strategy that is laid out. 

No business likes to admit it, but most are lacking in the know-how, competencies skills, knowledge, experience and discipline to carry off precise execution of strategic goals. Operational planning is all about having good execution and offers help to those organizations who struggle with why and how to do it.   

Executing a strategy for a business plan can be an extremely layered process.  It is all about pushing each step to it fullest potential.  This in turn will build on the next step and help the transition towards getting the job done right.  They range from ugly Excel spreadsheets to beautifully bound books, and if executed correctly, a happy client.

Unless operational planning has accompanied the strategic planning effort, the strategic plan will always accomplish less than the intended result, resulting in wasted effort.

Most companies would receive a failing grade for their operational planning efforts. This is largely due to a lack of understanding of how such planning should be done. True, it is sometimes perceived to be the less appealing part of planning, but it is essential that operational planning be done and organizations must learn how to do it properly. Many companies have the attitude of, “Don’t we have people to do that?”. Far too often, they don’t, yet they still expect this operation to be handled by someone.  This is once again, wasted effort.   

Operational planning must be done if strategic goals are to be accomplished. The strategic goals of the organization must be translated one business unit at a time. Why? The goals mean something different to each area of the organization.  All plans are based upon that area’s function in the enterprise.

It is not enough to simply put the strategic goals out there and let the business interpret the strategy on its own. To do so is not planning, but instead is crossing fingers and hoping for the best.   Before executing the strategy you have set in place, I suggest that you ensure that you are able to carry your plan out to the very end with no holes in your business plan.

Questioning your ability as a Business Development Manager

Business development management involves asking your self some searching questions. Are you prepared to change to realize the vision created by your business development strategy? What must your business excel at? How does that affect processes, people and customers? Who does the planning and controls the implementation of the business development ideas, answering to which goals, actions and measures?

Perhaps most significant of all, you have to decide whether to be radical rather than incremental – are you revolutionary in your skills as a business development manager or are you more evolutionary?

Are you willing and able to move with the ever evolving market of technology in the business world?

Small business development contains a paradox – if the business turns out to be successful then it won’t be so small any more. The challenge, then, is that of developing a small business to grow while retaining the elements that made it successful in the first place.

All about Business Development

Business development involves varying degrees of sales and strategy. In some companies, biz dev people may focus on getting new corporate sales accounts, while in others they may lead new product development. At larger companies such as Oracle, Cisco, or Microsoft, one of biz dev's many responsibilities may be to decide which smaller companies the company should acquire next to ensure that it retains its market strength in the future.

Working in business development is an excellent way to become adept at business strategy while gaining hands-on experience in negotiating deals and managing partner relationships. Business development jobs are also highly cross-functional, requiring close collaboration with various internal and partner-company teams such as sales, engineering, and marketing to ensure that a deal is consummated. With its focus on strategy, biz dev steers the direction of a company—the deals forged today determine what the rest of the company will be working on tomorrow.

Business development is a combination of strategic analysis, marketing, and sales. Business development (or "biz dev") professionals can be involved in everything from the development of their employers' products and services, to the creation of marketing strategies, to the generation of sales leads, to negotiating and closing deals.

The job of the business development professional is typically to identify new business opportunities—whether that means new markets, new partnerships with other businesses, new ways to reach existing markets, or new product or service offerings to better meet the needs of existing markets—and then to go out and exploit those opportunities to bring in more revenue.

10 Great Ways to Keep Your Business in Good Standing

Although it is not easy, there are very many ways to promote with a limited budget. I have found that it is important to keep up with the trends, and learning how to decipher how to utilize these avenues to your businesses interest.
1. Get Creative

2. Stay consistent with your product or service

3. Brand recognition, LOGO LOGO LOGO

4. Be "in the know" always, do your research; double check the facts

5. Once you have researched, create a business plan

6. Exhaust your free avenues after researching

7. Be confident about what you need, be cautious about what you want

8. Stay involved in activities that you find your potential clients are interested in

9. Get in the mindset of your ideal client

10. Go where the client is. Don't always hope that they will come to you

Always remember the difference between what is needed for your business, and what you would 'like' for your business. These are two completely different worlds. When you focus on what you want, be prepared to know that your business plan may never come to fruition.