© Small Business Marketing Solutions ~ Our Monthly Editorial Page... ~ SBMS ~ 2009

Monthly Editorial by  Dave

Small Business Marketing Solutions ~ Monthly Editorial for April 2009...

Is it Time to Switch Gears Again?

One of the key factors in marketing is to constantly re-assess the market and make sure that your marketing program is producing what you want it to be producing. Politics and Economics can change in an instant and you must constantly re-assess your plan in relationship to shifts in the marketplace. There have to be a series of questions that you ask yourself in these assessments.

  What market segments am I focused upon?

  How are the current political weather and economic trends affecting my targeted market segments?

  Are market changes going to affect the current market or the long-range market?

  Are other market segments benefiting from the current business climate?

  What do I have to do to penetrate market segments that are benefiting?

  Do I need to re-direct my efforts to other market segments or strengthen my current direction?

An example would be the current Defense market. Measuring the current political winds, the defense budget is being examined and destined for substantial cuts. Political wrangling may keep some programs in place while cutting others. Current contracts may be pushed out and others canceled. If you participate in this market, you need to be assessing each contract that you participate in and also programs that have been in the planning stages and not been fully let.

How should you attack this situation? One would be to look at your current business and compare it against other contracts and sub-contractors that you may not be participating. If there is more stability in these other contracts and sub-contractors, your marketing should be looking at penetrating these other defense areas and trying to participate in those projects. If you have contracts that are strong, then your marketing should be looking at strengthening your relationships and looking for Additional opportunities where you have a position as a valued vendor.

Another tack would be to look at the requirements that you have met to do business with the defense industry segment and see where those would apply to other industry segments. An example would be the medical device industry as their quality and process control requirements would be similar to those of the defense industry. You need to be researching the requirements and then applying your marketing to demonstrate your ability to meet the requirements in the new areas. It does not do you any good to try to market to an industry segment where you do not meet the standards that are required for that industry. This is the time, however, to do a self-assessment and decide if it is worth the expense to upgrade your processes to meet other quality or process standards and use that to enter new markets.

In order to shift gears and strengthen your ties with your customer base or look to new customer bases, you need to research, know and understand your market segments and what they require of their vendors. When you then are ready make an informed decision, shift those gears and go for it.

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