#5 Key messages Remember back in English class how we were taught to write down a paper’s thesis before we wrote paper? This thesis statement was argument you wanted to assert-the central point of paper. Think of your company’s key messages as thesis statements for your marketing. The next time you have to write copy for your brochure or website, identify three most important things that distinguish your company from rest. Then, write your copy so that these three ideas come through loud and clear.

#4 Results-oriented metrics Can you imagine a doctor examining a patient without a thermometer? Yet this is precisely how many growing businesses approach their marketing analytics. Without metrics to track effectiveness of your marketing efforts, decisions are just…guesses. Develop two or three key metrics (i.e. # of new leads per month, cost per inquiry, or sales calls per month) that measure true health of your business’ marketing.

#3 Ongoing customer communication Your customers have invested a lot in your company already; time, money and emotional energy to name just a few. Keep in frequent touch with them and they’ll shower your business with repeat purchases, referrals and positive word-of-mouth. Use catch-up phone calls, email blasts or personalized letters to keep customers abreast of new products, promotions or just plain news.

#2 A marketing plan The cornerstone to any successful marketing effort is a marketing plan. A good one lays groundwork for action by covering “whys” behind each task. It also helps break down a seemingly daunting effort into a series of more manageable chunks. And when phones stop ringing, it gives you something to go back to. You’ll never again ask “What should we do now?”

#1 A process for implementing your plan Developing a marketing plan is only half battle. Without a concerted effort to implement plan, your marketing effort will fail. To avoid this common marketing mistake, use weekly project updates and quarterly checkpoint meetings to ensure your plan is successfully implemented. Don’t forget that proper implementation also hinges on having right person in place. Who is this person? In three words-a project manager. Without a deadline driven, nuts-and-bolts type at helm of your roll out, you’ll drift like a rudderless ship.

After digging around enough, you’ll be able to generate a range of prices that your competitors fall into. Together with your financial prices, you’ll now have two reference points.

Pricing by position The last step is to and ask this question “How do we want to be perceived in our market?” In my book The Marketing Toolkit for Growing Businesses , I identify 13 possible price strategies you could choose from, but to make this easy, consider just three: ·Premium Price; most expensive 1/3rd of your market ·Middle Market Prices; middle 1/3rd ·Budget Price; least expensive 1/3rd.

Based on value factors you’ve identified and your chief competitors, which of these 3 price level best matches your product? The lesson in this exercise is that price positions your product.

The worst pricing decision you can make “Because we’re slow right now, we’ll lower our prices. Then as business rebounds, we’ll raise them.” This is a bad marketing decision because lowering your prices immediately positions your product differently to buyers. Plus very few companies make attendant cost reductions, so margins erode. And when you try to raise prices again, customers who bought at lower prices will expect to get more value factors for additional price. A better strategy is to maintain your current prices while seeking cost reductions to maintain your margins.

Another bad pricing decision “If I drop my price to $15, then will you buy?” Here, you signal to a buyer that your list prices are not final. Sensing this, buyers will negotiate harder and resulting price reductions will cut into your margins. Instead, think about coupling price discounts to buyer with equivalent reductions in your offering. For example, you could say “OK I can lower my price to $15, but I’ll have to reduce our warranty period from five years to two.”

Sure, pricing is a financial decision. But it has wide ranging impact on your positioning, your selling efforts and your product offering. Remember words of Thomas Paine “What we obtain too cheap we esteem too little; it is dearness only that gives everything its value”.