Marketing Coaching for Small Business

Marketing can be an overwelming task for a small business owner. 

Hi-Impact’s marketing seminars, taught and coached by Michelle Lanter Smith, take the mystery out of the process of creating a marketing strategy. Designed for busy small busy owners, our marketing curriculum takes a practical, step-by-step approach to finding your unique business identity and building a cost effective marketing plan thats right for your type of business.

Hi-Impact offers the following marketing education modules and seminars.  All seminars include step-by-step handouts built to take the guessing work out of the process.

Module:  Finding Your Sweet Spot

Secrets of Marketing Success for Small Business Owners (introductory/overview course)

• The world’s not your oyster
• It’s OK to be different
• Finding your sweet spot
• Putting digital at the center
• Making your marketing stick

SWOT It Out

• Why SWOT and small business?
• Stakeholder roundtable – gathering SWOT input
• SWOTing your competitors
• Summarizing the take-aways
• Handouts: SWOT Facilitation Pointers and SWOT Template Guidebook, SWOT Primer

Voice of the Customer

• Conducting meaningful research at no cost
• Understanding the needs of your target audience
• Learning your strengths and weaknesses
• Discovering potential lead sources
• Handout: Voice of the Customer survey

Prioritizing Your Opportunities

• Identifying opportunities
• Sizing the opportunities
• Determining critical success factors and inter-relationships with other opportunities
• Understanding strategic fit
• Ranking opportunities
• Handout:  Opportunity Prioritization

Knowing Your Target Audience

• Identifying your best customer
• Tell their story – what are their typical demographics and psychographics
• Determine your target audience’s hang-outs
• Handout: Target Audience worksheet

Determining Your Value Proposition

• What do your customers get in exchange for their payment?
• Labeling your process
• Developing a strong value statement

Determining Your Bumper Sticker

• Every business needs a bumper sticker
• Components of a brand identity
• Mapping customers’ needs to your features and benefits
• Honing in on your core strengths
• Competitive mapping/finding your space
• Developing your positioning statement and brand identity
• Handout:  Brand Identity worksheet

Determining Your Key Messages and Your Brand Personality

• Focusing on the customers’ benefits
• Integrating your value proposition
• Providing a bridge to the desired belief
• Setting your brand’s tone

Crafting Your Elevator Intro

• Four goals of an effective elevator pitch
• Four steps to refining your elevator pitch
• Writing your two-minute elevator pitch alternative
• Handout:  Elevator pitch worksheet

                       

Module:  Selecting the Best Marketing Tactics for Your Business

Determining Your Marketing Plan

• Assembling your GOAST (the components of your plan)
• Selecting your tactics based on the buying process
• Determining your marketing plan roll-out
• Building your marketing budget
• Hand-Out: Marketing Plan Template (excel file)

Working with Creative Providers

• Writing a creative brief
• Elements of a creative brief
• Providing direction to your creative team
• Handout: Creative Brief template

Making the Most of Your Direct Mail Efforts

• Buying your lists
• Creating the offer
• Direct mail recipes that break-through
• Writing copy that boosts response rates
• Coupling telemarketing with direct mail

PR for Small Business

• 30 reasons to write a press release
• Targeting potential media
• Components of a great press release
• Pitching your story

Marketing on a Limited Budget: E-Marketing Tactics that Generate Sales

• Which to use? Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or . . .
• Getting results from social media marketing efforts
• Content is King
• The importance of Email marketing
• Make your blog the repository

 

Module: Marketing Hot Topics

Growing Your Business in a Rural Community

• Know your brand identity
• Create a buzz
• Be in the community
• Sell to your network’s family and friends
• Handout: Growing Your Business in a Rural Community worksheet

Insider’s Secrets to Marketing in an Uncertain Economy

• Marketing must-do’s when the economy is tough
• Getting the most out of your marketing dollar
• A recipe for business to business marketing campaign
• Getting more from your customer base
• Handout: Insider’s Checklist
• Report: Insider’s Secrets to Marketing in an Uncertain Economy

Eliminating the Worms: Making Your Marketing Bear Fruit

• Why yesterday’s marketing style doesn’t work
• How to care and feed your prospects
• Working the five phases of the buying process
• How to select the right tactics to attract your buyer’s attention
• Report:  Eliminating the Worms: Making Your Marketing Bear Fruit

Stir Up Sales with Online Marketing

• Make your website “sticky”
• Build a search engine optimized site
• Content is King
• Integrate social networks within your site
• Build an in-house database for e-marketing greatness

Get More Out of LinkedIn and Facebook

• Increase your opportunity to gain access to key decision makers
• Convert your LinkedIn and Facebook contacts into potential sales
• Increase your company’s exposure to prospects in your target market
• Do your social jack – 20 minutes of day of social networking

Leveraging the Power of Twitter and Blogging to Generate Leads

• Start a blog and use it wisely to generate leads
• Leverage Twitter to give your blog a super-boost and generate more clicks
• Get more eyes on your e-mail newsletters
• Promote your business, website, or event on Twitter
• Connect with others and gain followers on Twitter
• Covert Twitter and Blog followers to sales