Plan Your Success

Strategic Marketing Internet Marketing Solutions Market Research Website Design Domain Names & Website Hosting Services

A Tale of Two Business Owners

On a beautiful spring afternoon, ten years ago, two young professionals graduated from the same university. Both of these professionals were very much alike. They were close friends who had grown up together in the same small town, they both graduated at the top of their class, and they were both personable and held ambitious dreams for their future.

These two recently returned to their alma mater for their 10th reunion. They were still very much alike, but they had lost touch with each other over the last several years. They were both happily married and had beautiful families. And both, as it turns out, set up remarkably similar businesses right after graduation.

But, there was a difference between them. One spent all their time working at their business and had just managed to add a second location. The other had grown the business they began into a national franchise, and had more time and money available than they initially thought possible. Why such a disparity in their results?

If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail

We don't pretend to assume that everyone wants to own and operate a national enterprise. Everyone has their own vision of success. And, it's your vision that Kethyr Solutions is committed to achieving!

But, have you ever wondered what makes this kind of difference in people's lives? It isn't always a native intelligence, or talent, or dedication. It isn't that one person wants success more than the other. And it isn't because one person reads the Wall Street Journal! The difference lies in what each person knows and how they make use of that knowledge. The difference lies not in how much you want success, but in how well you plan to succeed!

You must plan for business success in order to achieve it. And marketing strategies are a critical ingredient in successful business planning. Your promotional strategies must be prominent early in your planning and throughout the operation of your business.

Kethyr Solutions can help you:

• Know Your Customers — Knowing your customers may sound obvious, but too many entrepreneurs assume they know exactly what their customers need without bothering to ask. We can help you develop techniques to learn about your customers, so you can build your business around effectively serving their needs and desires.
   
• Evaluate the Competition — If you assume your business will be the only game in town, or if you fail to take existing competitors seriously, you're asking for trouble. You don't have to reinvent the proverbial wheel. Your competitors can be a great source of information about what works and what doesn't.
   
• Prepare to Take Risks — Creating a plan isn't about avoiding risk; it's about understanding and managing risk. That's why a good marketing plan anticipates possible challenges and includes a variety of scenarios for meeting them. There's a difference between a calculated risk and recklessness, and we can help you make that distinction.
   
• Expect the Unexpected — Every marketing plan needs some wiggle room to allow for the unexpected. Part of this involves creating plans and budgets with some built-in flexibility. But adapting to change also requires you to accept that you might have to modify, or even abandon, business practices that have worked well in the past.
   
• Focus on Your Uniqueness — A cookie-cutter marketing plan might help you get started, but it won't help you succeed. And while it helps to look at your competitors, you shouldn't model your business after them. After all, you're in business to beat the competition. Kethyr Solutions can help you learn from your competitors' strengths and spot their weaknesses so you can use them to improve your business.
   
• Achieve Your Goals — Building a business involves hard work. But it should also include a clear set of rewards, both for you and your employees. When you set goals, you need to include some concrete motivation that goes beyond the satisfaction of a job well done.

If you've already created a marketing plan, we congratulate you on taking the first step towards your success!

That having been said, even the most experienced entrepreneur can still benefit from a different point of view. Kethyr Solutions is available to review your plans objectively and point out any possible weaknesses you might have missed.

What You Need to Do

Don't skip the plan! Of course, the biggest mistake of all is failing to create a plan in the first place. Planning is hard work, and there's no guarantee it will make your business a success. But a good plan is still the best way to turn your vision into a realistic, coherent business.

If you haven't already created a marketing plan, you must create a plan that you can remain committed to.

Kethyr Solutions can help you create and implement a marketing plan… but your plan will not succeed without your commitment.

An effective marketing campaign never involves only a single effort, strategy, or technique. It is an ongoing process that should involve multiple promotional vehicles.

Successful marketing does not happen quickly or on a once-and-for-all basis. You will need to analyze, implement, research effects, have some trial and error, reformulate, and so on…

Because your marketing campaign must continue throughout the operation of your business, its course may need to be altered when necessary to maximize the campaign's benefits. However, you must be patient with your plan for it to succeed. There is no such thing as an overnight success.

That's what's required of you… and, I don't want to belittle it. To be honest, there is very little we can do to help you succeed without your commitment and patience in achieving your goals.

This is not to say creating, and sticking to, your marketing plan has to be difficult. Having an expert like Kethyr Solutions as your partner can make all the difference!

What Kethyr Solutions Can Do For You

Opportunity comes to those who make themselves available to it. Are you ready to create your own opportunities?

If so, there are numerous types of promotional communications that can benefit your business and be incorporated into your marketing plan.

Together, these communications assets form what is known as the promotional mix — a composite of informational and strategic ideas, methods, and techniques — which is designed to create in the minds of targeted consumers the reasons why they should come to you for your particular product or service.

Using a variety of promotional communications, Kethyr Solutions can help you:

• Transform your intangible services into tangible objects — Create a website, brochures, articles, videos, white papers, etc., in order to make your services feel "real" in the minds of your prospects
   
• Engineer free publicity — Use public service messages and human-interest or welfare pieces to generate free press for your business
   
• Use the single best promotional approach there is — Build a strong professional and personal image in the community that contains your target markets
   
• Use your competition in a constructive manner — For risk-management purposes alone, it is better to stay in the good graces of competitors by promoting exchanges with them, as opposed to avoiding contact or being adversarial
   
• Expand your market — Rather than fight competitors for the same pool of customers, concentrate on finding new customers, for example by introducing something new and distinct, if not unique
   
• Attract and retain your past and present clients and motivate them to speak positively of your product or service in their contacts with others — We can show you how a succinct and mutually-beneficial questionnaire, as well as polite follow-up efforts, can increase your business without having to advertise to find new customers

Most design companies focus on one aspect of the promotional mix and leave you to determine how their service fits into your overall strategy. Many full-service marketing firms can provide you everything. However, they often charge you for every service they offer, regardless of your actual needs.

Unlike most marketing agencies or independent contractors, Kethyr Solutions is not only available to work on specific aspects of your promotional campaign, we can help you design and implement a comprehensive marketing plan that is custom-tailored to your business vision and goals.

Kethyr Solutions caters to the needs of small businesses owners. Our clients do not have bottomless pockets. They are cost conscious. And they want the best results they can get for the time and money they invest.

We can help you create a marketing plan that includes detailed ideas about sales, promotion, and delivery. We will help you to determine costs and schedules, and assist in anticipating critical events. We will help you define a marketing plan that furthers efficient business operations, promotes short- and long-term benefits, honors the role professionalism plays in your industry, and helps you realize your unique vision!

And we won't suggest, or charge you for, any services you don't need. In fact, if we know of a service provider who offers comparable or better services than ours for less, we will gladly point you in their direction.

We want you to confidently develop a marketing plan that you're comfortable with. Once you do, commitment and patience will come easily, opportunity will find you, and you will achieve the success you've envisioned.

Contact Kethyr Solutions today to find out how we can help you create your own version of success, or call us toll-free at 888-538-4971.

Thank you for visiting Kethyr Solutions. Please let us know how we may serve you better!