Page 24 - BEST MAGAZINE FALL 2018

Connection Planning
for Small Business BY: ROMMEL OCHOA
ECONOMÍA Y FINANZAS
Every business has a brand, you may call it something else and that’s fine, but at the end if the person who oversees
the business growth understands that is important to have and build a value proposition that is credible, unique and superior to competitors, then, that person is in the right path. So initially is paramount to have your brand clearly defined and consistently known by everyone in your organization, but the second biggest question is how to build that brand and translate it to sales?
Let’s start by identifying that every touch point or interaction with clients, or prospective clients, is an opportunity to build the brand, or weaken it. Interactions could be in any form that puts your brand in front of the prospective client, directly or indirectly, for example:
• Advertising, such as Media, Print, Digital
• Relationship Marketing
• Word of mouth, referrals
• Events and Sponsorships
• Networking
• Call calling
• Promotions and Specials
• Distribution, placement, location
In these interactions, we initially would like the client to consider your value proposition and lastly, influence a purchase decision.
There are many ways to reach clients or prospective clients, but the dilemma is to choose those that fit your brand and business objective. We can’t do it all, so this is where we introduce the concepts of effectiveness, efficiency and scale.
Figure 1 illustrates this concept:
Effective channels would be those that reach a larger number of people, such as TV and Radio. Efficient channels are those who would reach fewer people but are designed to end up in an immediate sale, such as events, referrals, networking, print and promotions. Here, the activity must be very relevant and targeted to the people that is most likely to purchase. Lastly, scale is about how much of these activities would you invest in, ask yourself weather the breath of the activity would help you reach your business objective.
Building a business requires some thought and planning, but the execution of the right strategy is what sets businesses apart.
24 THE BEST MAGAZINE FALL 2018
WORLD & PEOPLE ECONOMY AND FINANCE
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