Internet Business Plan - Identify Your Business p. 2
What is your business name and logo?
Since you’re deciding on a domain name, it would be wise to figure out what you need to call your business! If you already own a small business and have your name and logo already, you can skip this part! If not, keep reading for advice on how to tackle this somewhat difficult position:
Think about what you do! Your business name should really capture what you do in only a word or short phrase. Since you sell some sort of product, you should have a name that indicates your specialty. For instance, Blake’s Real Estate is a company name that shows what they do in only two words- Real Estate! One popular poker product site is the Chip Vault. The Chip Vault is a business name that shows what exactly they sell as a specialty. While the Chip Vault sells a few other things, they narrow their focus down to poker chips and their name shows this!
Think about your market! If you are selling to a younger generation then you are going to need a hipper, cooler name. If you are looking for the middle aged demographic you will probably want a name that is a little more conservative. It is your business name that will first draw someone into your store or onto your website!
Once you have selected your business name, you will need to look into choosing your logo. Logo building can be a fun and exciting step in the overall process, so take your time with this- you’ll want to make sure you design the right one!
There are several inexpensive computer programs you can buy from office supply stores that help you design a logo, completely customizable, that fits your needs. Why is your logo so important? Well for starters, your logo will prove to be your basic trademark. The first thing people will think about when they see your logo will be your business name and what you do; with a poor logo comes a poor customer connection!
Who are your basic marketed audiences? Demographics, geographical considerations and behavioral characteristics should all play a certain role in your decision in who to market toward. Each of these three categories hone in on a specific buyer of your product, here is what you should look for:
Demographics: When most businesses look into the demographics of their marketing schemes they will look at the basics, age, gender, occupation, disposable income and interests. Demographics help a business work more efficiently because they can market strongly to those who show the most interest in their products and services.
Geographical positioning: Geographical considerations should be made when looking at who you are marketing your business toward because you will have to decide whether you want to market toward specific countries or regions more heavily then others. Obviously with a product selling company you aren’t going to spend a lot of time marketing toward a small city in South America that hasn’t been affected by the certain trends as of yet, especially if you are selling ‘trendy’ things. On the other hand, you will want to market more heavily toward a more populated portion of the United States because they will most likely have a good percentage of people obsessed with your product!
Behavioral: How your buyers react to your products is one of the most important things you can try to monitor! See which buyers tend to be repeat customers and why. A great way to do this is to develop some sort of survey or customer questionnaire that continually keeps you updated with customer reviews.
Are there certain demographics that you should concentrate on? This is a controversial topic for many small business owners because some believe that a business should aim at all demographics while others believe that a more segmented approach works most efficiently. You’ll have to decide which works better for you. If you are trying to sell your Gen X products to one particular demographic you’ll probably look at those between the ages of 20 and 40 with money to spend and that have a habit of buying in certain retail stores or on the web at particular places.
When you narrow your demographical focus this much you will seem to have more consistency with who responds to your ads and marketing schemes. When you do a more broad approach (no specific ad focus) you have a better chance of getting a more varied customer base, but it may not be as profitable or concentrated.
What are the biggest benefits you offer?
A huge part of your marketing scheme is going to be made up essentially of your benefits. No one is going to actively pursue your products if they don’t see a host of benefits for doing so. Either you can offer higher quality then anyone else (or at least perceived quality) or you can aim for lower prices. Let’s see your options more in depth:
Quality: Of course you want to offer the best quality products you can possibly offer but it is all about customer perception that will bring you more in profits. If you can market your benefits (for your products) as the best quality out there you can charge more for prices. The only trick is getting customers to believe that you have higher quality products, even if you are selling identical equipment as other businesses! Elegant advertising and simplicity usually works the best. Keep it professional!
Lower prices: Take a hint from Wal-Mart in this matter, lower prices can be beneficial but you’ll have to learn how to cut costs in other ways. If you offer the lowest prices on the market for your poker cards or for your tables you’ll need to work on lowering your advertising costs and shipping costs to get in this position. Lower prices can draw in customers at high rates but you have to make sure they know you have the price to beat!
What are your business goals? This is where writing a quality business plan or proposal comes in handy. By the time you have gotten to the end of Section 1, you will have answered the basic questions your business plan should include. You will know who to market toward and why, what you are selling and how you will sell it! The last part of the process is actually defining your business goals. Business goals can vary from financial to product development so make sure you have a handle on what you want to do. Here are a few goals you may have:
Financial: Obviously you may have some financial goals that you are striving to hit. Whether this means a certain year-end goal or a monthly goal, make sure you have defined it because focus is the best friend of success!
Product development: You may have a business goal of developing new products to sell. Maybe you have some innovative ideas that just need some polishing or if you have vast improvements on current products, define what you want to do!
Affiliates: You may have plans to affiliate yourself with another business or another seller but don’t have the resources or ability…yet. If you have a written plan on how to get yourself to that point then you will have a better chance of affiliating yourself quicker and more efficiently.
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