Strategies in Rice Business

12. Conduct phone surveys.

This may be a touchy subject for some, as many people feel annoyed when they’re called on the phone at home. But if your business relies on person-to-person communication, it may not be out of the question to conduct a phone survey. You can ask many of the same questions that you would in a written survey, asking customers what they see as your greatest strengths and weaknesses, and whether or not your customers would recommend your business to others.

• The downside to a phone interview, aside from potentially disrupting or annoying the people being called, is that you won’t have the customer’s responses in front of you like you would with a written survey. If you plan on conducting a survey, you’ll need to have a fast writer/typer to transcribe your customers’ responses over the phone. This may require hiring additional personnel to conduct the interviews and write down responses, which will then need to be compiled into a spreadsheet or catalog of feedback.

See also: 8 Profitability/Sustainability of Pure Water Business in Nigeria

13. Conduct personal interviews.

This doesn’t have to be anything too thorough. You can simply chat with customers as you’re ringing out their orders or assisting them as you normally would. But face-to-face communication could be a great way to poll clients and learn what they’d most like to see improve within your business.

• Much like the phone interview, a personal interview will still require you to make some written account of what your customers said and what feedback they offered. This doesn’t make it an ineffective or impossible plan to implement; it just means you’ll need to plan ahead if you decide to go this route.

14. Gather your information.

Review any surveys you’ve conducted, and determine how you’d like to grow your business. Compare this with any real-world obstacles, including current and projected market trends, forecasted expenses that might arise in the near future, what geographic region and demographics you have had the most success with, and any competitors who also operate in that region or target the same demographics.

15. Assign roles.

As you move forward with your marketing plan, you’ll want to assign specific roles to everyone responsible for the marketing of your business. Determine who would be the best fit for each role within your marketing plan, and define what that role’s responsibilities will be. You should also determine how you will measure success for each role’s responsibilities.

Strategies in Rice Business

16. Declare your marketing goals.

What do you hope to achieve by building a marketing plan? Is your end goal to broaden your customer base, to let existing customers know about new services/promotions, to expand into a new region/demographic, or something else entirely? Your goals will guide the creation of your plan.

• Your marketing goals should fit within your larger business goals.
• When developing your marketing goals, make sure your goals are tangible and measurable. Otherwise, it will be difficult to interpret your sales, and you may not be clear on what approaches and strategies were effective
• Use outcomes like increased sales dollars, increased number of units sold/manufactured, increased public awareness, or number of new accounts with clients.
• For example, your goal may be “Increase new contracts by 10% or increase social media presence”.

Read on: 13 Tips to Develop Pure Water Marketing Strategy in Nigeria

17. Determine how to reach your prospects.

Your strategic plan should target all three customer prospects: cold prospects (those who don’t know your business at all, reached through advertisements and direct marketing), warm prospects (those who are familiar with your business, or at least have been exposed to your ads and marketing in the past), and hot prospects (interested customers/clients who know your business and are prepared to work with you). You’ll need to brainstorm how to reach all of your prospects, which may play a role in determining which marketing strategies you employ.

• For example, you may opt to use social media, radio ads, signs, or flyer distribution to reach cold prospects. Potential clients who have shown interest or worked with you in the past could be actively contacted by salespeople who are trained to use the information from your research to convince the customer that your product or service is the best solution to their problem.

Strategies in Rice Business

18. Develop marketing strategies to meet your goals.

Once you’ve decided on your marketing goals and prospects, you’ll want to follow through on that thought process to determine what you can actually do to meet your goals and reach your prospects. There are many different types of marketing strategies, but some of the most common ones include:

• Corporate or in-store events are a great way to bring customers in. This could be a dinner, a social activity, or any other event that will impress clients, motivate/unite your staff, or increase your exposure to potential customers/clients.
• Social promotions are almost always successful. That’s because they promote your business while getting customers excited about your products or services. These contests can be done in-store or through social media, and typically involve offering some type of minor “reward” in exchange for frequenting your business or following you on social media.
• Consider paying for short-term sponsorship from a reputable person or group of people who use your products or services. These endorsements can even be done entirely online through social media. It may not fit into every business’s budget, as it can be an expensive option, but it’s been proven to work for many businesses around the world.
• Don’t overlook the value of clever or catchy advertisements. Finding your business’s voice and visual style in a given campaign can be highly effective.

Read on: 14 Current Pure Water Production Setting Cost in Nigeria

19. Consider the role of social media.

Various social media platforms can be a highly effective and inexpensive means of advertising your business, and should be a component of your overall marketing plan. Social media can be useful for advertising specials, discounts, doing promotions, and communicating with your target audience.

• Being active on social media keeps your business on the minds of customers. Consider writing blog posts or posting links about problems your customers may have, and how your business can provide a solution.
• Discussion topics, promotions, and surveys can be ways of involving your customers in your business while simultaneously learning more about their preferences and deepening their relationship with your brand.

Strategies in Rice Business

20. Set a budget.

You may have some spectacular ideas about how to market your business and reach out to customers, but if your budget is limited then you may need to rethink your strategy. Your budget should be realistic and should reflect both the current state of your business and the potential growth you see in your business’s future.

• Assess your current finances. You want your budget to be realistic, and that means taking into account what you can afford to spend right now. Don’t blow your budget on the hope that your marketing plan will bring in a flood of new business, because if your plan isn’t that successful you may find yourself hemorrhaging money.
• Start small with allocating your marketing funds, and work within your means. Go for tried and true advertisements that you know have the highest success rate with reaching new clients.
• Don’t be afraid to stray from your plan. If things aren’t working in one area of advertisements (say, for example, that your newspaper ads aren’t reaching the right people), then try reallocating the time and money you would otherwise invest in that faltering avenue into other, more productive means of advertising.

Conclusion