The Internet Entrepreneur Diary

Image Source: WhiteMenorah Courtesy of oskay

While reading the blog post on Google Reader, I realized that I have posted “Increase page ranking with DIY marketing strategies” in the past. It was one of my top visited blog posts. Looking at that post again, I felt that I was drawing on the white paper like a young child. It’s nothing but a kid’s play.

Doing serious business requires serious marketing strategies. If I don’t seriously plan my marketing strategies, I will not get anywhere I want my business to be. I have spent two days reading the book I just bought about marketing toolkit for small business. So let’s play like an adult in the business world.

Let’s cut to the chase. If you just start your own home based business or small business, the chance is that you will need to market your business here or there. To make sure your investment on your marketing is generating the best return, you have to do some work before we get into the marketing. The most important thing is to evaluate your business from different angles. Keep this in mind. There is no one business without a customer. So customer is always the most important thing you have to put into your business plan.

Here are the questions I asked myself.

What will the business do to me in my life?

1. Why do I want to start this business? Is that for fun, for real or for being cool? I think many new entrepreneurs started their own business like I did. For fun and for the reasons that we thought it’s cool idea. The research said that most new business with cool ideas will eventually failed. The cool business ideas that solve costumers’ issues will success after all. So make sure your business can solve something that your costumers are looking for.

2. Is it the business idea that I love, or is it the idea of running the business? I think a serious mind is the key lead to a success business. You have to have passion to what you love to do and turn that passion into a serious business and covert it into a cash machine.

3. What do I personally want to gain from the business? Personally, I am hoping to make living on the Internet and support my travel around the world. This goal has to be part of my business plan. If my business does not allow me to be absent from time to time, it will be wasting time. I won’t be able to fulfill my dream at all.

4. What are my real strengths as an entrepreneur? This is fairly important question, without knowing my own strength, I can’t really think straight and solve the problems that should not even exist.

5. What are my limitations? I think our weakest points can be harmful to our business. Knowing what we are lacking of can help us grow faster buy having someone fill in with the strength we are lacking of.

6. Where do I want the business to be three to five years from now? Growth plan is very important; many people just want to make some quick bulks on the Internet. Without the long term plan, you are lost and feel no confident to continue.

7. Will this business allow me to maintain my lifestyle? Again, we are trying to live to enjoy life, but not work to live. We want our work pay off our dream. Don’t let your business drag your life. You should be enjoying whatever life style you want and still achieve your business goals. Lifestyle entrepreneur is what we all are looking for.

What will the business do to my customers?

1. What problems or issues will my business take care for my customers? A successful business starts with solving problem. Without putting customer’s need in the first place, a business won’t less long.

2. What is my call to action and how will it get my customer to buy from me? What’s your selling point? I often ask myself, will I buy the products myself? Think like buyers for a moment.

3. How well do I know my customer’s needs? A lot of research needs to be done in order to answer these questions. That’s where your passion comes into the place. If you really love what you are doing, you should already know the answers.

4. Why do my customers buy from me? What’s my business’s value that leads to the sales? Can our business solve the problem and add more value to the customers too?

5. Who are my post valuable customers? Most of business generate more profit from the returning customers. Find out who may buy from you the second time is surely important.

6. Do those customer share common needs and characteristics that make it easier to identify them? These are the question that will help you define your customers and find where they are and how they spend their money.

7. How will I stay close to my customers? This is what exactly marketing company do to get your customer to knock on your door. Building relationship with your customers will ensure your success.

I think there are more questions to ask, but we don’t want to put ourselves in to a mood and think that it’s too much to take. I have put down all the questions and answers in the word documents, so I can come back to review my answers in the future to evaluate my progress.

Have you reviewed your business and where did you put yourself and costumer in your business plan?

Popularity: 37% [?]

Want to work hard and play hard?
 Get Inside Story by E-Mail     Subscribe with Your Favorite Reader

Save To Del.icio.us | Digg This | Stumble It