Friday, September 7, 2012
School Lunch: Making Healthy Meals Your Kids Will Like - Baltimore Health Care | Examiner.com
School Lunch: Making Healthy Meals Your Kids Will Like - Baltimore Health Care | Examiner.com:
'via Blog this'
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Bringing Your Marketing A-game
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| Photo courtesy of: http://bit.ly/hebp18 |
Marketing is how we get clients; they don't fall from the sky. A successful marketing campaign can keep a business relevant for years and help build the brand. However, as we are so dependent on marketing, why do so many business owners devote so little resources to the process? How do you reach that ideal customer? How much is each loyal customer worth to you? There are a few things to consider when tackling the issue of marketing. Let's look at a couple:
- You're not just attracting one customer, you're building a community of followers with the potential to grow your business beyond your imagined market. How best to serve globally is the best place to start with a marketing campaign.
- Be helpful to the client you haven't met yet. Clients have access to ridiculous amounts of data on-line. Initially the best way you can serve the client not-yet obtained is by making your information clear, straight-forward, and designed in a way that is both inviting and informative. That is to say, make your web presence a beautiful one which answers the critical questions your clients will have.
- Don't be afraid to fail; embrace it. Ask for customer feedback on social media outlets. How else will you make improvements and ensure your clients are getting what they want?
- See who else lives in your neighborhood. That means checking out your competition. You shouldn't be content to sit behind a desk and hope the phone will ring. Get out, attend a few workshops, visit competitors, form valuable partnerships. This is a learning environment. We learn everyday from our successes and our failures. We can also learn from the successes and failures of our competitors.
- Have an actual plan. I'm often shocked by the number of clients who when asked admit they have no marketing plan. The number one question I get from my clients is, how to we get new clients? I always answer the same, "you've got to start with a plan!"
- Last, realize that every interaction is a marketing opportunity. Have a twenty second commercial in mind when meeting with clients, answering the phone, engaging on-line, and networking in the community.
If you'd like to learn more about how to successfully market for a changing environment, join me at MayHAC's Annual Provider Upgrade Luncheon: March 8, 2012 in Baltimore Maryland. My special guest, marketing master, Monyka Berrocosa of MyCity4her.com will be giving pointers on how increase your A-game and get the best out of your marketing plan. For more information visit http://mayhacluncheon.eventbrite.com .
Saturday, February 4, 2012
One month in: Are you working your 2012 strategic plan?
- Were expectations too high/low
- Is this a fluke?
- Should we increase/decrease projections?
- Is our success/failure in line with national numbers?
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| photo courtesy of Posterize via freedigitalphotos.net |
No strategic plan? Well first of all, a wag of the finger. You need a strategic plan. You'll never arrive anywhere unless you plan to go somewhere. Success doesn't just happen. As I've stressed on many an occasion, there is a formula for understanding the true value of your business and from that, you can develop a plan to drive success. If you need help developing a plan, ask your consultant. You did get around to hiring that consultant, right? Consultants can help you plan and understand how numbers work.
Last, don't be discouraged if your don't meet or beat your initial projections. Again, it's still early in the year. This is your adjustment period. Look at all factors to include the job market, the general state of like-businesses in the area, and your activities. Now go back to working that plan!
If you find that you need a consultant to help you with a strategic plan or equation, My firm, MayHAC does perform the service. Please don't hesitate to reach out: Shereese@mayhac.com or phone 443-470-3630
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Where am I going: Integrity & Marketing Management for the woman entrepreneur
Despite a still struggling
economy, many women are leaving the security of their 9-to-5, making the
decision to take a leap of faith and starting their own businesses. Most of my
clients started in business with many big ideas but without a real sense of how
businesses are run in a tight economy.
Finding the right location, hiring the right staff,
and making the right marketing decisions are all valid issues but what I find too often among my
clients is the failure to properly plan and execute a business idea. You may
want to get a Cosmo before reading any further; I’m here to tell you the truth,
not please you with lies.If you’ve been paying attention to my past articles, you know that you may have over spent when initially setting up your business. I feel very comfortable making that assessment even if I haven’t met a woman business owner for one simple reason; many of us don’t know where we’re going because we don’t know where we are in our businesses initially. Do you know there’s a formula which will tell you the exact value of your business? The formula is important because it helps you make well-informed decisions about budgets and expenditures. Are you listening?
Your company’s personal formula for
success
Seconds CEO, Nick Hughes believes all business owners must
start with a clear and simple idea, but cover all bases to include target
markets. Many women business owners start out not knowing who they’re
targeting. Get focused!
Next, know your risks.
As romantic as the notion of managing your own business may be, there is a
downside. Assess the risks, keeping in mind the five “P”s of business; proper
planning prevents poor performance. In line with understanding risks, please
retain and accountant and an attorney. I feel the need to be blunt here; the
attorney and accountant you hire must have a specialty or extensive experience
in your area of business. There’s no room for nepotism here; don’t hire your
uncle.
Create your own niche. There are a million businesses
out there but the ones we remember are those that have a niche or something
that draws us in. For example, most of my clients are home health providers.
There are literally thousands of home health providers
in the mid-Atlantic area. However, by creating a niche market and developing a
campaign to match, we were able to increase visibility and revenue for providers
in 2011.
“The
enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend”
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| Courtesy of Ambro via http://freedigitaldownload.net |
Know your competition.
While partnerships are great, business is business. If there’s to be only one
success story, it should be yours. Perform a market analysis or ask your
consultant about your service area. I know you have a consultant, right? A
market analysis is fairly easy to obtain but any reputable consultant can tell
you the condition of your market. When partnering with other business owners,
ensure professional lines are clearly drawn in ink.
The
Kindness and comfort of strangers
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| Courtesy of posterize http://freedigitaldownload.net |
Starting a business in
a tough economy is hard. Starting a business with family and friends in a tough
economy is suicide. Not to be too harsh, I too have made this mistake more than
once but the reality is; strangers with common goals are generally more
successful than commoners with strange goals. That is to say, don’t let
relationships get in the way of your pursuit of happiness.
Measuring and cutting
Lean Start-up entrepreneur, Eric Ries tells us; good management relies on mangers being able
to measure the right things and draw the right conclusions from those
measurements. In a down economy cutbacks are sometimes unavoidable. That
doesn’t mean you should hesitate to make them. Cut back on things before
people. Measure all parameters before making cuts. Don’t apologize.
Oops, I.M. managing!
The one thing you can’t gain from
cutbacks is the one thing most women entrepreneurs covet, growth. Growth in
business comes in many forms, experience, knowledge, relationships. But at the
end of the business day, what we need is sustained profitability. To ensure
profitability and growth, managers must have a skill set, founded in integrity
and marketing
goals. The following is the skill set I believe every business women should
have to lay a foundation for efficacy-based management and growth:
1.
Basic Business Acumen- Develop a workable business plan,
even if you’re not planning to seek funding.
2.
Salesmanship: At least one member of your leadership
team should be good at sales and promotion. Businesses don’t sell themselves.
3.
Brand management: Social media and market savvy, enough
said.
4.
M&M: Measurement & management; you have to be
able to make tough decisions and reassess goals at east annually.
5.
Vision: keep focused and ensure mission compliance.
Now you’re managing. !
By the way, if you need that formula I referred to earlier, email me at
Shereese@mayhac.com. I’ll send you the
formula and an example.
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