The Importance of Being Prepared

16.02.10 Part 1: The TLC Business Marketing Formula

OK, so this is going to be a five-part blog where we walk through the five phases of the TLC Business Marketing Formula.

Today we start with ‘preparation’ – perhaps the most important, and most overlooked, phase of all. We know for a fact there are a lot of you out there who could really do with investing some time in a bit of preparation.

There’s always a lot of  time spent ‘doing’ marketing – a lot of hard work – or ‘perspiration’ as we like to call it. Now there’s nothing wrong with that except all too often this perspiration fails to achieve the desired results.

It’s at this point we say STOP! Please don’t spend any more time or money undertaking marketing activities that are destined to fail. It’s time to take a step back and do some thorough preparation. It’s not about looking at the ‘how’ and putting a plan in place. This goes further back. It’s considering the ‘what and ‘why’ which will define everything that goes after.

It’s all about doing research, identifying your target markets and listening to your customers, whilst reviewing your current position. We’re talking competitor analysis, market research, customer surveys, SWOTs and PESTLEs; systematic and thorough research and analysis that provides solid facts on which to base marketing decisions.

It always surprises us how many businesses gloss over this phase and undertake a variety of marketing activities (that usually don’t work) based on assumptions or ideas; it’s a ‘if one thing fails, try another’ sort of approach and it usually results in a lot of time and money being wasted unnecessarily.

At TLC Business we place a great deal of emphasis on the sort of preparation we’ve mentioned and we will continue to stress its importance until we’re blue in the face. Investing time and resources at the outset, will  save you both in the long run and will go a long way to achieving the marketing results you want.

You’ve heard it here, prepare or beware. The first rule of the TLC Business Marketing Formula.

Rebecca Pash, Marketing Manager, TLC Business