Microsoft Small Business Resource


Marketing Self Analysis Questions Your Chance to Assess If You're Meeting Your Goals Everyone wants to find new ways to market their business, but sometimes they don't have the time to make sure they are taking advantage of the fundamental opportunities in marketing. Ask yourself the following seven questions to evaluate if you are covering the fundamentals.

1) How well do you know your customers? More important, do you know your best customers?
If not, you should consider keeping track of their purchasing patterns and interest areas so you can target marketing initiatives to them. After all, the easiest sales you make may be to repeat customers. To track customer information and tie together related sales and other details consider building a customer database using Microsoft® Access. Once you start keeping track of your customers, you can begin to make determinations about which ones are your best customers. Using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet you can chart the details of when customer segments become repeat buyers and review purchasing trends. Also, once you've created the database, you can use the mail merge wizard in Microsoft Word to print mailing labels or personalized mail merge letters.

For more information see the Attract Customers Through Targeted Communications article.

2) Are you continually informing your customers about changes in your business, especially about new products and services?
If not, consider creating a simple newsletter. Microsoft Publisher produces professional-looking, yet easy-to-create newsletters and flyers. Publisher wizards step you through the process of creating an attractive layout with creative graphics (right from the clip art gallery already in the software) and your content of course. Use the newsletter to promote special offers, new products and services, or events that will appeal to your customers. This will be one of the first ways you can leverage the customer database you've started to build.

See how two small businesses, Fuzzy Wuzzy Rug Company and A Hike And A Hydrant , used Microsoft Publisher to communicate with their customers.

3) Are you accessible to your customers, business partners, and vendors in ways other than the telephone?
With the rise of the Internet, electronic mail is becoming common. More people have e-mail accounts either at work or at home or both. Many prefer to communicate with e-mail because it's quick, efficient, and reliable. As a way to build stronger ties with your customers, consider establishing an e-mail account through one of the public services, such as MSN (tm) (The Microsoft Network). The Microsoft® Windows 95 operating system includes the Microsoft Exchange Inbox universal information client which gives users an easy-to-learn interface for e-mail that can enhance the quality and frequency of communicating with your customers, business partners and vendors.

For more information on communications with customers read Attract Customers Through Targeted Communications

4) Are you promoting your company's products and services on the Internet?
The Internet via its World Wide Web, is an excellent way to give your company a larger presence, no matter what your company size. A well conceived Web site can give your company instant credibility and reach well beyond your ability to promote by traditional means. And, it doesn't have to be costly or difficult, especially with new tools such as:

Microsoft FrontPage (tm), is software that enables you to design your web site, author your content, and post it to the web from your own computer or across a computer network.
Internet Assistants for Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint® and Microsoft Excel. These free add-in products make it possible for even new users to develop a simple, yet effective presence on the Internet.
Microsoft Internet Information Server which allows you to host your web site.
Microsoft Internet Explorer which allows you and your customers to easily browse the Internet for information.

For more information about how to gain advantages from the Internet see the Leverage The Internet section of this site.

5) Are you publicizing your company's successes and accomplishments?
If not, you should consider creating a simple news release about important events at your company that are newsworthy. Using the press release template built into Microsoft Word or Microsoft Small Business Pack, you can create a professional looking news release that you can mail or fax to the business editor at your local daily or weekly newspaper. The key to getting coverage is identifying information that an editor will consider newsworthy, including new hires and promotions, new products and services, business alliances and partnerships.

To learn more about publicizing your company's accomplishments, see the Attract Customers Through Targeted Communications article.

6) Do you always make the best impression?
If your company's success depends on making a strong impression with prospective customers, then you should be using the best presentation tools available. Consider using a presentation program such as Microsoft PowerPoint to make a strong, professional impression whenever you are presenting ideas before a group of people. The PowerPoint presentation graphics program allows you to organize and communicate your ideas and concepts in a convincing and memorable manner and will help you make the best impression.

Selling Your Ideas with Confident Presentations will give you more details on making the best impression.

7) Do you do research to make the best marketing decisions?
For most small business owners this may be more a question of time than resources. Research can be time consuming. Access to the World Wide Web, however, can make a huge difference. With its access to millions of pages of information, the Web can be an invaluable tool.

And with the help of products such as MSN and the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser (free and downloadable from this site), its easy to get connected and search the Internet for the exact information that can make a difference in decisions that affect the future of your company.

For more information on researching the Internet and the Microsoft tools to help you, see Leverage The Internet.