Business Strategy TBC

The internet in principle is no different than any typical town main street. There are plenty of different small, medium and large stores to choose from, some are well known names and some not so well known. There are also plenty of information centres, recreation and food and beverage facilities all designed to improve the shopping experience. For the majority of proactive retailers however, the internet is now established as being by far the biggest profit centre of all, contributing the lion’s share of corporate gross revenues and yet the online main street store costs far less to develop, far less to maintain and far less to stock than even the smallest traditional main street store. However this unprecedented success has still been achieved largely by accident. At the beginning of the internet revolution most companies viewed the internet as being a source of new enquiries achieved in much the same way as a main street bill board or advertising on TV. The idea of using their corporate web sites as an online store has very much evolved over time. Now consumers can purchase anything that they can usually purchase within their local town main street online via the internet as well. This can invariably be done quicker, cheaper and more efficiently too. So what is the difference between good and bad online retailers? Any good marketing expert will always advise you to feature your product as prominently as possible within any advertising or public relations campaign that you undertake. The internet is no different. Visitors to Harrods in London tend to go there for the Harrods experience. Customers expect in many cases to pay slightly more for products which they could purchase elsewhere for less, but the difference is considered worthwhile because you are purchasing the product from Harrods. The same is true of Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdales. Creating the Harrods experience online has proven to be virtually impossible however and the company are still struggling to achieve this goal. Visitors to Harrods online expect to visit recognizable departments in the same way that they would if they visited the store. Providing the same products online is not sufficient in this instance because the same customers would not be prepared to pay inflated prices for products online via the company’s web site if they are not also being provided with the Harrods Experience. Conversely Amazon has done very well indeed online, although the success has not been achieved without problems along the way, but these problems were caused by too much success and consequential delays with supply chain management and distribution. The main reason why Amazon has succeeded ultimately is because it is actually very easy for them to provide customers with a better experience than they would normally have in a main street bookshop or DVD store and they can also provide the products at a more competitive price. Book shop and DVD customers do not tend to be browsers like Harrods customers. They tend to walk into the store with a product in mind and the frustration of searching for it through endless stocks of other books and DVDs has been unceremoniously stripped away by Amazon. Not only that but they have been able to ensure that almost all of your favourite author’s books are already in stock, which tends to increase sales revenue and subsequently purchasing power considerably. It is a good example of where impulse buying can actually be more powerful over the internet than in a typical main street store. Another example of this is Tesco. Always leading the market by determining their customers needs and buying patterns in advance, Tesco has developed their online store in such a way that it more-or-less replicates the shopping experience of a typical main street store. All of the products are still decentralized into clearly recognizable departments. You can still virtually pick up the product and read the ingredients, compare health information, browse through alternative products, put items into your basket and then change your mind and take them out again. You can review the total cost of your daily shopping as you go along and adjust this without the embarrassment of having to face a check out assistant. Supermarket shopping tends to be laborious and hard work, particularly for elderly customers, pregnant customers, or customers who work long hours or who have small children. So it has been easy to strip out all of these frustrations and add in numerous benefits when shopping online. Their web site database remembers your last orders which saves you time can you can still take advantage of special offers. You can have your goods delivered to your home and customers will invariably have the time and the patience to browse around for other products which may be of use. In an industry where profit margins are small and competition is fierce the internet has effectively provided the industry with the supermarket store of the future and it is not impossible to envisage a time when their typical main street or out-of-town counterparts will no longer be necessary. The Academy of Business Strategy has succeeded in developing and facilitating education online, where many mainstream business schools and universities have not. The reason for this is quite simple. ABS provides programmes require the practical integration of academic theory as an integral part of the qualification process and as such students tend to be in full-time employment while training. Many students also travel internationally with work while training as well and as such it is much more convenient for students to be able to study online without having to carry their study material and project studies around with them. You can then make the study experience more interactive, more enjoyable, less daunting and more fun. Individual students can also plan and manage their own study time. Contrary to Harrods for example, ABS can therefore provide its customers with a better experience online than it would otherwise be able to in a classroom on campus. The general message here is quite clear. Those retailers who are able to replicate their typical main street store customer experience within their store online and are then able to add additional benefits from shopping online tend to be those who will succeed. It is not sufficient merely to offer the same products online at a discounted price. Innovation can also play a part. I remember as a child being impressed by a particular department store merely because they had installed escalators. Well I had never seen any before! I thought that this store was very modern and even to this day think of them as being at the forefront of innovation. The brand image has therefore been sustained merely because they have invested in innovative development to improve the consumer experience. This can also be achieved online by being at the forefront of innovative technology, which directly impacts upon user experience. This requires significant and consistent investment but it is still far less costly than developing and managing a typical main street store. The key success factors when developing online stores are therefore as follows: 1.Make sure that your products or services feature prominently. They should always be the stars of the show. 2.Remember to replicate the benefits of your traditional main street store online. 3.Be innovative with the development and management of your online user experience. 4.Your online store should offer additional benefits apart from the most obvious one of cost savings. 5.Be acutely aware of whether you would in fact be able to improve your consumer experience by having an online store, or whether you would be making it worse. Products or services that are considered to be necessities by consumers always tend to do better online, as opposed to those that are considered to be luxury items. This does not of course mean that benefit cannot be achieved online with luxury items, but the e-commerce strategy does need to be approached from a completely different perspective.

Be Creative. Facebook is a distinct ball of wax and demands a diverse amount of treatment than a typical web page. Since a Facebook page represents a hub of your community, you will need to be a bit careful while giving it a creative twist. Try to focus your attention more on representing and reflecting your company’s brand worth and corporate ethos. If you possess a Twitter stream or YouTube page you can easily install these with free Involver apps.
Customize. Don’t follow anyone if you want to keep the attention of your fans focused on the content in your web page. Try to make your page look simple rather than making it splashy by adding loads of unwanted images, fancy fonts, and graphics. Add a call to action graphic with an arrow pointing to the “Like” button, and asking users to click it. Attempt to get the hang of FBML as it comes along with a number of Facebook only modification choices. You can make use of a “Fan Gate” to offer incentives for fans to “Like” your page. A fan gate is a excellent way to instantly provide a gift, such as a free ebook or video, once people to join your page. Using this strategy is a terrific way to convert more visitors to your page into fans.
Offer something Unique. If you are serious about making it big on Facebook, you need to provide your visitors a motive to return. You can use Facebook coupons as bait which will help you to drive traffic from your Facebook fan page to your website and you will get to see a notable uptick in revenue at the end of the day. Many other well-known choices that you can give a try are low cost coupon codes, free of charge products, and interesting free content through your blog.
Use Photos. Attempt to refresh your Facebook fan page by regularly changing it with images of company’s events, employees or anything you want. Make sure that the photos you post look professional and go with the custom theme of your Facebook fan page. Tag your employees and fans with these photos so that you can attract new fans in as these kinds of photos are posted to their respective news feeds.
Be Interactive to Get a Better Response. Allow your fans to participate in an interactive chat session on unique topics with help of a live chat application. It not only helps encourage a communicative environment in the fan page but also aids in reaching out to a wider spectrum of consumers. One strategy to do this is with a live video feed using uStream. When you begin to. broadcast live you may get your Facebook fans to join in by posting about this on your fan page. Send an update about the broadcast a day or two before to get the maximum amount of people in on the chat.
Implement a Subscriber Form in your Page. Think “outside of the box” and make use of your Facebook page to catch emails. Make your fan page look more personalized and enhanced with the assist of a subscriber form which makes it possible for you to manage your feeds more systematically and easily. Add video and RSS feeds to your page to get your fans engaged. To make your customized fan page more optimized and available for users and fans, add new and interesting video and RSS feeds that help you contact far more folks with the mediums they like most.
Add a Store to Your Page. Use your customized Facebook fan page design to sell products directly to your fans. With help of custom applications you can add new features that not only allow you to upload and exhibit your products online, but also sell products and services. After a store is added into your page a visitor can simply click the ‘buy’ option in your store to invest in your products and services. You are able to connect the buy buttons on your page directly to paypal and have your fans pay you right there and then. Cha-ching!
Scope for polls and surveys. The most beneficial way to benefit from the fan page of this widely popular social networking site is to allow your visitors and fans with an open interactive ambiance. A few ways that you can get feedback from your fans are with; polls, discussion apps, surveys, or simply by asking your fans questions about how you can enhance your user experience.
Consider your Page a top priority. With over 620 million users Facebook is now too big for any business to disregard. Any business that is serious about creating a community of customers who are also evangelists should consider maximizing their Facebook presence a priority. When it comes to making your Facebook page stand out don’t be afraid to be different, but implement the solutions for success that are proven to work. Get to know your audience, ask them what they like, and then deliver it and you will notice your engagement and interest (and fan count) will rise. Contests and giveaways are a fantastic way to stand out, as is terrific content that gets people talking about your page.

Private, air cargo service companies are in high demand these days, owing to the fact that timeliness has gradually become a very important factor in business. The result is that most leading organizations prefer to hire local and private cargo airlines instead of using the regular national or international air cargo, since they can exercise more control. This is a great time to set up your own air cargo company because the market is conducive and therefore you have a good chance to succeed, regardless of whether you would like to operate on a high or a low scale.

When you are in this business, everything depends upon placement because the large freight shipping companies do not fly to every single destination. Different companies in different fields of study require regular air transportation; these companies include mining companies, geological companies, archeological companies, and many others. Be aggressive in your strategies for marketing and offer terms they cannot refuse, giving yourself a long term lease while maintaining a reasonable profit.

This is an excellent time to start your own air cargo business, as the demand for cargo service companies is rising rapidly. This could be music to the ears of those who have worked in or have retired from the flying services sector. Since the market condition for air cargo services is highly favorable, you could start a business on a very small scale, even with just one or two bi-planes, and grow from there through the profits thus accrued. To establish your company quickly, market and advertise yourself as a cargo agent very assertively.

Starting a cargo service business is not too hard if you love planes, are able to operate from a good location, and have a good marketing strategy. This is in fact one of the most lucrative businesses available today because more and more companies and people value optimal use of time above all other things. While there are plenty of commercial air cargo companies, small private cargo airlines are high in demand because of their flexibility and easy access to many remote destinations. Besides, you can always open a flying club to cover those low tide periods to ensure that you rake in profits year round.

Facebook Strategy; Lead and Sales Generation OK so heres an important re-cap on the basics; 1. We need fans to take action 2. Commenting/ sharing/ ‘liking’ will increase the exposure of promotions and offers made, but more importantly it advertises your Facebook site from fans to fans 3. Facebook friendly calls-to-action, 3X more likely asked to comment,7x more likely to share 4. FB monitors engagement score and will promote more if more actions 5. If you have under 1000 fans then it may be necessary to invest in Facebook ads as research shows; 185% increase in traffic after crossing 1000 fans (social justification)

Now we know from fundamental sales principles that people buy from those who we like or aspire to be like. For business Facebook marketing, this means we endeavour to create what are termed ‘super fans.’These fans will endorse your products to others through word of mouth and Facebook media, but how do we get them to this enthusiastic state ?….

2 Major Types of List building;Indirect and DirectIndirect; Become human, this means you need to be visible, interactive and show some personality. This could mean displaying pictures of what is happening in the business, we encourage videos of office systems, challenges (maybe a huge amount of work to do), or just some good hearted character on display. We often say to clients; dont underestimate the power of theEngagement score, which Facebook analytics keeps and will promote your posts more often when this is high. So; Images, eg Pets, teamwork etc that fans can identify with Behind the scenes look Generally showing up and being active in social visibility (usually daily) AND importantly a call to action on these posts, which can also lead to an opt-in for list email which as we know means opportunities for sales Direct; This is where contests, webinars, videos, ebooks and other giveaways entice the fans to add their details to the lists, we indicate that best practice is a balance between direct and indirect, keeping in mind that fans should beentertained, educated or empowered ! eg. Click like if you believe this! The following post could be improved by asking fans what their preferences are or what the best point is in the e-book

An example we often use is a sign-up for premium members area. This will use a call to action, ‘SIGN UP NOW for instant premium members perks,availabletoday only.’Then we offer great content;Podcasts, Cheat sheets, Guides, Free chapters, MEGA 3 part video series! Discount downloads etc [Just set a standard of over delivering ! This will mean guaranteed success] Make sure you use; Custom and Normal Applications to utilise (try shortstack.combelow) Promotions Facebook Ads Offers (once you have enough fans) TIPS AND TRICKS; PODCASTs/ WEBINARs ; We find these convert very well as opt-ins, and have been consistently the preferred method of content delivery. TRY; Including the date and title in your cover page, but no calls to action (then click to listen through an App) TRY; Adding descriptions to photos; drives out into newsfeed, e.g. -For more tips and tricks signup here- Always include hotlink!

Once through the App, this allows for traffic directed to website/ newsletter/ subscriptions etc

Market opportunities have a high tendency to get overlooked in modern day business environment. Competent entrepreneurs, business owners understand the fact well and strive to explore new solutions to stay competitive in the market.

Do you consider yourself a smart and forward thinking business person? Have you ever taken any unique or decisive action in contingency that outperformed your conventional management policies? If the answer is yes, you are a strategic thinker. How can you assure that all of your strategies are effective?

You may not have counted on the major threats either from competitors or the ever changing business environment. Whether your company is a multi-billion turnover enterprise or start up business, you need to maintain a more formal and structured planning process for your business.

Understand why strategy is important for your survival:

Did you complete a SWOT analysis (Strength Weakness Opportunity Threat) even before thinking of setting up the business? The business environment is changing fast, along with customers requirements too. It can be the challenge against potential competitors or perhaps external forces like – Political, social, economic, technological, environmental or legislative factors that keep you on your toes.

If your business is going through a bad phase and the poor performance has let you down to your stakeholders, keeping a recovery option is crucial.

Even if the environment is stable and friendly now, every company needs to review the current situation and prepare a strategy for future protection. In fact, you may need to find new insights to deliver value to your customers.

For all these extremities a well-managed corporate entity must accommodate an advocate who would supervise the situation in real time. To simplify, you need a dedicated strategy consultant answering all of your strategic questions round the years.

What does a business strategy consulting solution have to offer you?

First, make yourself understand the definition of comprehensive business strategy. It is all about navigating and streamlining existing business process and policies in the most cost effective way. Intellects combined with forecasting expertise is what defines business strategy consulting.

What more you can expect:

Coordination and overall direction to achieve desired end results

Investigating the business stability and produce analytical reports and recommendations

To be made aware of potential threats and suggest a preparation plan

Provide you strategic advice on various business expansion processes.
For example, mergers and acquisitions due diligence

Advise you on a buyer’s criteria and their changing buying decisions.

Reviewing company financials and safeguarding stakeholders interests

Detailing business reviews and improving future performance

Exercising long term management plans to avoid business uncertainties

Doing comprehensive market research based on company internal data and market/industry trends

All these solutions are realistic and quite possible if handled by professionals and strategic Gurus.

Then what stops you more from having a better and formal strategy for your business?

Well, the implication of this negative mind-set is detrimental. Still people have an assumption that if a business is running well why changing the winning formula?
Sometimes management may get confused with pace of the changes or feel it complicated. For them, reluctance comes from unnecessary fear of change.

However, you must not deviate from your long term aim i.e. to establish the pillar of business prosperity system. Using a strategic approach would always keep you on that winning track. One must learn that proper business coaching is the key to real success.