Planning can either be strategic or tactical. Strategic planning is the process of determining an organisation’s primary objectives and then adopting courses of action that will eventually achieve them while Tactical planning guides the implementations of activities specified in the strategic plan.
Sources of Fund for Establishing Personal Marketing Outlets
1. Saving money with daily contributors and collectors.
2. Obtaining a soft loan from community/merchant banks.
3. Joining cooperative and thrift society for the purpose of collecting the loan.
4. Approaching cooperative thrift society even as a non-registered member to obtain a loan.
5. Seeking financial assistance from wealthy individuals and NGOs.
6. Seeking assistance from the National Directorate of Employment(NDE).
7. Engaging in temporary manual labour or casual work that can bring money and invest it rightly for the purpose of opening personal marketing outlets.
8. Reducing unnecessary spending, rather invest idle money, gifts or fund into profitable ventures.
9. Attending seminars and workshops where issues on raising money for business ventures are being discussed.
Identify a Good Marketing Location
To set up new and profitable personal marketing outlets requires some basic knowledge and strategies. These include:
i. Identification of a good marketing location: It involves that the outlet is in midst of the customers or buyers, i.e. the cite of the outlet must be within reach of the buyers, it must not be too far away from the primary or targeted markets, e.g fast foods are usually opened within corporate establishments.
ii. Defining the organisation’s mission: It specifies the organisation’s overall goals and operational scope and provides general guidelines for future management action. i.e the essential purpose that differentiates the company with others.
iii. Assessing organisational resources and evaluating environmental risks and opportunities. These include the capabilities of the marketing outlets to compete favourably with rivals or competitors that emerge later.
iv. Understand the SWOT analysis: SWOT analysis helps the owner or the marketing outlets to compare internal organisational strengths and weaknesses with external opportunities and threats.
v. Formulation of a marketing strategy: This is an overall program for selecting a particular target market and then satisfying consumers through a careful balance of the elements of the marketing mix-product, price, distribution and promotion.
vi. Nearness to the source of raw materials.
vii. Nearness to manpower or competent staff.
Setting up and Operating a Marketing Outlet
It is important to know that setting up and operating a marketing outlets involve that the business owner does the following:
● Offer the right products to the right marketmarkets
● Pricing the product appropriately
● Fund easy way for customers to pay
● Eliminate all obstacles to making a purchase
● Understand your customers
● Encourage your customers to offer their piece of advice
● Make your business environment inviting and comfortable
● Treat every of your client with utmost respect
● Communicate with confidence on your business and customers
● Encourage your customers to suggest way of improving the business
● Always remember to thank your customers for patronising your business
● Always be patient and courteous and polite with your customers because they are the reason you open the marketing outlets
● Obey the rule of telephoning, do not shout shout while receiving phone calls
● Plan and prepare your promotional materials from the customer’s point of view
● Respond to customers enquiries quickly and promptly
● Update your website regularly
● Contact customers/ask after regular customer who just stop patronising your marketing outlets.
● Be consistent in all that you do
● Inbibe the culture of Integrity
● Have a clear and concise policy though flexible
● Keep customer database and update as occasion arises
● Let your customer satisfaction be your watchword.