How To:, Marketing Tips

5 Ways Marketing Can Improve the Sales Rollercoaster

Marketing and sales have always been put together as intertwined disciplines within business for many moons. Although they are very different, which is why we always recommend them having individual director representation, one cannot really survive without the other.
In order to generate sales, you need awareness, communications and mechanisms to take a prospective customer along the purchasing process. And in order for your marketing generated enquiries to convert into buying clients, at some point the sale needs to be closed.
However, within small and medium sized businesses it is often the business owner or MD that responsibility falls to for both sales and marketing, which is why sales performance often looks like a rollercoaster track, full of peaks and troughs. This short blog provides you with 5 failsafe ways to help you create a smoother ride!

1. Set a marketing budget

Many of the issues surrounding marketing investment revolve around cashflow. When you have cash in the business, you are more likely to invest in marketing and when you don’t you are not (which is ironically when you need to more). By understanding the KPIs in your business and setting a clear realistic marketing budget for the year ahead you can control your spending so that it is optimised to the best effect. This will help you to avoid overspending during buoyant peak periods, which will enable you to have the budget when times are harder.

2. Allocate resource

3. Plan activity for the year ahead

4. Identify a few different target markets

5. Don’t assume

Assumptions can be dangerous. We have spoken to many businesses who claim things have gone quiet because “it is Easter” or “everyone is on holiday” or “Brexit”, when we have clients in the exact same sector who are thriving and having record months. It can be too easy to accept a drop in sales performance because things are “generally quiet” – and by accepting it you are actually subconsciously not trying as hard to get the sales in, which in turn means sales continue to drop. It is called a self-fulfilling prophecy. Yes, there are things which are beyond your control which will affect your sales performance, however you need to focus on those things you can control in terms of what marketing and sales activity you are carrying out.

Any one of these five key steps can help you even out the peaks and troughs of the average SME’s sales cycle.  If you implement all five you will find you won’t even be on a rollercoaster anymore, merely a flat train track destined to hit your sales targets for the year ahead!

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Ian Kirk

Founder at Opportunity Marketing

Ian is the founder of Opportunity Marketing marketing, with over 18 years of experience in successfully setting up marketing departments, creating marketing strategies and implementing these strategies across a wide number of SME companies in both the B2B and B2C sectors through a variety of channels.

LEEDS CHILDREN’S CHARITY


RESULT: 21% UPLIFT IN FUNDRAISING INCOME AND A MUCH WIDER AWARENESS OF THE CHARITY HAS SAFEGUARDED ITS FUTURE.

 

Scenario

The Leeds Children’s Holiday Camp Association was one of the oldest charities is Leeds, but was struggling to generate funds with low awareness and potential funding grants reducing.

Solution

Opportunity Marketing created a marketing strategy for the charity which involved a complete rebrand and a wider income focus on corporate and individual supporters and donators.

“Opportunity Marketing is a highly creative and inventive marketing company that has produced ideas and a strategy to promote and raise the profile of the business in the most effective manner. We have always found them to be friendly and efficient, whilst giving absolute priority to the best interests of the business.”

Verlie McCann
Leeds Children’s Charity

PRESTIGE COURT

 

RESULT: 70% OCCUPANCY WITHIN 6 MONTHS AND 100% OCCUPANCY WITHIN 12 MONTHS.

 

Scenario

Prestige Court were a newly refurbished office provider on the outskirts of Leeds.  They had failed to fill a single office in 8 months of trading and the financial drain of the empty building on the landlord was reaching a critical stage.

Solution

Opportunity Marketing researched and analysed the marketplace and developed and implemented a marketing strategy to attract and convert a high number of clients to the offices.

“Opportunity Marketing helped us to identify our target market and clearly define our proposition.  I am pleased to say they delivered the results within the promised timescales.”

Pat Gilligan
Prestige Court

STAY SOURCED

 

RESULT: 45% SALES GROWTH OVER THE LAST 3 YEARS.

 

Scenario

Stay Sourced had been trading for three years within very difficult market conditions where many companies had been going out of business.  Stay Sourced were growing at a slow rate (6%) and were relying purely on referrals for new clients.  They needed to be proactive in order to achieve their ambitious growth plans.

Solution

Opportunity Marketing created a marketing plan, which clearly defined how Stay Sourced should be uniquely positioned in the marketplace and how to create a pipeline of new clients in addition to the organic growth it was achieving.

“We are delighted with the results Opportunity Marketing are achieving and, put simply, over the last 3 years, they have become our marketing department.”

Ben Rosenberg
Stay Sourced

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