Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Given that you are describing a particularly highly competitive market - everyone who has Frontpage or Publisher from 15 years old on up considers themselves a website designer, and the investment to enter the marketplace isn't very high - you need to really do your marketing homework first:

Understand the market

• How big is the market (how many customers in the geographical area you which to serve? What might they be willing to pay for such a service, etc)?


• Who are the customers?


• What are their needs?


• How can you segment these customers by needs and/or demographics and how big is each segment?


• How can you best reach these customers (what media, what message, etc)?

Understand the competition

• Who are the competitors?


• What share does each of the competitors have or what segments


• What are the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor?


• How well does each of the competitors meet the needs of the customers (by segment)

Understand your capabilities

• Conduct a SWOT - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for your company


• Comparing your SWOT versus the competitive analysis, how can you use your strengths to attack the competitors' weaknesses, how can you turn your weaknesses into strengths, how can you take advantage of the opportunities, and how can you avoid the threats?


• How can you position your service to better meet the customers needs versus the competition?


• For which segments do you have the best compelling unique selling point (USP)? This step is CRITICAL for you! Also, what are the pricing needs for each based on the value you bring to the customers?

Marketing Plan
When you have completed your marketing, then it's time to put together a plan (what is each step, who does it, and by when) to reach these customers with a message that will influence them to understand how your company can serve their needs better than the competition. This involves advertising, press releases, preparing collateral material, sales calls, etc. The plans should take into account different approaches for different segments. Therefore, you want to plan your attack, since you probably can't afford to do everything at once! Pick a "segment" to go after - based on geography, customer characteristics, etc. The ideal segment also would be one that leads easily to another segment because this set of customers influences another set. When you're done planning how to attack that segment, plan the next and the next.

Hope this helps.

Wayde