Porter’s Value Chain

If you want to increase your profits, Porter’s Value Chain can identify where your small business creates value.

In his book ‘Competitive Advantage’, Michael Porter proposed the Value Chain as a way of understanding that competitive advantage is not created by a business but by each of the distinct value adding activities that it performs in designing, producing, marketing, delivering and supporting a product.

The value chain is the sequence of activities that a business performs in order to create and deliver a valuable product.

The model considers each activity as having inputs, transformation processes and outputs. Resources are consumed by each activity as value […]

Categories: Business Areas, Business Health Check, Resources and Tools|Tags: , , , |
Read More

Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Does your small business have a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)? Do you understand why customers buy from you and not the competition? If you want to maximise your sales you need to know your USP!

The marketing concept of the Unique Selling Proposition has been around since the 1940’s when it was recognised that TV adverts which made unique claims of their products were more successful. These days the phrase is applied to other areas of business to mean a differentiation from similar alternatives.

What is a Unique Selling Proposition?

A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is the reason that you give for why people should buy […]

Categories: Business Areas|Tags: , , |
Read More

Your Small Business Pricing Strategy

When was the last time you reviewed your pricing strategy? You put a lot of effort into making your business successful but get your pricing wrong and you can be missing profit on every sale!

Here are 16 ways that you could be pricing your product or service.

Pricing Strategy Matrix

The pricing strategy matrix shows four pricing strategies based on the relationship between price and perceived quality.

Pricing Strategy Matrix

1. Economy pricing

Costs are kept to a minimum and price is set as low as possible because there is no difference in the products […]

Categories: Business Areas, Business Health Check|Tags: , , , |
Read More

8 Types of Intelligence

Are you more intelligent than you realise? By understanding how you are smart and how you learn you can discover your strengths.

Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard University, was concerned that definitions of intelligence failed to “take into account large areas of human endeavor”. It was his opinion that the “one dimensional view” of testing intelligence based on IQ alone was unfair.

As an alternative Gardner presented his theory of Multiple Intelligences which eventually defined 8 types of intelligence that cover the full capabilities of human beings. The theory states that everyone has all the intelligences but that different people are […]

Categories: Business Areas, Resources and Tools|Tags: |
Read More

What is a Business Strategy?

The phrase ‘Business Strategy’ can sound both impressive and important but it also often sounds vague and detached.

Business Strategy Defined

There is a lot of jargon that surrounds business strategy but put simply:

A Business Strategy is the overall, long-term plan of an organisation to fulfil it’s purpose.

A business strategy is not the same as a business plan. A business strategy is based on a longer timescale and may incorporate multiple business plans. For example, a cleaning company may have a one year business plan for it’s domestic business and another one year plan for it’s commercial business whilst it’s 5 year business strategy […]

Categories: Business Areas, Resources and Tools|Tags: , , |
Read More

Your Small Business Competitive Advantage

What makes your small business different from your competitors? Why should people buy your product or service instead of another?

Porter’s Generic Strategies

In his book ‘Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance’, Michael Porter identified three strategies for gaining a competitive advantage over your competition. These strategies are ‘Cost Leadership’, ‘Differentiation’ and ‘Focus’.  Porter further split the ‘Focus’ strategy between ‘Cost Focus’ and ‘Differentiation Focus’.

Competitive Advantage - Porter's Generic Strategies

Cost Leadership

The Cost Leadership strategy is being the producer with the lowest costs in a market where competing products are indistinguishable. […]

Categories: Business Areas, Business Health Check, Resources and Tools|Tags: , |
Read More

4 Steps to Selling your Small Business Product

Selling is the reason that your small business exists. If you’re not selling you’re not in business.

AIDA is an acronym that is used in advertising and sales that stands for ‘Attention’, ‘Interest’, ‘Desire’ and ‘Action’. It is used in combination with the ‘Sales Funnel’ also known as the ‘Purchasing Funnel’.

The model recognises that as people progress from initial advertising to the point of purchase that the total number of potential customers decrease. For example you advertise to win the attention of the total market but only some of the market shows an interest, and then even fewer have the desire to own the […]

Categories: Business Areas, Resources and Tools|Tags: , , |
Read More

4 Keys to Marketing your Small Business Offering

When was the last time you reviewed how your small business is promoting and selling to your customers?

The ‘Marketing Mix’, also known as the ‘4 Ps’, is used to review your product or service. A review may take place as a one-off exercise or as part of an annual review of your business strategy. The four elements of the ‘Marketing Mix’ are ‘Product’, ‘Price’, ‘Place’ and ‘Promotion’.

Marketing Mix for Small Business

Product

  • Physical – feel, colour, sizes etc
  • Benefits provided
  • Brand
  • Tangible and Intangible elements
  • Packaging
  • Warranties
  • Product development

Price

  • Value or quality
  • Value of benefit provided
  • Market segment pricing
  • Customer […]
Categories: Business Areas, Resources and Tools|Tags: , , |
Read More
Copyright Business Set Free Ltd 2019 | All Rights Reserved
Go to Top