The Marketing Bureau

We are frequently asked by all sorts of people just what are the features of a great business. We regret that there isn’t (yet) a template which can be placed over a business after which it will achieve greatness. However, there are a bunch of common characteristics that do seem to be non-negotiables and we share them here with you to do with as you will:

Vision & Mission

The Vision is the dream. Without one you are pointless. Directionless.

The Mission is what you are going to do to live the dream. And without that you will be a pointless dreamer.

A Market Orientation

If your business is primarily oriented at anything other than the market and the market’s needs & wants, you will never optimise performance, let alone become a great business.

A Sound Planning Process

Think of this as a navigational process designed to ensure that, as far as your business is concerned, you always know where you are, where you want to be and what you are going to do to get there.

A Well Designed Instrument Panel

Any navigation is hopeless if you don’t have an instrument panel to tell you how you are getting along and allowing you to make course corrections along the way.

Managing & Nurturing The Brand

Your brand is where your relationship with your market exists. It is your baby and, like a growing baby, it is strong and yet it is fragile. It needs constant nurturing, loving, feeding, Take care of it, understand it, develop it.

Better Hamburgers Won’t Do It!

Simply offering a better hamburger in a world awash with hamburgers is not enough. You need to be better, quicker, cleaner, better looking, more innovative. On the dimensions that matter to, or will motivate, your customers, you have to be the fabulous in every way!

Fabulous Staff

Whilst talking about things fabulous, I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a great business that wasn’t filled to the gunnels with fabulous staff – at every level and fabulous on every dimension.

Financial Literacy & Financial Intelligence

The simple reality about business is this – it exists, ultimately, to make money. And losing money is so much easier than making it. So learn about it. Find out how money works. Find out how it works in your business. Learn how to take care of it, learn how to count it, learn how to plant it and watch it grow (with the right nourishment). Never stop learning about money and how it works.