To approach bulk SMS strategically, ask yourself these basic questions in this order…

Question #1: Do I have the core skills required to succeed in this particular business and do they align with my strengths?

In every business industry, there are core skills absolutely required to succeed in that industry, bulk SMS business industry has its own. Do you even know what the core skills required to succeed in the bulk SMS business marketplace are?

And very importantly, do they play to your strengths? Your strengths are the combination of your talents, skills, and education. Put them together and you have something that you can do far better than anyone else… effortlessly.

When you approach this business based on your strengths, you naturally win in the marketplace without even fighting, you get a competitive edge that cannot be duplicated, you attract superstars and partners to work with you and for you to achieve your vision.

So, it’s CRITICALLY IMPORTANT that you know your strengths, then see if they match with the core skills required to win in the bulk SMS industry.

Question #2: What’s my vision?

You’ve probably heard the saying, “Where there’s no vision people perish.” Or to put it specifically, “Businesses without vision perish.”

You need to have a written vision so compelling that you’re ready to sacrifice what’s necessary to achieve it. Without a clear vision, your criteria for making decisions would be arbitrary at best.

Question #3: Who are my target customers?

If you think everyone is your customer, that’s one sign that you’re going to fail! Thinking strategically means defining your ideal customer and having the courage to tell your non-ideal customers to look elsewhere for solutions to their needs.

Question 4: How am I going to make it scalable so that the business doesn’t depend on me to run or succeed?

If you think bulk SMS business is a one-man show, then know that your days in the business are numbered before you even get started.

Question #5: Do I have a business and marketing plan?

I know you have also heard the saying: If you fail to plan then you’ve already planned to fail. In no place is it truer than in bulk SMS business in Nigeria.

Question #6: What is my business model?

What that basically means is that, how do you plan to make money? When I started, I wrote down five different models in my business plan. But my marketplace naturally told me the profitable and sustainable one, so I abandoned the others and focused solely on that one model. What’s yours?

Question #7: What is my pricing strategy?

I need you to understand something that most people don’t understand in business: Your pricing is also part of your core identity. There are at least 6 pricing strategies. What’s yours going to be?

For instance, at 5star SMS, we deliberately don’t come cheap and wouldn’t want to be known as a cheap bulk SMS provider. In fact, we want to be known as an expensive bulk SMS provider because unconsciously, people attach quality to expensive stuffs and that’s what we stand for – QUALITY.

Question #8: What’s my backend strategy?

If all you’re going to do is build websites once for folks or do large volume sales, then you’re no better than a tomato seller in Mile 12 market in Lagos. Listen, fortunes are made in the backend, not in the frontend.

Your backend strategy is how you plan to make money from the same customers over and over again.

Question #9: What are my assumptions and how am I going to establish them?

What are your underlying assumptions? Why do you want to start a bulk SMS business? Why do you think you will succeed in this business? Why would customers buy from you and not from 5star SMS? Why will customers choose to remain with you?

Question #10: What are my sources of finance?

I saved this for the last. Listen, you need money to drive your growth. Don’t let people kid you into believing that you don’t need money. If you’re to succeed in this business, you will need to spend and spend BIG.

Note: That doesn’t mean you can’t start small. But let me tell you something: In the Internet business jungle, those who are willing to do more with more will get more and those who want to do less will end up with absolutely nothing!

Even the famous authors, Jack Trout and Al Ries, in their phenomenally powerful book, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, call it “The Law of Resources.”

The Law of Resources states that “without adequate funding an idea won’t get off the ground.”

Without asking and answering these fundamental questions, your chances of succeeding in bulk SMS is slim to none.

Article source: http://5starsmsng.com/blog/bulk-sms-business/bulk-sms-business-how-to-approach-it-strategically/

It's a series on the ebook: Before You Start a Bulk SMS Business available for FREE download at http://www.5starsmsng.com/before-you-start-a-bulk-sms-business