KACHARAGADLA

  There’s omnichannel chatter across the retail landscape that has been building for quite some time. But now that 44% of American households are actively buying food both on- and offline, the industry needs to focus more on the consumer and less on the physical channel, according to the "Omnichannel Imperative for Food Retailers Report" by Nielsen and FMI. As online capabilities have grown, the industry has largely concentrated on developing capabilities to facilitate shopping from all angles. The companies that now have those infrastructures in place are well-poised for success. That’s because at the end of 2019, more than 54 million U.S. households had transitioned to true omnichannel shoppers. That’s up 14% from just two years earlier, and it means that it’s time to put the consumer—not the channel—at the center of the equation. It’s possible that some market observers might have — not too long ago — believed that shopping would largely migrate online. Today, that mindset

In the past decade, what marketers do to engage customers has changed almost beyond recognition. With the possible exception of information technology, we can’t think of another discipline that has evolved so quickly. Tools and strategies that were cutting-edge just a few years ago are fast becoming obsolete, and new approaches are appearing every day. Yet in most companies the organizational structure of the marketing function hasn’t changed since the practice of brand management emerged, more than 40 years ago. Hidebound hierarchies from another era are still commonplace. Marketers understand that their organizations need an overhaul, and many chief marketing officers are tearing up their org charts. But in our research and our work with hundreds of global marketing organizations, we’ve found that those CMOs are struggling with how to draw the new chart. What does the ideal structure look like? Our answer is that this is the wrong question. A simple blueprint does not exist

You need more than one strategy. You need a strategy for every opportunity. Growing a business isn't easy. First, you need a viable idea. From there, you need to discover a profitable niche, define a target demographic and have something of value to sell them. Whether you're peddling products, services or information, getting the word out has become increasingly burdensome. And without the right marketing strategies to fuel your growth, churning a profit and staying afloat is virtually impossible. However, identifying the right strategies to market your business is often likened to rocket science. How do you get your message to the right audience and do it effectively? How do you boost visibility and increase sales while sustaining a profit with a  converting offer ? Today, with so much vying for our attention from social media, to  search engine optimization ,  blogging  and pay-per-click advertising, it's easy to see why most are ready to pull their hair out.

Many cash-strapped startups abandon the "superfluous" investment of marketing. Big mistake, because marketing can actually provide that cash. Startups face many challenges, but none as precarious or life-threatening as the struggle to remain cash positive. The  Minority Business Development Agency  (MBDA) estimates the average cost to start a business to be  in the neighborhood of $30,000 ; and there’s significant variance in this figure, with some businesses starting out for just a few hundred dollars and others requiring upwards of millions. But, remember: These numbers are only startup costs. In addition, new companies have to pay thousands a month in team salaries, office-leasing fees, raw materials and other ongoing operational costs -- all while struggling to secure enough revenue to stay afloat. Caught in this dire financial balancing act, most entrepreneurs end up abandoning investments they come to view as superfluous, such as marketing and advertisi