|
|
|
Last Updated: Dec 21st, 2004 - 22:04:52 |
Do you have a marketing plan? And I don’t mean the one in your head. Most small business and entrepreneurs don’t bother because they think it is too much work and don’t really see the value in it.
This is a mistake. Putting your marketing plan down on paper helps you focus your limited energies and resources. A plan reduces the likelihood of wasted efforts and increases your odds for success.
A marketing plan can be short, or it can be long and comprehensive, as you want it to be. It should contain the following:
1.What is the purpose of the marketing e.g., your marketing goals:
a. Sell MORE existing products and services to your existing customers
b. Sell products and services to NEW customers
c. Sell NEW products to your existing customers
d. Sell NEW products to NEW customers
e. A combination of the above. Be realistic! Don’t try and do everything at once. Start with a few goals, learn, and then expand and build on your success. Most of us small businesses cannot afford to make big and expensive mistakes – so let’s make small, inexpensive ones!
2.How will you accomplish this purpose through marketing, focusing on key benefits, e.g., your products and services
a. Are cheaper
b. Are of better quality
c. Are easier to use
d. Are more efficient
e. Have fewer breakdowns
f. Reduce the customer’s labour costs
g. Save the customer money, time or both
h. Solve problems We have a tendency to focus on the FEATURES of our products and services, not on the consumer benefits. This is a mistake because customers are interested in how your product or service will benefit them. It is also important to be able to differentiate your product or service from the competition. Why should customers buy from you, and not your competitors?
3. What is your target audience?
Identify as clearly as possible what your target market is –
a. Geographical area - community, province/state, part of country, country, international?
b. Type of business or customer - what are the demographics or profile - age, sex, income levels, occupations, etc.
c. Provide any information you may have on your existing customers. Important: Try and identify/define your most profitable segment and customers (current or potential). This can be done through your own records or through market research. Concentrate your marketing on the 20% of your customers that provide you with 80% of your business. Stay away from non-profitable markets.
Note: with existing telecommunications technologies and courier connections, more small businesses can sell nationally and internationally. Don’t limit yourself by focusing on too narrow a market.
4. What is your positioning in the market?
a. Where are you going to position your products or services - low, medium or high end?
b. It is important to pick one niche and stick with it.
c. Identify what strategies you are going to use to reinforce your positioning, e.g., pricing, quality, advertising, locations, etc. 5. What type of identity (image) do you want to portray? This should be created and perpetuated through your logo, packaging, vision statement, customer policies, etc.
6. What marketing weapons will you employ? Pick and use as many as are practical and affordable. Over sixty have been mentioned in previous editions of this newsletter.
7. What is your distribution strategy? Are you going to sell directly to the consumer (Internet, telephone, catalogue); are you going to sell to wholesalers; are you going to use agents and third-party sales people; or a combination of the above?
8. How much will you spend on marketing as a percent of gross sales? It is important to set a budget, if possible, in order to allow you to plan and implement your marketing plan.
9. How are you going to measure and monitor the success of your marketing? Identify some ways that will tell you what is working and what is not so that you can concentrate your marketing activities and resources on those things that get results.
I recommend using your marketing plan as a to-do list. Use it daily as part of your marketing planning and activities. Also, if it is not working, change it! Keep a record of things that work and things that don’t. It is the only way you can learn and improve your marketing, and the success of your business.
© Copyright 2004 by
Steppingstones.ca
Top of Page
|
|
|
|
