| A sound marketing plan is key to the success of your
business. It should include your market research,
location, the customer group you have targeted,
competition, positioning, the product or service you are
selling, pricing, advertising, and promotion. "You're
in business to serve a customer need," says Derek
Hansen, founder of American Capital Access. "If
you're not sensitive to customers, don't know who your
customers are, how to reach them, and, most of all, what
will convince them to buy your product or service, get
help."
Effective marketing, planning, and promotion begins
with current information about the marketplace. Visit
your local library, talk to customers, study the
advertising of other businesses in your community, and
consult with any relevant industry associations.
Once you have all the necessary information, write
down your plan:
1. Define your business:
- Your product or service
- Your geographic marketing area - neighborhood,
regional, or national
- Your competition
- How you differ from the competition - what makes
you special
- Your price
- The competition's promotion methods
- Your promotion methods
- Your distribution methods or business location
2. Define your customers:
- Your current customer base - age, sex, income,
and neighborhood
- How your customers learn about your product or
service - advertising, direct mail, word of
mouth, Yellow Pages
- Patterns or habits your customers and potential
customers share - where they shop, what they
read, watch, and listen to
- Qualities your customers value most about your
product or service - selection, convenience,
service, reliability, availability, and
affordability
- Qualities your customers like least about your
product or service - can they be adjusted to
serve your customers better?; prospective
customers whom you aren't currently reaching
3. Define your plan and budget:
- Previous marketing methods you have used to
communicate to your customers
- Methods that have been most effective
- Cost compared to sales
- Cost per customer
- Possible future marketing methods to attract new
customers
- Percentage of profits you can allocate to your
marketing campaign
- Marketing tools you can implement within your
budget - newspaper, magazine, Yellow Pages, radio
or television advertising, direct mail,
telemarketing, and public relations activities
such as community involvement, sponsorship, or
press releases
- Methods of testing your marketing ideas
- Methods for measuring results of your marketing
campaign
- The marketing tool you can implement immediately
The final component in your marketing plan should be
your overall promotional objectives: to communicate your
message, create an awareness of your product or service,
motivate customers to buy and increase sales, or other
specific targets. Objectives make it easier to design an
effective campaign and help you keep that campaign on the
right track. Once you have defined your objectives, it is
easier to choose the method that will be most effective.
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