A Good Marketing Plan is the Roadmap to Success
No one dreams of failing when starting their business, but the fact is that more than half of all business owners call it quits by the end of their second year, and a complete 80% before the end of their fifth year. While these stats have several reasons, the most significant reason these businesses fail is that they lack a solid marketing plan.
Too many small business owners believe in the “Field of Dreams” style of doing business – Build it, and they will come. Unfortunately, nothing is more false than that. Your success relies on a good product/service and, more importantly, consistent marketing. A good product without marketing is far more likely to fail than a wrong product with good marketing.
When first starting, too many business owners are either intimidated by the marketing plan process or fail to put one together in the first place. You’re in luck whether you’re just getting started or have recently realized that your company needs a strong marketing strategy to move forward. Stick to the guidelines below, and you’ll be able to attract many more clients while spending much less time and money.
The 8-Step Roadmap To A Strong Marketing Plan
Step I. The Executive Summary
Your executive summary is a two-minute overview of your marketing plan. While this section should be short and to the point, don’t assume everyone who reads your strategy knows what your business is about. Include your business name, what it does, its location, and your target audience.
Discuss the market, the threats and opportunities, and how your company plans to fill a gap. Lastly, discuss your sales objectives and how you plan to reach them.
Step II. Assess the Situation
Assessing the situation for your business will probably be the most challenging part of your plan to develop and the most significant section of your marketing plan. It will also require the most research and is probably the most frustrating section for the business owner.
When researching, break this section up into three distinct categories:
* Your company * Your competition * Your customers
Assess Your Company
* Define your business * Define your management strategy * Define your customer base * Define your financial situation * Define your strengths and weaknesses
Assess Your Competition
* Define who they are * Define how they are different from you
Assess Your Customers
* Identify their needs \s* Identify their level of satisfaction
In addition to expanding on your executive summary, include your mission statement and overall vision. Also, perform thorough research on your competition and stay abreast of the gaps in your marketplace so you can better fill the needs of your target market.
Step III. Build a Potential Client Base
In this step, you will clarify your strategy of how you expect to grow and maintain a customer base that is large enough to build your business upon. Some of the topics you should be sure to include are:
* Determining your competitive advantage * Determining your niche * Defining your target market * Defining the benefits you provide to these customers * Determining the information you’ll deliver to your customers about your goods/services
Spend plenty of time identifying your position and niche, as these areas are where your business will succeed or fail. Next, decide whether you will target current or new customers and market new or existing services.
Remember that marketing new services to new customers comes at a higher risk than selling current services to current customers.
Setting six and 12-month goals is step four.
One of the surest ways to succeed is to list specific, measurable goals. Be as straightforward as possible and write down what you will do and when.
* Your goals should focus on the niche you described above * Your goals should be measurable * Your goals should aim for 6-month increments
Step V. Determine the Marketing Tools You’ll Use to Accomplish Your Goals
While most of your marketing plan is based on thorough research, this project section will rely more on your creativity. Think about where your customers are and the best ways to reach them, preferably at the lowest cost to your business. There are hundreds of marketing tools you can use to find and get customers, so you’ll need to spend some time learning about some of these tools and then:
Determine the resources you’ll employ to achieve:
* New customers * Current customers * Past customers
In addition, you’ll need to identify the tools you will use to ensure a good fit for your:
* Customers \s* Budget \s* Personality
Depending on your market, your customers expect you to advertise and market to them in certain places. While it’s a good idea to do things somewhat differently from your competitors, don’t try to be different just to be different. Instead, be better, more efficient, and more interesting.
Step VI. Identify Resources
Now that the bulk of your marketing plan is complete, it’s time to think about the resources you will need to successfully implement the ideas and goals you’ve come up with. Resources include:
* Costs to your business \s* The time required to implement each task \s* The person responsible for implementing each task
Do your homework! Any of these resources on their own could make or kill your business if you choose unwisely. As with other business areas, performing due diligence will increase your chances of success.
Step VII. Develop a Marketing Calendar
This phase may not require as much study as some of the other steps, but spending some time and setting out your plan for at least a full year is crucial.
It’s not sufficient merely to have a plan, you must act on it, and the best way to ensure you do that is to create a calendar detailing the activities and strategies you will implement weekly and month by month. You probably won’t see results immediately, but by sticking to your marketing calendar, you will see positive results eventually. Keep your calendar in front of you as much as possible and stick to it.
Step VIII. Implement and Monitor Your Plan
Like any other plan, you need to implement the key points and strategies you’ve developed and monitor your actions and the results they create.
Some of the things you’ll want to do are:
* Identify how you will track results * Identify how you will know if you need to adjust or update your plans * Identify how you will reward yourself for the successful completion of certain activities
Depending on the tools you choose to market your business, there are several ways to track your results. Check your outcomes carefully and assess if your efforts yield tangible results. It’s not always about making money (though that’s often the essential consequence), but you should see some sound effects like more names on your mailing list, more phone calls to your firm, or increased word-of-mouth.
If you see positive results, reward yourself and your team members for a job well done and build on each new success.
Summary
The more time and effort you put into creating a solid marketing plan, your business will likely survive beyond the two-year magic mark that claims so many other companies. Be thorough. Be inventive. Be realistic. Keep a close eye on your rivals. And above all, have fun marketing your business because it is the most crucial reason for your ultimate success or failure.
Aaron Emerson is a marketing and web 2.0 consultant and runs Prevail PR, a San Luis Obispo marketing and web design company that guarantees to grow your business by 10-25% or more in the next 12 months. TRY FREE FOR 2 WEEKS!
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