If you fail to plan then you plan to fail.
All businesses, no matter what size, need a marketing plan.
You need to have some structure to what you want to achieve.
This guideline will help you set the framework for building the Marketing Plan for your Small Business.
Understand Your Market And Competition
A mistake that many business owners make is to develop a good product or service without first understanding the market and what it wants (not what it needs).
If you try to sell something that people don’t want, they won’t buy it. It’s that simple.
A profitable market consists of people who have dire wants (a starving crowd) that are not currently being met, so much so that they will jump to buy your solution (product or service).
To be profitable you need to find the starving crowd of people that you can feed. That is your provide a solution (your product or service) that solves their most pressing problems.
To obtain an understanding of the market you should first ask yourself the following questions:
Are there segments in the market that are being underserved?
Are the segments of my market for my product or service diverse enough to make money?
What share of the market do I need to capture to just break even?
What are the weaknesses in my competition’s offering that I can capitalise on?
Understand Your Customer
Knowing your customer intimately is the first step towards making sales. It is not possible to prepare an effective plan until you know:
Who your customers are
What they want
What motivates them to buy
You can download a proforma for a Customer Avatar here
It is important to note a distinction between wants and needs.
General rule consumers do not generally buy what they need, but they will buy what they want. We all have gone into a store looking for a particular product and walked out with 3 other products.
It is important to recognise that people will buy what they want, even if they do not have the money. This applies to all consumers regardless of their wealth.
To understand who your customers are you will need to ask yourself such questions like:
How does my potential customer normally buy similar products?
Who are the primary buyer and the primary buying influencer in the purchasing decision?
What kind of habits does my customer have?
What are the primary buying motives for my target customer?
Select A Niche
If your target customer is everybody then chances are you are more likely to attract nobody.
The marketplace is packed with competition so it is important to carve out a specific niche and set out to dominate that niche.
Then you move to dominate another niche.
Develop Your Marketing Message
A marketing message tells your prospect what you offer, but a successful marketing message persuades them to become your customer.
With any business there are two types of marketing messages:
The first should be a concise message that tells potential clients what you do for them.
The second is your complete marketing message where you show how you do this with your services and products, the valuable content and lead magnets you provide, the videos where you educate your audience.
These all combine to reinforce the value that clients or customers will receive when they do business with you.
Determine Your Marketing Medium
Determine the medium where your customers hang out, where they source their information.
You have a number of options:
Website - provide good content, videos and information
Social Media - provide good content
Video - utilise YouTube
LinkedIn - highlight your expertise
Direct Mail - differentiate your business
Brochures - highlight solutions for customers
Set Sales And Marketing Goals
Setting goals is critical to the success of your business.
When setting goals try using the SMART formula.
Ensure that the goals of your business are:
Sensible
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time Specific
The goals of your business need to address financial information such as annual sales revenue, gross profit, sales per salesperson etc.
Sales Role In The Organisation
Whilst sales may be an expensive part of the marketing mix, the sales function is of the utmost importance.
Your sales team are responsible for managing the personal relationship between your business and your customers.
Your sales team bring your marketing message to life and communicate it to your customers.
Your sales team are responsible for coordinating the business actions to satisfy customer requirements, gaining customer feedback to improve the performance of your business.
We have always seen marketing and sales working together not as 2 separate identities. If you do your marketing right then your sales should look after themselves.
Having your marketing plan is an important part of building a business that will survive well into the future.