Marketing Planning Made Simple - Another Small Business Power Tool
Marketing planning must be really difficult and complex, otherwise why would there be so many books written on the subject ? right? Well, I'm just enough of a skeptic to believe that many of these books were designed more to make money for their publishers and authors than to make marketing planning simple and understandable. I spent more than 30 years working with very successful small business people who never wrote a single marketing plan. Why didn't they need complex, 100-page marketing plans chock full of statistics, charts and graphs like the experts recommend? It's because they knew exactly where they wanted to take their companies and how to get them there and they were universally successful. The fact is they basically carried their product "marketing plans" around in their heads. That's how simple marketing planning can be. In fact, if you strip marketing planning down to its most basic elements, you could just about write your plan on the back of a napkin. Okay, that might be a bit of an oversimplification, but let's look at the six basic things you need to know for successful marketing planning. 1. The situation. Is this a new or existing product or service? If it has competition, how is it better than the competition? Bigger? Lasts longer? Easier to use? Offers more features? Priced better? You should be able to sum up your situation in a couple of sentences. If not, maybe you don't really understand the situation. 2. The market. How big is the market for your product or service? This can be defined in terms of total dollars, number of units sold or any other quantifiable number. The important thing is to know the size of your market because only by knowing this can you define a marketing objective. You also need to define what the market looks like -- Males, age 25-45? Soccer Moms? Working mothers? Seniors? Childless couples? A market isn't just numbers, it's people. And it's important to understand where they are economically, what's important to them, and what problems you can help them solve. 3. Strategy. Now that you have defined your situation and your market, it should be easy to develop a marketing strategy. For example, if your product is footless, control top panty hose, your strategy might be to "focus sales efforts on figure-conscience women age 34-45 during the spring and summer months." 4. Tactics. If "strategy" is what you intend to do, "tactics" is what you need to do to accomplish it. In the case of the strategy example above, the tactics might be: - Begin sales efforts against distributors by Feb. 1 - Have products in distribution pipeline by March 1 for delivery to retailers no later than April 1. - Begin concentrated radio advertising in 12 key markets by April 15 ?and so on 5. Objective(s). You can frame your objectives any way you want but you have to assign a number and a date. It's no enough to say, "Successfully introduce the new product by year's end." In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, "If you don't know where you're going, you might end up somewhere else." If you don't include a number and a time, you will never know whether or not you were really successful. Write objectives like "sell 5,000 units by December 31." Then, on January 1, you can count sales and determine how successful you were. Best case, you will find you sold 5,000 or more units and will know your marketing planning was right on. And if you didn't meet the objective? You should be able to at least learn a lesson and do better next time. 6. Budgeting. The final thing you need to consider is how much money you can spend to meet your objective. The best way to do this is break down your budgeting by tactics. If you need to reach 100,000 women to sell 10,000 units of your product, do you have the money to do this ? in terms or radio, newspaper, TV or direct mail? Do you need collateral materials such as brochures or in-store displays? How much will these things cost? Depending on your product or service, you may also have to hire a PR firm or an advertising agency. Be sure to budget for this expense. Can you add more elements to your planning? Of course. Just go buy one of these marketing textbooks and you'll find pages and pages of information that could be incorporated into your plan. The point here is that maybe you don't have to make your marketing planning a huge and laborious project. Do what many of my clients have done ? keep it simple, something you can just carry around in your head if that's your style. The important things are your situation, your market, your strategy and tactics, your objective and your budget. Know these things and you're well on your way to success. Article by Douglas Hanna. Douglas is a retired advertising and marketing executive and long-time Denver resident. He is the webmaster of http://www.all-in-one-info.com, a free resource for information on a variety of subjects. Please visit his site to subscribe to his free newsletter, "Tips & Tricks to Save Money & Live Better."
Related News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Whats In It For Me?
Sometimes, one of the most difficult things to teach beginning
sales professionals is the difference between features and
benefits. All too frequently, sales people list their product or service features, without articulating how those features will ultimately benefit that prospect or customer. Unfortunately, your prospects or customers are not always able to make that leap for themselves. And when they do not see the benefit, they do not buy. So-what is the difference between features and benefits? How do you articulate that difference?
Direct Mail Offers: Eight Steps to Making them Effective
Every direct mail package you drop in the mail should contain an offer. The offer is the incentive or reward that motivates prospects to respond to your mailing, either with an order or with a request for more information. "Subscribe to Hook, Line and Sinker today and save 45% off the newsstand price" is an example of an offer. To be effective, your offers must pass eight tests.
Creative Marketing: Just Your Style
You've enlisted some of the traditional marketing
methods to sell your services: you received some
publicity in your local paper; your website is up and
running; and you're listed in the Yellow Pages. So
why isn't the phone ringing off the hook? Maybe
you're marketing strategies need to get more creative!
How To Market A Seminar
Have you ever left a seminar thinking: "I could have done a better job than that!" Before you start signing up attendees, take a few minutes to think about what you are getting into. Putting on a seminar involves planning, time, and money. Understanding the ins and outs of the industry will go a long way in helping you hold a successful seminar. That's where I come in. Over the past 4 years, I have put on over 4,000 seminars, and a handful of national conventions. I will help you plan the event, and make sure that someone shows up!
Marketing Mimics Life
Clichés. We've all heard them...and hear some of them so often that we categorize them as tired, stale old sayings. But, the fact is, particularly in both life and in small business marketing, that there is a validated truth in these commonly applicable and very popular clichés.
Trade Show Promotions That Are Memorable
If you have been to expos and trade shows as an attendee like me you would be familiar with the exciting prospect of carrying home a heavy plastic bag of trade show promotions, the end result though is usually the trade show promotions end up down the back of the couch, on the floor or in the bottom dusty drawer of your desk, hopefully reading this article on tradeshow promotions, your gift to clients and prospects will not share the same fate.
Hold Onto What Youve Got
You probably spend a great deal of your time looking for new
customers or clients. However, are you sure your doing
enough to hold onto the ones you've got. One of the least
costly ways to grow your business is to get customers to
come back and buy more of your product or service.
Linking Features & Benefits
I'm sure that you've had those Eureka! moments, too. When a piece of information suddenly helped you see or understand something that hadn't been apparent before.
Effective Marketing
For any business to be successful whether on or offline it has to be marketing effectively. You are going to need more than a great looking site with fabulous products or services to obtain success. You will need to run an effective marketing campaign and for this you will need a marketing plan.
The Key to Success
Good business is about communication... not just what you say but...
Limited Time Only (Shh! Its A Secret)
Under normal circumstances, you'd shout it from the rooftops. After all, when you have something urgent to say, you want others to know about it, right? But when it comes to "limited time only" offers, lately I've noticed a disturbing trend. Copywriters seem to actually be hiding the phrase! Let me give you some examples.
How To Use Humor Successfully In Your Business Communications
For generations people have been saying that laughter is good medicine. And now the scientists have taken an interest it turns out great-grandma was right. The boffins have discovered that laughter releases helpful goodies in the body which boost your immune system. In fact the therapeutic benefits of laughter are now being harnessed by academia and the business community into laughter workshops and other formalized chuckle sessions. Get the workers laughing and you raise productivity, so it seems.
Free or Not Free ? That is the Question
You may be in business for yourself or as a small company, but no matter what, especially if you just started this business, you need publicity! It's great that your spouse or best friend believes in you. You may even have total strangers tell you what a great idea you have. Some may tell you they wish they had thought of it themselves or had the guts to try it. You know you can do your job well, you know you could make money at this. But as hard as you work, you have little income to show for it. So how do you get the word out? And at what price?
Five Tips to Make Your Marketing More Creative
Same old same old just doesn't sell anymore. To make your marketing stand out, you need to get creative. Below are five tips designed to get your creative juices flowing. Some are brainteasers or are what Michael Michalko in "Thinkertoys" calls Linear Thinkertoys. Others fall under intuition or Intuitive Thinkertoys.
Some tips may appeal to you more than others. My suggestion is to try them all. Even the ones you're not drawn to may still open some doors that wouldn't have opened any other way.
These tips will work whether you sell a product, a service or both.
1. Find the "second right answer." Roger von Oech talks about this in A Whack on the Side of the Head. Don't be content with the first good idea you come up with. Take the time to think of a second, or third or 50th idea. Quantity counts ? the more ideas you have to choose from, the more likely you'll discover an excellent or even a brilliant one. Remember, Thomas Edison discovered thousands of ways a light bulb didn't work.
2. Change the question. If you change the question, you're probably going to get a different answer. You say you want to sell more products? What if you changed the question to how can you make more money? Well, there are other ways to make more money than to sell more products ? maybe you lower the cost of making the product or you raise the price of the product. Now you suddenly have new avenues to explore rather than just going down the same tired path.
3. Ask your product or service how it wants to be sold. Now we move into more intuitive techniques. Start by getting yourself into a relaxed state. Take a few deep breaths or practice some relaxation techniques. Imagine your product or service in front of you. Now ask it questions. Who do you want to be sold to? How do you want to be sold? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? Who do you think you can help? Why do you want to help them? You can also do this technique as a journal exercise. Write down the question and answer. See what bubbles up onto the paper.
4. Paint a public relations campaign. What would a press release look like if you painted it? Or sculpted it? How about a dance number? A collage? Take any part of your marketing that troubles you and turn it into a piece of art. By combining two dissimilar acts, you may discover your answer. Or you may not come up with anything at all, but just the act of "playing" and "creating" could jolt something loose. Hours or days later your idea may suddenly end up in your lap.
5. Walk away from it. If nothing is working, then stop. You can literally walk away by taking a walk, or just quit thinking about it. This is especially important if you find yourself getting frustrated or discouraged. Give your subconscious time to mull things over. The idea may just suddenly appear to you. Or, after a few days, try another exercise or two. That may be the catalyst you need.
The most important tip of all? Make sure you have a blast. Being creative should be fun. Keep it light and fun, don't struggle too hard with it, and see how many ideas you're rewarded with.
How To Start With Absolutely Nothing And Create Wealth online in 30 days or less.
Without a doubt, if you asked me, Shane if there was only 1 marketing strategy that you could use on the Internet, what would it be? Without hesitation I would say joint Ventures. Joint Ventures are easily the most lucrative Marketing Strategy ever invented and if you learn to do it right, will likely be the ONLY marketing strategy you will ever need to use.
Word of Mouth Marketing
'Word of Mouth' is still one of the most effectivemarketing techniques, online or offline.
The Greatest Business Tips are FREE
The best way for someone to
hang on to a tip is on a business card.
Marketing on a Budget
A successful marketing plan doesn't have to include an athletic superstar, prime-time placement, state-of-the-art computer graphics or a massive budget. Being resourceful and smart can be just as effective.
Business promotion doesn't have to cost a fortune. Often, it's the personal touch that seals the deal. Here are ideas gathered from marketing experts to help you make the most of a slim marketing budget:
Is Most Marketing by Small Businesses KILLING THEM?
I just collected my mail. As usual, more than 80% of it was junk. Marketing junk.
Are You Attracting or Repelling Prospects?
There are basically two ways in which you can either attract or repel prospects. I call these Attraction Marketing and Repel Marketing.
|
