Creating Your Future with a Marketing Plan
Almost everyone who dreams of starting their own business is familiar with the fact that they should create a business plan. However, often that's where many people stop. When you created your business plan, what did you do with it? You actually have the base for the next step, which is creating your marketing plan. Without the plan of how you are going to market your business, the business plan is just an empty jumble of words speaking of dreams and desires. The marketing plan takes those dreams and creates a strategy for how to make those dreams come true. There are several different suggestions on how to put a marketing plan together, but all plans have at least seven or eight steps. These steps include preparing a mission statement, describing the services provided, identify and understand the competition, spell out the marketing objectives and strategies, create the action plan, and create a monitoring strategy in order to determine what works and what doesn't. Prepare a mission statement
The mission statement should clearly and succinctly describe the nature of your business, services offered, and markets served in just a few sentences. A mission statement is a statement of who you are and what you stand for. It answers the question of why you are in business. Although there are many, many different theories on what makes a good mission statement, here is a site of various examples; http://www.csuchico.edu/mgmt/strategy/module1/sld015.htm List your ideal client
I cannot emphasize this enough. You have to know who your ideal client is, and what their issues are, extremely finitely in order to speak to them. You have to visually be able to see them in front of you and know what makes them tick. Be very specific in identifying your ideal client. Include age, sex, income, education, occupation, geographic region, lifestyle, attitudes, purchasing characteristics, etc. What are their values, what do they like to do. Really get clear who this person is. Describe your services
Imagine everything you want to do, either currently or in the future. It's ok if you haven't done it before: If it's a dream that you provide in-home cooking demonstrations, include that in your list. You will later determine how to make it happen. Include all details of what you offer, where and for how much. Determine what your prices must be to cover your costs. Don't leave anything out even if you're not sure it's something you want to do this year. Who is your competition?
In order to know how to position yourself from your competition, you must know who your competition is. Do some research and determine what your competition offers, how they promote, what they charge for services, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Don't rush through this section. Make phone calls, check the internet, and ask people you know. Feel free to call the people you find and ask questions. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, ask a family member or friend to do it. Marketing objectives and strategies
Marketing objectives will indicate targets to be achieved across several marketing decision areas. Examples could include such things as what products/services you wish to offer, who you plan to offer them to, how you plan to make your services known, your promotional objectives, etc. Objectives should be clear, measurable, and have a stated time frame for achievement. Objectives included should include both marketing objectives and financial objectives. Get very specific with your objectives, such as how many clients will you have by what date, how much revenue you will bring in by what date, and exactly where these new clients will come from. Who will you include your marketing to? For financial objectives, you need to be clear about what growth percentage you expect and how you will achieve that growth. Marketing strategy
This is your game plan to achieve your marketing objectives. You are now getting into the nitty-gritty. This is where it's time to play and play big! The marketing strategy should include information about your product, your price, how you will promote or create awareness of your product or services, and how you will distribute that information. Examples of basic marketing strategies include networking, brochures, ads in newspapers, various programs or presentations, press releases, to just name a few. Some may cost you a great deal, but there are many marketing strategies that cost you very little or just your time. Gauge what your time is worth and how busy you are to determine how much of these strategies you will do on your own. You will further determine this by the next step, however. When a strategy works, repeat it. If it fails, and you did it right, drop it. Learning to develop strategies that work for your particular situation and personality will take time and practice. Create the action plan
Once the objectives and strategies have been developed, put together an action plan describing the steps that need to be taken in detail. This is your actual game plan for how you will accomplish all that you have written about in your business plan and previously in the marketing plan. It will include what the specific objective is, exactly what and when the steps will be taken, what results you expect to see, the marketing tactics you will employ and so on. This will be your template for your marketing calendar that you will create in the following step to creating your business. Monitor results
By monitoring results, you can determine which of your strategies are working and which are not. Identify strategies that generate increased business. This involves tracking and evaluating clients' responses to each marketing strategy. Conduct regular surveys in order to find out what clients like and don't like. Client comments are invaluable for creating or enhancing your market literature. With permission, these comments can be used as testimonials. Creating a marketing plan is not something enough people take the time to work on. I have found this to be the hardest part for anyone in small business and have had to spend many hours, myself, struggling over some of these answers. I can't emphasize how important it is to do this work, however. Skipping this step can mean the difference between success or failure. Many people who start a small business are aware of creating a business plan, and stop at the stage of the small market plan topics listed in the business plan. However, the business plan is just the first step. The marketing plan is not the final step, either! This document is the template for creating your marketing calendar that will set your projects in motion for the year. You are creating your future with the marketing plan, and then watching that future become reality with your marketing calendar. Marjorie Geiser is a registered dietitian, certified personal trainer and life coach. Marjorie has been the owner of a successful small business, MEG Fitness, since 1996, and now helps other health professionals start up their own private practice. To learn more about the services Margie offers, go to her website at http://www.marjoriegeiser.com or email her at margie@megfit.com.
Related News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
10 Simple Ways to Boost Your Sales IMMIDIATELY!
Alright you've got yourself a nice website with a great
design and a good steady traffic coming in...
Natural Marketing for Full Business Success
Is your mind muddy on marketing? Do you wake up each day and say, "I get to share myself and my great message with others" or do you say, " I have to market, or I will fail."
Common Exhibit Marketing Mistakes: Ten Tips on How to Avoid Them
The key to great exhibiting is marketing. But marketing is a very inexact science that leaves room for a multitude of errors to occur. The following are 10 of the most common marketing mistakes that exhibitors often make. Learn to avoid them and you will increase your chances for a successful tradeshow.
Fundraising Letters Are Easier To Write With AIDA
Learn a lesson from professional direct mail copywriters. They follow a time-tested format in their sales letters, a format that you can also follow when writing direct mail fundraising letters for your non-for-profit organization. All you need to remember is AIDA.
Educating Your Customers
One of the biggest marketing mistakes businesses make today is failing to educate their prospects and customers about the unique advantages that are being offered to them. The cornerstone of any marketing plan should be to educate your customers.
Promotional Lanyards to Market Your Products and Services
It has become fairly common place to see Id badges dangling from a persons neck on a short cord, and on the cord or small rope itself, is printed the name of a company, or a school or an event on it. When you spot one of these, you can be sure you're looking at a lanyard.
How to Write Irresistible Promotional Pieces that Attract More and Better Clients
Whether you're creating a sales letter, a brochure, a newsletter, or any other business promotional piece, you need to write in a way that not only explains your product or service, but that also compels your prospects to contact you. A well-written promotional piece entices people to seek out more information, whether it be via a phone call, an e-mail, or an in-person visit. A good promotional piece also showcases your professionalism and your creativity.
Standards for Dry Washing and Pressure Washing in Mobile Car Care
The industry standard for mobile washing is completing the car and removing the dirt so it is clean as promised to the customer. Some would say this is not a standard but rather the minimum required. The environmental standards for run off are simple in that no used wash water is allowed to enter a storm drain. Which is fairly simple and straightforward. Customers obviously prefer a clean car.
The M-Word
It was a real eye-opener to hear the perceptions people have about what it means to market professional services, as well as the anxiety the "m-word" (marketing) conjures up. It reminded me that, just because professional service providers have a lot of expertise in their chosen field, it doesn't mean they have the same level of understanding about the business of growing a practice.
Direct Marketing ? Brand Identity Guru Tips
If your company doesn't have a direct marketing program in place, a direct marketing agency can create one for you. A direct marketing company provides small to very large customizable ranges of business-to-business and business-to-consumer direct marketing options sure to fit your needs. From database creation and maintenance to data analysis and creative program execution, a direct marketing company can take any existing direct marketing program, or a lack of one, and develop a highly efficient direct sales machine for your company.
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.
Budget Marketing: Managing Your Marketing Money Wisely!
There's a saying that half of all marketing efforts are wasted, but it's impossible to tell which half!
Marketing Lessons From Apples iPod
Apple Computer just announced that their earnings from the last quarter more than quadrupled mainly due to robust holiday sales of the iPod digital music player. More than 10 million iPods have been sold since it was introduced in 2001.
Systems - Marketing Your Business Successfully
Business Systems that work for anyone, are a fundamental necessity for any networking venture. While most people rely upon their own company business system or plan for success, there is always a different option.
5 Print Ad Essentials!
Writing an effective print ad, particularly a classified advertisement, requires that you remember five essential points. Failure to implement these points correctly can cost you much in the way of time lost and a sale missed.
8 Lessons in Strategic Marketing A La Daddy Daycare
I bet you thought the movie "Daddy Daycare" was a kiddie comedy, right? Wrong...It's a marketing strategy film! When Charlie and his friend Phil are fired as Product Development/Brand Managers for a cereal company, they decide to fill a need in their community.
Four Super-Deadly Marketing Sins - And How To Fix Them
When, Why, and How to Use Mailing Lists
Mailing lists may be the cause of more heartbreaks than anyother single factor in mail order. A poorly chosen list, a weakmailing and the high cost of mailing to a list can tax theoptimism of a new dealer very, very quickly. Arm yourself withknowledge before embarking on a course like this!
The Name Game
Pop quiz! If you have to say goodbye to your hard earned money to purchase something you've always wanted, who would you rather trust: an unknown provider or one who has an established name in the industry?
Marketing Planning - Preparation and Accountability
We all know the saying, "Failing to plan (prepare) is planning (preparing) to fail." I truly believe in this statement and I hope you do as well. Building your service business, including marketing it must be planned and does take work.
|
