What is Marketing? It’s a strategy and effort which helps you match your customers to what you sell.You have a product (which is good), or a service (which you do well), but you don’t have any customers. You need to market yourself to the outside world. But what is your plan?
The goal of most marketing plans is to increase business. Once you set your goal and you implement your plan, allow an adequate time frame to see results. Increased business from marketing is usually not instantaneous, as with everything else in a small business it takes time to reap the benefits of a good marketing plan. From the beginning, it is important to avoid the pitfall of not setting marketing goals. Often, many small businesses don’t realize the importance of marketing until it is too late. When you start your business, allow 10-15% of your available capital to your marketing plan. As your company grows, if you keep that same percentage, so will your marketing dollars.
In the beginning, it will be difficult to actually determine which method works for telling potential or existing customers about your company’s actual message. For some small businesses, the best marketing tool is you, the owner. Go out and see each customer, this is probably the most effective means to promote your business. You meet the customer face to face, you ask questions, you get answers, and at the end of the day you will have a clearer picture as to what your customers need from you and what you can do to help them.
Another marketing tool is the telephone, which if when you make a call you don’t take up much of your customer’s time, can be just as effective as going to see them. Mailings and brochures are necessary parts of most businesses. However, unless they are redeemable coupons or special discounts when presented to your business they are purely informational and it is difficult to judge their true effectiveness.
Plan early with regards to your marketing strategy and your efforts. Are you doing the marketing alone or will you have help? Will you hire a marketing firm? Will you have a sales staff? Failure to plan will lead to sluggish results. If you are a small business with ideas and plans for growing, the truth is, YOU CAN’T DO IT ALONE! I have to repeat this, YOU CAN’T DO IT ALONE.
When creating your business plan, marketing is an essential part of the growth of your business. Even if you have a very small budget in the beginning, there are still things that you can do. In the planning stages of your business, interview potential customers and suppliers of goods that you might purchase for your business, present them with a multitude of questions and listen to their answers. (Perhaps, go to the local college, contact their business department, and see if you can present your business model and questions to a class of 3rd or 4th year students.) The bottom line is that you could end up saving hundreds of frustrating hours and more importantly thousands of precious dollars. You may even by surprised at the various creative and effective ways that a beginning marketing plan can be applied.
© 2007 Stephensworld. All rights reserved.
Republication or redistribution of Stephensworld contentent
is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Stephensworld.
Tags: business plan, marketing, marketing plan, small business, small business marketing, starting a new business
