A well thought out marketing plan is essential to the long term viability of any business. Yet many small business entrepreneurs and management teams are left in the dark as they seek to increase their promotional efforts.
However, business owners need not feel completely lost. The best marketing strategies are simple and logically implemented. The following are some tips for building and executing a strong marketing campaign.
Identify specific marketing objectives.
Every business has unique marketing needs that can be met with careful study and attention to market realities. To be competitive in the information age, your goals should include the following:
Develop your online presence through a company website and social media.
Reach target markets by identifying their online habits and focusing marketing efforts accordingly
Understand advertising trends and consumer behavior in your specific market
Achieve brand recognition for your company and its services
Think about what your needs are and present them to your colleagues. Identifying such needs is the first step in creating a plan that truly meets them.
Identify your marketing and media mix
Take a close look at how your ideal customers are currently meeting their wants and needs. Do they go to physical stores to buy the products you sell? Do they turn to the Internet and look for detailed reviews before making purchases? Use that information to determine the best media to focus on. A strong mix could include the following:
An email newsletter through which you build relationships with prospects and provide special offers
A social media presence (for example, via Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other specialized services) through which you offer exclusive benefits to customers
· A blog that captures the interest of prospects and pre-sells them on your service
Writing and distributing press releases to increase potential exposure to mainstream media.
Develop a list of media outlets that are most relevant to your prospects and that you can target without overburdening your resources.
creating a budget
Think about your competitors’ marketing campaigns and what it will take to outshine them or reach missing market segments. If they are investing in traditional marketing avenues, such as radio or print advertising, you may choose to go that route as well. However, if your budget is limited, you may choose to focus most of your efforts on profitable internet marketing and social media outreach.
To visualize the budget, a spreadsheet detailing activities (such as website hosting and promotional events) and the amount of money spent on each each month will be very helpful. Use your intuition and good judgment, weighing immediate needs against long-term ideals, to create a budget that is best suited for your business.
Implementation of the marketing strategy.
Allocate a specific amount of time to daily marketing activities and make sure they are implemented one step at a time. The work must be accounted for daily and the efforts must be constant throughout the days, weeks and months after the launch of the campaign. The ideal implementation strategy will create enough time for marketing without significantly reducing day-to-day operations, sales, and customer service.
Measurement of marketing success.
After implementation, it’s important to regularly measure the success of your promotions. Once you know how well the strategy is working, you’ll know how to tweak your current campaign and where to focus future efforts. If your current marketing efforts target the internet and social media, for example, measurement might include the following:
Looking at the number of people who have signed up for email newsletters
Evaluation of metrics related to Facebook, Twitter and Google+ followers (total number of followers, number of “shares” and “likes” on Facebook and “tweets” on Twitter, number of followers who have made purchases or responded to promotions, etc.)
Tracking website visitor behavior using free or low-cost analytics tools
Split test aspects of your website such as aesthetics, layout, and copywriting.
Calculation of the overall increase in sales as a result of the campaign
It is also important to calculate the return on investment (ROI). This can be calculated as:
(Gross Profit – Marketing Costs) / Marketing Costs
Keep in mind that gross profit is your revenue minus the cost of production or services, not just the revenue itself. Keeping this in mind will help you produce an accurate assessment of how successful your marketing has been.
Creating and implementing a marketing plan requires research and trial and error, but it’s still a simple process. Take the time now to develop a marketing plan that’s tailored to your business, and you’ll have the best chance of meeting and exceeding expectations.
