Many business owners have a Marketing Plan, but unfortunately it isn’t written down.
They may have an idea of what they want to do to market their products and services … and many have a dedicated marketing budget, but far fewer believe a written marketing plan is important. If your marketing plan is only in your head and not written down, you are following an sure path to marketing disappointment.
This way of thinking is guaranteed to ensure that business owners will spend unnecessary dollars pursuing marketing initiatives that achieve little or no success.
A written marketing plan is a roadmap for consistency in branding, promotion, and selling products and services. To get you started in creating a marketing plan for your business that makes sense for you and your goals, begin by giving the following serious thought and consideration:
What is your corporate brand?
Your brand is the image customers have of your company. It is what is in the mind of the consumer, a reputation and thoughts that come to mind when a customer hears your company name. Brands need to be built over time with consistent, recurring images and text.
Every time you use your company name and graphic logo in your marketing – whether on the web, in printed brochures, advertisements, flyers, and packaging – the message and the graphics must be consistent.
Who is your ideal customer?
Consider who you want for a customer … in detail. Where should they live? Is it a man or a woman who makes the decision for your product or service? What are their income and education levels? What is their ideal age range? Knowing these demographics can help you to determine how best to reach them and what message will resonate with them.
What do you want your marketing to do for you?
Do you want to grow your company by a specific percent? Do you expect to grow by adding a certain number of customers? Maybe you just want to maintain the status quo and bring in just enough new business to replace normal attrition.
Your marketing should include a mix of media.
Successful marketing uses a mix of media, both traditional and digital. While budget limitations always dictate to some degree which marketing tools are employed, there are no-cost and low-cost strategies that can be used. Public relations, email marketing, newsletters, community out-reach, and print promotions can be integrated with personal selling, advertising, and direct marketing to build top-of-mind recognition and a positive impression.
The importance of tracking and measuring.
Once a marketing plan is developed and implemented, the success of the initiative needs to be tracked and measured so that you know the degree to which the marketing activity worked.
You’ll want to know your ROI (Return on Investment) for the dollars you spent. When a budget is small, it is even more important to know your ROI. Simply stated, if a marketing activity was successful, you’ll know to do it again. If the results were disappointing, you can modify the promotion or try something else. If you are going to spend time and money on a marketing activity, you need to know whether it is worth doing.
Some marketing doesn’t have a clear cause and effect connection.
Building a brand and top-of-mind awareness is an ongoing process and there are marketing activities that are important, although they may not make your phone ring immediately. New customers may contract for service and may not tell you precisely what prompted them to call you. There are ways to find out and these techniques should be included in your marketing plan.
Marketing isn’t difficult. It takes some research and time to develop the strategies and the right mix of marketing tools that will help you to reach your goals. The hardest part is getting started. Reflecting on where you are now vs where you started and where you want to be is a good way to begin.
At ENoSIS Graphic Solutions, we have experience assisting our clients to develop a simple written marketing plan that will help put you on the road to continued success toward your ultimate goals. Call us at 978-505-2783 or email us. We’ll be happy to get you started!