Don't Put It Off
Do you have a marketing plan yet? If your answer is no, you're not alone. Here are four tips to help you get started today.
"The average business owner doesn't have a marketing plan. They think," says Mary Eule Scarborough, author of The Procrastinator's Guide to Marketing (2007, Entrepreneur Press), "that as long as they have something in their head-what they think they want to do-it's enough. Some business owners don't understand the value of a marketing plan, and still others just don't know what a marketing plan is."
Simply put, a marketing plan is a written document that outlines specific marketing goals and the steps a company is taking to achieve those goals. "Without one," says Eule Scarborough, "it's very easy to squander resources, time, and money doing the wrong thing." You can also overlook steps and strategies that can help your business go to the next level. While you can create a plan at any time, there's no better time than the New Year to get started. Here are four steps, suggested by Eule Scarborough, to help you shape and nurture your own plan.
Begin by planning backwards. Too often, business owners decide which marketing and advertising vehicles they want to use without defining why they are using them. You need to start with your advertising and marketing goals, and then select the strategies, tools and tactics that use your limited resources to achieve the best possible outcome. Are you looking to increase brand awareness, boost new or reoccurring sales, or all three? Maybe you want to spur word-of-mouth advertising. "Pick what you want first, and then get into the specifics of how you're going to make them happen," agrees Eule Scarborough.
Write it down. You don't need a fancy document or even a typed one. You just need to write down every goal and the potential strategies so you have something to consult and check off so you can reach those goals. "Numerous studies clearly show, by virtue of writing something down, people are far more successful," says Eule Scarborough. "When you write things down, your mind is clear of clutter and you can be more creative and thorough."
Take an assessment. This step requires a great deal of thought because it requires that you take an objective look at your resources-including manpower, time and capital-your competition, your business's strengths and weaknesses, and the current economic climate, among other things. You'll also include what marketing efforts have worked well in the past and which ones didn't, as well as the ones you plan to use. So, for instance, you'll want to list all your current marketing and advertising endeavors and how they are being used. You may already have a Web site, but is it generating the income or leads you expected? Are you making the best use of your workforce? Are salespeople and customer service representatives cross- and up-selling effectively? Are you collecting permission-based email data? Are you doing any partner promotions?
"The person with the most knowledge usually wins," says Eule Scarborough. "Many small businesses think they need to throw money at advertising, but they focus on tactics before they are ready. And what you're doing today will change since, as time goes on, you should be doing less advertising and more business by word-of-mouth and repeat customer purchases."
Analyze your current customer base. Eule Scarborough suggests writing down the most common characteristics of your best customers so you can figure out how to find more of the same. How do they behave? Do they pay on time? How much business do they do with you? "A marketing plan is not just to get more warm bodies who will do one-time deals," she says. "You want to attract and keep profitable customers."
The best way to figure this out is to uncover what your customers are worth to you over their lifetime. Once you know, you also know how much you should spend on advertising and marketing.
"Essentially, advertising is about buying a customer. You don't want to pay more for the customer than they are worth," says Eule Scarborough. This information will also make it easier for you to focus on getting current customers to spend more and stick around longer. "Your customer data is a gold mine," she says. "Most people spend very little time advertising and marketing to current customers, which is a mistake."
You can gain access to templates that can help you do all of the above at Eule Scarborough's Web site, http://theprocrastinatorsguidetomarketing.com.
