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Need to write a marketing plan? Want to learn how to write a marketing
plan? Great. You've come to the right place!
A sound marketing plan is key to the success of your business. It should include your market research, your location, the customer group you have targeted, your competition, positioning, the product or service you are selling, pricing, advertising, and promotion.
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"You're in business to serve a customer need," says Derek Hansen, founder of American Capital Access. "If you're not sensitive to customers, don't know who your customers are, how to reach them and, most of all, what will convince them to buy your product or service, get help."
Effective marketing, planning and promotion begins with current information about the marketplace. Visit your local library, talk to customers, study the advertising of other businesses in your community, and consult with any relevant industry associations. This interactive tool will help you assess your marketing strengths and weaknesses.
Once you have all the necessary information, write down your plan:
1: Define your business
- Your product or service
- Your geographic marketing area - neighborhood, regional or national
- Your competition
- How you differ from the competition - what makes you special
- Your price
- The competition's promotion methods
- Your promotion methods
- Your distribution methods or business location
2: Define your customers
- Your current customer base: age, sex, income, neighborhood
- How your customers learn about your product or service - advertising, direct mail, word of mouth, Yellow Pages
- Patterns or habits your customers and potential customers share - where they shop, what they read, watch, listen to
- Qualities your customers value most about your product or service - selection, convenience, service, reliability, availability, affordability
- Qualities your customers like least about your product or service - can they be adjusted to serve your customers better?
- Prospective customers whom you aren't currently reaching
3: Define your plan and budget
- Previous marketing methods you have used to communicate to your customers
- Methods that have been most effective
- Cost compared to sales
- Cost per customer
- Possible future marketing methods to attract new customers
- Percentage of profits you can allocate to your marketing campaign
- Marketing tools you can implement within your budget - newspaper, magazine or Yellow Pages advertising; radio or television advertising; direct mail; tele-marketing; public relations activities such as community involvement, sponsorship or press releases
- Methods of testing your marketing ideas
- Methods for measuring results of your marketing campaign
- The marketing tool you can implement immediately
The final component in your marketing plan should be your overall promotional
objectives: to communicate your message, create an awareness of
your product or service, motivate customers to buy and increase
sales, or other specific targets.
Objectives make it easier to design an effective campaign and help
you keep that campaign on the right track. Once you have defined
your objectives, it is easier to choose the method that will be
most effective.
For more detailed information, review the following guide: “Marketing Your Business for Success.”
Comment Board
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We greatly appreciate any advice you can provide on this topic. Please contribute your insights on this topic so others can benefit.
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| Miss wonderful |
3/9/2007 |
These marketing articles are great. Good solid guidelines to get our marketing planning started. Thanks! |
If you are an ambitious entrepreneur or an aspiring executive
looking
to get involved with a startup, please take the time to learn more
about Gaebler Ventures.
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