Your Small
Business Marketing Plan: Never Marketing Without It
A solid small
business marketing plan for your business is critical...Do It Today!
Know why is always before knowing how.
Your marketing plan is one of the most valuable assets will
create. This plan is your guide to business success and can only be
developed to match your marketing goals.
Your marketing plan requires vision, discipline, and
flexibility. Don't worry, it's not that intimidating. However, it will
challenge you because you need to step outside of your comfort zone and
attempt strategies and tactics you have never tried before.
It has been said that companies with a marketing plan out perform those who don’t plan
by 30%. This is a
significant amount of money in your pocket just by focusing on this one
important area.
When you view the planning process as an essential part of
your business, it becomes a natural part of your day-to-day activities.
Where Do You Start?
When developing a marketing plan, knowing where
to start is often a challenge. The first step is to start by developing your
marketing strategy. If you have not done this yet, visit the marketing
strategy section of this site by clicking here:
Marketing Strategy.
After you have a sound strategic vision, begin by gathering information
about both the three important parts of your market: the overall market,
your target market and your competitors.
External information about the overall market begins with
searching the web via Google,
Yahoo, or
MSN. These are the major search engines where you will find articles, competitive information, and
industry news. Put in the best keywords that describe your industry, product
or service. This will give you a broad range of information that will give
you clues about who is the market leader and the most active. Always dig
deep into the search results to get a real sense of what is going on.
The numerous news sources and billion or so Web pages
available on the Internet make finding useful information easy. You can start searching the Internet by looking in each of
the general areas below. Organize useful material as you find it by setting
up a logical system of categories in the favorites folder of your browser.
For very important and relevant marketing information, print it out so you can draw upon it during marketing
plan development.
These resources will be your initial knowledge base as you
develop your Marketing Plan. Here is a list of additional information
resources for you to explore:
-
Annual Reports and other SEC Filings. These documents are
required by publicly held U.S. companies and often include statistics and
other industry information.
-
Books can often provide detailed insight and analysis
you cannot find elsewhere. Visit your local library and spend some time
researching their vast pool of resources
-
The Government is made up of over 100 U.S. Federal agencies
that have
statistical programs, many with data available on the Web. You can find the
complete list at
http://www.fedstats.gov/agencies/index.html.
-
Message Boards and Newsgroups are excellent sources of
marketing plan ides. You can spot trends,
hot topics in the industry, and competitor information by following
discussions that people post. Be careful to explore the source of the
information before you give it too much credence.
-
News Articles are valuable tools to find what your
competitors are up to. These often give clues to the business
environment and can lead you to additional information sources.
-
Newsletters. By reading and subscribing to competitor and
industry newsletters you can get insight into current promotional tactics
and other activities.
-
Research Sites that provide archives, press releases, newsletters, and
executive summaries on these sites can provide relevant research findings
and statistics. Typically these can be found at trade associations,
universities and colleges websites throughout the web.
-
Subject portal sites. There are some general sites that deal
with a specific industry or topic in different pages. A few places to start
are
www.suite101.com,
www.about.com,
and
www.business.com. Check for pages relating
to your industry or product.
-
Trade Associations and Publications. You will often find
industry information, statistics, and membership lists online.
-
White Papers and other Company Publications. Companies will
sometimes publish free white papers that summarize the industry trends or
other information.
To effective gather information on a marketing plan takes
time, organization, diligence and keen eye. Don't be intimidated by the
amount of information you discover. In the beginning, focus only on relevant
content that will impact your core efforts.
Remember, to keep you eye on your marketing strategy and not
to stray from it's foundation.
Sample
Marketing Plans
Marketing Plan Pro contains over 70 real sample plans
that can be edited and used to help you create your marketing plan.
Coach Ron's Recommended
Resources:
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