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. 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.
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; telemarketing; 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
No comments:
Post a Comment