How to Write a Winning Small Business Marketing Plan - Part II

Part I of this article discussed the importance of a marketing plan and the all of the essentials part to develop a good one. You were asked to start by thinking about and assessing what your ideal target market is and the customers in it, as well as the current competitive arena.

To get an understanding of what your market wants (not what it needs) you need to ask yourself the following questions:

• Are there niches or segments in my market that are being underserved?
• Is this market big enough to make a profit?
• How much competition is there in this segment?
• What weaknesses in the competitive offerings can I capitalize on?
• Does the market want my unique offering?
• How much share of the market do I need to breakeven? Make a Profit?

You need to honestly ask these questions of your market and correctly interpret the answers.  Understanding your ideal customer is the first step to easy and profitable sales. Therefore, once you have identified your perfect customer - you know who they are, what they want and what motivates them to buy.  Remember, what they want is not what they need.  How many times have you gone into a store for a pair of pants and left with Three pair of pants, a couple of shirts and shoes?  This is as true with corporate clients as retail customers.

Now, you need to answer some questions about your potential customer:

Part II - Details About Your Customers' Habits 

1. How does the customer normally buy similar products (store, web, catalog)
2. Who is the primary buyer in the buying process (husband, wife, children)
3. What are their habits and where do they get their information? (newspaper, radio, web)
4. What are their habits and where do they get their information? (newspaper, radio, web)

The more detail you can provide to these questions, the better campaign you can create.

Part III - Identifying and Developing a Niche

The business that says everyone is their customer will have nobody as their customer.   You want to stand tall in the pond instead of sinking in the ocean.  The most important part of picking a niche is to make sure that they are easy to identify and contact. For example, parents with kids failing in school is probably a good niche but difficult to find and  contact in large numbers. Contractors who belong to the Master Builders Association are a group that are very easy to contact and sort by field of expertise.  Additionally, you want a niche that interests you and that you have a passion for - making the "work" a lot more enjoyable.

Part IV - Developing Your Marketing Message

Your marketing message tells prospects what you do and persuades them to become your customer.

• Message #1 is short and to the point - your elevator speech. This is your response when someone asks, "What do you do?"
• Message #2 is your complete marketing message that will be included in all your marketing materials and promotions. 

 An effective marketing message includes the following elements:

1. A explanation of the prospects problem
2. Proof that the problem is so important it must be solved now
3. Explain why you are the only person or business that can solve it
4. Explanation of the benefits they will receive
5. Explanation of other clients you have helped with testimonials
6. Explanation of your process, fees and terms
7. Explanation of your unconditional guarantee or risk reversal technique

Part V - The Appropriate Marketing Message

After you have developed a compelling message, you need to identify the best medium for it. The marketing medium is the devise that will communicate your message to your prospect.  You want the best match to your prospect that delivers your message at the lowest cost possible - ROMD (Return on marketing dollar).

The options available to you are numerous but include newspapers, magazines, radio, television, billboards, salespeople, referrals, postcards, yard signs, etc. 

You may have noticed that we picked the medium after identifying your market, niche and message.  This is the opposite of what most businesses do and why they are at the mercy of their ad representatives.   The medium is the last component of the mix.   Success will come when there is a good match of market, message and medium and in that order.

Part VI - Developing Your Marketing Goals

Goals are critical to your success and give you something meaningful to measure your progress.  Your goals should include financial elements (Sales Revenue, Gross Profit, Sales per Salesperson) and non-financial (Units Sold, Contracts Signed, Number of Clients).  It is also important to develop a process for internalizing them with your team members - virtual or your own employees.

Part VII - Developing Your Marketing Budget

Developing your budget can be an exact measure of how much you will spend in specific areas or a quick and dirty estimate.   If you have historical data, available like costs to acquire a customer or costs to sell xx number of units, you can quickly develop your budget by multiplying these figures times the sales goals (ex. $25/sale x 200 sales = $5,000 budget).

Congratulations, you now have a working marketing plan that puts you ahead of 95% of all the small businesses out there. I recommend that you study up on all the various marketing medium available to you and look for unique low-cost ways to spread your message.   However, do not make this too laborious - just get started and Do It!  Remember, the 80/20 rule - that 80% of your revenue will come from 20% of your activities.

Fell free to contact me if you have questions on any of these steps.  Also, watch for future articles that discuss some of these "Plan Parts" in detail.