No matter what type of business you either have or plan to have and
whether it is a home based business or not, it is a good idea to have a
marketing plan. Otherwise it is like hopping in a car and hoping you
will get from A to B with no petrol in the car. All small businesses
need the injection of interest in their business from marketing.
Let's break down the steps for to create a marketing plan.
There is a process to this and if you work through these steps one by one you will find that it is not as difficult as you think to create a simple marketing plan for your business:
1. What finance have you got available for marketing?
2. Who is your target market for your product or service? Age, sex, and other data to distinguish your customer.
3. How far afield do you need to market your product to get the sales you require?
4. How can you reach your target market?
5. How does your competition reach your target market?
6. What type of marketing can you do cheaply and effectively?
7. Are you personally skilled enough do the marketing or do you need a professional?
8. If you cannot afford a professional, what marketing can you do that you can afford?
Keep it simple and just answer these questions in bullet form. Once you have answered these questions the next step is to work out a plan for the next year. Write down each month and start planning your marketing for the year.
When planning ahead for 12 months remember to have a good hard look at how economic circumstances like Easter, Christmas, school holidays and such like will affect your product sales. It could have a good affect on sales or it could slow down sales at certain times of the year.
Allocating your funds
Once you have each month of the year worked out you then can consider how to allocate funds for each month and then for each campaign that you intend to run.
Keep in mind that if for example, you have a boom sales time for Christmas you will need to start your advertising in early October. Starting in December would not be the time to start a campaign. The idea of marketing is to plant the seed, reinforce the thought and then get the sale. Some marketing will get sales immediately but the majority of marketing is designed to keep the business name in front of your customers so that when they are ready to buy they will think of you.
It would be great if we could market once and get the sale immediately, but unfortunately it just does not work that way. We would all be millionaires if that was the case!
Detailing the marketing plan
With the full 12 months mapped out it is time to break the next three months down into detail. Work out exactly how you are going to market over the next three months and where you are going to spend your dollar.
If you work in 3 month blocks it gives you a chance to evaluate if the marketing is working and if not, change it for the next three months.
What you have not managed to put together is a marketing 'plan'. If it is not working you simply change the plan. Each and every home based business will need a different plan to suit their circumstances, their product or service and their funds available. Keep it simple, don't complicate it and I am sure you will be able to work your way through it. Whatever you do, you must market because otherwise how are you going to get sales on a continuing basis.
Let's break down the steps for to create a marketing plan.
There is a process to this and if you work through these steps one by one you will find that it is not as difficult as you think to create a simple marketing plan for your business:
1. What finance have you got available for marketing?
2. Who is your target market for your product or service? Age, sex, and other data to distinguish your customer.
3. How far afield do you need to market your product to get the sales you require?
4. How can you reach your target market?
5. How does your competition reach your target market?
6. What type of marketing can you do cheaply and effectively?
7. Are you personally skilled enough do the marketing or do you need a professional?
8. If you cannot afford a professional, what marketing can you do that you can afford?
Keep it simple and just answer these questions in bullet form. Once you have answered these questions the next step is to work out a plan for the next year. Write down each month and start planning your marketing for the year.
When planning ahead for 12 months remember to have a good hard look at how economic circumstances like Easter, Christmas, school holidays and such like will affect your product sales. It could have a good affect on sales or it could slow down sales at certain times of the year.
Allocating your funds
Once you have each month of the year worked out you then can consider how to allocate funds for each month and then for each campaign that you intend to run.
Keep in mind that if for example, you have a boom sales time for Christmas you will need to start your advertising in early October. Starting in December would not be the time to start a campaign. The idea of marketing is to plant the seed, reinforce the thought and then get the sale. Some marketing will get sales immediately but the majority of marketing is designed to keep the business name in front of your customers so that when they are ready to buy they will think of you.
It would be great if we could market once and get the sale immediately, but unfortunately it just does not work that way. We would all be millionaires if that was the case!
Detailing the marketing plan
With the full 12 months mapped out it is time to break the next three months down into detail. Work out exactly how you are going to market over the next three months and where you are going to spend your dollar.
If you work in 3 month blocks it gives you a chance to evaluate if the marketing is working and if not, change it for the next three months.
What you have not managed to put together is a marketing 'plan'. If it is not working you simply change the plan. Each and every home based business will need a different plan to suit their circumstances, their product or service and their funds available. Keep it simple, don't complicate it and I am sure you will be able to work your way through it. Whatever you do, you must market because otherwise how are you going to get sales on a continuing basis.