One question I hear a lot as a small business marketing consultant, is why a business needs a marketing plan? A very important part of your marketing plan layout is to know if an opportunity really exists for your service or product and to have a basic understanding of your market and competition.
As a business owner you must know the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors as well as be familiar with your customer base. All these factors should be included in your marketing plan layout as well as the following:
1) Market research
2) Competition
3) Your target customer group
4) Budget
5) Advertising and promotion
6) Product or service being sold
7) How to attract and retain customers
Strategic planning for marketing your business is becoming more and more important since competition and technology have made the marketplace very unstable and unpredictable.
For small businesses the best way to start out is to focus on planning for the coming year. You can begin by gathering information about both your business and things like your competition, trends, statistics, marketing services and solutions. You have to get a feel for your business. Markets change, customers come and go. In your second year you can pay attention to a marketing plan for the medium- and long term goals.
Executing your marketing plan can really be a challenge. But deciding what to do and how to do it is another time consuming challenge you should give some serious thought. Many people regard marketing plans as a waste of valuable time but it can certainly provide some peace of mind and direction in the future.
Elaborate charts are not necessary for small businesses but keep in mind that your marketing plan solution will act as a road map to guide you on the road ahead.
As with most other areas in life, you can turn to the Internet for a lot of information you need for your marketing plan layout. Rather spend the time on research before you start out on your new venture that being sorry later.
Many a small business marketing consultant will offer services to help you put together a marketing plan layout that will certainly be a helpful guide as a marketing solution tool in the years to come.