Marketing is everything you do to position your product or service on the market, targeting as many potential customers as possible. Without clear steps showing how you will place your business into the hands of customers, you may get lost in the many offers already out ‘there.’ So, don’t waste time, draw a marketing plan and make sure that your business is heard, known and seen.
Drawing a marketing plan is very important for businesses, no matter how established they are. Because of the constant flow of information and the growing number of entrepreneurs in Africa, you want to make sure that customers who are looking for services or products like the ones you offer, they come knock on your door. How do you do this? How do you excite interest, boost customers’ loyalty and grow your sales? Take a pen and a paper and work on your marketing plan, a document that shows clearly and comprehensively, how you plan to implement your marketing strategy.
Just a quick reminder on what is marketing; as S.H. Simmons, author and humourist, put it:
If a young man tells his date she’s intelligent, looks lovely, and is a great conversationalist, he’s saying the right things to the right person and that’s marketing. If the young man tells his date how handsome, smart and successful he is — that’s advertising. If someone else tells the young woman how handsome, smart and successful her date is — that’s public relations.”
Marketing includes diverse disciplines like sales, public relations, pricing, packaging, and distribution.
A marketing plan should draw a clear picture on how you intend to reach new customers, satisfy them and be ahead of your competition. Here are a few pointers on how to draft your marketing plan for your business.
Below the few steps that will help you in this process:
Step 1 – The Product
Do you have a product to market? Point out what is unique about your product, who your target customers are and what their needs are.
Step 2 – The Strategy
Illustrate out how you intend to reach new customers. Your strategy can involve things like advertising, participation in trade shows, networking or publicity in the media.
Step 3 – Your Mission
You should come up with your mission statement which basically captures what your business does and who your customers are.
Step 4 – The Financing
Marketing costs a lot of money therefore having a clear financial budget is important. It is crucial to point out how funds will be utilized in the marketing strategy, such as, how much will go towards setting up your website or print and distribute flyers.
Step 5 – Get the Facts
Your marketing plan should show how much will be spent in efforts to reach new customers and which methods will be used. You will have to conduct research on the specific customers you are targeting. Find out how much you will need to acquire one new customer for instance.
Step 6 – The Competition
Find out who your competition is and analyze their strengths and weaknesses. Illustrate what your unique selling points are, this can be price, quality or location. It should capture why buyers should favour you and not your competition.
Step 7 – The Litmus Test
You should come up with guidelines on how to evaluate the success or failure of your marketing strategy at a specified period of time. For instance in one year how many customers will you reach or by what percentage will your sales volumes increase. Over the specified period meetings can be held to make these evaluations.
Your marketing plan in hands, you are now equipped and ready to conquer the market. Don’t forget to share your vision and your strategies with key people working with you. You will need the talent and skills of everybody in order to put your plan into action.
