Do you feel like you’re throwing marketing dollars down the drain? If so, it might be time to create a marketing plan for your small business.
The Importance of Developing Marketing Strategies and Plans for Your Small Business
As a small business owner, it’s important to proactively drive the right prospects to your company. One of the best ways to do this is by developing marketing strategies and plans tailored to your target audience. Without a proper plan in place, you’re forced to react to leads on the spot, which can result in dissatisfied customers and consumers simply looking for a discount. By taking the time to create a marketing plan for your small business, you can make sure you get the right customers and make the most out of your marketing dollars.
Different Marketing Tactics for Small Businesses
Instead of wasting time and money on leads that don’t turn into sales, a marketing plan helps you choose the right combination of marketing tactics for your small business.
Marketing tactics can include a mix of activities like:
- Social media ads
- Online lead generation
- Direct mail
- Blogs and web pages
- Online and hardcopy newsletters
- Newspaper, radio, and
- TV ads
- Online display advertising
- Cold calling
- Flyers and other printed materials
- Email marketing
- Speaking opportunities
- Networking and referral groups
- SEO
- Telemarketing
How to Develop a Marketing Plan for Your Small Business
At Inspire Results Business Coaching, we use our SERVANT Whole-Business Model to help small business owners create a successful sales function. Below are seven implementable actions from the “S” stage of the model, Sales and Marketing, that can help optimize your sales function.
Identify Your Ideal Target Market
Sales and marketing success starts with understanding your ideal customers. Taking the time to figure out who they are, what they all have in common, and what makes them loyal to your business can help you identify your target market and better cater to their needs. Consider factors such as demographics, size, industry, number of employees, credit history, sales volume, and geography, to help you create a detailed picture of who you should be targeting for growth.
While targeting customers who deliver revenue for your business is an important factor, you should also consider other criteria, such as how easy certain customers are to do business with or how often they purchase from you. By taking the time to understand who your ideal customer is, you can craft a strategic plan tailored specifically to their needs.
Identify USP and Guarantees
Having a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is an essential part of any business. It differentiates your product or service from your competitors and drives customers to choose you over the rest. But how do you come up with the right USP for your business? The key is to ask yourself questions about your ideal customer, what they’re looking for, and what makes you stand out from your competition. That way, you can create a USP that resonates with them. Once you’ve established your USP, create a guarantee that promises to deliver on this value proposition, such as a money-back or satisfaction guarantee.
Create a Database of Target Markets
Once you’ve identified where your target market is located, it’s time to start collecting contact information, such as phone numbers, email, and physical addresses. When you’ve done that, create a database to store the information in. Storing important target market data in a secure database makes it easier to reach out to your target customers and make the sale. You can also use this database to record and track all your contact with a prospect.
Create Formal Marketing and Sales Plans
Next, it’s time to create an effective plan for reaching out to your target audience. That’s where your sales and marketing plans come into play.
Your marketing plan should focus on the “4 P’s”:
- Product
- Price
- Promotion
- Place
Think about how you can tailor your product to meet the needs of your target customers, an attractive price point, how you’ll promote it, and where it’s available.
Your sales plan is all about how you’ll actually sell your product, including sales channels such as direct sales, independent representatives, or retailers. As you develop your plans, make sure they align and complement each other.
Test and Adjust Marketing Messages and Methods
Testing, measuring, and adjusting your message and methods helps you make the necessary changes to get the desired results. One way to make adjustments is to change your offer benefits, such as making changes to the creative art or altering the timing of your campaigns. By making small adjustments to your plans, you can tailor them to meet your goals.
Build a Sales Activity Plan
Next, it’s time to develop a sales activity plan so you can track performance, make sure each salesperson is hitting their goals, and measure method effectiveness. The key components of a sales activity plan include setting a sales goal for each individual salesperson, deciding on the strategies and methods used to reach the goals, and tracking progress over time. You can use our template to help you keep track of all of this information in one place.
Optimize Sales and Marketing
By the time you reach the final step, your sales and marketing strategies should be working together to deliver results, content should be presented to prospects accurately, and you should be meeting or exceeding your sales goals.
You can still run into common challenges in sales that prevent growth—even with a strategic marketing and sales plan in place.
Get a Successful Sales and Marketing Plan With Business Coaching Services
Are you looking to up your sales and marketing game? With the help of Inspire Results Business Coaching, you can finally create a successful sales and marketing plan that helps you reach your business goals.
With our business coaching services, our team of expert coaches work alongside you to develop an effective plan that drives results. We help you gain valuable insight into what you need to do to make your business more successful and show you how to create strategies for reaching more customers and growing your business.
Contact us today to learn more about our business coaching services.
