ShareThisDear Professor Bruce: I'm a small business owner who has been flying by the seat of his pants for several years. I'd like to get more organized in my marketing efforts in 2009 and have a simple marketing plan. What are some important things to cover in my marketing plan?Marketing plans don't have to be hundreds of pages long, or take months to complete. A good marketing plan for small businesses can be just three pages long and take a half-day to complete.According to Jay Lipe, president of EmergeMarketing.com and author of "Stand Out from the Crowd; Secrets to Crafting a Winning Company Identity," there are too many competitors out there for a small business to skate on by without identifying what makes them unique. "With so many competitors in the market, I advise my small business clients to clearly identify what makes their business stand out from the crowd."Understanding your clients is important. Develop three client stories. Each must be less than 250 words and use the traditional problem/solutions/benefits approach. Using this format, an attendee completes the following thoughts:"Typically our clients come to us because they have trouble________________ (problems).""When they work with us, we __________________ " (e.g. Conduct a marketing audit designed to uncover the most troublesome marketing elements -- solutions""As a result the client ends up with _____________________ "(Higher awareness in the market, a stronger brand presence, a new client worth $25,000, etc -- benefits)Once you write up three of these client stories, they'll become valuable marketing tools, but also invaluable training tools for your sales force.A champions list:Every business (or sales rep in a business) has roughly 20 key influencers (champions) that are outside the walls of the company and who refer the lions share of business to a company. My advice to small business owners is to make a spreadsheet with these 20 Champions on it, including mailing address, phone number and e-mail address. Then, never let them get 30 days away. By that I mean, find a way to touch them every 30 days. These touches could be check-in phone calls, e-mail newsletters, personal visits, networking appointments, etc. Whatever the tools are your business, use them to keep in 30 day reach of these champions.For further information, please visit www.emergemarketing.com(Bruce Freeman, owner of a small business and an adjunct business professor at Kean University, is always looking for interesting success stories and lessons learned. Entrepreneurs can e-mail their ideas to bfreeman(at)proline-com.com or visit www.smallbusinessprofessor.net.)
What to cover in your marketing plan
Submitted by SHNS on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 13:31
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