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| By: Sha - at January 16, 2013 |
Basics of Marketing Plans for Small Business
An Introduction to Marketing Plans
Many small business owners find it often hard to adopt the best marketing
strategies to promote their businesses, products and services. Even the best
products will not take off or gain popularity without using appropriate marketing
strategies. That is why business organizations, firms and companies in all types of business, spend a lot of money to promote their
products and services. Small businesses need marketing plans and marketing budgets just as much as
multinational corporations. To get the
desired results from the marketing campaign it is very important to formulate
some marketing strategies that your small business can implement.
Here are
some marketing plan basics for a small business:
Marketing Plans
Planning is crucial to achieve any goal for your business. If you want to
implement a marketing strategy successfully then you must develop a solid
marketing plan and steps to achieve it. No matter how small your business is if you are going to make
money from it then you are going to need a marketing plan. Implement the
marketing programs according to the plans. It will save you time and money and
give you the optimum results.
A well-developed marketing plan includes everything from how much money you
are going to spend on advertising, what is your target market, how you are going
to reach your target market, and what your unique selling proposition will be to
differentiate your product from competitors. Two key components of
marketing plans for your small business are the marketing
budget and the marketing strategy.
Marketing Budget
 Marketing
budget is an important part of your small business marketing plan.
Essentially, the marketing budget will be in accordance with the marketing
plans. But the marketing budget does not necessarily have to be set in
stone and often will change based on the needs of your business. During
the course of the year you may not have the funds to recruit staff for a
marketing role or to hire a marketing company to run the promotional activities
for your business. In situations like these you have to have alternative
strategies you can implement later in response to changing variables. Also you may need to introduce a new
marketing tactic if the situation demands. So you need to make some room in the
budget to deal with all these situations and to give yourself some wiggle room.
Marketing Strategies
Marketing is a very challenging job. It takes time, money and a lot of work
including preparation, branding, and advertising. When it comes to preparing
good marketing strategies, you should have a detailed marketing plan for your
small business. The size of your business, expected returns, sales targets,
assets of your company, competition in the market, and the budget for marketing
programs will be central to the marketing strategies for your small business.
There is no denying the fact that although a physical presence of your
business is still very important, many small business owners have found that
Internet marketing is the best small business marketing strategy. It is true
today that without a strong
online presence, your business can miss out on many
prospective customers as more and more people are using the Internet to find
information, products, and services.
Get the Word Out in the Real World
 If you are looking for some small business marketing strategies both online and
offline, then you have come to the right place. The most important thing that you
will need to understand is whatever business you may have, networking
is the most important strategy to expand your business and to keep current
customers. You may have the best
website for your small business with all the nice features or widgets, but it
will not bring in customers for you unless people know you have started a
business. So by establishing a strong network online and offline, you can
get people to know what you have got to sell, and how you are better
than competitors. Spread the word about your company whenever you can, and remember word of mouth
advertising is extremely powerful.
Now when it comes to getting the real world to know about your small
business, you have to tell as many people as possible. You can do it
pretty easily by talking to family members, friends, and past and present
co-workers. Get the word out whenever you can. Maybe you attend some
clubs or are a member of social societies and sporting groups. Use these
interactions to further promote your business. Let people in these circles
know about your small business and tell them what sets you
apart. Chances are
some of these people will share the information with other people they know.
Everyone you come in contact with
may be potential customer.
Online Networking
 Social media websites can be a great source of getting the word out about your small
business. You can easily share information on social networking websites and get
people interested in your business. In fact there are many small business
owners who rely hugely on social networking on the Internet to get business, and
also to promote their products and services.
Online and Offline Advertising
Advertising in the real world through print ads, banners, and window displays
can be very effective for promoting your business. On the Internet you can advertise
your business through PPC (Pay Per Click) ads. PPC ads are an effective way to
promote your small business on the web. You will pay the online
advertising merchants to put
online ads about your company on various websites, blogs,
and forums.
SEM and Blogging
SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and blogging are other effective tools you can use to market your
business online. You can get a lot of traffic or visitors to your website
through search engine marketing. SEM will list your website highly in
search engines which will drive more traffic to your website. Blogging is another way to
promote your business. Writing good and helpful content will help you develop a
following to your website which will further increase the traffic to your
website. You can write for yourself or pay freelance writers or bloggers to blog
for you in order to promote your small business through
business blogging.
Conclusion
Setting up a small business might be easy but getting customers can be the
hardest part for your small business. Without customers a business will
fail. All of these marketing strategies online and
offline that were mentioned above can be very effective to promote your products and
services. You should develop your marketing plans based on the strategies you
are going to stick to, and the marketing budget. You should also consider developing
marketing plans for a minimum duration of one year. Time spent in
developing a good marketing plan can be the best way to implement all of your
marketing strategies to reach and connect to your customers.
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Basics of Marketing Plans for Small Business
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