Along with your business plan, your
small business marketing plans is mainly important long-term plans you'll make
for your small business. Several small business owners prefer to disregard that
advice, instead preferring to fly by the seat of their pants, so to speak, to
"wing it." While several of those small business owners are
successful, they're not nearly as successful as they could be had they laid out
a well-defined small business marketing plan.
Small business marketing strategy
step 1: Identify your market
The first step in developing a
successful small
business marketing strategy is to make sure that you have a really solid
handle on your aim market. Ask yourself: Who are my customers? Once you've recognized
who they are, ask yourself: What are my customers' troubles? What are their
dreams and aspirations? The surest way to answer those questions, of course, is
to ask your customers themselves. Even if you can't afford to hire a small
business marketing firm that will conduct focus group tests for you, you can do
your own simple survey by hitting the streets and talking to those people you
plan to sell to (and make contacts at the same time!). You'd be surprised how
powerful that simple task is yet how few businesses do it.
Small business marketing strategy
step 2: Identify yourself
The second step in developing your
small business marketing approach is to get to know yourself (your business),
once you've gotten to know your customers. Ask yourself: What does my business
do? How is my business different than my competitors'? How does my business
help solve my customers' problems or help them achieve their dreams? Answering
these questions will help you to define your unique selling proposition - those
aspects that set you apart from your competitors.
That unique selling proposition
should become your brand - your business's identity. Your brand is what will
pervade all of your marketing materials and what your customers will use to
identify you. The importance of diligently developing your brand as part of a
successful small business marketing strategy can't be overstated.
Small business marketing strategy
step 3: Analyse your competitors' small business marketing strategies
Once you've developed your brand -
that unique identity that tells your customers who you are and how you're
different - you can begin thinking about how you're going to actually market
your business. First, look at your competitors' small business marketing
strategies. Are there obvious gaps that you could fill (and thereby stand out among
the competition)? For example, if you see that none of your competitors have
websites, you could stand out with a small business marketing strategy online.
Wherever you market your business, it
must be where your customers are. For example, small business marketing online
will be a waste if none of your potential customers use the Internet. Likewise,
you may think that writing a monthly column in your local newspaper would be a
great way to advertise your services and establish yourself as an expert; but
if none of your potential customers read that paper, that small business
marketing strategy will fail.
At this point, your small business
marketing strategy will not only be defined by where your customers are and
what your competitors are doing, but it will also depend on your small business
marketing budget. A full-page spread in a national magazine may be the best way
to reach your target audience, but if you can't afford to shell out tens of
thousands of dollars, it's not the small business marketing strategy for you.
Wherever your small business
marketing plan takes you, the careful development of your small business
marketing strategy - by knowing your market, knowing your business, and analysing your competitors' strategies - will be a critical determinant of your
long-term business success.