| ARTICLES |
The Seven-Step, One Day Internet Marketing Plan
|
In small
business consulting It has noticed a similar attribute
that is common in most entrepreneurs
and business owners. It has been encountered many
small business owners who get into trouble “doing” the
wrong marketing activities the right way or “doing” the
right marketing activities the wrong way. If you
want to “do” the right marketing activities
the right way you must start with a marketing plan.
You don’t have to kill a tree to create
an effective marketing plan. In fact, you can
create a successful marketing plan for your small
business in just one day. To begin, don’t
worry about writing style or making your plan
fancy. Just go get a pencil and paper and let’s
get started.
|
Step 1 – Understand Your Market
and Competition
|
A big mistake that many small
business owners make is to latch on to a cool product
or service without first understanding the market
and what it wants (not what it needs). If you try
to sell something that people don’t want,
they won’t buy it – it’s that
simple.
You want to try and find a market that is like
a pond of hungry fish. A good market contains
people who have dire wants that are being unmet,
so much so that they will jump to buy your solution
(product or service).
Ask yourself questions like:
• Are there segments in my market that
are being underserved? • Are the segments
of my market for my product or service big enough
to make money? • How much share of that
market do I need to capture, to just break even? • Is
there too much competition in the segment of
my market to be competitive? • What are
the weaknesses in my competition’s offering
that I can capitalize on? • Does my market
want or value my unique competitive offering?
|
Step
2 – Understand
Your Customer
|
Getting a good understanding
of who your customers are, what the want, and what
motivates them to buy is a key to great marketing.
Don’t confuse “wants” with “needs.” People
don’t necessarily buy what they need, buy
they’ll most always buy what they want. For
instance, have you ever known someone that went
to the store to buy a pair of pants that they needed
and came back with a new shirt, sweater, and shoes?
Or how about the everyday shopper who goes into
the supermarket to buy some milk and eggs and comes
out with a frozen pizza, cheesecake, and other
goodies.
You’ll need to ask yourself
questions such as:
• How does my potential customer normally
buy similar products (i.e. in a store, on the web,
door-to-door)? • Who is the primary buyer
and the primary buying influencer in the purchasing
process (i.e. husband or wife, purchasing agent,
project leader, secretary)? • What kind of
habits does my customer have? For instance, where
do they get their information (i.e. television,
newspapers, magazines)? • What are my target
customer’s primary motivations for buying
(i.e. look good, avoid pain, get rich, be healthy,
be popular etc.)
|
| Step 3 – Pick
a Niche |
If you
say that your target customer is “everybody” then
nobody will be your customer. The marketplace
is jam packed with
competition. You’ll have more success jumping
up and down in a small puddle than a big ocean.
Carve out a specific niche and dominate that
niche, then
you might consider moving on to a second niche
(but not before you’ve dominated the first
one!).
|
Step
4 – Develop
Your Marketing Message |
| Your
marketing message is what not only tells your prospect
what you do, but
persuades them to become your customer. You should
develop two types of marketing messages. Your first
marketing message should be short and to the point.
Some may call this your elevator speech or your
audio logo. It’s your response to someone
who asks you, “So, what do you do?”
The second type is your complete marketing message
that will be included in all your marketing materials
and promotions. To make your marketing message
compelling and persuasive it should include the
following elements:
1. An explanation of your target prospect’s
problem. 2. Proof that the problem is so important
that it should be solved now, without delay. 3.
An explanation about why you are the only person/business
that can solve your prospects problem. 4. An explanation
of the benefits people will receive from using
your solution. 4. Examples and testimonials from
customers you have helped with similar problems.
5. An explanation about prices, fees, and payment
terms. 6. Your unconditional guarantee.
|
Step
5 – Determine Your Marketing Medium(s) |
Remember,
when it is said that it’s critical to choose
a niche that you can easily contact? When you go
to choose your marketing medium(s) you’ll
understand why that was sound advice.
Your marketing medium is the communication vehicle
you use to deliver your marketing message. It’s
important to choose a marketing medium that gives
you the highest return on your marketing.
This means that you want to choose the medium
that delivers your marketing message to
the most niche prospects at the lowest possible
cost.
The following is a smattering of tools you have
at your disposal to get your message out:
Newspaper ads Posters Contests Card decks Seminars
Television ads Signs Sweepstakes Door-to-door
Tele classes Radio ads Banners Trade shows Yellow
pages Articles Classified ads Newsletter Charity
events Networking Infomercials Billboards Take-one
box Telemarketing Magazine ads, Special events,
Sales letters, Flyers, Email Movie ads, E-zine
ads, Postcards, Door hangers, Agents, Media releases,
Fax, broadcasts, Brochures, Gift Certificates,
Word-of-mouth, Business cards, Catalogs, Air
Blimps, Public speaking, Window display.
The trick is to match your message to your market
using the right medium. It would do you no good
to advertise your retirement community using
a fast-paced, loud radio spot on a hip-hop radio
station. This is a complete mismatch of the market,
message, and medium. Success will come when there
is a good match of these three elements.
|
Step
6 – Set Sales and Marketing Goals |
Goals
are critical to your success. A “wish” is
a goal that hasn’t
been written down. If you haven’t written
your goals, you’re still just wishing for
success. When creating your goals use the SMART
formula.
Ensure that your goals are, (1) Sensible (2) Measurable
(3) Achievable (4) Realistic and (5) Time specific.
Your goals should include financial elements such
as annual sales revenue, gross profit, sales per
sales person etc. However, they should also include
non-financial elements such as units sold, contracts
signed, clients acquired, articles published etc.
Once you’ve set your goals, implement processes
to internalize them with all team members such
as reviewing them in sales meetings, displaying
thermometer posters, awarding achievement prizes
etc.
|
Step
7 – Develop Your Marketing Budget |
Your
marketing budget can be developed several ways
depending whether you want to be more exact or
develop just a quick-and-dirty number. It’s
good to start out with a quick-and-dirty and support
it by doing the numbers.
First, if you have been in business for over
a year and tracked your marketing-related expenditures
you could easily calculate your “cost to
acquire one customer” or “cost to
sell one product” by dividing your annual
sales and marketing costs by the number of units
(or customers acquired) sold.
|
|
|
|
